Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Someone told me about how he and his wife have an application on their IPhones that allow them to track their teenager at all times. That includes when he is driving and how fast he is are going! The dad and his wife had tried to contact him recently, but calls and texts went unanswered. They called a neighbor to check the house to see if he was OK.
He had left his phone at home when he went down the street to see a friend. The dad chuckled at having “busted” his son without his phone. He complained that the kid should know better than to go anywhere without his phone.
I understand that this comes from a place of concern, but I think that there are, as always, unintended consequences. My first question is how much anyone enjoys being tracked, a belled cat, as it were. There’s a certain amount of pressure that goes with that.
My suspicious side can’t help wondering how much society in general is being trained in to a 1984-type environment: everything is monitored, everything is controlled. How malicious and deliberate an attempt that may or may not be I certainly can’t say. Once again, however, we’re faced with unintended – or at least unrecognized – consequences, and I’m not comfortable with the possibility. Even the author describes this generation as “compliant.”
Then I see an article on London Daily Mail about The Dawn of the Snowflake IGeneration.
Here’s the lead in to the article:
People born in 1995 or later are unhappy, mentally fragile and leading more sheltered lives than previous generations, according to a leading psychologist.
This generation has been sucked into a virtual world. It is not one God meant us for. Even though those virtual worlds include real people, they aren’t interacting directly with those people! Those interpersonal skills are lost, or, even worse, never developed!
Can one visit and comfort widows and orphans electronically? Absolutely not! Can one love through a digital screen? Never!
Corporations like mine spending millions on travelling salesmen, cars, hotels, and restaurants, because they know that nothing can replace a real person.
When people feel loved and fulfilled, they thrive. According to the article:
…the lack of fulfilment felt by young people as a result of their screen-time has led to a spike in depression, self-harm and suicide among young people, she claims.
The good news is that “More than a third of all young people have already shut the door on some form of social media.”
They suspected and finally concluded that social media is their problem, that it’s all about unhealthy competition and isolation. Hopefully, they will soon discover that real happiness starts with letting God love them and sharing His love.
They’ll find out if we tell them!!
I hope you’ll click on the link above and read the article for yourself.