Churches Fail to Discuss Technology Stewardship Despite Families' Dependence
Parents often have to pry their teenage son or daughter away from their cell phone or video game system to get them to interact with the rest of the family. But a recent study by the Barna Group finds that parents “are just as dependent on technology as are teens and tweens.”
The nationwide study, conducted in conjunction with Orange of the reThink Group, consisted of interviewing parents and 11- to 17-year-olds living in the same household. It found that parents are using technology just as much as their children, but where their kids are texting and playing video games, parents are more likely to be on their cell phones or desktop computers.
The study also found that about one-third of parents and half of the tweens and teens interviewed don't intentionally take breaks from the use of technology.
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According to Dr. Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Center on Aging, “The potential negative impact of new technology on the brain depends on its content, duration, and context.”
In his article on PsychologyToday.com, Small gives the example of a family that cannot have dinner together without interruption by some sort of digital device, or that eats dinner quickly to get back to their computers, cell phones and televisions. He writes that family dinners without the interruption of technology not only offer a great opportunity for developing relationships, but they also give children and teenagers the opportunity to practice social interaction and etiquette.
Earlier this year, Beth J. Harpaz of The Associated Press wrote about author and mother Susan Maushart who took nearly all of the electronic devices away from her home to see what kind of impact it would have on them, as a family and as individuals. What she found was that they spent more time doing activities together, and she even saw changes in her children's abilities to think clearly. Harpaz reported that, “Like so many teens, they couldn't do their homework without simultaneously listening to music, updating Facebook and trading instant messages.”
Maushart's book on her experiment is called The Winter of Our Disconnect.
Is it necessary to take such drastic measures, though, to make sure that our families don't lose touch with reality? Certainly not, but one of the problems the Barna Group study found is that most Christians haven't received any kind of training or teaching on what it means for their families to be good stewards of technology.
David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, said, “Technology is shaping family interactions in unprecedented ways, but we seem to lack a strategic commitment to the stewardship of technology. The Christian community needs a better, more holistic understanding of how to manage existing and coming technological advances.”
The use of digital technology is prevalent in churches throughout the country today, but it seems that churches are missing the mark when it comes to training parents and children on how to be personally responsible in their use of it.
