Before you read this post, take a look at “Research on Social Media”
There are two verses from the Bible that I would like us to consider. Let us ask ourselves, “Do these verses describe our family’s use of social networking and technology?”
1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Garage sales seem to be everywhere these days! During the summer months, families look at the clutter in their lives and ask, “Why do we have all this stuff?” At the time you purchased that outfit or that desk or those books, it made perfect sense to you, right? But if we let these things pile up year after year, it will eventually be the cause of stress and a feeling that we have lost control of our environment. So, what do we do? We hall it all outside and literally clean house!
Today, I want to encourage you to do the same with the social networking and technology in your home. When your teenager was 11 or 12 years old, it made sense for them to be friends with someone on facebook, but now that kid may be the worst kid in the class and your teen is still chatting with them every day! Two or three years ago, your 17 year old may have posted some videos on YouTube that were a lot of fun, but not something you would want his college and career counselor to see as they evaluated his path to success or a future boss to see when thinking about a promotion (and yes, they do search the internet for this information). You may have been busy at work for a 3 month period of time this last year and during that time, your teen has accumulated 15 new MySpace connections and you don’t know who any of them are, your child has a whole new set of friends and you don’t know them! So, what can we do about all this social clutter? Let’s start over! Let’s have a “Social Garage Sale” where we clean out the junk and hit the reset button!
Over the next few days, I will be posting specific recommendations for how to implement a “reset button” approach for Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter, Cell Phones, Email and Video Games. Check back to read these articles!
Read the next article “Facebook for Teens”
James Shepherd
Youth Pastor, Community Baptist Church
altoonayouth@gmail.com
