Things have really changed in 10 years. Do you notice the media consumption today in students?
I don’t know about you, but I have noticed my own media consumption changing. I don’t have cable tv anymore, and I want to watch shows that are streamed.
Working with parents today with teenagers is difficult. It really is hard to explain to a parent the complexities of their kids being raised in a digital world. The parents weren’t, and they are the first generation to raise digitally native kids. I feel like it’s a learning experience for the way I will raise my kids in a digital world.
This infographic is called: True Facts About Teens And Media: Now & Then. It’s really interesting, and it’s worth sharing.
Here are some things that stand out:
- Teenagers are looking at screens for 7 and a half hours per day. Is this alarming? I am not sure. When I look at my own life I know that I am spending tons of hours each day looking at a screen. I think it’s so important that we are still helping students get away from technology for a period of time. I still try to make camp a phone free zone.
- 71% of teens have TV’s in their bedrooms. Having a TV in their room isn’t alarming, it’s the other digital devices. If parents think it’s ok for their kids to have a TV in their rooms, why shouldn’t they have a laptop, iPad or iPhone in their room? This is one issue where I think that parents today are really naive. They don’t understand how destructive these devices can be. We will be dealing with the ramifications of these devices being allowed anywhere without boundaries for the next 10 years.
- On average teenagers send 60 messages a day. That is just on average. That doesn’t seem like a ton, but what it shows you is that you should have a texting strategy for your youth ministry. I have a great texting program that I use all the time to text messages to students. It’s worth communicating where the students are at. They are all texting.
Those are the things that stand out to me. What do you think about this infographic?
