I stumbled across this infograpic called: Teens: Median Number of Facebook Friends over at Pew Internet. It is worth checking out.
Here is what stands out:
1. Girls on average have 50 more friends than boys. I feel like we are in an epidemic of teen culture where girls have little to no self esteem. They are enslaved to the internet and looking for affirmation digitally. Their worth isn’t based on what Jesus says, but on how many boys like their images on instagram. Seeing a stat like this drives me to train more female adult leaders to mentor and discipleship the girls in my youth ministry.
2. Average number of friends is 300. A few years ago I wrote a post called, Is it possible to have too many facebook friends, and I stumbled across an author who said that 150 is the max we should have when it comes to facebook friends. I am guilty of having too many friends by this number, and I am often wondering are we becoming shallow by letting the noise of hundreds drown out the voices of our friends. I think for the students I work with today, it is about quantity and not quality. How do we help students build deep friendships in a digital world?
Those are a few thoughts. What do you think are teens becoming too shallow? Are female students finding self worth in likes instead of being loved by Jesus? Please leave a comment below.
