Does Your Child Have a Second Job?

According to a lot of the research "out there", kids are spending an average of eight hours per day consuming media. That's a full-time job with overtime! Fifty-six hours a week. Now I realize that this is an average, so if your children are not in this category, FANTASTIC! But consider with me the fact that this IS an accurate representation of many homes and many families in our nation. With the easy accessibility of YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, search engines, and all forms of apps, kids literally can have anything (and anyone!) right at their fingertips. That should give us cause to pause...

Do you want your child to be able to easily access images their mind is not yet ready to process?

Do you want your child to be able to "follow" people you don't know or have never heard of?

Do you want your child to have unfettered access to everything that is on the Internet?

My experience is that parents unanimously answer those questions with a resounding NO! But the next question is the clincher: so what are you doing about it?

There is no doubt that this generation knows their way around this tech-soaked world much better than you and I ever will. They are often referred to as "digital natives." They know the language, they know how to navigate to all the unknown places, and they can do it all very efficiently, with one hand tied behind their back! :-)

You and I are are NOT digital natives. We are more like digital visitors. Or digital transplants. In the colloquialism of our county in northern Maine, you and I are "from away" digitally speaking. However, that is not an excuse to ignore what these natives are doing. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the devices you have allowed your children to use. What apps are they using? Talk to a local geek or your Internet service provider about how to secure your system at home as much as possible.

And ultimately, build relationship with your child so you can help to form his or her heart into one that loves the Lord, that makes good decisions because they want to, because they desire to live a life that is holy and pleasing before the Lord.