A Word on Technology and Parenting the Super Smart Phone Generation

I was 14 years old when I first saw the internet at my dad's work.  Awestruck, I went straight to nba.com.  The NBA was my addiction then and I followed the players and teams with a passion.  If it wasn't for the internet, I would have still followed it almost religiously through the television, newspaper, magazines, trading cards, and books.  The internet aided me in that pursuit but ultimately didn't affect my level of obsession.

Today, we have smart phones in which it feels like we have the entire world at our fingertips.  We can talk with people across the globe instantaneously.  We can write something or post a picture and anybody in the entire world can see it within seconds.  Technology is moving at a rapid speed and I find myself at 31 feeling like a grandpa to this upcoming generation that are growing up with I-phones in their hands.  As a family therapist, I see this as a tension in almost every home with teenagers.  It is the parenting problem of our age.  After all, how much is too much?  Is it normal that your teenager can not put her phone down?  Growing up in this day and age is so foreign to us.  Whatever happened to running outside with our neighborhood friends playing "kick the can" or "freeze tag?"  Now, they are all sitting in their houses texting each other (or snap chatting, wats apping, facebooking, tweeting, whateverelsing).  Should we be worried?

After praying about it, this is my conclusion: God's Word doesn't change.

First off, lets start with the obvious.  There is nothing inherently evil with technology of any kind. There never has been, there never will be.  It is the intent in which people create it and then how people choose to use it that makes the difference.

Do you use the technology for love or hate?
Do you use it to glorify God or glorify and promote yourself?
Do you use it to pursue idols and addictions or pursue Truth?
Do you use it to tear people down or build people up?
Do you use it for peace or dissension?

Things to ponder:

Is staying up until 3 AM watching Netflix the same as staying up until 3 AM reading a book you can't put down?  The technology is different but the addiction level and the way it affects your sleep is the same.

Is bullying somebody in person the same as tearing somebody down online?  The medium is different but the essence of what is being done is the same.

Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed.  It is still these same values and principles we are trying to teach our kids and trying to live by as Christians.

In my opinion, parents should spend more time focusing on the values they want to teach their children and less time focusing on the medium in which they practice (or don't practice) those values.
 
There are good ways to use technology and bad ways.  That is the same for every generation and will not change.