CPYU (The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding) is a helpful ministry that is doing important work in the area of raising the digital generation. Here is something you need to know:
“One of the most sweeping and influential changes is the rapid expansion and growth of media technologies and outlets. The most recent research indicates that the average 8 to 18-year-old in America is engaging with media for 7 hours and 38 minutes a day. Much of their media engagement includes time spent engaging with others via social media technologies that didn’t even exist six years ago (Facebook, etc.). Today’s children and teens are a “wired” generation. They are constantly connected to their media and their media is constantly connected to them. Because they are at an impressionable and vulnerable age, children and teens are eager and willing to follow a media world that is attractive, pervasive, convincing, and compelling. Media is increasing in influence. In some cases, media is the main socializing and nurturing influence in a child’s life, shaping their worldviews in powerful ways.”
Here is a helpful “family digital covenant of conduct” to help you make clear what everyone’s expectations are in this critical area. More from CPYU.
