I was sent this post by two different friends, thanks Jill and Curlee. I was hesitant to read it at first, I figured it was another rant about the “evils of social media” or the zombie apocalypse it will eventually cause. But this is a great post! The authors have a healthy caution of social media but fully admit it is here to stay. They do an awesome job of dissecting some of the identity issues brought on by Instagram. So please read and enjoy, click on the image for the link…
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted in Uncategorized
I just read a brief post on Business Insider focusing on the research of Moria Burke an Associate Professor at University of Michigan. She has been researching they way parents and kids interact on Facebook. Her findings are very interesting:
Children ages 13-17 are more likely to friend their parents
Children between the ages of 17-25 are less likely to friend their parents
This trend begins to reverse at 25.
Girls communicate more often with their parents than boys.
You can check out the Business Insider Article here. You can check out Moria’s research here.
In her research she also did a word cloud based on gender, it is very interesting to look at the words parents and kids use with each other. We need more research like this as more and more of our interactions are online . In my work with teenagers I consistently hear complaints about their parents getting on Facebook, but it makes you wonder why they are complaining if they are friending their parents. What are those complaints about? I wonder if it is about having to show them how to use the technology? Or if they feel obligated in some way to friend their parents?
Posted in culture
I heard a sobering report on NPR. It was another report in what seems to be an endless stream of reports on Cyber Bullying. However, this report was a little different, it was by a 16 year old named Temitayo Fagbenle. Her age added an interesting perspective to the report. Inaddition the teenagers she interviewed seemed to be more candid and open to sharing their true thoughts and feelings. For those of us who love and care for teenagers it is an important report to hear. Here is a link to the audio version as well as the text.
This makes me wonder:
How we can help teenagers realize this type of behavior is wrong?
How we can promote safe online behavior?
How do we deal with this when students in our youth ministry participate in this type of behavior?
Posted in culture
I came across this short blurb this morning you can read it here. But according to the article two teenagers in California drugged their parents inorder to use the internet after 10pm. Details are still emerging, but it really makes you wonder what is going with these two that they would go to such lengths to access the internet? It makes me wonder how will the internet continue to affect future generations, and what is the church doing to teach control, and boundaries? I think it is so important for the church and parents to help our teenagers work through these uncharted waters.
Posted in culture
I came across this great post today by Andy Blanks of YMIN 360. The post asks the question “When is a youth worker too old to be effective”. I won’t give away his conclusion but as a Youth Worker I was encouraged by this article. Over the years some of the most effective youth ministry I have experienced has been done by those in their 40s, 50s, even 70s. You can check out his article here..
Posted in leadership
I came across this post yesterday on youthmin.org, it stirred up a lot of different feelings for me. The post was by Heather Lea Campbell, Heather is entering into the field of youth ministry and she currently serves in a denomination that does not celebrate women in leadership. It really bothers me that there are churches and denominations that believe women cannot serve in the same capacity as men. Churches and denominations should follow the gifting of an individual not their plumbing, if a woman is called to preach and teach that calling is by God alone and we should not stand in the way of God. I serve a God who does NOT discriminate, God calls and we respond. Over the years I have served alongside many amazing women who clearly have God’s call on their life and I have also had the tremendous opportunity to mentor several young women into full time ministry. I would encourage you to read Heather’s post, and encourage her. Youth Ministry and the Church needs to welcome the gifts of all people called by God to do God’s work in God’s world. You can check out her post here
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I read the Hobbit for the first time in middle school, I fell in love with the world J.R.R. Tolkien created. Over the last few years, I have used the Lord of the Rings as teaching tools. I came across this post in Patheos about using the Hobbit as invitation to God’s Kingdom. The post is very interesting and I find his questions challenging. The section on encouraging middle class adolescent to a life discomfort for the kingdom is especially thought provoking. You can check out the post here:
Posted in Uncategorized
I read this short article this morning on the Youth Worker website. According to the author there is a slight trend downward in the number of texts adolescents are using per month. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues or if is an aberration. I suspect texting will level off as a platform as more and more adolescents move to different forms of social media. It will be interesting to see how this develops. My concern is that people could become more and more isolated as they only utilize specific forms of social media. The real need is for more things like hootsuite, that seek to cross social media platforms. Here is a link to the youth worker article ! Enjoy!
Directions in Youth Ministry is a consulting company operated by Joshua Gill. Josh has been in the youth ministry field for nearly a decade. He lives in Downingtown, PA with his beautiful wife Vicki and their son J.D. Take some time to check out the services Directions in Youth Ministry offers or to learn more about Josh.
