Teens spend 9 hours a day using media K E L LY WA L L A C E , C N N , E D I TO R - AT- L A R G E C O V E R I N G FA M I LY You probably won't be surprised to hear that a new report found that teens and tweens spend a lot of time watching TV, videos and movies, playing video games, reading, listening to music and checking social media, but you might be somewhat shocked (I was!) by just how much time.

On any given day, teens in the United States spend about nine hours using media for their enjoyment, according to the report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents and educators navigate the world of media and technology.

Let's just put nine hours in context for a second. That's more time than teens typically spend sleeping, and more time than they spend with their parents and teachers. And the nine hours does not include time spent using media at school or for their homework.

Tweens, identified as children 8 to 12, spend about six hours, on average, consuming media,

the report found.

"I think the sheer volume of media technology that kids are exposed to on a daily basis is mind-boggling," said James Steyer, chief executive officer and founder of Common Sense Media, in an interview.

"It just shows you that these kids live in this massive 24/7 digital media technology world, and it's shaping every aspect of their life. They spend far more time with media technology than any other thing in their life. This is the dominant intermediary in their life.”

The report, the first large-scale study to explore tweens and teens' use of the full range of media, according to Common Sense Media, is based on a national sample of more than 2,600 young people ages 8 to 18.

When it comes to consuming media on screens, including laptops. smartphones and tablets, teens, on average, spend more than six and a half hours on screens and tweens more than

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TEENS SPEND ‘MIND-BOGGLING’ 9 HOURS A DAY USING MEDIA

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GOING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

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5 REASONS TEENS STRUGGLE TO DEVELOP GOOD SPIR ITUAL HABITS

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MORE RESEARCH

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WHAT’S HOT

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BOOKS TO CONSIDER READING

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Teens Spend ‘Mind-boggling’ 9 Hours a Day Using Media

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5 Reasons Teens Struggle to Develop Good Spiritual Habits

four and a half hours, the report found.

"I just think that it should be a complete wake-up call to every parent, educator, policymaker, business person (and) tech industry person that the reshaping of our media tech landscape is first and foremost affecting young people's l i v e s a n d r e s h a p i n g c h i l d h o o d a n d adolescence," said Steyer, who's most recent book is ”

Here are a few more eye-opening highlights about the media habits of Generation Z, according to the report:

No. 1: What's wrong with multitasking?

If teens are, on average, spending nine hours a day consuming media, it's not such a surprise they're often doing it while doing their homework. Half of teens say they "often" or "sometimes" use social media or watch TV while doing their homework. Some 60% say they text and more than 75% say they listen to music while working on schoolwork at home.

And of the kids who multitask, most don't think it effects the quality of their work. Nearly two-thirds say watching TV or texting makes no difference and more than 50% feel the same way when it comes to social media.

"Teenagers think that multitasking during homework doesn't affect their ability to learn and ... we know it does," said Steyer, citing studies such as one at Stanford, which found dramatic differences in cognitive control and the ability to process information between heavy media multitaskers and light media multitaskers.

"It's completely obvious that you can't multitask and be as effective and competent.”

No. 2: Boys choose Xbox, Girls Instagram

There are definite gender differences when it comes to media habits of teens and tweens.

Some 62% of teen boys say they enjoy playing video games "a lot" versus 20% of girls. When it comes to using social media, 44% of teen girls say they enjoy it "a lot" versus 29% for boys. Girls, on average, spend about 40 minutes more on social networks than boys, with girls spending about an hour and a half a day on social media and boys a little under an hour.

"I definitely think it shows that girls use media and technology today for more social interaction and boys are much more likely to be gamers, including addicted gamers," said Steyer of Common Sense Media. "There are real differences between boys and girls so that's a message to parents and educators, you have to be aware of the differences.”

No. 3: The digital equality gap is real

While ours kids are growing up in a 24/7 digital world, children in lower income households have less access to technology than kids from wealthier families. Only 54% of teens in households making less than $35,000 a year have a laptop in their home versus 92% of teens in households making $100,000 a year or more.

"There's an access gap that whether you like the impact of media or technology on our kids' lives and there are pros and cons, the truth is poor kids have far less access than wealthy kids do and that's just wrong especially when Internet platforms and digital platforms are so key to everything from school to getting a job to connecting with other people," said Steyer. "So closing the digital inequality gap is a huge public-policy issue."

No. 4: Guess what? TV and music still tops

Despite all the new media tweens and teens have at their disposal -- everything from Instagram to YouTube to Xbox, tweens and teens still rank watching TV and listening to

music as the activities they enjoy "a lot" and do every day, ahead of playing video games and mobile games, watching online videos and using social media. In fact, only 10% of teens ranked social media as their favorite activity.

"I think the bottom line there is it's a utility now," said Steyer referring to social media. "Increasingly kids are realizing that Facebook and Instagram and SnapChat, they go there and ... they feel they have to go there but they don't love it and that's good. In my opinion, that's good."

No. 5: 'It's a mobile world'

Consider these stats: 53% of tweens -- kids 8 to 12 -- have their own tablet (my kids will try to use this as ammunition to get a tablet of their own!), and 67% of teens have their own smartphones. Mobile devices account for 41% of all screen time for tweens and 46% for teens.

"It's a mobile world so these kids live on mobile platforms," said Steyer. "I mean if you look at the numbers, it's clear that you have this clear transformation of teens and tweens' lives through digital and mobile platforms."

The implications of this digital transformation are huge for tweens and teens, educators, policymakers and parents. For one, living and communicating via mobile devices gets in the way of empathy, said Steyer.

Texting is so much less empathetic than having a conversation in person and looking somebody in the eye and having physical or at least a verbal presence with them, he said.

Add in the issues of digital addiction and the attention and distraction implications that come with mobile devices, and "empathy is really, really under siege," he said.

"That's a huge issue in terms of society and human relationships and how young people are evolving in a social, emotional context." he added, saying more research is needed.

COPYRIGHT - 2015 IMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH STUDENT MINISTRY Page 2

GOING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

1. If a student is involved in extracurricular

school activities' get their activity schedule and

commit to going to watch them play' perform' etc.

2. Go to Starbucks and offer free coffee for

those in your group that come by during the time you set.

*Don’t worry' we’ll reimburse you.*

5 Reasons Teens Struggle to Develop Good Spiritual HabitsA N D Y B L A N K S , C O - F O U N D E R O F Y M 3 6 0

We all want to see our students mature in their faith habits. We want them to have a more vibrant prayer life. We want them to be more consistent in spending time with God through Scripture reading. We want to see them embrace a lifestyle of

worship. And these are good things to want. But recently, I was thinking about why this can be a struggle. Why is it so difficult for some of our students to grow in their pursuit of spiritual disciples?

As we lead our teenagers in developing good spiritual habits, I think it 's important for us to realize the challenges

they, and we, are up against.

Here are a few that came to my mind:

Time

It kills me when I see how busy or students are. As I get older, it seems like the students I work with are juggling responsibilities way beyond what just a few years ago was considered normative. Sports are the main culprit, it seems. But between the myriad of extra-curricular activities and the hours of homework our kids have each night, carving out time to spend in meaningful prayer and study of Scripture is not easy. It's also not as impossible as some of them make it out to be (can you sense my well-meaning frustration???). But, it is a very real challenge.

Disconnect With Scripture

One of the biggest obstacles for students (especially younger ones) is simply the normal challenge of reading Scripture. A while back, I asked one of my small group students how his personal time reading

the Bible had been going. He was using a devotional book that had him read Psalm 104. He said that he was simply struggling with applying all the language to his life. I looked at the psalm: "There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the junipers. The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the hyrax." I told him that I

could totally understand how he got a little hung up. (It gave me a great chance to remind him that one of the reasons we meet in our small groups is to work through questions we have about what we read in our personal times of devotions)

The Bible is challenging for students and adults alike. Part of our role as leaders is to help students understand and apply Scripture to their lives. It's vital in helping develop good spiritual habits.

Cultural Clash

Let's face it: the type of spiritual disciplines we try to instill in our students (prayer, Scripture reading, evangelism, service, etc.) run pretty counter to the culture teenagers find themselves in. These types of practices are very counter-cultural to the world they find themselves living in. Helping them value these practices is the first step, even before we lead them to develop these spiritual habits.

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MORE ARTICLES AND RESEARCH

✴ 6 Facts About Teenage Romance in Digital Age (Pew Research)

✴ Ministering to the Needs of Parents (Youth Specialties)

✴ Early Life Stress Major Risk Factor for Adult Depression (Psych Central)

✴ Alcohol Can Rewire the Teenage Brain (Student Science)

Partnering With Parents Is A Must, But Can Be Hit Or Miss

We have to work together with parents to lead students to develop spiritual disciplines, especially with younger students. However, there are a ton of parents who care about their teenager's spiritual habits but either A) do not feel equipped to shepherd their children (which is another post for another day), or B) are just really, really busy.

I tend to shake my head at these parents (even as I sometimes see myself in these indictments). But, I need to be more understanding. There are parents in your youth ministry with two or three children in high school. These parents have careers. They also have one child in the band, one in show choir, and one playing football. By the time they chauffeur and organize and provide meals and make sure homework is done, all after working a long day, they are whipped. And sometimes they don't have the energy to spend making sure their children have spent meaningful time in Scripture on a particular day.

Is this ideal? No. But it's reality in many cases. For several reasons, we don't always get to benefit from the kind of teamwork we'd like to see when it comes to helping develop good spiritual habits in the students we lead.

Our Own Sin-Nature

Let's not forget that in our hearts, our students and ourselves have a default lean toward selfishness and rebellion. We don't always seek God. We oftentimes seek our own comfort. Left to their own designs, our students would rather watch The Voice, or play Call of Duty, or read about our favorite team on Rivals.com than commune with God in prayer and Bible Study. It's why it's called spiritual discipline. It takes effort. And as we work with students who are young in their faith, we will encounter this even more.

So, what can we do? Keep plugging away.

I want to see my students grow in Christ. I want to see your students do the same. And though I want it now, I know it will come. I trust in the Holy Spirit and His ability to empower all of us toward spiritual maturity. So, encourage your students to hang in there. And you do the same. Recognize the challenges, but don't be overwhelmed by them, and don't use them as an excuse.

Which adult changes the trajectory of a life? #1. ‘Teen, see how cool I am.’ or #2. ‘Teen, see how valuable you are to Jesus and to me.’ Dr. Richard Ross

COPYRIGHT - 2015 IMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH STUDENT MINISTRY Page 4

BOOKS TO CONSIDER READING

✴ STORY THRU THE BIBLE (WALK THRU THE BIBLE)

✴ HURT 2.0 (CHAP CLARK)

✴ YOUTH WORKER’S GUIDE TO HELPING TEENAGERS IN CRISIS (RICH VAN PELT)

✴ CAN I ASK THAT: HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD AND FAITH (JIM CANDY)

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