Can We Talk . . . I Mean TEXT?
A recent post by our Pastor of Discipleship, Tom Houser, and recent conversations with students, got me thinking about SOUND BARRIERS in our culture today. Instead of the NOISE of VERBAL communication there is the NOISE (or lack of) because students today have traded in their vocal cords for there cell phone keypad.
Walk into the EPIC Room (the student ministry room at Grace Point Community Church, Lewis Center, OH) on a Sunday morning at 11:00 am and instead of seeing 40-50 Middle School students screaming and being loud, you will see students sitting quietly next to each other engrossed in texting their friends. What amazes me most is when students, who are sitting RIGHT NEXT to each other are texting each other. I recently asked two girls why they were texting and not talking to each other while sitting on the same couch elbow to elbow. Their response: it was easier to text!!!
Our society is developing a non-verbal communication which we have seen for the past few years but it is only getting worse.
Here are ways we can began changing this in the lives of our teenagers:
1. Schedule regular MEDIA time outs. It can be for only an hour or an entire evening. I even knew a family that would go MEDIA-FREE for one whole Saturday a month.
2. Sit down and have family game nights. Use some of the classics like Sorry or MY favorite, Candy Land. Better yet, play games that focus on being verbal (Scattergories, Taboo, etc.).
3. Take time, either at dinner or in the car running your student to an event, to ask your teen questions. Alternate from SILLY questions (what is your favorite TV character and why?) to some pretty DEEP questions (If you could change one thing about you what would it be?). A great resource to help with this is Table Topics Cubes.
What ever you can do to get your student to drop the cell phone and actually speak is worth writing down and redoing over again.
