The Social Media Generation

From The Desk of a Geek 

The Social Media Generation 

Social media wields a powerful influence on our teens. Their world is colored by Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Youtube. They probably get their news from Twitter and Facebook, although my kids tell me mainly ancient people over 30 use Facebook now. Social media can be a powerful communicator of God’s truth, but it can also hurt. Some kids use it to bully and compete with others, or to subtweet at friends they’re upset with. 

No doubt about it, social media can shake us up, and I have to admit I’m not so different from my teen boys. When we look at lives, and images on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook we start to feel not so attractive ourselves, and  what we have, the places we go, and the people we know don’t look as exciting as the glamourous images we see, and before we know it, we start to feel less positively about ourselves, social media can shake our self-image.

One important difference between my boys, and I is that I’ve had 30 +  more years to learn how much God loves me and who I am in Christ. Although social media can present a powerful challenge for our teens, their greatest problem is a "VULNERABLE SELF IMAGE".

They haven’t had the time to develop a strong identity based on who God is and how much He loves and values them.

When we understand better how God values us, His love becomes an internal filter through which we see the images and words that social media throws at us. As parents, we can help our teens get to know God better, experience more of His Love, and learn more of who they are in Christ.

To be able to build a more positive self-image and let God’s love filter out the world’s negative voices, our teens need to know one of the most amazing truths about our Creator is that He cares deeply about His children and actually draws near when we call out to Him. We spend a lifetime learning this, but Psalm 145 provides a glimpse of God’s character and care for man: “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made… The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on him”.  

Most of us can’t imagine anyone loving us more than our mother does, but Scripture tells us God’s love and care go beyond that of a mother for her child. His passion for us goes so deep that He has even engraved our names on the palm of His hand. He loves your teen and mine with an everlasting love, and He demonstrated that love by sending Jesus to die on the cross. 

Our true value rests on the blood Christ shed for us, not on the number of likes we get on social media. Scripture teaches that God knit your teen together in the womb, fearfully and wonderfully Our sons and daughters are His workmanship, created with a purpose.

Our teens will continue learning these truths their whole life, but we can help them get started on the right track by seeking to reflect God’s love in the context of a healthy relationship with them. God can be a nebulous concept, but our kids see us in the flesh every day. We can’t be perfect parents, but we can reflect some of His love to our children by giving them three important gifts:

I love the passage in Deuteronomy 33 where Moses speaks a blessing over each tribe of Israel. It reminds me that as a parent, one of my roles is to bless my children through affirmation. When they were younger, I used to pray over them individually each night, thanking God for such a wonderful child and mentioning specific traits and talents I saw in each one. I still do this occasionally, but not near often enough. 

As I write this, I realize all over again that my teens and adult son and daughter inlaw still need affirmation from their mother and me. 

We can counteract the negative voices our kids might hear through social media  when we take the time to tell them the special qualities we love about them. Ultimately a positive, loving relationship with us opens the channel for our teens to receive more of God’s love and truth. 

We can encourage our teens to grow a stronger self-image based on who God is and how He loves them. Let’s encourage them to spend a few minutes each day reading Scripture, so they’ll have truth in their minds to counteract the lies the world may throw at them. Sometimes the world may send us negative messages via Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, but we can learn to let God’s love filter what we see on social media. 

Lonnie...