Youths and Social Media
On 8 October 2022, the Youth Ministry organised a panel event for our youths on the topic of the Christian's social media life. The event sought to provide glimpses into how Christians strive to live out Christ in their lives online through their own flawed but faithful ways.
Our GBC members Alvin, Cherie and Ryan served as panelists at this session. They began the event by briefly sharing how their social media lives were like when they were youths, as well as what has changed and has not changed ever since they decided that the owner of their accounts was not themselves but Christ, their Saviour. Unfortunately, Ryan could not make the event and gave his personal sharing via a video recording. Following their personal sharings, the youths got to ask difficult and personal questions to Alvin and Cherie as part of the event's "Question and Answer" segment. After that, the youths split up into small groups for discussions and prayer with our panellists.
To conclude the event, the youth ministry gave out some books related to the topic of social media. Here they are in a nutshell, with the descriptions taken from Amazon:
"Social media can be both a delight and a disaster for women who want to love God and love neighbour. The industry has grown so fast that it's been hard to figure out how to handle it wisely: in less than 20 years, more than 75 percent of American women have signed up for an account. The latest surveys show Americans spend more than two hours a day scrolling, posting, and liking. How can we navigate this area of our lives with grace and discernment? Join nine authors as they explore social media's potential and pitfalls—along with the biblical principles we need to honor the Lord online."
"Do You Control Your Phone— Or Does Your Phone Control You?
Within a few years of its unveiling, the smartphone had become part of us, fully integrated into the daily patterns of our lives. Never offline, always within reach, we now wield in our hands a magic wand of technological power we have only begun to grasp. But it raises new enigmas, too. Never more connected, we seem to be growing more distant. Never more efficient, we have never been more distracted.
Drawing from the insights of numerous thinkers, published studies, and his own research, writer Tony Reinke identifies twelve potent ways our smartphones have changed us—for good and bad. Reinke calls us to cultivate wise thinking and healthy habits in the digital age, encouraging us to maximize the many blessings, to avoid the various pitfalls, and to wisely wield the most powerful gadget of human connection ever unleashed."
"What images should I feed my eyes?
We often leave this question unanswered― because we don’t ask it. Maybe we don’t want to ask it. But viral videos, digital images, and other spectacles surround us in every direction― competing for our time, our attention, our lust, and our money. So we let our lazy eyes feed on whatever comes our way. As a result, we never stop to consider the consequences of our visual diet on our habits, desires, and longings.
Journalist Tony Reinke asked these hard questions himself ― critiquing his own habits ― and now invites us along to see what he discovered as he investigated the possibilities and the pitfalls of our image-centered world. In the end, he shares the beauty of a Greater Spectacle―capable of centering our souls, filling our hearts, and stabilizing our gaze in this age of the digital spectacle."