There's an interesting short video on the millennial generation and social responsibility on the Mustard Seed Associates web-page here. See what you think. Does this ring true with your experience of today's 18-33s?
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Recent research by Ofcom suggests significant growth in Internet usage amongst all generations between 2012 and 2013, albeit with variations according to age group. Whilst 98% of 16-34 year olds and 91% of 45-54 year-olds are online, this drops to 42% amongst the over-65s. A further key difference is the amount of time spent online: for over 65s the average weekly internet use is 9hrs and 12 mins, rising to 16hrs and 54 mins by the 'average British adult' and over 24 hours by 16-24 year-olds. As the headline in this morning's Metro News noted, this means that young adults are spending an average of a day a week online. This raises all sorts of questions: how are social relationships changing? Certainly for some of the teenagers I know, internet friendships are as important as face-to-face ones, and many feel a strong pressure to acknowledge a phone message immediately even if someone else is talking to them in person - the virtual world is as 'real', and commands as many obligations, as the material one. But these statistics also pose questions about how we deliver learning within a church setting. I've noticed that in some quarters there has been a marked reluctance to engage with online learning and I still regularly hear people say that where the majority of a congregation is elderly, the idea of putting anything online is a waste of time. There are good grounds for this, although those grounds are changing fast. For churches with a younger profile, there is an enormous task to harness the internet and social media for fostering discipleship and Christian fellowship, and even relatively technologically savvy churches tend only to dip their toes into this. However, at the same time, there's also a task to ensure that people continue to be able to relate face-to-face in a material as well as a virtual sense - particularly for example in resolving disputes and conflicts.
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AuthorsIan Jones is Director of St Peter's Saltley Trust. Archives
October 2017
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