Russell Moore has written what I believe to be an excellent article on teenagers and their cell-phones:
Text-messaging is easy, and can easily break the boredom of a classroom or a family dinner, and it can put one in touch with people one’s parents never know one is “talking” to. That’s easily enough remedied by Christ-following parents, but I wonder if the cellphone isn’t being used as just one more opportunity to preach a misleading gospel to our kids.
The comments are an interesting read as well — obviously, the opinions on this are all over the board, but I think the crux of what Dr. Moore is trying to communicate is missed by those who choose to criticize. He doesn’t outright say “parents should not buy their teenagers cell phones,” but does question the necessity and wisdom behind such a purchase. The most common response revolves around safety — driving, being out with friends, etc. But, as Dr. Moore points out:
For thousands of years pre-teens and teenagers have safely grown to adulthood without having communication devices in their pockets. Pre-teens and teenagers all over the world do it right now, and they survive.
I think most people would be surprised by the amount of problems I’ve had to help families work through as a direct result of teengers having cell phones — everything from somewhat petty relational issues, to extremely provocative and even sexually explicit images. With the amount of technology now available on most cell phones, they are akin to having a computer available 24 hours/day — it simply does not seem wise to give that amount of access over to a teenager without at least some level of supervision. And, for parents who do have teengers with cellphones, I would be sure to add specific rules to its usage (i.e. no texting at the dinner table, in worship, school, Sunday school, after 9pm, etc.) and would frequently, and randomly, check the text messages and call logs. Yet, the best advice seems to be that we should not seek to tempt teenagers to sin by allowing them an open door to a world that many parents never discover until something terrible has already happened.
Go read Russell Moore’s article: Does Your Child’s Cell Phone Preach Another Gospel?
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Pastoral, Students, family, parents
