Food For Thought is a public theology & Bible advocacy blog for Eternity from Sophia Think Tank’s David Wilson, who gathers top Christian thinkers to take a closer look at how the Christian faith addresses matters in society at large every week.

In an article by Kelsey Munro in the Age the conclusion is drawn that young people today live their lives “a mile wide and an inch deep”. The article is called ‘Youth skim surface of life with constant use of social media’ and is a report on some research commissioned by Sound Alliance, a digital publisher. The research was a “statistically representative national survey of almost two thousand 16 to 30-year-olds” which came up with the following results:

• FOMO (the fear of missing out) and FONK (the fear of not knowing) drove young people to constantly check their phones for Facebook and Twitter feeds (amongst others) and for new emails and text messages.
• Over half of the respondents got their news from social media rather than TV or newspapers. This means that even though they may be aware of headlines, they don’t delve any deeper by clicking on the links in the online feed.One respondent said it wasn’t from a lack of interest but from a prioritisation of time.
• 22 per cent agreed with the statement that social media is a waste of time, but 93 per cent used Facebook daily.
• 80 per cent of respondents said they had not yet found a passion or purpose in life and they were still looking for it.The researchers linked this to the pervasiveness of social media, concluding that these young people were unable to channel time and energy into specific passions.

The researchers thus drew the conclusion that “The youth of today are living their lives one mile wide and one inch deep”.

What are we to make of this?

My response falls on both sides of the fence. On the one hand I want to say a loud ‘No’ to the conclusion, for at least two reasons.

Firstly, I know young people who so radically contradict this that they are inspiring, and I salute them wholeheartedly. I was involved in a number of public forums at this year’s Easterfest in Toowoomba and was impressed with the young people involved and the depth of involvement they showed.

Secondly, just because something is different to the way we do it doesn’t make it shallow or wrong.I would want to investigate this further.

On the other hand, here’s a representational group of nearly 2000 people answering seriously a survey about things that really matter, and they themselves seem to be concerned. Therefore, this survey should not be disregarded too quickly. Some of the results line up rather neatly with research that Sophia Think Tank was involved in last year, focused on the social environment for young people in Australia today.

To the extent that any of this is an accurate record of our youth today, I am concerned. We desperately need the youth of this nation to stand up and be involved, to move beyond the headlines and delve deeply into what’s going on behind the scenes, and to become social revolutionaries.

The Bible is not silent on this. Young people are important to God, and not just for what they may become in the future but for who they are right now. We’re told that the sons of Issachar were people who understood the times in which they lived, which gave them knowledge of what their nation needed to do (see 1 Chronicles 12:32). They didn’t have that sort of wisdom from simply skimming the headlines in their social media news feeds!

We need those sort of committed young people amongst us today. Much of the wisdom in the book of Proverbs is directed to young people, and they are encouraged to take that wisdom on board and to make a difference in the world. In Acts 2:17 it says that young people would prophesy and see visions. Prophesying includes an understanding of what’s going on and seeing the consequences of present behaviour in the future. Having visions includes being able to see how different things can be. Young people are called to this ‘ministry of insightfulness’.

I would like to hear from young people on these issues. I’d like to know what you think of the results from the research by Sound Alliance. I’d like to know how you receive the challenges from the Bible to be involved and to make a difference. And I’d like to hear from you on how an old bloke like me can be a help to you along the way.

Food for thought.

Featured image by Thomas Brownell | Flickr