Issue link: https://discover.cph.org/i/1466964
I got my first cell phone about six months after I got my driver's license. It had no internet, and basic texting included unlimited "in network" and 500 messages "out of network." When my husband and I started dating, he was "out of network," so I owed my dad $16 because we went over our limit. We learned to limit ourselves to 16 texts of 160 char- acters each per day, combined between the two of us. This is markedly differ- ent than the way teenagers use their phones today, but it was also completely different from how my parents communicated when they were in high school. Technology has changed fast, and it hasn't just changed how we complete tasks—it has also impacted how we think. Have you ever caught yourself laughing at a delightfully cute moment with your kids, only to find yourself mentally composing captions for the picture you're snapping and thinking about how many "likes" you might get? Maybe that's just me. Or have you observed the shift in the way we think about and define community? Community used to be the people you were surrounded by in daily life—your family, your local church, your co-workers, and your neighbors. Has the fact that you can virtually participate in any community via the internet changed how you think about the communities you are a part of? Now we think of community as something we find, craft, and build for ourselves instead of something we are placed into by birth and circumstance. Do these shifts in think- ing impact the way we disciple our kids? One potent example of how changing tech- nology directly impacts our faith life is encapsu- lated in the phrase "online worship." When I was a child, I would not have known what this phrase meant, but my children have lived through a pandemic. When the world stopped, and everything shut down, out came the lap- top on Sunday morning. They watched the pastor and musicians going through the service online. I worked hard to maintain as much normalcy as possible that spring, as I'm sure many other parents did. I printed out children's bulletins, lit candles, said the respons- es, and sang the hymns with them. But it never felt completely like church, and they knew the difference. Teaching Kids Discernment in Using Technology BY CHRISTA PETZOLD 10 Lutheran Life