Will Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and other children’s Christian classics soon be relegated to museums attributable to the rise of the smartphone? And how will this affect the religion of the following generation?
The rise of the web and social media up to now 20 years and the provision of artificial intelligence has had dramatic effects on the media and society basically. But those that are so young that they have no idea a world without this technology are probably the most affected and potentially probably the most in danger.
Reading has been a central a part of a baby’s education and delight for lots of of years. Could the enjoyment of reading novels or learning through popular non-fiction books soon be a thing of the past?
That’s the conclusion of Ted Gioia, in a recent post: “The number of kids who read for fun is collapsing.”
His thesis, widely popularised in a recent viral post, is that social media corporations are producing fast-paced scrolling videos and other content that’s becoming addictive, and it’s drawing us away from healthier activities comparable to reading newspapers, books, watching movies and traditional dating and sports.
He paints a dystopian picture of the brand new world of the ‘dopamine cartel’, these more healthful activities being replaced by infinite clickbait, viral TikToks, swiping on dating apps and gambling sites.
Gioia cites Pew Research data that shows because the Nineteen Eighties, the variety of US children who never read for fun has dramatically increased, while those that read each day has fallen dramatically.
Anecdotally, the young people I’ve had contact with say the identical: they rarely read. For entertainment, they now turn to their phones.
Gioia doesn’t discuss religion or how the rise of the ‘dopamine cartel’ will affect spirituality. But if quiet prayer and reading the Bible is replaced by watching unaccountable Christian ‘influencers’ with their very own, untested opinions about faith, could the consequences on the religion of the following generation be catastrophic?
Phone-free childhoods
In recent years there was increased concern concerning the effect that the rise of the smartphone is having on young people’s mental health, which has been declining sharply through the same time period.
Jonathan Haidt has been on the forefront of arguing for stopping the usage of smartphones within the young altogether, in the identical way that we’ve got outlawed smoking, violent movies, or other harms to children’s health. His book “The Anxious Generation” describes “how childhood underwent a ‘great rewiring’ within the blink of an eye fixed, between 2010 and 2015. The result was a latest ‘phone-based childhood,’ which altered the developmental pathways of youngsters and adolescents, bringing them minimal advantages while reducing the time spent on helpful real-world activities comparable to sleeping, fidgeting with friends, talking with adults, reading books, specializing in one task at a time, and even just daydreaming.”
Again, Haidt’s concern isn’t faith and spirituality, but these problems must surely impact the way in which wherein our young people will relate to God and faith.
Smartphones and literacy
There are obvious concerns about technology and the web for Christian parents because they will bring access to harmful content and pornography, and even predators. But could even well-monitored and ‘secure’ use harm literacy?
As the phenomenon is so latest, evidence is restricted. However research suggests that phones are changing the way in which people read, and that this could possibly be damaging. For example, studies show that screen-based reading comprehension decreases in comparison with reading on a paper medium.
Research from the National Literacy Trust way back to 2013 found “Children who only read on-screen are significantly less more likely to enjoy reading and fewer more likely to be strong readers”.
The more that toddlers use screens, the poorer their language development, in accordance with one study. Heavy use of ‘screens’ is related to poorer language skills in older children, too.
In what way would poorer literacy skills affect how a baby would read the Bible? Or the various Christian books that may stir a teenager’s faith – from Narnia, to inspiring testimonies of missionary adventures?
Reading and Christian faith
So one of the vital essential questions is, what effect will a dramatic shift from books to online content have on the religion of younger people? Will it affect how they read and understand the Bible? Will their exposure to possibly extreme or heretical religious content skew their understanding?
For the past 75 years or so, young people have read classic literature just like the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the Narnia series without all the time being aware of the deep Christian faith and underlying Christian values and symbols within the books. If they’re replaced with unregulated snappy videos designed to understand the eye relatively than edify the spirit, what will likely be the consequence?
“I even have begun to wonder concerning the significance of the shifting tide away from print Bibles and towards digital Bibles on screens (smartphones, tablets, laptops),” writes scholar Jeffrey S Siker in his book ‘Liquid Scripture: The Bible in a Digital World’.
“Is this modification benign? Are there significant latest insights which may result from the usage of thousands and thousands of digital Bibles? Are there significant problems of which we’re simply unaware that can emerge as this transition to digital religious media continues?” he ponders.
His conclusion is that there are ‘mixed blessings’ – yet the fact is that we don’t yet know what the effect will likely be. But by the point there may be enough research undertaken to attract a firm conclusion, the damage can have already been done, especially on the youngest individuals who haven’t any experience of a life without ubiquitous ‘screens’.
Turning to traditional ways
There are a lot of movements which can be taking pre-emptive motion to withstand these societal changes. The increasing popularity of ‘classical education’ is one counter-movement against the issues of the fashionable world. This style teaches children classic books deliberately and appears to the ‘great books’ throughout history to teach and encourage, relatively than modern writers. Although it isn’t entirely Christian, a lot of its proponents argue that it’s one of the best option to construct and maintain a faith-based worldview in a baby.
In the UK a parental fightback has already begun, with carers pledging to forestall their young people from accessing phones. If the ‘phone free childhood’ becomes more popular it would make it easier for more young people to withstand the temptations.
Perhaps we will have probably the most effect ourselves by increased awareness of the hazards of the smartphone and selecting to limit our own use of the ‘screen’, or stop using them entirely.
Heather Tomlinson is a contract Christian author. Find more of her work at heathertomlinson.substack.com or via X (twitter) @heathertomli
