Because kids today have grown up with digital all around them, they think differently than adults do about technology and media. Scrolling through social media and texting – even texting friends next door – constitutes authentic connection with their friends. Those of us who grew up when “connection” meant talking on a phone attached to a wall may scoff, but these are the times in which we live.
Too often lately, it feels like the offices from which we’ve historically taken our cues – our political and community leadership, the punditry, local authorities, and even some Church groups – are populated with unserious people who can’t rise to the moment. Those who aren’t peddling pure boilerplate and calling it constructive thought are offering endless scolds about how we should live, think and speak, and how, if things aren’t getting better, it’s because we’re not doing enough of the right things. We should constantly be doing ever more of all these right things, it seems, until the world is saved and humanity perfected and then, finally, we may rest.