#Culture: GenZ, Digital Junkies

Part Four: To understand GenZers, we must review their greatest obsession – the digital age and how it shapes them.

We work with this generation as a worldview institute, equipping them with an indwelling Biblical worldview and leadership development. We are passionate about seeing them move from following Jesus to releasing Jesus from within - a foreign modality.

We are passionate about seeing Generation Z ask our society's most important question – “What is the difference between following Jesus versus being indwelt by Him?” It is impossible to shape their view of the world until they possess the mind of Christ to see the world as Jesus does.  

To understand GenZers, we must review their greatest obsession – the digital age and how it shapes them. It’s one of the obvious characteristics people overlook when attempting to understand this generation. 

This is the first generation in world history that’s been raised with the internet, and that’s one of the defining characteristics of Generation Z.  Even though their Millennial parents used technology to raise their GenZers, Zs were raised with the digital age AS their primary source of values, lack of them, or educational information. Screens raised these young people. Zers learned about everything from sex to that OF cultural modalities.

While this true-to-life story sounds disturbing, this little GenZer has watched her parents go to bed with their smartphones beside their pillows.  This is changing all the rules regarding how they interact with institutions, content, parenting, knowledge, and even God. Thus, GenZ is the first “Screenagers” in global history.

Our research has found this madness method has produced greater anxiety and more depression; they’re lonelier, and they’re more likely to be hesitant in normal decision-making until they get a confirmation via their smartphones. One regretful fact is that these young people are suffering from online bullying. Bottomline is what happens with this generation as to how technology seems to influence their spiritual lives and social views regarding their perceptions of reality.   

THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION METASTASIZED

The implication for people in the digital age is that Google, TicToc, and other social platforms are the primary sex educators of today’s generation. Thus, the world's AI view of sex, sexuality, and gender association becomes the “bible” that redefines the youth's worldview of sexuality. In this, we find the number one cultural war of all time – gender identification. I blame the AI digital platform for this degenerative movement. This might be the practical methodology of what Paul said to the Romans.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. (Romans 1:26-27)

Why is everything about sex?

Hormone-induced reproduction passions are embedded in the primary design of humanity. It was not a suggestion when God commanded humans to be fruitful and multiply the earth. As God created the human body, He put an overwhelming passion for reproduction within that creation. While Satan knows this innate passion is front and center of humanity – this became the primary focal point, or should I say portal, of all his madness methods of temptation. Within Satan’s clever diverse ways of tempting humanity to be immoral, he drops in the ideology of birth control – including pills, abortion, contraception, and more devious methods of reducing the populace of humanity. This left humans with passions without a mission – repopulating the earth. What happened? Humanity shifted to masturbation – baiting oneself for sexual pleasure. The glorified version of masturbation is described in Romans 1:26-27 passage.

Without question, the most concerning factor in the digital age is issues related to sexuality. Human & sex trafficking has increased by 700% since the internet became the information highway. Pornography went from an adult-purchased paper magazine to free for all – even those 6-year-olds. As a marketing specialist told me years ago – sex sells. This is the motivation for any type of immoral imagery found on the internet. Money. The Word says the love of money is the ROOT of ALL evil. Guess what? Today, the internet is the root of all forms of evil, and GenZers are the most vulnerable generation to live within it.

ACTION

Every cultural moment has both opportunities and challenges.  We’ve talked about some of the challenges and scary things around technology, but technology is not a sin in and of itself. As in the case of sexual passions, if used in its proper moral boundaries, it can assist in advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since our mission is to lead GenZers into ministry and missions, we need to expose them to a bigger world of what God’s doing in the world through screens. We must educate them on “how” to use the digital age to make a difference in the world FOR and IN Christ. Thus, we must disciple them in the modality of being faithful to Jesus while living in the screen age. This certainly will require them to repent of their sins, accept the indwelling Life of Christ, and be willing to be trained in the ways of the Lord.

While I support the idea of keeping smartphones out of the hands of the youth until they reach 16 years of age, the parents or guardians should use managed online content for Christ-centered education – as in online classes, Christ-as-Life media, and other resources that advance the practical aspects of the healthy use of screens and missions centered in Christ.

Finally, I view putting a smartphone in the hands of a child as ridiculous as putting a gun in their hands without proper training. The result is usually death. Folks, we need to be smarter than our smartphones. That starts with our habits with technology. If you sleep with a smartphone – stop it. If you give more immediacy to your phone over that of your children, stop it. If you use a smartphone or laptop for babysitting your children, remember that the babysitter will be the real parent. Thus, when they are all grown up and play around with gender identification or any other woke modality, please remember it all started with handing your parental rights to the god of the digital screen.