What is the Digital Kids Initiative?

The cultural context of children and teens is changing at breakneck speed, especially when it comes to technology. These changes leave kids facing a host of unprecedented problems, challenges, and choices. Because parents, youth workers, educators and other adults are by and large ignorant to these changes, their ability to influence, guide and direct teens in this new world is oftentimes forfeited.

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU) has launched the Digital Kids Initiative in response to these needs. This site is designed to offer information and tools that will help you lead the kids you know and love into living safely, wisely and to the glory of God on the emerging digital frontier.

A note from CPYU President, Walt Mueller:

"If we don't think consciously, critically and Christianly about what it means to live and lead on the digital frontier, we'll miss our greatest opportunity to teach the emerging generations how to integrate their faith into what's shaping up to be one of the biggest areas of their lives."

CPYU has identified media education as a major need in today's emerging culture. Young people are engaging media without having developed healthy practices, boundaries, or filters. In addition, they don't know how to interpret media messages in light of the truths of God's Word, thereby giving them the ability to discern truth from lies in media's messages. Adults - who are largely ignorant to new media technologies and the roles they play in their children's lives - are unknowingly abdicating the parenting role and the spiritual nurture of their children to the world of today's media. And, when parents do want to respond, they are at a loss regarding God-honoring response strategies.

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 To read more, click here.

If your kids are younger like mine, you are going to face a myriad of questions that didn't exist 25 years ago: Should I get them a Kindle?  Do they need an iPod? Or iPad? When to get them a cell phone - if at all?  And what are our family rules for texting and cell phone use?  These are challenging issues but it's so important to face them head-on.  My personal belief is that a little technology is OK - with monitoring - and outweighed by an abundance of RELATIONSHIP - that good ol' fashioned face-to-face conversation, warmth, laughter, and fellowship.  We can tend to fill our free moments with gadgets when we really do need some silence and space to connect with God.  Let's keep some margin in our schedules and focus on relationships to combat technological gluttony!