If you haven't set clear goals and objectives for your life, -
you just wander around in the middle of all the material.
In English and in other languages there is more constructive content, -
but in Finnish there isn't that much.
You can see that the pre-teens already want to take responsibility.
It can also make them become more committed and grow.
Welcome to the programme.
According to a survey by Mannerheim League for Child Welfare in 2019, -
three out of four Finnish teens feel they have no problems -
using a cell phone or the internet.
A previous study found -
that the youth are watching different screens on average 8 hours per day.
So they are undeniably citizens of the "Kingdom of Screens".
But how does living in a digital reality -
influence on the values the young people embrace as adults?
GOING UP TO DATE
PART 1: Do we give guidance for the digital world?
The algorithm of the digitalisation defines the way we view the world.
The digital world promises to give us an instant connection to other people -
and information. According to the psychologist Jean Twenge, -
digital contacts reduce happiness and face-to-face contacts increase it.
When studying the phone usage of the youth she noticed -
that their depression, loneliness and anxiety -
have increased with cell phones.
How does the digital change affect the spiritual growth of the youth -
and their ability to navigate in a culture often hostile to the Bible?
The screens make us their disciples by changing the way we think.
Jesus said: "The mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
In stead of a culture based on Christian values, the children grow -
in a multivoiced society that claims: "The truth is relative".
"Live as it feels good to you." Everyone creates their own reality.
There are three megatrends that shape our culture: -
Access to a huge amount of data via internet, -
distancing from the traditions that used bring structure and meaning to life -
and the authority crisis, i.e. that we view everything with suspicion.
Two out of three 18 to 35 year-olds who grew up in church have left it.
The main reason for this is the lack of disciplement.
We don't help the youth to grow up in faith -
or equip them to live faithful to God in the modern world.
In stead we equip them to live in a Christian culture of the times gone by.
They notice that they are not prepared for the cultural pressure -
that questions everything on what they have built their lives.
Proverbs 22:6: "Start children off on the way they should go, -
and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
Someone will disciple the growing generation, either we or the screens.
Sami, you have 7 children and you are working -
as the children ministry coordinator of Pentecostal churches in Uusimaa.
So you work with the things related to the children and youth.
What do you think on this: if we don't grow children and youth -
as followers of Jesus, the screens will lead them to a totally different way?
Yes, if we leave the education solely on the screens.
But of course we can use the screens such as the internet and social media -
as a support in our own education if we find there suitable tools -
in the church context and in our Christian education.
But then we have to watch them with our children -
and look for such applications and websites -
that support our own values and education principles.
What do you think on this, Arno?
I agree on what Sami said.
The social media and the screens as themselves are not a bad thing, -
but the big question is how we can take advantage of them -
and do we let them just control our lives and the lives of our children.
What kind of threads do you see in all those screens, Sami and Arno?
In principle, everything that we take in has an influence on us.
Perhaps the challenge in this world of screens is -
that they can throw so many different things in front of us at a fast pace.
How can we understand and evaluate if it is all constructive or even true?
Yeah, I agree with Arno on this.
The challenge here is how to filter the content.
Where can we find the truth in all the content that is offered to us?
It is also very easy to access a lot of damaging material.
So we should be able to restrict the content very strongly -
and be very goal-oriented with it.
What does build me up? What takes me towards my goals?
If you haven't set clear goals and objectives for your life, -
or are still looking for them, -
it is easy to end up just wandering around among all that material.
And the amount of the material is endless. Another big challenge is -
to build up your own identity and to find your purpose.
How does is then affect the ability to be present with other people?
I think it affects quite a lot. We all agree that it is disturbing -
if someone is talking to you and you are just using your phone all the time.
It does affect the interaction. The cell phone has become a stress relief toy -
that we handle when we feel that we need to calm down.
We often have to take the phone and do something with it to calm down.
It does have a lot of control over our lives, -
and it can also break the real, genuine interaction.
As these before mentioned things threaten our children and youth, -
what can we do as parents and church workers?
Can we restrict or control what they watch, or what can we do?
I think that it is important to be present in their everyday life, -
to ask them questions and to be interested in the material they watch.
And also to discuss -
what for we watch different kinds of content.
We cannot restrict our children's access to the modern technology, -
and it is more important to be interested in the content -
they are watching and to have conversation on values.
That will lead them to think for themselves if the content is such -
that they want to watch and whether or not it is useful for them.
I agree that we cannot stop them. Even if you could stop your children -
watching certain content using some technical devices, -
you cannot influence on what your children's friends are watching.
If your children interact with their friends, -
it is inevitable that your children are exposed to other influences as well.
In my opinion it is more important that the children and the youth learn -
to think for themselves and to evaluate what is good, -
and for this reason it is really important to discuss with them.
The families should be able to maintain an open conversation culture.
But I also think that the church as a larger community -
is another crucial factor when the child builds up an image on this.
They might think it is just their parents who think in a limited way, -
but if they see that there is also a wider group that thinks the same, -
it encourages them to see that it isn't just something their family does.
Then they also start to reflect on what the society is telling us -
and how do we live as a church. I find these to be important factors.
According to a British study, a child spends on average -
1,000 to 1,200 hours per year at school and 100 hours at church, -
but the parents spend 2,000 to 3,000 hours a year with the child.
So they do have a chance to make a difference.
Now Petra will tell us how she uses different devices.
I stare at two different screens every day in my daily life.
Sometimes I also use our big desktop computer.
I spend a half of my day watching different screens.
On my laptop I usually do either schoolwork or my own projects.
I carry my laptop with me all the time. It is my school textbook.
My screen time is not limited at the moment, -
but I have set some kind of limits for night time myself.
I try to sleep then, and we have agreed -
that Saturday mornings are device-free time for the whole family.
I think it's quite a good thing.
I think it's handy to have my mobile phone near and at hand -
when I want to check something online -
or maybe have to call a friend.
Well, I have learned the 10-finger typing, -
simply to process and search information online -
and to do all kinds of programmes with the computer, -
or well, not programmes, but papers for school projects, -
to write stories and publish my own productions. So I have learned a lot.
My faith has an influence mainly on what I google -
and what kind of things I like to search on the internet.
My faith is also sometimes related to my writings, -
and drawing is easy on the computer.
Sometimes it's nice to draw prayer requests and stuff.
Using smart devices doesn't usually have any influence at all -
on my external experiences of my goodness.
On discussion forums I've often heard people say -
that "this is internet, you don't have to be polite here", -
but I don't think that's true.
So I just encourage everyone to be kind.
Petra has the screens well in control in her life.
She uses them for both informative and artistic production, -
but Sami, if you think of your responsibilities as a Christian dad -
and pre-teens ministry coordinator, what good do you see in the screens?
Well, there are a lot of good things, good content and social interaction.
It is a good contact platform and a way to keep in touch, -
and we as churches also use it as a tool.
We still need a lot more of good and constructive content.
There is some good and constructive content as well, -
but compared to the content that is not so good and constructive, -
the ratio might still be not so good, and thus it is important to invest -
in creating such good and constructive content -
that really helps the youth, children, families and us all -
to grow in understanding -
of what kind of world we have and how we should relate to it.
I'd like to add -
that when it comes to material, we are not very strong.
You really have to dig deep to find good Christian content for children.
In my opinion we are not creating enough good quality material.
Others are leading the way in that market, -
and their content is very prominent.
I think this is a challenge for our Finnish context, -
because we have a certain language group.
In English and in other languages there is much more good content, -
but in Finnish we have much less of it.
In my opinion we really should put an effort on this.
Why then don't our churches disciple in the digital world?
I think it is related to a certain change in technology.
Usually in the churches the people who plan the agenda and the content -
belong to a generation -
that has not learned to take advantage of this technique and medium.
They are using the tools they have learned during their lives, -
in their childhood, youth and as adults.
They have different technological skills and thought patterns than the youth.
I think it is largerly due to this.
We do what we know to do. This is one big reason for this.
Another big reason is that we might not challenge ourselves enough.
We should have more drive in what we do, -
so that we would think that we really want to make a difference -
and not just to do what is easy and what we know we can do.
We should challenge ourselves to step strongly into the new.
Arno, you work as executive director in a community -
that gives the young people a chance to serve in missions, for example.
Do you think that would it be possible for the children and youth -
to be active in the digital world and to express their faith?
Yes, it is possible, but it requires that the older generation -
wants to see children and youth as a meaningful factor in this environment.
A big change in culture is needed in this, too.
Yes, there are opportunities, we just have to give them -
room to do things. That is the bigger challenge.
The adult generation and the elderly people have taken a strong role -
in teaching and instruction, and they are afraid to give it away -
so that we would genuinely give responsibility -
and as they say in sports, game changing opportunities, -
so that they can go and do things and live true what they have learned.
We would need a lot more of those places.
Can it be because we don't want to take risks?
You never know what the children are going to say.
Precisely. This is the problem. We are focused on teaching and information.
We think that we have the knowledge and are afraid of mistakes.
What if some of their statements don't quite hit the target -
theologically or doctrinally?
We don't dare to give the youth responsibility in doing things, -
but in my opinion we really should, -
and they would like to take responsibility already at a young age.
You see that in many activities.
It makes them to commit and to grow also spiritually -
when they can do things, participate and use the skills and gifts -
God has given them. This way they can grow in their tasks -
and also grow into the community. This would be really important.
Children and youth are quickly bored if they have to just be the audience, -
only the receiving party and cannot participate themselves.
Another challenge in our church culture is the we are agenda-oriented.
We do some kind of a program for a so called audience.
That isn't very fruitful in the long run.
There is one more problem: -
the children and youth learn best when they do things themselves, -
when they have to process something and think what it really means.
It is completely different to explain something by yourself -
than if it is just given to you and you're told to learn it by heart.
How much will it become a part of our way of doing?
There is also a resource point of view.
We adults are often very burdened from our own lives, work and family, -
but there are other people in line would be eager to do things.
So it's a bit funny that we still try to do everything ourselves.
Sometimes we do things a bit half-heartedly and don't even have -
the strength to put an effort on it or to make use of all the good ideas.
We have a lot of good materials and curricula -
but we don't have the energy to make use of them, -
because we are so tired of everything else in our daily lives.
So we often do things in the easy way.
We do it in the old style, the way we know best, -
and yet the new generation would have eagerness, energy and time -
to put much more effort on it. We really should take advantage of it.
That would be a win-win-situation.
Thank you Sami and Arno for a good conversation.
It was great to spend time with you. - Thank you.
The screens are a good servant but quite a bad master.
They connect us but also separate us.
Let's work together to find ways to help the children and youth -
to live with different devices -
without losing touch of themselves, other people and God.
In the next episode we ask are we inviting God into our family life.
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Translation: Anni Lähteenmäki / TV7