Mobile Ministry Magazine

This is a subject that I'm working on understanding a bit more these days - in part because I sit on the line between Gen X and Y - that being the subject of the role that mobile (devices, services, lifestyles, etc.) play in the cognitive development of youth (youth being under the age of 18yrs).

There is a post over at the Next Great Thing blog which goes into this and takes a similar view to what we took here during the Parents and Mobile Kids series. Namely, that even though technology is moving faster, for these kids who are digital natives they "will still have to navigate developmental cognitive stages" just as we all have. Though the NGT blog is geared towards marketers, this article shows some of the insight within other fields which helps to recognize and better understand the implications of mobile technology within this intersection.

Labels: community, development, mobility, parenting, teens, teens. youth

Despite the anemic pace of posting, there have been a number of items of note that have passed via my RSS reader which are worthy to note. Here's the rundown:

• The ESV Online Study Bible was released this month alongside the hardcopy and is free throughout the month of March (via Biblical Studies and Technological Tools). Its available for a slew of mobile devices too (such as Olive Tree), so there's no excuse for not having a suitable read-reference with you.
• Carnival of the Mobilists #163 (via Golden Swamp).
• Don't forget to register for MinistryTECH and BibleTech.
• A Microsoft-proposed vision of of computing in 2019 (this is what kids will know as normal).
• The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism in Cape Town South Africa is going on in 2010. You can submit your choice for those you'd want to attend (via Sacred Digital).
• A person who is using a Palm Centro smartphone for Greek and Hebrew learning (via Palm Addict).
• The responsibility of parents to not allow kids to follow trends of mobile technology without first establishing guidelines via the Word (via Baptist Press).

That's all for now. I'm busy as ever and trying other new things with a mobile while working on a few articles and reviews. Back to the sea of life around me, hoping to catch a few ;)

Labels: BibleTech, Carnival of the Mobilists, children, ESV, Greek, Hebrew, innovation, MinistryTECH, Palm, Palm Addict, parenting, RSS

If there is one thing that we can gather of these days and times, its that the Internet, and to another avenue mobile devies, offer kids the ability to deal with stresses differently than our parents might have.

When we looked before at parents and mobile kids (Part 1 and Part 2 of this series), we identified how differnt kids are from parents and how both groups need to come together towards working out how usage is different for each generation. Essentially, there are expections that each has of the other which may not be totally realistic, and at the time time, they are relevant towards shaping family life.

Another aspect that's only recently being looked at is the effect of using mobile and web services as a means of managing stress. We know that all people have a means of sheltering out the rest of the world, focusing on some object, and then dealing with the stress. But what we don't know is the relevance of such activities in a mobile/web context.

Thankfully there is some research being started in this area. Louis Leung, Ph.D. Associate Professor & Director of the Center for Communication Research at the School of Journalism & Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong actually did a study where he looked at over 700, 8-15 year olds to get an answer to the question of how does technology help or hinder our lives when we encounter stressful life events and become upset.

Here's a quote of one of the conclusions of that study from the website The Next Great Thing:

What did Dr. Leung find? He found that when kids are stressed they use technology to help moderate their emotions. That is, when kids in his study found themselves under stress, they interacted with technology to both moderate their moods and access social networks. Through the Internet, they accessed entertainment and information and sought “social compensation” through recognition and relationship management.

Consistent with good mental health, they recognized the need to seek help. The more social support a subject was able to access, the less impact stress had on their lives.

Looking at this quote, we can see that as before, previous generations of adults dealt with things in the same way, just not with the immediacy of the Internet or the funnel of a personal mobile device (Game Boy, mobile phone, etc.). And while there is most probably some cultural leaning that can also be said of the study - for example, possible fewer technological distractions - one can see that there is a healthy trend here towards managing stress, even though its different.

In light of this, what is something that parents and kids can do though to bridge the gap of what might be misintrepreted communication? First off, establish early on that the Internet and mobile devices should not be an "escape place," but a place of "simmering down." Emphasize the need to verbially and face-t-face address issues, using mobile and web technolgies as initial ice breakers towards opening those lines of communication.

Another possiblity here is alloting time for those "distractions" so that parents and youth alike can have a transistion moment from a stressful environment (school or work day) to a different one (home life, afterschool activities, etc.).

I would also emphasize that the kids be encouraged to also do things such as art and music, with and without connected devices, so that they are dependent on just one method of dealing with stresses.

Again, there's a lot to be learned in respect to how mobile and web technolgies are reshaping how we think about the world around us. And at the same time, its really all the same as its always been. The key as always is seeing what the basic needs are, and then making sure that the tools stay as tools, and the people stay as the focus.

Labels: children, community, discipliship, Internet, mobiles, parenting, Parents and Mobile Kids, teens, youth

Outside of game systems and High School Musical, it seems that mobiles have arisen to being near the top of the list for many kids. They see the ability to text, game, personalize, and connect online as being fruitful elements to how they enjoy childhood. Their parents might even see mobiles as an extended safety net, a means to teach sound financial principles, or an area that their kids need to show maturity before being given a rope.

No matter how parents and their kids are seeing mobility, both groups understand that its not a question of "if" kids will get their mobile life rolling, but "when" and "how" will it effect parents and themselves

So lets talk some about the benefits: applicable communication and technical skills building, grace versus allowance, and sound financial discipline.

The biggest benefit of a child getting involved with mobile communications today has to do with the immediate future value. Sorry parents, the way you communicate is a lot slower and more antiquated than how your kids will. Engaging them towards using mobile devices and services now prepares them for that soon to come paradigm shift when they are leading things. Besides just learning the technology, they are learning it as it relates to how they communicate with others, and this is a decisive advantage over any other media and lessons that they could be learning right now.

Another benefit has to do with the idea of setting boundaries, or what I like to call "grace versus allowance." As we learn as adults, there are many things that God has given us the grace to be able to do and achieve. At the same time, there are many roads we have wandered due to our ignorance that God has allowed us to travel, and may later have proved to be valuable lessons to share with others later. Mobile devices and technology can become a speaking point for you (parent) and a learning point for them (children) towards these areas of grace and allowances that lead them into a better understanding of how to fit within the world around them.

The last lesson is probably the most important, the issue of financial discipline. Mobile devices can be used as a jumping board for teaching sound financial discipline. For example, if a youth wants a mobile device, you ask them to research it. Having done that, you then ask them if they can afford it? If not, you ask them how they can go about purchasing this with what skills they are able to do (chores, outside work, etc.). You then get into teaching how to give and save, with the mobile device as the backdrop to this lesson. If there is a mobile phone involved, you can use the idea of putting money on a pre-paid mobile plan (I never would recommend a youth do a post-paid mobile, its pain for the parent). Using the model of pre-pay, you can teach them the difference between credit and debit budgeting, giving them a heads-up when they get into college and are bombarded with credit-only marketing.

This is a lengthy topic and so please stay tuned to part two (Wednesday) where we will talk about the negatives and an appropriate view of this technology with our changing times.

Labels: children, discipliship, education, Internet, mobility, parenting, Parents and Mobile Kids

The Nokia Conversations blog has highlighted an article and its source post speaking about internet etiquette education in [South] Korea. Being that mobile and internet use is very high in terms of use and lifestyle in [South] Korea, its almost appropriate that they would be one of the first to take a whole sale approach to addressing use and ethics for parents, youth, and culture.

This quote speaks to why this matters and why as a Body we need to jump in and learn/apply these same lessons:

...many children including myself go through the phase when they relate their identity to imaginary or fictional characters. i am no expert in this area so i do wonder how future children would discover and exploit the fact that they can be the imaginary character to a certain extent if they want to, aided by other ‘people’ in the digital world, not just by their own imagination while they are going through the blossoming age of developing their social perception and individual identity. it is up to whether the child will be able to master the delicate skill set of constructing and maintaining the perception of a world in a non-physical form...

This is a subject that begs discussion on so many levels, not the least of which is because the technology moves so fast that education can sometimes be seen as a chore and something that holds it back. I disagree with this notion, and therefore discussions and policies like these are needed so that we don't end up with a culture that has a jaded sense of what is real versus what is virtual - or in other words find their identity in more than just the social programs they are engaged in.

Check out the posts at Nokia Conversations and Nokia Design Researcher Younghee Jung, and then the original Korean article (its in Korean) speaking about these policies for more insight and backstory on this.

As leaders and parents, how do you teach ethics, while allowing the technology to be a place where imaginations can form maturely?

Labels: children, church, communication, community, computer, education, parenting, teaching, tech, teens

I am nearing 30, but I do not have kids of my own. I do tend to play with them a lot, and mobile technology is very much a part of our time. Especially with teens, mobile tech (phones usually) are seen as independence and personal items. They go as far to color them, add screens/ringtones, and do other things that make the mobile theirs, even when they are not even paying the bill for it.

However, parents have an issue with this. And I totally understand. For many of them, the technology has moved as fast as their kids in terms of growth and its harder to know what they are doing versus just shutting it down completly. Some parents have a handle of being able to use mobile tech in a rewards system, being able to emphasize that mobile tech is a priveledge, not a need.

So I want to open up some discussion, and maybe this can give me (personally) some insight into parenting, and you (parents, pastors, and teachers) some insight as to how to better understand what it is your teens are doing with mobile tech. Becuase we don't want statistics like these becoming more common; we'd rather Godliness speak louder than debauchery ya know.

Labels: communication, community, mobile, parenting, teens, usability

I'm by no means a parent yet, but I do have a ton of experience with kids through various volunteer and church functions. Frankly speaking, I love kids. And one of the more enjoyable things that I get to do is that I am able to use mobile devices in ways with them to engage them, and effectivly learn from them how they interact with their world.

What got me thinking on this wise was a thread over at Internet Tablet Talk where people were talking about how they use their Internet Tablets as part of their parenting strategy. From replacing the car DVD player, to sketching and games, there's a good bit that can be done given some imagination and a child in need of activity.

So to you parents out there, do you do anything with mobile devices to bolster some of your parenting? Or, is there something that you would like to see from mobile devices in terms of software that would make it easier for you to hand a device off and then be assured that they are not just keeping busy, but learning and engaging the world a bit differently than with other media?

Labels: internet tablet, mobile accessories, mobiles, Nokia, parenting, software

When I was younger, my parents resorted (many times) to taking away things that I enjoyed so that I would get the point that I had to wise up in areas. These days, taking away things from youth includes mobile devices such as iPods and mobile phones. One parent of a teen that I regularly interact with mentioned that because of school issues with his son, he had to take away much of the mobile technology that the teen used. While this left the teen disconnected, it did get the point to him that connecting to friends is not as important as connecting to schoolwork.

As parents of an increasingly digital generation, there are similar responses that should be taken when the need warrants. Nothing should come before God, family, and education when it comes to you. But many times, the world within mobile devices can do just that.

How do Christians respond to this as a family and as a community? What steps have you found that work for you, and what doesn't work?

Bonus discussion question: what are the downfalls of taking away that connectivity from the child, and how does a parent create an environment where taking away that aspect of connectivity does not take away the ability to be productive?

Labels: community, devices, mobility, parenting, software, tech