God revealed to the Prophet Daniel about this digital era: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4) People are running on the Information Highway of the Internet to search, know, and find information, from website to website. Sadly, many are becoming Data Addicts.
Digital Natives:
The world is experiencing a digital divide. Those who were born before 1985 are termed Digital Immigrants, and after 1985 are called Digital Natives. Today, most people living in the world are Digital Natives. Born into a digital world of screens, computers, monitors, and microchips, which is, for better or for worse, young people’s birthright. Digital Immigrants try to make sense of the digital era and seek the help of youngsters.
Digital food:
Parents and children should have certain guidelines to have healthy digital nutrition and interaction. “Screens that – like food – have become essential for modern life. And a screen over which we can have the power to change our relationships – so that we build active, nutritious online engagement.
Digital nutrition:
However, young people need healthy digital nutrition. When youngsters are concerned with physical fitness, by going to gyms and adhering to a diet, they do not care about digital consumption. Kaitlyn Reghr, the author of the book: Smartphone Nation, writes: “If you really want to keep young people healthy, if you want to be proactive rather than reactive, you need to be concerned about their digital health. They need digital nutrition.”
Steps for Digital Nutrition:
A balanced digital diet – for our ‘feeds.” Kaitlyn provides six steps for digital nutrition. First, it is wise to decide your maximum limit for each app. Second, turn off push notifications. If not, notifications could lead to spending more time on what non-essentials are. Third, grayscale your phone, lessening the brightness. Four, clean up your home screen to have only the absolute essentials. Five, fix Screen-free – certain times and certain places. For example, dinner time could be screen-free time. Six, Limit your usage of individual apps.
Am I a diligent disciple of the Lord in the Digital Era?