Time Matters

We all have the same amount of time. Every day comes with hours, minutes, seconds that are equally distributed to each individual. How we use them is telling. Many kids (and sometimes teen-agers, even the occasional adult) struggle with using the time wisely. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and others all believe that a child’s use of time is important, but often do little to control that use.

Studies have shown that excessive media use can lead to attention issues, behavioral problems, learning difficulties, sleep disorders, and obesity. Too much time online may even inhibit a child’s ability to recognize emotions, according to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles. Despite these risks, as technology increasingly becomes a part of modern life, children are spending more and more time in front of screens. A recent study found that in the U.S. 8-year-olds spend an average of eight hours a day with some form of media, with teenagers often clocking in at 11 hour a day of media consumption. A 2013 study by Nickelodeon found that kids watch an average of 35 hours a week of television. (TIME)

I never cease to be amazed how many Believer parents infrequently attempt to focus their children’s attention on spiritual things. I suppose they think that it will all come in due time. Kids ought to be in Sunday School (45 minutes or so one day a week), a program like AWANA (perhaps 1 and 1/2 hours, one day a week) is a wise choice. It should be obvious that Bible studies and devotions in the home would be extremely advantageous to children (perhaps 15-20 minutes two or three days a week). That would be a total time of only 3-4 hours PER WEEK.  If people ever wonder why their kids make the wrong choices or “end up in trouble,” perhaps they ought to re-read the quote above.

Kids will often do what their parents do, positive and negative. If you spend more time on the Internet or in front of the TV than in intimate contact with God, your focus may be a bit skewed. Think how difficult it is for a child or teen-ager, who does not have your experience, to get things right when most everything they see and do (particularly on the Internet, Television, and popular gaming) is damaging, to some degree, to their immature spiritual nature. (It doesn’t refrain from damaging the more “mature” Believer either.)

We live in an “excessive media” environment. One has to work at getting one’s mind focused on what’s really important.