In the golden days of Hollywood the biggest stars worked their way up through Vaudeville to get onto the big screen. Their talents were manifold. They could act, sing, dance. They had spent years (not days, weeks or months) in dance class, acting class, music class, voice class. Others specialized in physical comedy, earning their money the hard way by taking the fall... and paying dearly for it in their old age.
Today's stars don't have to worry. They can have their faces and bodies airbrushed to perfection... or have a face-lift and liposuction if they prefer. They don't have to learn how to dance either. They simply let a body double do the work, digitally overlay their face onto the shot and voila, they're a dancer! As for singing, just pipe their voice into a computer, stir in some Auto-Tune and they're instantly a professional singer.
Our children are the Auto-Tune generation!
I admit, it's not like this for everyone. However, today's youth are bombarded with enough technology to replace almost everything for which the previous generation had to work so hard. Think about it, today's youth don't even need to learn how to type! They can speak to their computer (or phone) and it converts their speech to text. There is so much information on the internet that youth need hardly lift a finger to do all the research they need for a school project. Unfortunately for them, you can't trust everything you read on the internet (in fact, I trust very little I read unless the source is reputable).
Now, I'm not against technology... after all my career is in the Information Technology sector. What concerns me is that our youth may be forgetting how to be themselves. They can create a Facebook account, post pictures and status updates that say whatever they want. They can paint a completely convincing picture to the world of one person and a picture to their parents of another. With technology, they can, on their Facebook page, whiten their teeth, cover up their pimples, take the frizz out of their hair, shave off ten pounds... they can even put themselves in a place they've never been.
One problem here. With all this technology and information they can't make themselves happy. What young people see when they look at others' posts on Facebook or Myspace are often "perfect" people. People who haven't a care in the world. People who have the best time whatever it is they do. Why do they see this? Because everyone wants to be seen as having it all... having what their friends have. Teens don't want to be seen as being less well-off as their peers. They want to be in control of everything, and if they can't be in control they want to at least make it appear they're in control.
What this does is build a false sense of worth in our teens. First they see what others appear to have and they don't have. Then, whether out of selfishness, vanity or a sense of inferiority (or all of the above), they set forth to obtain what the others have. Not because they need it or even because they want it, but because it makes them appear to be someone they aren't. Then the cycle repeats itself.
As Christian parents we need to break this cycle. It's our responsibility to help fill our children with the things of God. We do that by placing the things of God in front of them, both by training and by example. If our children see us in a never-ending race to keep up with the neighbors they will place a higher priority on worldly things. If they see us more concerned with following after Christ they will place a higher priority on Godly things.
What is important to you? Are you focusing on your career? Could it even be you are trying to keep up with your friends in the church? Their children are in the puppets, children's choir and the teen band, so you think yours should be as well? Your children aren't ignorant. They know whether you're focusing on them or on their keeping up with the other kids. Make certain your children know by your actions that they are the most important things on earth to you!
We need to help instill in our children the confidence that Jesus Christ is all they need. They don't need to be somebody they aren't because they have everything they need in Him! So that it doesn't matter to them if their best friend gets an iPhone for Christmas because their hand-me-down slider gets the job done!
Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
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