Fostering Faith in a Digital Age: challenge and opportunity Terri Martinson Elton

Kaiser Study | A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that young people age 8 to 18 are spending more time with media than ever before: more than seven and half hours a day— an one hour more than five years ago. 7 ½ hours

Kaiser Study Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in media use among young people ages 8 to = 6 ½ hours (8 ½) 2010 = 7 ½ hours (10 ¾) That means more than 53 hours a week. And because so much of that time is ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7 1/2 hours.

The type of media young people are consuming has changed and become much more fluid, both in terms of the devices used and the content. Traditional TV-watching has dropped by 25 minutes a day, although online and mobile TV viewing more than made up for the drop. Total TV viewing is at four and half hours a day. Music (two and half hours), computers (one and half hours) and video games (a little more than an hour) are the next most popular media.

Computers and mobile devices are the source of the newest activities: Social networking is the top online activity (22 minutes a day), following closely by online games (17 minutes) and video sites like YouTube (15 minutes). Reading, that age-old medium, clocks in at 38 minutes a day. While the amount of time spent reading print newspapers and magazines has declined, time spent reading books has remained constant over the years, the survey found.

Kaiser Study Among 7 th – 12 th graders – multitask “most of the time” while using each medium: Listening to music – 43% Using a computer – 40% Watching TV – 39% Reading – 27% Playing Video games – 22%

Kaiser Study Mobile and online media has fueled the increase in media use. Today, 20% of media consumption (2:07) occurs on mobile devices.

Kaiser Study Among all 8-18 year olds - % who owns : Cell Phones – 39% - 66% iPod/MPS – 18% - 76% Laptops – 12% - 29%

Kaiser Study Among all 8-18 year olds – activities on phone: Talking - 33 minutes Consuming media – 49 minutes (17 on music, 17 on gaming and 17 on TV)

Kaiser Study Among all 8-18 year olds – a typical day: TV Content - 4:29 Music/audio – 2:31 Computers – 1:29 Video Games – 1:13 Print – 38 minutes Movies – 25 minutes

Kaiser Study Among all 8-18 year olds – TV Content: 1999 – Live TV 3:05 DVDs 27 min Time shifted 14 min 2004 – Live TV 3:04 DVDs 32 min Time shifted – Live TV 2:39 DVDs 32 min Time shifted 22 min Online 24 min iPod 16 min

Kaiser Study Among all 8-18 year olds – Computer time: Social Media- 25% Playing Games – 19% Video sites – 16% Instant messaging – 13% Other video sites – 12% – 6% Photos – 5% Other – 5%

Smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive. –One in four teens are “cell- mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer. a nationally representative youth ages and their parents Teens and Technology 2013

78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of them own smartphones. –That means 37% of all teens who have smartphones, up from just 23% in % of teens have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population. 95% of teens use the internet. 93% of teens have a computer or have access to one at home. Teens and Technology 2013 Key findings:

“The nature of teens’ internet use has transformed dramatically — from stationary connections tied to shared desktops in the home to always-on connections that move with them throughout the day,” said Mary Madden, Senior Researcher for the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. “In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future changes in the adult population.” Teens and Technology 2013

what does this mean for us? …for our relationships? …for teaching and learning? …for ministry?

Nurturing Faith in the Midst of Facebook and iPods What's a Congregation to Do?

Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media and industrial media are: 1.Reach – both provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, uses a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media relies on a more decentralized, less hierarchical, framework. 2.Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost. 3.Usability – industrial production requires specialized skills and training. Social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills. 4.Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media is long compared to social media, which is more immediate and fluid. 5.Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

How will ministry be present?