What Parents Need to Know about Postmodernism, Part 2

Last month, I posted part one of my three part series, What Parents Need to Know About Postmodernism, on the Family Matters blog. Today they posted the second part discussing the role social media plays in the postmodern generation's social world. You can read the post in its entirety here. Below is an excerpt:The way we as parents use the Internet is probably radically different from the way our children use it. It’s the difference between Google and Facebook. The older generation (us) is best described as the Google generation. When we use the Internet, we are generally seeking information. We type whatever we want to find out into Google, and then we get the answers. Our kids are better described as the Facebook generation. When our kids go online, they are generally seeking interaction. If they want to know something, instead of typing it into Google, they will log on to Facebook and ask a friend.I was first struck by this difference while working as a youth worship pastor. I was born into a generation that straddles the fence between the two mindsets. Both Google and Facebook achieved prominence during my college days, but the way I use both is right in between the above distinctions. Needless to say, as I started getting friend requests from the high school kids in the youth group, I quickly began to see my news feed flooded with the emotional and relational drama of these kids. I remember multiple times sitting on the couch with my wife, laptop in front of me, shocked by the kind of stuff these kids would write on Facebook, and the drama they would let play out publicly for all their online sphere to see.Although we as parents may not understand it, we cannot underestimate the social role online communications play in our children’s lives. The Internet is not merely a research tool to our children, it is a legitimate extension of their social world. We might think its silly that our daughter gets her feelings hurt by something said on Facebook, or that our son has a falling out with a friend because of being de-friended. But if we treat these instances as trite or as pointless things that happen online and not in the real world, then we will only add insult to injury to our child’s already fragile confidence.We need to first be sensitive to the role of online interaction to our kids, and then be proactive about encouraging our kids to use those interactions to love their friends well. Cyber bullying is an awful new reality in a postmodern, online world. Wouldn’t it be great if cyber-encouraging became so pervasive as to overtake it?