Healthy Homes Series - Screen Time in the Home - Pastor Brad DeLong

These numbers are not reflective of time spent on the screen at work. These are entertainment numbers. That's sobering. That alarmed me. Nearly half, 41% of American teenagers 13 to 18 have screen time of more than eight hours a day. entertainment screen time among children. And the US has risen from four hours and 44 minutes in 2019 to the uh postcoid numbers of five hours and 33 minutes a few years ago. It's ebbed and flowed after that, but hasn't dipped much. Some children average over eight hours of entertainment a day.

I don't think we can quantify the damage that that does to a brain. Only 5% of users 8 to 12 reported no screen time. Gen Z, they're called digital natives. That's literally one of their nicknames. They spend nine hours a day on average. Again, entertainment. Teens in general, eight hours and 20 minutes a day. YouTube consumption. Android users alone. Any Android users? Oh, they're proud of it. They're proud of it. You all spend 10 trillion minutes a month watching YouTube. Not you all, but your your uh peers.

iPhone users did. They didn't have the stat. 70% of teens use screens within an hour before bedtime. 53% of children, 8 to 12, on smartphones. Adults spend about 33% of their time on social media. Uh, teens dedicate 25% of screen time to video games. Adults spend 40% of screen time watching videos. So, you might say, well, maybe some of what they're doing is productive, but the stats show 73% at least is just on entertainment. South Africans spend nine hours and 24 minutes. That's the highest a day.

And only Japan reported screen time less than four hours a day. That's a lot. The author of this article, which has been fact checked, said, "It's incredible that we spend nearly half of our waking hours glued to screens." Again, these are a tool and they're they're a device, but I I I don't think we have any idea how to use these. coupled with the fact that screens are actually designed for addictive use and behavior. This is common knowledge that they're designed that way. You see that that you and I are especially susceptible to misusing these devices.

In many ways, we have been guinea pigs for these devices and apps and social platforms. Again, this is not disputed. It's common knowledge. The author comr said it like this. As a reminder, your phone in particular actually doesn't work for you. You pay for it, yes, but it works for a corporation in California or overseas. It doesn't work for you. You are not the consumer. He says, you are the product. It's your attention that's for sale along with your peace of mind. This is coming from a pastor and not a conspiracy theorist.

It's been widely documented as unfortunate or an unfortunate byproduct of all this is laid at the feet of oncoming generations and especially children. And when it comes to screens and smartphones, children are often like a moth to the flame. Anyone ever witnessed this before? They just they're just after those phones. They gravitate towards them. They instinctively uh gravitate towards it and use it and often affects them the most, especially emotionally and cognitively. Even very young children are not immune to it. They're especially immune to it.

Stats show that 50% of children 0 to two years old interact with smartphones regularly, 45% of children 2 to 5 years old use tablets. The article mentioned that these statistics are concerning given the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation and their recommendation is zero screen time for children under 18 months except for things like video chatting and then very limited but high quality programming for children 18 to 24. high percentage of young children are interacting with smartphones and it raises questions about long-term impacts on cognitive development, language acquisition and social skills.

We're seeing this and again there was a whole generation that was just a guinea pig for this and then they started thinking maybe we should study this and track and see if this is actually helping or hurting us and consistently the studies have shown it's hurting us. results are well documented. Higher rates of anxiety are tied to higher screen time. Cognitive decline is tied to higher screen time. Uh decreased language and communication skills tied to higher screen time. One researcher mentioned that a whole host of damaging side effects are linked with too much screen time in children and others, including sleep deprivation.

Blue light. You probably heard of the blue light. It messes with your circadian rhythm. Even things like obesity, uh they see it quite a bit because there's a lot more children that are sedentary because they're viewing a screen. Behavioral problems, as you can imagine, depending on what they're watching, playing video games, using a computer or smartphone, they're more likely to have emotional, social attention problems, delayed learning. Young children who watch excessive amounts of screen time can experience difficulties in picking up language. People are finally taking note of this.

parents are acting thankfully. Unfortunately, I feel like there's been negligence in in general for far too long. It's just a tool. It's it's a tool, these screens, but we are misusing them on a widespread and worldwide scale. And our our children are taking the hit for it. It's not just kids, though. Adults are using it almost 60 hours a week. 41% of adults have a hard time managing. I think it's higher than that. But I won't dispute. They they're the experts. It's not just kids, as I said.

And here are the documented side effects of too much screen time. There's all kind of opinions out there on what is too much screen time, entertainment time. The article I read says that more than two hours is too much. So if you have more than that, you're prone to or can be prone to insomnia, eye strain, headaches, addictive behaviors, neck, shoulder, and back pain, changes in cognition, reduced physical activity. Some of those are pretty obvious. When it comes to using tech, this is wild to me.

Our attention spans have actually decreased to that of less than a goldfish. Scientists say that goldfish can focus on one thing for nine seconds. When we're looking at tech, our average attention span is eight. We're losing to goldfish. At the risk of belaboring the point, I want to show you one last thing. If you could throw up that graph, Brother Eric, of uh it's called the the golden screen time equation. You may not be able to see that and read all the things. So, I will uh I'll just spell it out for you.

This is uh came from it was presented at a TED talk uh about a year or so ago that the data is accurate. It was presented by a man who oversees an organization called Project Reboot. It charts, if you can read, if you got 2020 vision, you can see it charged an 18year-old's remaining time in months on Earth in dots. Every one of those dots is a month. This is assuming that their life expectancy is 90 years old. That is 864 remaining months. So 72 years.

If those students maintain the average that each person spends doing tasks and activities, they're going to spend 288 months sleeping. Praise God for that. 126 months in work or school, 18 months driving, 36 months eating and cooking, 36 months in chores or errands. You're going to spend three years of your life chores or errands, 27 months in bathroom and hygiene activities. Hopefully they will have 300. The bottom black dots represent their free time. 334 months of free time. 28 years of free time. Everyone say, "Yeah, 28 years you get a free time." Here's the thing that just Oh, man.

If they maintain the average, they will spend 312 of those months on a screen. 93% of their free time on a screen. 26 years looking at a screen. 9,490 days looking at a screen. 227,760 hours looking at a screen. Wasting their lives looking at a screen. This is the average. This lines up pretty squarely with the data on Gen Z and millennials. It's a reminder we got a problem. We have a problem and we have to talk about it in the church. We have to address it.

What's remarkable everybody is none of this even takes into account the morality of what we're watching and how much time we're spending watching. I quoted a a proverb on Sunday that talks about the more you talk basically the more prone you are to sin. That's Solomon. I would say the more you watch, the more prone you are, the more screen time you have, the more prone you're going to be to see something you should. We've only talked about the detriment of too much time at this point, not even the nature of what we're viewing.

How many of you know, again, show of hands, that one moment, one second of screen time, because of what can be viewed, that it can change someone's life, especially a toddler. Anybody know this to be true? Yes. Some of us have lived that. I uh recall seeing it was about a minute's worth of programming that was totally unsanctioned by my parents. They had no idea uh that uh that I had seen it and that a young person or as a young person I had seen this clip of an evil movie that a movie rather that a friend showed to me years ago.

I saw about a minute of it and it affected me for years. Now you could say, "Well, that's just you're just weak." Sure, years. Our parents went to great lengths to protect us, but one minute of unintended exposure from an unwise source greatly affected me. Screens, technology, phones, tablets, computers, they are all tools, but we can often be playing with live amui ammunition when it comes to what can come across those screens. At home, I have an assortment of sharp kitchen knives. Most of us probably do.

There's nothing evil about them. I use them all the time with no ill effects. But one moment with a tool like that can change everything. I certainly don't let my kids have unfettered access to them. Can I advocate tonight that these screens, especially when they are tied to the internet, they can be just as, if not more damaging to a life than those knives. And all that said, thankfully both the Bible and biblically grounded teachers and leaders have forged a path here. It can help us with the epidemic of misuse that has surfaced in the realm of screen time.

And again, I I am under no illusion that just because we are filled with the Holy Ghost that we got this mastered. And I think you we all have just been vulnerable tonight and said, "Yeah, we we want to do better." I want to do better. I asked a a pastor I look up to. I just said, "Hey, tell me like what are some things you're doing to help you with screen time?" This is years ago. And he said, "I don't know. what are you doing?

And I was like, oh no, it got you. It's it's hard. It's incredibly difficult. They are they are built in a way that makes it difficult. And and we have though we have tools and when it comes to the moral and spiritual side of things, which I believe is the most important. We have ample scripture to help us. David never once laid eyes on a smartphone or or computer screen, but he writes under the direction of the Holy Ghost some words that help us today. He said, "I will behave wisely in a perfect way." He says, "Oh, when will you come to me?

I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I I hate the work of those who fall away. It will not cling to me. A perverse heart shall not depart from me. I I will not know wickedness." Verse six, he says, "My eyes will be on the faithful in the land that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he'll serve me. He who works deceit will not be in my house. Not in my house.

He who tells lies will not continue in my presence. There's two things about this passage that stand out to me. One, he will not allow anything wicked to be set before his eyes or allow his eyes to be fixed on anything wicked. He has the choice. And I know in our world that evil just seems to pop up on every single screen around us. But David just refused. And he didn't have some of the challenges we have, but he refused to look at it and dwell on it.

I heard someone say, "You really may not be able to help all that much if a bird tries to come and land on your head. It'll just swoop down and try to but you can help if it builds a nest." In other words, you may not be able to stop what just pops up right in front of you, but you don't have to fixate on it and dwell on it. And you certainly don't have to go looking for it or allow it to come in your life.

He made the choice to filter it out or simply turn away. In our case, he turned it off. He didn't fast forward or skip or hope it would end. He cut it off at the past. He made the choice ahead of time. He would not view those things. Secondly, in the later verse, he didn't allow access into his home from those who worked iniquity or in sin. And we see in his life what happens when he didn't do this detrimental. But David drew a line at the threshold of his home that no ungodly influence would dwell there or I'd say here.

There was a house ruled that no deceit, no deceitful persons, no one who tells lies, no one who would be in sin would would be welcome in that house. The the same and more could be said when it comes to our screens. If that program or person or show celebrates and promotes uh and even shows things that are just vile to God, we don't let them in our house. Here's a here's a helpful rule that if I have to fast forward it, just turn it off or never turn it on.

If that program has parts within it that need to be fast forwarded, I need to take a step back and say, "What's the agenda here? Should I be watching this if they're allowing this?" That may seem unreasonable to some, but here's the guiding principle. First Thessalonians 5, test all things. Now, they were talking about teachings many times. I think we get more teachings through screens than we want to admit. Test it. Hold fast to what's good. Abstain from every form of evil. One translation you probably know, it says, "Shun even the appearance of evil." Uh, no.

No way. Second Corinthians 6 adds this, "Do not be unequally yolked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with bile? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God? He's talking about that body that we're supposed to that whole being that's supposed to be submitted to God. What does it have with idols? For you're the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them.

I'll be their God. They'll be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. do not uh touch what is unclean and then I'll receive you. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him which is your reason to serve. These are some of the guideposts for life and especially for screen time including Paul's words of Timothy and then to the Philippians. 2 Timothy 2 he says flee youthful lust but you should pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Philippians 4. Finally, brethren, whenever things are true, whenever things are noble, whenever things are just, whenever things are pure, whenever things are lovely, whenever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. I This may be a a novel idea. And it hit me today. I'm like, why don't we just line up everything that comes across our screens with that? Everything comes across my phone, apps, streaming services, social media feed. See what passes the test. Not much. And that's the point.

We've got the filter. We have it right here. Not much passes it. And that is the point. Well, what are we supposed to watch? If the hand offends you, cut it off. I've told people, "I'd rather you punt this off a bridge, then it cause you to miss and it cause you to sin. If it if it doesn't honor God, I know there's amoral things. We'll talk about some of that, but we've got to line up with the word. We are led by example to hate every false way." This is Psalm 119.

to distance ourselves from things that are not only carnal but also things that waste our time and our days and talents. Just the timewasting aspect alone is a guide for us and a guard for us against unwise and overindulgent use of screens and technology and entertainment. I have wasted way too much time. I'm supposed to steward that time. Looking at that chart that we just talked about, it brings to mind the words of the prayer of Moses. This is Psalm 90. It says, "The days of our lives are 70 years.

And if if by reason of strength they might get to 80, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow. For for our days are cut off and and we fly away." You look at that chart and you're like, "Man, that does those dots. There's not a lot of them." It really sums things up, puts it in perspective. He says, "Who knows the power of your anger? For as the fear of you, so is your wrath." He says, "So teach us to number our days we may gain a heart of wisdom." If you look at a chart like that, wisdom ought to kick in and say, "Hey, I've got limited time.

I cannot spend it all fixated." Ephesians 5:16, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but be wise. It keeps talking about wisdom. Redeem the time because the days are evil. And then James 4 talks about our life that it's a vapor and we don't know what tomorrow holds. And then it adds, therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. So, we know I've got to number our days. We've got to redeem our time. We've got to be about the will and the work of the Lord.

And it may not be that what we're viewing is sinful. I don't think anyone in this room, I know you all, I love you. I don't think anyone here is wanting to sin and anyone's wanting to place things that are evil and violent. No one says, "Oh, what what can I watch today that's sinful?" Like, no. But it may be that the amount of time we dedicate to which seems to be at the forefront of our screen time issues that our lack of stewardship. You read the the parable of the master and the servant.

We talk about the talent and we focus on money but it could be our time. He comes back and says, "All right, give me account of what you did with your time." It may be that our lack of stewardship and our fixation on a device or screen for hours upon hours. That that is what ends up qualifying as a slight or sin against God. Especially if we're neglecting what we know to do. We know we got to hide his words in our heart and and seek his face.

If we are giving ourselves to devices and distractions instead, we know what to do and we just don't do it. To him, it is sin. This is difficult to grapple with tonight. It is something I have grappled with now. I've been praying about for years and I do not have it perfected. I'm working on this. We have to grapple with this, right? We've got to talk about these things. Thankfully, I've recently come across a resource in a guide that that helps to answer the question of how.

And it's not the end all beall. Entire world is trying to figure this out and they're struggling with this. The author doesn't have the silver bullet. No one really does. There's no silver bullet. It's really just discipline. But when I was reading from Justin Early, he's a New York Times bestselling author uh and uh he's a lawyer, but he's also a Christian, I realized he's got a great understanding of of this issue. He and his family have implemented some pretty stringent house rules to help with it.

Some that you might find extreme, others that you might find healthy and helpful. And his chapter on screen time hit me right between the eyes. and he starts it by noting the battle that he and his wife waged on screen time. I don't know if screen time is necessarily the root issue of this, but it is definitely an issue. And there's parents in the room probably that will relate when he says that his kids fought tooth and nail uh to have as much screen time as possible.

He said they were irritable. They'd go in like, "All right, time to turn it off." And they're railing and they're mad and they're upset. And they finally endured the pain. They they whittle their time down to a small fraction of what the rest of the world views and he makes clear this battle. He said is a fight for formation. He cites this scripture we've talked about it. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. Present your bodies living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.

He says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Truth is we are always being formed. How many of you ever noticed maybe you you were quoting like a real or something and you took on their accent or you you just started talking like that individual or maybe maybe you just felt your mood shift or you notice I'm being formed right now. This is affecting my emotions. It's really hard to watch something and it not affect your emotions.

If you've ever laughed at a video, you're being formed. Okay? And he says that the truth is we're always being formed. Many of us have been formed and molded by screens for years. Science alone has shown us our brains are literally rewired by these devices which may be in direct contradiction to this call of Romans 12. He says don't be conformed to this world and there may be no greater time for our minds to be transformed than right now. This is what the author said. Screens are incredibly formative.

They convey stories and images that captivate our imaginations. They're not inherently bad, but they are very powerful. He says, "Where the imagination goes, so goes the heart. You are what you think." And as we've said before, no content is neutral. Someone wrote it. Someone had a purpose in writing it. It wasn't all bad, but some are. So screens, he says, have been proven to be one of the strongest habit forming mechanisms we experience outside of addictive drugs. Screens and addictive drugs, pretty close to one another.

They form your habits. The numbers prove this. He says we we have to have guardrails. We have to have limits. We have to have boundaries. An example from from our personal home. Every single day, and Mariah can attest this, every day, multiple times a day, Wesley asks me for candy. Every day. I do not oblige him every time. Probably nine out of 10en times I tell him, "No." Is that because candy is evil? I don't think it's evil. I like candy. But you all know where I'm going.

Too much of it will have a strong effect on his health. Kim's gonna give him candy. I guarantee it. Too much will affect his health. This can be categorically said for screens. Now, the issue is that they're everywhere. They're on our wrists. They're in our pockets. They're in our cars. 50- foot tall billboards. They're in our classrooms. They're in this room. There's three of them, four of them. There's they're in your pockets. They're a fixture in our lives. Which is why what the author said next, it helped me so tremendously.

He agrees they're not inherently evil, but they're powerful. They can be destructive. He also notes they're not going anywhere. They they don't seem to be able to be removed from our lives altogether. His admonition then he says I'm not for elimination. He said I'm for curation. This is what he means by curation means first we set limits and second that we are choosing well within those limits. He said, "If screens were completely and inherently evil, we just stay away from them." No, don't do it. We're not indulging, but they have legitimate function.

It's much harder to use them wisely than it is to ban them altogether. So, we have to set limits. Limits for ourselves, limits for anyone in our household. If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Well, I we have good intentions, but no guardrails. I don't intend to drive off a cliff, but I might need a guardrail. Set limits. Uh, his limits are extreme by the world standards. There's an argument that ours should be the same. Do you want to hear what his limits are?

Anybody? No, some of you. Okay. They don't watch or stream anything throughout the entire week, only on a Friday night and maybe on a Sunday afternoons when their cousins come over. Even then, their limits are very strict. You can imagine that that was a steep battle. He documents that battle well. He's got four boys. You can also imagine the health of his kids and family. That health was worth to him the initial and ongoing pain. They have other rare except exceptions. He details them in the book, but screens have strict limits and he's detailed the healthy responses in the aftermath.

They do utilize what they call screen time Sabbaths, a set time in which no screens will be used and and available. for his home, off time is the norm. The norm is for no screens to be on or or used. And then he says, even when other kids from the neighborhood come over and they're on their phone, he says, "Put it away. Not in my house. Leave it at your own." Like, man. And then they carefully curate everything. Even when their kids are over at other friends house, they're not allowed to watch anything their mom and dad have not approved.

Some may seem, well, man, this is like I know there's a ditch on either side. You could just cart blanch and let them and then there's the other one where they they never basically they turn 18, they go to college, and then they're exposed to everything. And he's got some points on that. At home, they filter everything. He says, "I choose good content over new content." They watch known and wholesome content rather than watching something that is newly released and hasn't been vetted. They watch things that align with their core values with Philippians 8.

Is that hard to do? Yes. Is it necessary? Yes. The inverse has shown us that it is. And I believe the word show us that it is. Screens are not the enemy. But they can be one of his best weapons. One moment, one real, one photo, one episode, one cracked door, one entry point in your heart, in your home, in your life. One undisiplined moment can have a great effect on us. Neither give place to the devil, Paul says. But we do sometimes so willingly with our devices.

We've got to be vigilant. Our adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. How many here would agree that he's used a screen a time or two to do that? The fight for screen time, the author says, is the fight for formation, like Paul discusses in Romans 12. But getting rid of screens may not be the solution. Again, get in your car when you get out of here and rip the screen out. See what happens. They're everywhere. I saw a calendar recently uh that you put on your wall at home.

It's just a screen. It's a giant screen. You know, they're easy to make. They're everywhere. They can be so helpful. Uh so it may not be the solution to just get you may have to at some point. Curation, discipline, limits are a good start. We try to be disciplined when it comes to what we eat. Again, I don't go around eating candy every day. I want to I like chips and salsa, though. That's my main go-to. I would eat chips and salsa too much. But I have discipline.

This is the same. It's the same stuff. He ends with some practical advice. He says, "Talk about rhythms with your spouse or with an accountability partner, with a trusted and godly friend. Settle on your limits. Write them down. Have non-negotiable off times. Times like car rides, dinner time. I cannot tell you how many studies have been uh uh brought out about dinner time, sitting around the table and talking to one another once a day. It's incredible. It's like tied to dramatic decreases in uh the probability of them, you know, children going uh to being incarcerated.

There's like a direct tie. Never would have guessed. So he says off times just before bed early in the morning, consider excluding screens in places like bedrooms, private areas. Uh I heard an author say different author but he said if you allow your child to go into a room unfettered access with a phone tied to internet you might as well invite the entire world say hey come on in. You're not doing that. You're not you're not intentionally doing that but but that's the the type of scenario that can change them in a horrible way.

Have a curated list. Don't deviate unless you've vetted it. Turn off autoplay. That's a good one. Don't let the algorithm choose for you or your family what to watch. Don't be afraid to repeat wholesome content. You don't always have to watch everything that's new. Remember, it's not too late to start and that this fight may be more consequential for your health, your home, your relationships, your mind, your spirit than any other. It's worth the fight and the sacrifice. And lastly, he gives a note on adapting.

He says that our limits, content, and values may look different from one another. You may not go for what he did. You may not do Saturday night and Sundays. You may think, "Well, that guy's crazy." But he says, "Our heart to shepherd and steward our homes, minds, and hearts, and time should be united. We should have that shared." It circles back to our vision as a church. We want to be healthy, growing, and full of love. How many you want your home and your heart and your family to be healthy?

Anybody? All right. Before we do some Q&A, we got couple minutes left here. So, if you have any questions, again, I don't have this perfected. I'm leaning on the experts. Uh we do have some things that have worked for us, but I will give you a couple helpful and practical tips. Smartphones should have tracking data on screen time. Anyone ever use that? Screen time. Yes. Uh Androids have called what's the app? It's I think it's called digital well-being. iPhones just have screen time metrics in the settings tab.

If you go into settings and you scroll down, it says screen time and it will show you your mostus app. It will show you how long you spend on it, how much time you spent that week on the phone. Uh, it'll show you how many times you picked it up. That knowledge is powerful. Use it. Use it. I get a report every week on screen time. I check it regularly because I'm trying to be disciplined. You can set limits on apps uh on that page. If you're going over that two-hour limit or whatever limit you want to set uh during non- workinging hours, consider setting limits.

We can easily limit ourselves easily to two hours of entertainment a day. We can do it. If you use this for work like I do, it can be very difficult to draw the line. I know that firsthand. I try to draw it at the threshold of our house. That's hard to do. So, some practical or set some practical limits, share them with someone, adjust accordingly, delete some apps, get rid of some time. I I've been on a journey. I won't share all the apps I've deleted.

Not, you know, saying you're you're uh steeped in sin if you are, but I just realized I'm wasting so much time. What am I doing on this app? We don't need some of those. We can eliminate them. And lastly, if you're really serious about this, you can purchase things like brick. I've got in the office. I left it in there on accident. It's just a device you tap your phone to and it turns your phone into a brick. The only thing that comes through is calls.

Emergency. You can brick your phone. It literally it's like a brick, like a paper weight. Uh you can they have uh time lock containers. You can put your phone. You can get them on Amazon. Put your phone in it and put a time lock. This just shows you how sad it is. Honestly, people are having to develop these things where they have to put their phone in something that they can't. There's videos of kids trying to break these things open. That's the extent that we're going to here.

We got to address it. And then pray. Pray that the Lord will help you use these devices in a healthy manner. Pray for discipline. Pray about what apps to keep, which ones you should get rid of. Pray about the limits you should set for yourself and your family. Pray. Why don't we do that now? We'll do some Q&A in just a moment. Would you help me pray God would help us to use this tool in the right way? Would you lift your voice with me? Jesus, I'm so thankful for all these wonderful and precious people.

And we need your help, oh God. We recognize that the world around us has gone astray and there's an epidemic, Lord, of misuse when it comes to these screens and devices. And we're asking that you would help us not to fall into the same pit. We uh we are not immune, Lord, to these same things and not immune to time wasters. We're not immune to to content, Lord, that wouldn't be pleasing or uh to you or honor you. I pray that you would help us, every home, every family, every individual to wisely use these phones.

Help me, oh God, not to be out of balance when it comes to screen time. We need your help. We want to be healthy and growing and full of love in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right. We don't usually do this uh in this setting here, but any any questions? Again, I'm not the expert, but this is a great resource, just so you know. Uh Habits of the Household, phenomenal book. Um, I would highly recommend it. But any questions, any thoughts? Anybody? Stephen, you got a question?

T Today is his anniversary of coming to APC. I think it's two years, right? That's awesome. We celebrate with you, Stephen. That's awesome, man. He's been reminding me that, keeping uh he's got it circling on the calendar, so we celebrate with you. That's awesome. Yes. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. My my first go-to would if I knew the their parents, which I'm assuming that you do, I would tell them, "Hey, just so you know, before they come over, we've got uh some uh some house rules." And you know, you may have more than that house rule.

Um we ask them to abide by these things. One of those house rules is we vet all the content. If if there's someone that thinks that that's unreasonable, they can do a Google search and they'll see it's not at all. So, I would tell them tell talk to their parents. That way, it's not, you know, they get to your they get to your house and they say, "Uh, well, Sister Caressa told me I can't." And then the parents wonder if you talk to the parents ahead of time.

These are our house rules. We ask they can have their phone. Uh, if you need to get in contact with them, but um, we don't want them using their phone while they're at the house because we don't know if they have access to the internet, all those things, you know. So, I would talk to that parent and if that's a deal breaker for them, it's a dealbreaker for you, then uh unfortunately I know of instances where uh again house rules, healthy house, but those things were brought in and then they cause significant damage.

So, I think it's a it's a a worthwhile rule. Yeah. Any other questions? But Jason Yes, I do. Uh a lot of thoughts. Unfortunately, um you know, this gets into like the realm of u if there is internet access. It may not even be that that the person using those devices is trying to use them for something nefarious, but uh just the access alone it some again you may think I'm extreme. I think you know if if we have a one-on-one conversation I could give you uh case study after case study but I would say it'd be like you know that there is uh someone down the street that's trying that wants to sell something a drug to to your kid and you just say yeah go ahead and again may think that's extreme but um uh I don't and if you've ever had someone gain access through the internet we had a pastor that told of a a story.

He had I mean strict limitations on a device and they were bypassed accidentally. It wasn't even on purpose that that little guy somehow was clicking around and it got past and and he comes in weeping because he saw something he shouldn't have. That gets me as a as a dad. You're not going to be able to protect them from every single thing. We know that there's parents who have tried and done done their uh very but I would be I would definitely be searching that. Yes.

Yes. I've seen extensive lists of resources because this is now um uh you know there's certain aspects of screen time that you all probably can read between the lines that are are making tremendous waves and not in a good way. Uh resources now are being brought to bear. There's a a much greater conversation about this especially on the youth forums I'm on. They they have you know a list of 20 things. There's there's apps now that uh and this is not a new thing. Some of you know this, but there's apps that that you look at and it it'll say like journal.

It's not a journal. It's a uh it's a a cover. It's for uh teenagers or young uh to to have correspondence with people that their parents have no idea. And I'm not this isn't fear-mongering or scare tax. It's just reality. And they'll download that app. It says journal. And it's it's it's a masquerade basically. So there's uh there's sweeping services and uh there's a a lot of resources out there that help with uh with filtering and help with uh check on those yet within the church.

I wouldn't say uh in our curriculum like PPH curriculum there's there's not um we do it uh uh periodically within uh within youth ministry but but if there's ever that question yeah absolutely come talk to us very good time is it one more question anybody good all right uh if you want to check this book out I highly recommend it I think it will it will benefit you either way. Uh let's address this screen time. Let's get healthy.