Study: Pastors Concerned About Younger Generation’s Growing Screen Time
By Allyson Vannatta, Senior Writer
A new Barna study shows that pastors are concerned for Millennials and Gen Z given their growing screen-time usage.
From the end of March to the end of July, Barna conducted online surveys with Protestant senior pastors. These pastors are all members of Barna Group’s Church Panel, the findings report.
The findings show that 85 percent of pastors are concerned about how much time younger generations are spending time in front of a screen.
86 percent of these pastors also said that their church doesn’t have a plan on how to teach “wise tech usage.”
These numbers are concerning when compared to another Barna study.
Recently, the group surveyed Christian families and how they spend their time during the day.
Barna reported that families use media for entertainment on average of eight hours per week. Other activities showed that spending time with their family takes up an average of 10 hours per week, while reading books, extracurricular activities and going to church only account for three hours a week.
Children playing and socializing with other children face to face only happened one hour a week.
The findings conclude that families are spending just as much time engaging with entertainment as they are just spending time with one another.
In light of that, pastors just being concerned about these younger generations and their screen time won’t do the trick.
Churches—and, more importantly, parents and guardians—need to have the right tools to discern how much time children are spending time in front of a screen as well as what they’re consuming when they’re in front of one.
Here at Movieguide®, we do our best not only to cover what’s being put out in television and movies, but also to stay on top of what’s going on in the world of popular apps and video games. We want to give you the tools you need to train your children to be wise in their media consumption.
To learn more about media discernment, visit our parenting page.
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