Over the years as teachers, we are uniquely placed to note the changes that happen within the school community. The learning deficit post Covid. The increase in substance abuse, the rise of the gang culture as it makes itself known in schools once again. The effect on the lives of the children is self-evident in the classroom.
I think it would be hard to overstate the damage that smart phones have done to our youth over the last ten years. Instant communication and access to social media combined with some highly addictive online games and the rise of the influencer, not to mention TikTok. All of these have contributed to the confusion that exists in the minds of our students and their whanau. Sanity is a scarce commodity in 2023.
To an extent it makes no difference what sector of society you hail from. You can be Non-Christian or Christian, LGBTQ+ or Feminist, from a Racial group, or be an Environmentalist. There is just so much information available that many people are overloaded and approaching digital burnout. Whatever the reasons it is hard to define the absolutes that resolve factual truth. The idiom “There are no grey areas,” has ceased to convey meaning in this socialist society where there is now no black and white. There are no longer moral absolutes and grey is the new black and white.
The result of this bombardment of the mind through social media is social engineering at a pace, and scale, never witnessed before in the history of mankind. The push on television, and in the news media, to create stereotypes of how citizens should look, talk and act is phenomenal. I mean it is literally a phenomenon that has never been witnessed as far as I am aware. It is also visible across society and not least within schools. Our youth have been transformed in the way they dress, the way they talk and the way they act.
So, what have I noticed? Well as a relief teacher I notice that from year 9 to year 11. Not a few classes have a couple of students that are prepared to act out. By this I mean talking loudly and incessantly and ignoring staff requests to focus on their work. It might manifest as two or three students lying on the floor with their feet up on their chairs, laughing hysterically. The classes that a few years ago acted out and were tricky to manage, are want to go the deep end. Throwing desks and kicking chairs, swearing and cursing and abusing each other. Laughing hysterically and ignoring the staff that are present. Now, don’t get me wrong, I may be exaggerating, and this certainly is not the norm, but it isn’t a rarity either. It is far too common, and the extreme behavior appears to be being encouraged by the outrageous role modeling that is constantly being streamed to and from social media. We could call it the Tic Tok revolution.
The movie “The Day After Tomorrow” described the impact of Climate Change and a resulting ice age based on the cessation of the ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean. The changes that have taken place with the advent of the smart phone, social media and the Covid epidemic have effected a similar change to the psyche of our youth. Overnight they are a different organism. Prior to this change there was declining educational achievement and increasingly rebellious behaviors amongst the lower socio-economic students and the lower middle-class students. After Covid there is a narrow band of high achieving upper socio-economic students, and the rest are uniformly unfocused on educational objectives and prone to behavior that can only be described as lawlessness.
What can be said about this development. Well, it seems that society has exchanged truth for a lie (Romans 1: 24-26). They have rejected the wisdom of God and with it they have embraced wickedness and depravity and rejected righteousness. The concern here is that the bible talks about this in the strongest terms in the scripture verses referenced above and the secular society in which we live is trying to have the bible banned and labelled as hate speech because of those exact verses. Yet if you look at the impact of exchanging the truth for a lie on our people, they are paying a horrendous price for this folly as God prepares to judge the world.
They are becoming ignorant as educational standards fall. They have no peace in their lives and can trust no one. Senseless violence is becoming common place as innocent people are attacked and beaten waiting at bus stops for no other reason than for miscreants to stream the attacks on the Internet. Even so God loves them and would have them confess their sins that he might show them forgiveness and mercy. If only the people would understand and repent that Yahweh might hear their voice and heal the land. It is so hard to watch the people reject the Word of God and adhere to the secular lies that abound on digital devices and social media. It is my suggestion that bible believing Christians pray and fast for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to reverse this terrible situation.
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