Making the foolish wise…

1 Corinthians 1

If you’re anything like me, you can’t wait to put your phone down at the end of a day and not look at it again until you have to. There is no FOMO, no desire to re-engage, just the yearning for a little bit of uninterrupted time with family, food or footy.

However, as a father of older teens, a Principal of a school and just a regular human in the 21st century I am realising most may not be like me. The relinquishing of the phone at any time comes with great angst, not just a fear of missing out, but a disconnection from the immediate world that is perceived as bad; as something that will come at an unknown, but knowingly significant cost.

Last year, The Australian government became one of the first in the world to introduce legislation that committed to supporting parents and protecting young people by setting a minimum age of 16 years old for social media, the Online Safety Amendment [Social Media Minimum Age] Bill 2024. The law essentially places the onus on the social media platform to enforce restrictions, not the parent or the teen under 16 years of age.

We could sit and debate about the effectiveness of such a bill, from the [im]possibility of enforcement to a discussion on whose responsibility it really is, however this is not the purpose of this ramble. Rather, I want to consider the reality that we have got to a point where governmental law needs to step in to try to protect our kids from an ever-growing technological influence.

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul encouraged his readers to look to Christ for wisdom to navigate the changing tides and overwhelming influences. It is important to note that Corinth was awash with multiculturalism at this time in history and the new influences were great.

What we are facing, in essence, continues to be ‘nothing new under the sun’. Influence and pressure will always come and lead us toward or away from our God-given purpose.

Paul challenges his readers to consider that they (we) are not wise enough nor fully able to navigate the bombarding influences that perpetually invade our world. Instead, he suggests that ‘us’ foolish people recognise this and look not just to Christ’s example while he walked the earth, but draw on his divine power for a wisdom that helps us navigate the influences of our world and stay the course.

I don’t know about you, but there are many times in this world, that changes faster than it stays the same, that I feel unbelievably foolish and at sea as to how to respond to the role social media is playing in my kid’s lives (and let’s just pick social media for now!).

I have learnt, and more importantly witnessed over time, that, just like Christ did, it is through relationship that we get the power and wisdom to stay-the-course and (hopefully) become less foolish.

For me, relationship with a very wise God reinforced by relationships with my community, provides a way through the mess and helps me to realise that I am responsible for helping my kids navigate their world. From this I get wisdom and insight that provides a platform by which I can navigate the changing cultural trends of our world and theirs.

For me, whilst I believe it will help, my experience of Aussie culture tells me the solution to managing the influence of social media in our kid’s lives does not lie in governmental law. Rather, as parents, and as a school who partners with you, we hold the responsibility to protect and educate our students and I believe that our success lies in deep connection and honest, time-consuming relationships with our kids and with our community. This way we can model how to become wise and positively navigate the influences native to their world.

Good tidings,

Jonno

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