{"id":5637,"date":"2018-01-06T16:25:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T22:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5637"},"modified":"2018-01-06T16:25:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T22:25:23","slug":"the-other-parent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/the-other-parent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Parent"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steven D. Minor<\/strong>
\nAs a boy growing up in the\u00a0\u201880s and\u00a0\u201890s,\u00a0I had only one place to go\u00a0where\u00a0I knew I could find\u00a0real\u00a0answers to life\u2019s questions:\u00a0m<\/b>y home<\/b>.\u00a0When I needed to know about why something happened or how something worked,\u00a0I would go into the kitchen or my mom\u2019s craft room in the garage where\u00a0she\u00a0was usually working on something and ask her.\u00a0If I needed to sit and really talk things out as a young man,\u00a0I would walk across the parking lot to my dad\u2019s office.\u00a0He never minded that I interrupted his studies.\u00a0He always had time to talk about life, God, nature,\u00a0the Bible, goals, relationships,\u00a0or problems I was having at the time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhere do\u00a0a lot of youth\u00a0go now for advice, counsel, instruction or help?\u00a0The Internet<\/b>. It has, within just a few short years, become\u00a0the other parent<\/b>.\u00a0The younger generation (under 25 years old) is highly dependent on the Internet as a major part of their lives.\u00a0As a matter of fact, most of our youth would be lost without it!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nHere\u2019s\u00a0what\u00a0one poll reveals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nFour out of five under-25s feel\u00a0\u201clost\u201d\u00a0without the\u00a0Internet, a survey has found.\u00a0The opinion poll of 1,000 adults by the Science Museum shows how a generation that has grown up with the\u00a0Web has become dependent upon it.\u00a0By contrast, just three out of five people over the age of 25 said that they would feel\u00a0\u201clost\u201d\u00a0without the\u00a0Internet.\u00a0One in three adults surveyed would choose the\u00a0Internet over television, with 60 percent of people surveyed describing the\u00a0Internet as one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century.\u00a0Half of the women surveyed also use the\u00a0Web to self-diagnose illnesses, with 60 percent of under-25s using the\u00a0Internet for the same purpose.\u201di<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nUnderstand that I am not saying the Internet is all evil.\u00a0There are many good sites to gain information, resources, understanding,\u00a0help,\u00a0and entertainment.\u00a0But when the Internet\/technology replaces the communication, nurture, blessing, help,\u00a0and encouragement that only a dad or mom can give, we need to take a second look!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWe\u00a0in America\u00a0are not the only ones paying the price for the Internet explosion from the past 15 years.\u00a0Consider this article from\u00a0the\u00a0Beijing Review<\/i>:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nHelping young people fight their obsession with the Internet is the job of Liu Min, a psychological counselor for teenage Internet addicts at the\u00a0Hongkai\u00a0Education and Training School in Jinan, east China’s Shandong Province. One of the teenagers that Liu has counseled is a 16-year-old boy\u2026whose addiction to the Internet forced him to drop out of school. His parents sent him to the school to get treated for his addiction after he ran away from home several times. As more and more young people have access to the Internet, many are becoming hooked. Among China’s urban youth aged 6 to 29, 14.1 percent, or 24.04 million, were addicted to the Internet, according to a report released by the China Youth Association for Network Development, a non-profit organization, in February 2010.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIt goes on to report that some 33.29 million\u00a0total\u00a0youth\u00a0(rural and urban)\u00a0from China are addicted to the Internet.i<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s not just that our young people are going to the Internet to learn things;\u00a0it\u2019s also\u00a0their\u00a0primary place to \u201chang out.\u201d\u00a0They play, shop, chat, do homework, and entertain themselves there.\u00a0It\u2019s not just something else they\u00a0do;\u00a0the Internet is a part of who they are.\u00a0With many teens and young adults getting smartphones,\u00a0it means they are connected 24\/7.\u00a0They can surf and download\u00a0any time of any\u00a0day.\u00a0That\u2019s why many youth suffer\u00a0from\u00a0withdrawal\u00a0symptoms when they can\u2019t connect.\u00a0All of this high-tech connection has many parent\/child relationships strained.\u00a0There is less conversation,\u00a0less\u00a0listening and sharing of thoughts and emotions,\u00a0when youth are connected so much.\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0scary part of all of this is that too many youth are going online to find\u00a0answers\u00a0to their \u201cbig\u201d questions\u2013\u2013questions about sex,\u00a0homosexuality,\u00a0God, Satan, suffering, creation, suicide, and other life issues.\u00a0The\u00a0Pew Internet Project revealed that in 2009 17% of the youth they surveyed used the Internet to answer hard questions about sexual health, drug use and depression.ii<\/span>\u00a0Imagine what that number is up to now!\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe Internet can be a great thing!\u00a0It\u2019s just like fire.\u00a0It must be used with discipline and control!\u00a0It can do great things within boundaries,\u00a0and\u00a0yet it\u00a0can harm and even kill if left unattended!\u00a0When God tells us to \u201ctrain up a child in the way he should go\u2026\u201d (Proverbs 22:6),\u00a0He must be telling us to diligently instruct them and show them how to honor Him in\u00a0all<\/b>\u00a0things.\u00a0This means setting strict boundaries on all Internet usage so we do not allow them to become\u00a0addicted to it and hurt by it. This avenue of media and information must be kept at a respectful distance so it does not become a foster parent that your child does not need!\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Steven D. Minor As a boy growing up in the\u00a0\u201880s and\u00a0\u201890s,\u00a0I had only one place to go\u00a0where\u00a0I knew I could find\u00a0real\u00a0answers to life\u2019s questions:\u00a0my home.\u00a0When I needed to know about why something happened or how something worked,\u00a0I would go into the kitchen or my mom\u2019s craft room in the garage where\u00a0she\u00a0was usually working on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52,66],"tags":[58,1219,358,1270,1162],"class_list":["post-5637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-think-excerpts","tag-children","tag-families-of-faith","tag-internet","tag-january-2013","tag-steven-minor","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Other Parent - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/the-other-parent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Other Parent - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Steven D. 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