Are there specific growth points today’s young people should focus on?
God, in all his awesomeness, made each human unique, but he made lots of us because he knew we would be better together. Sadly, we seem more vested in curating virtual lives that lack profundity. Even worse, the posts we view on our feeds encourage some questionable concepts. From content that motivates “cancelling” people who disagree with you or are a little difficult to handle; to the idea of self-love that borders heavily on feeding into egos more than restoring a sense of self.
The aforementioned examples don’t exactly support the “Better Together” life that God freely gifts us. God made us people of substance, and that requires deeper living. Our differences compel us to learn how to live and deal with each.
Your character is sharpened by your ability to endure life’s many challenges and not allow the challenges to define you. Character means the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Therefore, the essence of who you are can remain intact throughout all experiences in life. Moreover, taking good care of your mind means being aware of what you expose yourself to – like social media.
It’s essential that you set boundaries for how much content you allow yourself to view daily. Even more so the type of content you view. From social media to local and international news. You don’t have to know everything going on everywhere all the time. Furthermore, real-life interactions with people are indispensable to building your character.
Our generation needs to learn to interact with people and build relationships with others healthily. The ‘scroll addiction’ has made most of us accustomed to isolation-type living that is easy to use as an escape to avoid tension, conflict or simple interactions with, e.g., a stranger on a bus. Granted, this is not the case for all young people. But think about it, in any tension-conflict or on a bus sitting next to a stranger, are you likely to face the awkwardness and get through it or turn to your screen to shut out all the uncomfortable feelings?
The relationships we form help us grow. Whether it’s a friend you get along with 99% of the time or a pupil/colleague who gets on your nerves daily. Living life amongst others can make us better people. God made us knowing well that life will get messy with all our differences, but he sees the great and beautiful picture of community.
Instead of hiding behind our phone screens, we must be fully present with our people in the light-hearted and icky parts of life. Those bits contribute to the deeper experiences of being alive. Finally, life is your best teacher, but you won’t learn much if you don’t tap into a full, abundant life where you have real connections and grow with your people.
Join Given and Charl to get a few growth points to help you on your character-building journey. You can catch them on “I Am Live” every Friday or find the show’s podcasts on iono.fm. If you would like to chat with us, contact our Youth Call Centre.
I Am Youth web radio is the go-to platform for today’s young adults. Our team of young, charismatic influencers is based in South Africa. We produce high-quality content on TikTok social media and YouTube. Our primary goal is to infiltrate the spaces that young people already occupy.
