We Didn't See it Coming

Something is happing in our culture. There is a subtle but very real shift taking place. If you work with adults, you may not see it because adults often get stuck in steady routines. They won’t reveal the shift. If you work with students you may not see it because you are so close to the change you can become numb to it.

Let me explain it this way. For almost twenty years, I lived in San Diego, CA. While there, I learned rapidly about earthquakes. They cause a shift in the earth beneath me. What I didn’t realize was that following most every earthquake, there is an aftershock. It’s a second shift that occurs as a result of the first. It can cause about as much damage as the original quake.

I believe our American culture experienced a cultural quake between 1985 and 2000. Today, we are experiencing the aftershock of that quake, which includes unintended consequences to our culture and society. Most never saw it coming.

Generation iY
Just take a look at the emerging generation of students today. While they are part of what sociologists call Generation Y (born in the ‘80s and 90s), the latter half of their population is different than their earlier counterparts. The young adults born in the 80s are part of an amazing population. During their adolescence:

1. Teen pregnancy was down.
2. Drug abuse was lower than their parents.
3. Crime had dropped measurably nationwide.
4. Civic engagement was at a record high.
5. The prospects for changing the world had never been better.

The wave of kids born since 1990 is unique. I call them Generation iY, due to the impact of the “I” world. They have grown up on-line and are products of iPods, iPhones, iChat, iTunes, iMovies, iPads—and for many of them—life is pretty much about “I.” They are much more self-absorbed than the older Y population. Empathy has dropped 40% in college students over the last decade, according to a University of Michigan study. In a longitudinal study by Dr. Jean Twenge, students today are 70% more narcissistic (and less altruistic) than when I was a college student. Ten years ago, 90% of high school students laid plans to attend college. Today, 30% don’t even graduate high school. The bottom line? They’re getting stuck.

So, what has happened?
This shift actually has been slowly evolving throughout the 20th century. There has been a perfect storm of elements that have contributed to the state of our current culture that we, as church leaders, must understand if we’re to respond well. Allow me to provide a handful of reasons why we see what we do today

1. The Invention of High School
By the 1920s, students were pressed into age-graded groups and began to interact mostly with peers. The church followed suit with her programming. Social silos. The downward spiral of EQ began. We get lazy when connecting only with others like us.

2. Video Games
All the legitimate research shows the more time spent with a video game the poorer kids do in school. Male teens spend 13.5 hours a week in gaming; this delays their readiness for life. The adult world ambushes them. Stanford will no longer accept “gamers” into their med school.

3. Prescription Drugs
The U.S. represents 5% of the world’s population, but we consume 90% of the prescription drugs given to kids (ADHD, depression). Sadly, long after the meds are gone, the personalities of these kids have been altered. They’re artificially lethargic. Adults have become lazy when dealing with energetic kids.

4. Parenting Styles
Along with a new generation of kids, we have a new generation of parents today. They’ve made their kids their trophies—they hover, emulate, serve and erupt over them. They don’t mother, they smother. Kids have a difficult time growing up if their parents have not done so first.

5. Endocrine Disruptors
BPA and other chemicals in plastics have entered our human systems. BPA mimics estrogen, the female hormone. It wreaks havoc on student’s bodies and delays a clear sense of identity. It’s a gender bender. Testosterone levels are dropping in boys as 90% of our kids today have BPA inside them.

6. Teaching Methods
Students today are right-brained, upload kids forced to attend left-brained, download schools. The gap between adult and students styles causes a disconnect; adults are not teaching the way kids learn best. They’re passing but not learning. Most teachers are heroes, but the school systems are failing.

7. Niche Marketing
Decades ago, retailers and marketers picked up on youth as a target market. Success came as they preyed on adolescent insecurities and desires, creating hunger to look and stay young. Marketers are better at this than ever—prolonging adolescence. 60% of students move back home after college.

8. Media and Technology
We all love them, but television, YouTube, Google, Twitter, Facebook, iPhones and Second Life provide instant gratification and results. If it takes too long or isn’t fun students can delete, stop, block or log off. This is nothing like the real world.

So what do we do? In my next article, we’ll begin to dig in to some ministry solutions to this worldwide phenomenon.

8 Comments »

1. I may be missing something (and it may have no bearing on the outcome), but the paragraph with all the statistics (5th) seems a bit off.  Aren’t most kids born in the 1990s still in High School?  So, wouldn’t it be the group before them that is responsible for the poor statistics in college students?  Am I missing something?

   His servant,

   Rob

   Comment by Rob - Aug 17, 2010 @ 07:28 AM

2. Great article, Tim.

   I recently planted a church after working with students for 15 years. 

   As I reflect on my years of youth ministry, I really resonate with your insight about the difference in the iY generation from those born in the 80’s and those born in the 90’s. 

   I served in two larger youth ministries (one in Indiana and one in Wisconsin).  In 2004 I became the youth pastor of the group in Wisconsin.  When I first arrived I found that I was connecting with the Seniors more than the younger students.  Then in 2005 I really saw a distinct difference in the students from Wisconsin from those in Indiana.  In looking back I was entering a youth ministry that was made up of students born in the 90’s.  Back then, I simply attributed it to the cultural differences between Wisconsin and Indiana (and while some of that is true, I don’t believe it was the most significant factor for the difference).  Having opportunities to come back and visit my previous church in Indiana on occasions I was able to witness similar characteristics coming out from the students that were now making up the youth group in Indiana as what I encountered with the students in Wisconsin.

   Now don’t mistake what I’m saying, I loved both groups of students but there was clearly a difference.  (I see now that the difference was clearly the kids born in the 80s vs. the kids born in the 90’s).  Additionally it became apparent that my approach to ministering to both the parents and the students had to change.

   Thanks again for this article.  I’ll be interested to read your follow up article on this issue.

   Comment by Jeremy LeVan - Aug 17, 2010 @ 07:59 AM

3. What is the source for the Stanford comment on not accepting gamers into premed? Would like to see that study.

   Comment by kenny - Aug 17, 2010 @ 09:36 AM

4. Really appreciate the article Tim,
   I work at a Camp in California and we were just talking about how some of the High School students didn’t engage with our speaker one week because it was a left brained, download style.  Perhaps your next article, which I look forward to reading, will hit this question, but how do we engage students without furthering the effect of their culture?  Or do we go with the flow. 

   I am and probably always will be a proponent of relationships being the key to any good ministry, but as a camp guy who only sees students for a week or two out of the year how does camping ministry effectively and appropriately engage students and speak truth into their lives.  I’ve struggled mightily with this over the last year and honestly have little to show for it.

   Thanks again for your article and the insight it gives a guy who’s a year too old to be one of the generation Y’s.

   Comment by Jason - Aug 17, 2010 @ 01:39 PM

5. Rob – Thanks for the comment. Yes, most kids born in the 90s are still in high school—but the first couple of years have now entered college and have been surveyed and compared to their earlier counterparts. We are seeing a difference in the freshmen when compared to the seniors. Also, keep in mind, this is not a hard and fast rule; there will be students born in the 80s that are self-absorbed and some born in the 90s that are highly empathetic. However, the bump part of the bell curve tells us—empathy is down. I believe we leaders must develop ministry “exercises” to develop these atrophied spiritual muscles.

   Jeremy – Good insight Jeremy. Yes… the times, they’re a changin’. One item you may find interesting in the Beloit College list for professors that comes out each year from Beloit, in Wisconsin. They create a list each year to introduce the “freshmen” to the ever aging faculty at that school. It always reminds me of how ‘young’ these kids are and what they have and haven’t experienced. Interesting.

   Kenny – Thanks for the question. The source of that stat is Dr. Leonard Sax (PhD and MD). He’s written articles for several journals, but his book has the stat. it is called: Boys Adrift. I recommend it. 

   Jason – Yes, it is hard to go deep in relationships when you only have a week or two with those students at a camp. What I try to keep in mind is that camp is an “event” that leads to a “process” of ongoing community when those kids return home. I realize you know this, but let me encourage you to create environments that are very relationship based, then help students/churches establish those kinds of environments back home… for the ongoing process of disciple making.

   Comment by Tim Elmore - Aug 18, 2010 @ 06:59 AM

6. Rob and responders, thank you so much for your study and ministry!  God is with you.  May I offer the perspective of an elder?  I’m 65 years old.

   Each generation finds the following generations to be deficient in some way.  The difference, however, is not so much in who they are but in how they grow.  After all, they are who we are - sinners in need of redemption.

   So it is not surprising that they seem to lack empathy and are self-absorbed; they are sinful!  Just like us, and there is our connection.  But praise God that the Holy Gospel cuts through all the cultural, stylistic differences between us and sets us free! 

   We need only to be careful that in our efforts to speak their language, we don’t forget two things: to identify the sin and to enunciate the saving Gospel.

   Thank you for continuing to be faithful to your divine call!

   Comment by Dave Holmquist - Aug 19, 2010 @ 01:03 PM

7. Thanks Dave for your comment and perspective. So good to hear from you!

   Comment by Tim Elmore - Aug 23, 2010 @ 08:48 AM

8. When will the next article come out? Really enjoyed this one…

   Comment by Matt - Aug 23, 2010 @ 02:42 PM

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