Text-pectations?

Before social media took deep root in culture, and platforms like Twitter (now X) emerged, there was already a growing problem known as hyper-texting. Thousands of texts were sent and received each month by individuals enamored with this convenient way of staying in communication with friends and family.

Along with the overwhelming number of texts by teens, came unrealistic expectations of responding to received texts immediately, otherwise your friendship or devotion was now in question. Friends might doubt your loyalty or friendship with them if you didn’t respond right away. These unrealistic expectations, which I have coined as text-pectations, changed youth culture and built a new foundation that has kept many teens more devoted to a relationship with their devices than they are devoted to cultivating healthy in-person relationships.

This behavior, conditioned by the expectations of the culture, can also impact a person’s relationship with God. For example, if you expect instantaneous responses from your friends as proof of their love and devotion, what do you think is going to happen when you decide to spend a few minutes praying to God and He doesn’t answer you immediately? Are you going to doubt His love and concern for you? Many do, because they are conditioned by these shallow and unrealistic expectations that others must respond immediately because you took the time to message them. God has made it clear in the Bible that He loves you, and He cares about you, but He does not always answer your prayers immediately, and this is for your own good.

Jesus gave a parable about a widow and a judge and explained that His purpose was to encourage people to pray persistently and not lose heart when they didn’t get an immediate answer from God.

If that describes you or your children, would you like to find freedom? You can! Your kids can! There are teens today making a choice to unplug from online social media altogether or are finding ways to use it with wisdom.