On October 19, 1984, a commuter plane took off in a snowstorm in northern Alberta. The flight carried 10 people, including two nationally known politicians. The pilot was a rookie, and although he was good, he was pressured, overworked, and under-rested. The darkness of night accompanied by the thick snow and fog reduced visibility to nothing. Meanwhile, the weight of the plane due to icing made it fly slower than normal, and the pilot lost situational awareness. Thinking he was closer to his destination, he lowered the aircraft out of the clouds into a mountain. A wing clipped a tree and the plane surged to the ground with the sound of a growling dog. Only four survived—the pilot, one of the politicians, a police officer, and a petty criminal he was transporting. Their lives were forever changed.
The accident could have been avoided if the pilot had known about the speed of his aircraft and their location. If only he had the right information. In the same way, teenagers are attempting to navigate their way through life with limited visibility. They are desperately searching for answers to life but often go to untrustworthy sources. If the answers they receive and accept as truth are wrong, it can have serious consequences. Here are 5 of the worst places teens go to find answers to life.
1. Influencers
Not all influencers are poor places to go for answers. However, many are influential because they’re attractive as opposed to because of any wisdom they may have attained. The bigger reason though is not knowing enough about their actual lives. Jesus of Nazareth said, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Translation: If you want to know if a person has worthwhile answers to life, then look at what his or her life has produced. How healthy are his relationships? Does she have integrity? An online persona doesn’t reveal these, and neither does the size of their bank accounts.
2. Alexa/Siri/AI
Alexa and Siri are great at answering practical questions. AI has a number of amazing applications. But it is not designed to sufficiently give deeper answers to life. Even the answers AI is able to provide need source material, but a kid will have difficulty determining if the sources they are drawing from are trustworthy. Alexa/Siri and AI can’t determine right from wrong either—just what’s popular at a given time.
3. Chatrooms
At best, chatrooms are a mixed bag. You get a good answer in one sentence and then absolute garbage the next. Once again, our kids will have a difficult time determining what’s good and what’s bad. It’s like drawing water from a dirty well.
4. Peers
Their peers are young with limited perspective and understanding. There isn’t enough experience and wisdom to give answers to life. But they are good for figuring out alongside our kids what questions are important and worth asking.
5. Social Media
Finding answers to the deeper questions of life—Who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose? What’s my value? What’s the meaning of life?—takes quiet contemplation and focused thought. It takes meaningful face to face conversations with people who are wise. Social media is the opposite of all of that. It’s noisy, busy, and full of distraction. It definitely lacks face to face connection, and I personally think it’s also lacking in wisdom.
Who actually has the answers? The source.
When I want to know how something works, I go to the source. If I need to build a piece of IKEA furniture, I follow the directions from IKEA. Sure, I could seek advice from some random person, but no one knows better than the designers. Genesis says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Several verses later it says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God is the creator of life and knows how best to live it. He’s the best place they can go for the answers to life.
Sound off: Where do you think kids should go to find the answers to life?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “Where do you go to find answers to your questions?”