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Youth today compare themselves to each other.

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They compare themselves to their peers,

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the people they're going to school with,

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playing sports with, going to church with.

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But they're also comparing themselves

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to what they see online.

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And the problem with that is,

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often what's online, what's on social media, isn't real.

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My name is Joey Follett.

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I've been working with youth and teenagers

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for the past 10 years in a variety of different settings.

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As a public school teacher, taught middle school history,

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as a coach, coaching wrestling, cross country,

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a few other sports, and now as a youth pastor

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for middle schoolers and high schoolers.

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I'm really passionate about our current generation of youth,

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or Generation Z, as they're known.

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And what I'll say about this generation,

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really any generation,

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generations face a different set of challenges

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in a different environment from the generations before them.

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And that's always the case,

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because the world changes, culture changes,

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problems that the culture faces change,

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and technology evolves.

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And so generations often have a hard time

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relating to their parents, to the generation before them,

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because they feel like that generation

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doesn't understand them,

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because they're in a different and unique set of environment

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and a unique set of challenges.

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And this current generation of youth, or Gen Z,

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is kind of known as the social generation.

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And the big reason for that is, yes, social media,

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the increase in technology,

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they have phones that are computers in their pockets,

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and they are, a lot of that is true.

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This generation of youth is growing up with the internet

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and with easy access to the internet

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through phones, tablets, computers.

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Teenagers, the more you restrict it,

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they'll find a way onto the internet.

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And they're growing up with an easy access

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to unlimited information, which in a lot of ways is good.

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This generation of youth are researchers.

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They know how to find information.

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They know how to use the internet to learn things.

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And a lot of that is really good.

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They're willing to do the research.

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And they often know to decipher what's real

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and what's fake on the internet,

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and to know good, reliable sources.

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And oftentimes, I'll say, I think they're better at that

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than their parents' generation,

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who didn't necessarily grow up

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with the internet as easily accessible

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and has had to learn after the fact

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to decipher truth from false on the internet.

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But kids know that.

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They're growing up with that.

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They know that everything they read

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on the internet isn't real,

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but they're willing to do the research and learn.

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And that's really good.

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But on the flip side of that,

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they also have everything else

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that the internet has to offer in their pockets, right?

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The explicit that's on the internet,

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the craziness that's on the internet.

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Pornography is so easily accessible,

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not just on these porn sites,

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but on social media and other sites that they frequent

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that we might view as safe, but aren't necessarily.

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YouTube, right?

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They spend a lot of time on YouTube

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instead of watching traditional TV

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like the generation before them.

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And also social media.

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They have social media on their phones, on their computers,

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and there's lots of different types of social media.

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The ones that I see are most popular with youth

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would be TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

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And they spend a lot of time on this social media.

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And with that comes comparison

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and trying to find their identity.

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And teenagers comparing themselves to each other

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is not new or unique to Gen Z.

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That's just part of being a teenager, right?

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And anybody watching can relate to that.

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Remembering being in middle school and high school,

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looking at everybody else, looking at your peers,

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your friends, adults in your life,

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and comparing yourself to them.

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What are they wearing?

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What are they saying?

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What are they doing?

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What do they wanna do with their life after high school?

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What kind of hobbies are they into?

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Sports, music, movies.

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Teenagers spend a lot of time watching the people around them

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and comparing themselves to them.

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And that's not new.

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What is new though is yes,

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teenagers today are still doing that.

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They're comparing themselves to their peers,

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people at their school, their sports teams,

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their church youth groups,

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but they're also comparing themselves

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to what they see online,

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to their favorite influencers,

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to people on social media,

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young people on social media who have big followings.

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And they're comparing themselves,

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that they're looking at those images

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and comparing their bodies, what they wear,

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to what they see online.

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And the scary or bad part about that

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is a lot of what they see online is fake.

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It's an impossible standard.

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It's not achievable.

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And so you have this twofold.

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They're comparing themselves to what they see every day,

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but also what they're consuming online.

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And that's a problem for teens.

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It's challenging and it's, like I said, an impossible standard

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and it leads to other issues that we'll talk about.

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They're also known as a social generation

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because of how they interact with each other.

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They have easy access to each other in other ways

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that previous generations have not seen.

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Teens can easily text, call, and video call their friends

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whenever they want to.

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And this leads to other issues.

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We've seen an uptick in this generation

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with sexting and sending explicit images of themselves

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to each other.

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We haven't really seen that in previous generations.

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And a lot of times teens think they're doing that

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with another person,

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sending explicit images of themselves,

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but then what happens is it gets passed around the school

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or it's used to blackmail them.

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And this causes a lot of really, really bad situations

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and issues I've seen in public schools that I've taught in

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and sports teams that I've coached.

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And even though this is the social generation

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where they have social media,

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they can easily text their friends, call their friends.

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Even though it's a social generation,

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many teens today feel lonely.

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They feel lost.

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They're trying to find their identity and their place.

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And even though they're talking to people all the time,

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they still feel like they're missing connection.

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And maybe that's because the connection that they have

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isn't as physical anymore, right?

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Where they're sitting across the table from somebody

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or they're hugging somebody.

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Instead, it's done online with people they know

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and maybe with people that they don't know

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or have never met in person.

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So they feel lost, feel lonely.

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They're trying to find their identity and their place.

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They're looking for their identity in things like

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what they're good at, their hobbies,

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what they like to do with their free time,

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or looking for their identity in who they hang out with,

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who they socialize with, or maybe what they struggle with,

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or finding their identity in their gender

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or who they're attracted to.

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And identity is something we all search for,

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but teenagers especially, they're trying to find that,

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who are they?

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Who am I?

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What am I doing with my life?

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What am I doing here?

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And a lot of these things lead to issues of mental health,

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which is something else we're seeing

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that's kind of unique to Gen Z.

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And Gen Z is more aware of mental health

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than any generation before it.

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And unfortunately, Generation Z

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deals with mental health disorders and problems

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more than any generation before it as well.

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And we can talk about why that is,

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and a lot of what I've already discussed

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is part of the why that is.

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But let's look at the numbers.

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We know that at least one out of every five teenager today

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deals with a diagnosable mental health disorder.

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Some studies have it a lot higher, one out of every three.

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I've also seen studies that say 50% of teens today

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struggle with their mental health.

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That's really, really high.

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And that's something that needs to be discussed

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and addressed with teenagers.

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And we need to look into that why that is

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that they're dealing with.

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But it's not all bad,

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and I don't wanna pile on Generation Z.

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I love Generation Z,

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and I've kind of devoted my adult life so far

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hanging out with Generation Z

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and helping them with some of these things.

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And on the positive side,

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teens today are also really socially aware.

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They care about the world.

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They care about people in the world a lot.

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They're aware of what's happening,

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injustices that are happening in our world.

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They wanna change it.

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A lot of them are picking careers

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or are interested in careers

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that are gonna help people in our world today.

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And that's awesome.

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They're socially aware,

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and they care about bad things

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that are happening in our world.

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Teens today are also really realistic and cautious.

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Yes, they're teenagers,

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and I've seen plenty of teenagers

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make the typical teenager decisions, right,

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that are irrational and crazy,

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and you just don't know why they did that thing.

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And that still happens, 100%.

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But I think there's also this trend with today's youth

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where they're a little more cautious,

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a little more realistic with their decisions

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that are gonna impact their future,

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not as daring and crazy.

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And maybe that's bad.

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Maybe we want our teenagers to be more bold,

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but I think it's also good

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that they're a little more realistic

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with their futures and their decisions,

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and they're a little more cautious

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and willing to learn from not their own mistakes,

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but the mistakes of the generation before them

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that they've seen.

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And so maybe today you're a parent of a teenager

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or a teacher of youth or a coach or a youth leader,

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and maybe you feel a little bit lost.

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You're not sure how to communicate with the youth of Gen Z.

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You're not sure how to relate to them.

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And maybe you've tried and it just hasn't gone well.

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Here's what I would say.

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You don't have to understand or relate

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to what they're dealing with.

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You don't have to have all the answers

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or know exactly what they're...

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We should try, right?

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We should practice empathy as we work with youth today.

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We should try to put ourselves in their shoes.

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Imagine the environment that they've grown up with,

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this age of internet.

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and technology and what their friends are doing

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in their peer groups.

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We should try as hard as we can to empathize with them.

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But we don't have to fully relate, and we can't.

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And so I would say this, don't necessarily try to relate

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or always use a personal story because our youth today

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know that we grew up and their parents grew up

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in a different environment.

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So I would say this, just listen.

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Just be there for them.

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Pray for them, pray with them.

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Make sure that the youth in your life knows

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that they can talk to you about anything.

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Be available and don't worry about understanding it all

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or completely understanding their environment

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or what they're dealing with.

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Don't worry about that.

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Just be available.

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Listen to them, pray for them, be there for them.

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And maybe you're a youth in Generation Z and you feel lost.

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You're not sure how to navigate

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all of the stuff we discussed today.

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Maybe you're struggling with mental health.

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Maybe you don't know how to relate to your friends

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or reach your friends.

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I have encouragement for both groups.

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The Bible has answers.

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The Bible has examples.

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The Bible has guidance and truth for these issues today.

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In the following episodes, we're gonna look at examples

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from the Bible of young people who did extraordinary things.

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Not because they were superheroes or anything like that,

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but because they trusted in God and their identity

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was grounded in being a child of God.

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And they allowed God to use them.

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And so we're gonna look at those examples

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and use those examples to shape how we deal with

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and interact with youth today,

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but also use those examples as youth

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as we navigate the culture in our environment today.

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♪ Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun ♪