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Teens Do Not Pay Attention to the News
Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker
Foreign Policy links to a study by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government revealing the far from surprising fact that teens generally do not pay attention to news reports. Mike Boyer writes:
Nearly one in three American teenagers, according to the report, pay almost no attention to daily news. Another 32 percent are merely "casually attentive." So, taken together, 60 percent of teens can be considered to be basically uninterested in what's happening in the world...But surely, you say, "the Internet" must be informing America's youth. Apparently not. Just one in five teenagers say they get exposure to news on the Internet everyday, and two thirds of the teens who say they do get some news from the Internet also say they're not seeking it out, they "just happen to come across it."
This was an issue for me when I considered design themes for my Bible study on the Acts of the Apostles. The newspaper theme was the first idea with which I came up (and, obviously, is the theme I ultimately chose): laying out the articles in a newspaper format gives the content a sense of immediacy, a - for lack of a better description - "you are there" impression. The newspaper theme therefore reinforces the idea that the events in Acts are not simply historical events from the ancient near east, but are also events whose impact and import we experience today. The visual design therefore serves as a kind of bridge connecting "then" with "now."
At the same time, I knew there was a problem with design: most teens - and a continually decreasing number of adults - do not read newspapers, and therefore the impact of the newspaper theme would not necessarily be immediately apparent. I nonetheless went with the newspaper theme because, while most teens do not read newspapers, they are at least familiar with the look and purpose of newspapers, and could therefore eventually connect the visual layout of the Bible study with its content.
Getting back to Boyer's article, his final sentence brings to mind an important point about Bible study for teens: "I bet that if the military draft came back, though, you'd suddenly find U.S. teens paying rapt attention to what's going on out there." In other words, teen interest in news reports is largely predicated by self-interest: they will pay attention to the reports when they believe that the subject of those reports will have an immediate and tangible impact upon their lives.
This is an important reason for highlighting the life application articles in Orthodox Christian Bible studies. The main purpose for including these articles, of course, is simply to help readers see how to live out the truths contained in Scripture; the assumption in this case is that the reader has read the Scripture, wants to make this application, and simply needs guidance in doing so. Boyer's statement nonetheless helps us to remember that these life application articles serve an additional purpose: they appeal to the reader's self-interest, and therefore serve as an incentive for Bible reading for individuals who otherwise would not read the Bible. It is for this reason that the headline graphic on the home page for the Romans Bible study reads, "Do you wish you could transform your life?" Their self-interest serves as the initial attractor for Bible study that will ultimately remove their focus exclusively from themselves and turn it toward God.
I would of course, prefer to promote these Bible studies by focusing exclusively upon God, e.g., "Here's a study that will help you learn more about God and His Word!" And, if you look at the descriptions I give on the home page of each study, you will see that I do in fact emphasize this point. At the same time, however, such an appeal will not work with teens who have no interest in God; to attract these teens, you need to address their self-interest. The key is to NOT leave the focus on themselves, but instead to guide them in shifting their focus to God.
To wrap this up, if I were creating a newspaper for teens, I would have a sidebar for each article clearly stating something along the lines of "Here's what this means for you," and/or "Here's what this means for (the people of Iraq, the environment, the poor in Dallas, etc)." This would give the teens the information they need to be productive citizens, but would also give them the emphasis on relationship with self and others - in other words, the relevance - that inspires them to give their attention. I point out the life application articles in my studies for the same reason: I hope that readers will start with the biblical text and commentary, and set up the navigation so that these are always the first options, but provide easy access to the life application articles for those who will not (at least initally) read the biblical text. By providing easy access to the life application articles, I at least give otherwise uninterested teens entry into some of the principles in the Scripture, and hopefully inspire them to engage in further study.
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