My daughter Kailey just turned 13 on Sunday…and I just agreed to let her engage in a limited form of social media for the first time. So the ground-breaking new book, The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices by my friend Jonathan McKee, became required reading for my sweet (not-so-little-anymore) daughter.
What I love about Jonathan’s book is that it is biblical, balanced and bathed in practical reality. He knows the questions that teens ask and the adult answers that teens loathe. Jonathan can almost anticipate the heavy sighs and rolling eyes, so he gently, and with the right blend of humor and biblical authority, cuts them off at the smirk. Jonathan strikes the right balance when it comes to helping teenagers be in the world but not of it when it comes to social media.
One of the most vivid, recent mental pictures of my newly minted teenager is of her face down in Jonathan’s book absorbing the words on every page. Every few minutes she pushed back to take a picture of a paragraph for her to read again later on her phone. When a teenager is taking pictures of words on a page you know something is striking a chord deep inside them.
Jonathan’s book does just that. It strikes this chord by asking good questions. It does it by helping teenagers think. It does it by telling great stories and sharing interesting insights. It does it by pointing teenagers to God’s Word and helping them wrestle eternal truths into their earthly perspectives.
The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices is a must read for your teenager. If you’re a parent, get one for your teenager(s). If you’re a youth leader, buy a box for your youth group.
It’s that good.
This article originally appeared here.
