By PAM LUTRELL

My children will be embarrassed about the focus of this column. My students, former and current, will call me lame and out of touch. Even some adult colleagues will encourage me to just try it and I’ll like it. But, no matter what is said to me, I will stand firm that FACEBOOK and other forms of technology are shutting down the potential of our younger generation.

A heated debate was waged on blogs and media sites this past spring when a research study linked the usage of FACEBOOK to lower grades for college students. Adults and youth alike screamed foul and said that the study just was not true and could easily be proven not true. However, as a teacher, I hear daily students complain about teachers giving them too much to do outside of class while at the same time they rush to check FACEBOOK regularly throughout their day. Whether they want to admit it or not, this has become a type of addiction which consumes mass amounts of time.

A battle is waging daily over the younger generation. One of President Barack Obama’s right hands, David Axelrod, recently said, “The young are best equipped to break old barriers and build new understandings for the future. It’s a fundamental belief that the future belongs to the young and the young are going to lead us forward.” Well, of course, but the battle is ramping up over allegiances with youth from ages 13-23.

The Texas Freedom Network, champions for evolution and condoms in the high schools, has decided to form a youth commission and they are actively looking for teenagers to work alongside them. They will pay for these new loyalists to join them in Austin and they will pay them a salary to become advocates for their causes which actively oppose religious concerns. Money and free trips are attractive to most young people. While these groups actively train young minds, most of the Christian youth with so much talent to do great things have been lulled into complacency by FACEBOOK, texting, email, and the like. Of course, these can be used for good, but for the most part, these great technological advances are shutting down potential and not inspiring it.

When you consider the Bible contains many stories of young people becoming literally “world-changers” for God, it makes perfect sense that among today’s youth some potential big players exist. The question becomes: will they sit idle in front of a computer discussing why one doesn’t like the other or will they plug into their God-given gifts to make a difference now?