(Dis)connection

I was recently at the youth office for the diocese, telling them about the parishes I'm working with and the environment. I made the comment that communication with teenagers is completely impossible. In order to get word out about an event, I have to do everything short of air drop the announcements on their front doors. Some of them have Facebook, but Facebook is dying out with some teenage groups. Some have email, but not all of them check it regularly (yet...just wait till college, mwahahaha). Some have phones, but some still rely on their parents' phones. And bulletins...oh bulletins are so hit and miss. Of course, the other youth ministers with whom I spoke could relate. It's a big issue, they agreed.

I thought the whole point of social media is to make the world more connected...but does it? The whole topic of connecting online via these avenues is completely beside the point to me. What I'm talking about is the vastness that is social media. Seems to me that it's more divisive than anything. I have limited myself to Facebook, Pinterest and this blog, so the whole other worlds of Twitter, Instagram, vines (what in the world are those anyways?), Snapchat, etc. are so overwhelming. Which do you choose? If you go with all of them, you're basically committing your life to be internet-worthy...every moment has to be able to be posted. If you're not on any of them, or on one or two, then you're missing out on the others. I wasn't prepared for youth ministry to be a lesson in figuring out how to reach people, let alone reach them through ministry. I'm constantly having to figure out which avenue(s) to use to post news and events...do I just put this in an email? But what about the kids who don't check...so Facebook too. But a lot of people just don't check their feeds...text it is...but ack, this kid doesn't have a number! Suddenly the same message has to be accommodated to 3-4 different media types at once. Call me old fashioned, but good grief, that is ridiculous! I mean, I'm not THAT far removed from high school, but we used Facebook and bulletins and actually showed up for things. I'm using, as I said, 3-4 different avenues to spread news and still get a handful of kids to show up at the most. Is this a city thing? Was another perk of being from a small town that everybody streamlined their communication?

Sorry, this has just been on my mind lately. Obviously it's something I'm going to have to work through. On a related note, there is a new youth minister retreat tomorrow which I will be attending. I'm super excited, both to network about youth ministry and realize there are others in the trenches with me, and to maybe meet new friends my age??!?! I feel like my friend base/peer group here is slowly but surely shrinking as friends move on to new stages in their lives as well, so I'm really needing to figure out God's plan for me in this...