He’s a voracious reader, consuming several books a week. His personal library has around 30,000 books. So when Dr. Albert Mohler recommends a book, people listen.
[youtube width=”507″ height=”307″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLc2qkLM2E[/youtube]
This week Dr. Mohler released his annual list of “Ten Books Every Preacher Should Read.” I was particularly intrigued by a title related to Digital Media.
The book
The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future by S. Craig Watkins (Beacon Press).
I was unfamiliar with Mr. Watkins and his work. With a little digging here’s what I learned.
S. Craig Watkins has been researching young people’s media behaviors for more than ten years. He teaches in the departments of Radio-Television-Film and Sociology and the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
According to his academic bio on the UT website, The Young and the Digital is based on survey research, in-depth interviews, and fieldwork with teens, young twenty-somethings, teachers, parents, and technology advocates. The book explores young people’s dynamic engagement with social media, online games, mobile phones, and communities like Facebook and MySpace.
Currently, Watkins is launching a new digital media research initiative that focuses on the use and evolution of social media platforms. theyoungandthedigital.com has been set up to track his initiatives.
Understand the times
It was also announced this week that social networking site Facebook has overtaken Google as the most popular US website. It has become “the” go to social network and has gained “mass acceptance.” People may still be going to Google to look for something. They’re going to Facebook to look for each other.
Digital technology is altering how people interact with one another. This has social, political, and yes, spiritual implications.
Pastor and church leaders need to understand the Digital times in which we’re living. It will take Godly wisdom to get a bearing on the direction our culture is headed. It will take discernment to know what methods, including digital technology, should be used to reach the next generation.
It will take study and reflection. But, with so many books, blogs and other resources on everything Digital these days, it’s hard to decide what material should get our attention.
Not everything should. Dr. Mohler directs our attention to Solomon who warned, “Of making many books there is not end.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12) And then Mohler adds, “There is no way to read everything, and not everything deserves to be read.”
Since The Young and the Digital by S. Craig Watkins made Dr. Mohler’s short list of must reads, it’s safe to say that he believes it’s a book that deserves our attention. I’m listening.
Question: What other books on New Media, Digital Media, Social Media, etc. do you recommend?