By Alison Pope
Associate Director, Office of Evangelization and Catechesis

Something is only new if you remember what life was like before it existed. Generation Z, which encompasses those currently in junior high and high school, have never known a life without smartphones and social media. Yet, so many who minister to this age group do not use technology to help engage these digital natives.

Before we look at some of the tools we can use to help engage this generation, let’s look at how they use technology in their everyday lives.

According to the Center for Generational Kinetics, which specializes in studying generations, specifically Millennials and Generation Z, the following are true of young people who make up Generation Z:

• 95% have their own smartphone
• Over 50% use their smartphone more than five hours a day and over 26% use it 10 hours or more a day
• Spend at least three hours a day on social media
• 30% believe YouTube advertisements are the most trustworthy
• They use different social media platforms for specific interactions and outcomes; Instagram to follow brands, Snapchat to post a video or a selfie, Facebook to check a group event.
• 58% feel uncomfortable if they do not have their phone for a few hours or less
• 67% experience a high level of stress when their phone is lost, broken, or stops working
• 56% become stressed when someone hides their phone
• 42% express high levels of stress when someone touches their phone without permission
• Due to their use of technology and the overload of information it brings, they have highly developed filters. If something does not catch their attention within the first eight seconds, they keep scrolling.

There is no denying that technology must be part of our ministries if we want to relate to young people in methods they use daily.

When using social media such as Instagram and Facebook, it is recommended that a minimum of two adults have full access to the account and any direct or private messages be printed for safety purposes. I would discourage the use of Snapchat because it is more difficult to document messages exchanged on that platform.

One commonly used website and app to help cultivate content for social media is Canva. They offer several free templates and photos that can be used, as well some premium content that can be purchased. When producing content for social media, we must keep in mind the young person’s highly developed filters and make sure we are striving for quality, and not just quantity. In other words, do not use clip art or other outdated images.

If you want to make sure that the same content is being shared across various platforms, you can use a program such as Hootsuite or Buffer. These programs will allow you to generate one post that will be pushed to all linked social media at the same time. They also allow you to schedule posts to be posted at a later time or date.

In communicating with this generation on the platforms they use, we must also look at how we use YouTube. Generation Z uses YouTube for a variety of purposes: trusted advertisements, to do research on companies they are considering working for, and to learn new information and new skills, to name a few. While not every ministry should create their own YouTube channel, we all need to be aware of good Catholic resources available that we can share with the young church.

We can also find ways to use technology in our classrooms and other ministry settings. One that I have seen work well is Kahoot!. It allows you to create a quiz or trivia game and the teens, whether individually or as teams, use their phones to text their answer and Kahoot! gives real-time responses and standings. (Keep in mind an internet connection is needed.)

While using technology is essential in engaging the young church, we must not allow technology to take the place of relational ministry or forget the importance of the message. Yes, we must engage those in Generation Z in a way that is relevant to their reality, but we must do so without compromising the Truth of our faith. We must continue to engage them in a real, personal way by building relationships with them that shows that we care about them individually and about their lives.