parish prayer services , school events , digital pilgrimages , etc . are ways that Catholics in the United States can experience WYD without getting on a plane . The journey is for all . Understanding the young people on this journey – and the community from which they come ( and to where they will be going next ) – is key to better appreciating the people that God has put into your care . young people see as many as 3,000 advertisements per day 4 and will view 200,000 acts of violence in the media by the age of 18 . 5 Eleven years ago , advertisers spent in excess of 17 billion dollars on marketing to teens per year . 6 These statistics are quite high and the impulse of the concerned parent or ministry is to counteract the onslaught of secular media by adding sacred media to the flood .
Pilgrimage in the Digital Age There is a general eagerness on the part of those who minister to young people to jump into the latest technology , like the eagerness of a missionary who wants to enter into the native culture . The New Evangelization often seems to require a variety of media to reach youth and young adults because these generations are so digitally connected .
Reports suggest that the average young person spends 3 hours a day watching television 2 and as much as nine hours a day using media in general ( checking social media , playing video games , watching Youtube videos , etc .). 3 Through multiple platforms ,
Researchers conducted studies demonstrating that “ Facebook envy ” is a reality plaguing those who use social media regularly . Someone viewing images on social media sees “ happy ” people all the time ; meanwhile , real life is never happy all the time . Envy may surface over a friend ’ s good looks , vacation pictures , new job , boyfriend or girlfriend , or baby . The research showed that 36 % of respondents in the survey demonstrated negative reactions to what they saw on Facebook , including sadness , envy , boredom , frustration , loneliness , anger , and so forth . 7
Keeping this in mind , leaders of dioceses , eparchies , parishes , and religious groups who
2 https :// medlineplus . gov / ency / patientinstructions / 000355 . htm
3 http :// www . cnn . com / 2015 / 11 / 03 / health / teens-tweensmedia-screen-use-report / index . html
4 Goodman E . Ads pollute most everything in sight . Albuquerque Journal . June 27 , 1999 : C3
5 Senate Committee on the Judiciary . Children , violence , and the media : a report for parents and policy makers . September 14 , 1999 .
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6 James McNeil quoted in Horovitz , B . ( 2006 , November 22 ). Six Strategies Marketers use to Make Kids Want Things Bad . USA Today , p . 1B
7 Krasnova , Hanna , and Helena Wenninger , Thomas Widjaj , and Peter Buxmann . “ Envy on Facebook : A Hidden Threat to User ’ s Life Satisfaction ?” Institute of Information Systems , Humbolt-Universität zu Berlin : Berlin , Germany ( with Technische Universität Darmstadt : Darmstadt , Germany ). February 27 , 2013 .