The Rev Dr Tess Kuin Lawton
Chaplain at Magdalen College School

Have you heard of the i-generation? It is the popular term being used for children born from the start of this millennium.

They are children who were “born connected” because they arrived in the age of the advanced digital technology we all now take for granted.

More recently they have also been termed the selfie generation, the kids who shunned autographs from celebrities in favour of having a photo taken with them.

They are a generation who take multi-screening for granted, who live their lives very publicly online and who identify themselves as part of a global, rather than local community.

The older generation worries about them on many levels and enjoys tutting about them, probably in just the same way their own parents tutted about them.

In particular there is a fear about their lack of attention span, their obsession with their own appearance and their inability to talk to “real” people.

This is the generation I currently teach and, while I understand your concerns about them, I am also their biggest fan – and I’ll tell you why.

The i-gen do indeed use multiple screens and they do expect to have several on at the same time. What is interesting is that they still manage to get their work done and statistics suggest they are doing it really well.

This is a clever group of kids who seem to be soaking up all the information out there and learning far more quickly than we did how to manipulate multiple sources.

The myth of female multi-tasking may be one that is being shattered by these teenage boys. They are impressively creative as well – a group whose visual understanding is far more developed than our own. They can create memes, short films, presentations and recordings all at the drop of a hat. There is evidence on the sports field that playing Fifa or other sports games on the computer seems to be developing their pitch awareness and their understanding of the game. And they chat to each other all the time: on Facebook, Snapchat, Facetime, Skype.

I would argue they are more in touch and better at making friends than their parents.

Dr Tom Price of Oxford, points out that they are characterised by their willingness to be emotionally honest (have you ever watched vlogger Zoella?) and that they value this in others.

Vulnerability does not scare them. But they have also been affected by the major world events of the past 15 years, the rise of barbaric and random terrorism, war and recession, and so there is also a level of fear and distrust of authority among many of them.

As both an educator and a priest, I am concerned to turn their positive qualities of trust, emotional honesty and creativity outwards towards others and ultimately into the sort of dreams Michelle Obama was talking about in Tower Hamlets last week.

The i-generation are brilliant at recording the mood of the age and at disseminating it – a generation of reporters.

What we need to be doing now is getting them to think big.

How will you serve this world you are commenting on? Where will you lead it?

The Church has been the encourager of dreams and hopes for centuries and with our use of liturgical colour and symbolism we understand the importance of visual communication.

Christians are supposed to be people characterised by joy and kindness and this generation requires us to live honestly and to be prepared to “give an account of the hope that is within us”, as St Peter wrote in the first century.