“I think people are unfair about teenagers and their phones,” my teenage son told me recently. “Everyone has this caricature of teenagers always being on their screens, never looking up, being rude. I don’t know any teens who are actually like that.” He paused.

“But I know plenty of adults who are.”

Ouch.

He went on to list the thoughtless behaviors he observes from adults that he rarely sees among his friends: They have their phones out when they’re in a group. They don’t silence their notifications. And they take calls in public way too loudly.

I have to admit he’s not wrong.

He and I have both read Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation. We don’t dismiss the empirical dangers of phones for young people. But our conversation reminded me that adults might also be too quick to assume the worst of a teen with a phone in his pocket. It’s possible there are some things Gen-Z digital natives—especially those who are serious about following Christ—could teach adults about using technology well.

Yesterday, TGC announced the winners of our annual Essay Contest for Young Writers. One of this year’s topics was “How has the gospel changed your relationship with your phone?” and the first-place winner, Luke Simon, has a keen insight for teens and adults alike:

“I wanted more of Jesus, but the idol factory in my heart wanted more of something else: my phone. By God’s grace, I began to see I craved my phone not for its screen, or for its addictive entertainment, or even as an escape. What I truly craved was hope—hope for redemption, hope for restoration, hope for being the human that God created me to be. I craved the hope of the gospel.”

You can find Luke’s story of digital detox and gospel rehabilitation on our site this week. As you read his essay, and those from other winners, I trust you’ll benefit from what Gen-Z believers can teach all of us. I know I did.