Young People and Distracted Living

Father Brian Nolan

As some of you know, I’m working on a series of articles for The Catholic Review (The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s newspaper) on the Millennial Generation. The first story served as an introduction to the Millennials, an often misunderstood group once called Generation Y. The next part in the series is slated to debut April 28 and will tackle their lifestyle, thoughts on marriage, politics, religion and social justice. The big themes will be how they express themselves and how the world is watching it happen in real time via Facebook, Twitter and Skype and everywhere else. But, there’s a downside to being so connected: distracted living. Parents, no matter the generation, are trying to crack the code of communicating with their child. Now, iPods, computers, tablets and smart phones are making it even harder. Still, Millennials are multi-tasking at alarming rates. It’s something that Father Brian Nolan has thought about a lot. A child of the Reagan 80’s, Father Nolan is working with young people at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md. He sees a generation trying to manage many duties, but struggling to be present. I thought you’d be interested to watch a two-minute video with him that tackles this topic. Be sure to check our Millennials page for more videos and audio.