The Struggles of Youth | A Presentation by Smith Alley

Register for FREE to watch the Young Saints Virtual Conference Smith Alley is an 18-year-old high school senior who struggled with the harmful effects of pornography and social media for five years. Deciding to change the course of his life at 14, he went through an addiction recovery program and fell in love with helping other people. He now speaks to groups on how to establish internal filters and use technology in a balanced and intentional way to avoid negative mental health effects and achieve their goals. Smith has started a nonprofit organization called Live Life Bigger Foundation. His mission is to help kids live life bigger and rise up to their true potential. At age 16, he also started a company for parents called ProtechtStrong that helps families set up parental restrictions on devices and create healthy social media habits. Highlights 3:30 Story about papercuts to the heart. 5:25 Smith’s story being exposed to pornography at a very young age, dealing with social media, and with depression. 8:00 Smith shares his recovery story. 15:00 There is no such thing as a normal life or being a normal human being. We put such high expectations on what is ok or what is normal behavior. Part of human behavior is making mistakes and we aren’t normalizing that. 18:15 Let your heart break. Be vulnerable. We are taught to suck it up and not cry. We can’t grow or heal without being vulnerable and talking about our feelings. 19:00 A huge part of Smith’s healing was service. He replaced his bad habit with a good habit. 20:15 Smith tells stories of other youth that are struggling and how he has been able to help them by being open about his own struggle. His vulnerability has lead him to help so many other youth and help them open up too. 24:45 Smith leads through acceptance, vulnerability, and love. 25:20 Be a church leader not a church controller. 32:00 Teaching youth about their true identity is what is going to save them not trying to control their behavior. Do they know who they are? Do they identify themselves as sons and daughters of God? 34:00 How can youth leaders communicate better acceptance? God and Christ see us for who we are and not for what you are doing. Show them who they can be by using the atonement of Jesus Christ. 38:15 How can we help youth feel loved? 44:45 As leaders we want to talk about commandments and righteousness but maybe what we should really be talking about is brokenness and wounds. Sharing our brokenness leads us to Christ, the healer of brokenness. 47:30 Smith’s advice to youth leaders. Links livelifebigger.orgprotechtstrong.com Instagram: @live.life.bigger LinkedIn: Smith Alley Read the TRANSCRIPT of this presentation