From smartphones to social media, tech use has become the norm. As of 2019, nine-in-ten U.S. adults say they go online, 81% say they own a smartphone and 72% say they use social media. Growth in adoption of some technologies has slowed in recent years, in some instances because there just aren’t many non-users left, especially among younger generations. For example, 93% of Millennials (ages 23 to 38 in 2019) own smartphones, and nearly 100% say they use the internet.

Social media is now a key pathway to news for Americans. In 2018, for the first time, social media sites surpassed print newspapers as a news source for Americans. One-in-five adults said they often get news from social media, slightly higher than the share who often did so from print newspapers (16%). Among social media sites, Facebook dominates in terms of news consumption: Around half of all U.S. adults (52%) now say they get news there.

Millennials have surpassed Generation Xers as the largest generation in the U.S. labor force. There were 57 million Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) working or looking for work in 2018. That was more than the 53 million Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1980) and well ahead of the 38 million Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964).

Read it all.

As the 2010s draw to a close, here are key ways the country looks different from 10 years ago, including:
📱 technological advancements
👵👧 demographic shifts
👨‍❤️‍👨 major changes in public opinion https://t.co/aWOLaFIFDY

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 20, 2019

On Dec. 25, the entire Wiederstein family plans to gather at a relative’s Missouri cabin, 400 miles from Edmond.

On the agenda: hunting and riding four-wheelers.

“We’re not running from it,” Allen said of the memories at home. “We’re just spending time together.”

The Wiedersteins say they realize how fleeting life can be. Time together, then, is the most precious gift of all.

Read it all.

A well-written story on a wonderful family with deep @okchristian ties: Despite ‘unthinkable’ grief, Christian couple has hope. HT to @OCcomm alumni @bobbyross for writing, and @ItsHunterTime, who graduated Friday. https://t.co/WV1soqO4Jk #oklahoma #TalkwalkerAlerts

— Josh Watson, Ph.D. (@joshuatodPRprof) December 16, 2019

By some estimates, Dr. Robbins’s vaccine against the illness, called Hib meningitis, has saved seven million lives since it was licensed in 1989.

Pediatricians who worked in the pre-vaccine days remember feeling their hearts sink when they saw Hib bacteria under a microscope in a baby’s spinal fluid. It meant that, even with antibiotics, the child was at risk of permanent brain damage, deafness or death.

Before the vaccine, Hib meningitis killed about 400,000 children a year, according to the World Health Organization….

Read it all.

I always live in slight fear of seeing a child with deadly HiB meningitis or epiglottitis.

It’s because of people like Dr Robbins that I’ve never seen the latter, and only once the former.

And they didn’t make any money off of it. Thank you, sir. https://t.co/wr4T9orrXA

— Dr. Dipesh Navsaria (@navsaria) December 19, 2019

Almighty and everliving God, who didst strengthen thine apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in thy sight; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

21st Of December: Feast Of Saint Thomas, Apostle And Martyr.
Ora Pro Nobis. pic.twitter.com/pdXvyWS3jl

— Sean Friel-ly is getting prepared for Christmas (@ByTheMassRock) December 21, 2019

Prosper Thou the work of my hands, O Lord; O prosper thou my handywork.
Guide me with Thy counsel.
To the greater glory of Thy name, O God, I approach this work and offer it to Thee in union with the infinite merits of Jesus Christ.
Whatsoever I do in word and deed, may I do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

–The Rev. T. T. Carter, The Treasury of Devotion: a Manual of Prayer for General and Daily Use (London: Rivingtons, 1871)

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

–Matthew 25:31-46