Who do your kids follow?

Posted on: 09/25/19 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Kids have always liked celebrities, and celebrities have always had influence… but never to the extent they do today.

In 1984 Madonna shocked the world at the first MTV Video Music Awards, rolling around on the stage in a wedding dress provocatively singing, Like a Virgin. Before you knew it, Gen X teens everywhere (now 50-year-old moms) were wearing lace gloves, 20 bracelets, a rosary, and if Mom and Dad weren’t looking—lingerie on the outside of their clothes. Madonna was an influencer (great documentary on how video killed the radio star- Episode 7 of this Netflix series).

But how much influence did a celebrity have at that time?

Kids could play Continue reading “Who do your kids follow?”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, Youth Culture | Tags: , ,  | Leave A Comment

Not so “super” heroes

Posted on: 09/17/19 4:13 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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Mom, can I watch ‘The Boys’ on Amazon Prime?

What’s it about?

Superheroes.

Sure. Why not?

I guess that’s a good question. “Why not?”

Helping our kids learn to make good entertainment decisions isn’t easy (just like helping our kids escape porn isn’t easy). And with all the easy access to raunchy entertainment today, parenting has become a little more complex.

Some might call it unrealistic to wish that superheroes were always good guys. Today’s demand for authentic entertainment calls for more “real” or “gritty” characters… i.e. superheroes who are rapists, peeping toms, liars, murderers, hypocrites, drug addicts…and that’s exactly what you get with almost every hero in The Boys. Because that’s “real”, right?

Let’s just say that The Boys, based off the graphic novel/comic book series of the same name, provides Continue reading “Not so “super” heroes”

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Top 10 List: What I Learned at the Raiders/Broncos Game in Oakland Last Night

Posted on: 09/9/19 11:05 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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Last night we went to the Broncos game in Oakland…sitting in the nosebleeds!

I had heard numerous stories about Oakland fans, but this was my first opportunity to experience them firsthand.

Here’s my top list of what I observed:

10. Antonio Brown is not a popular fellow in Oakland

9. People on parole certainly do enjoy football

8. More Raiders players prayed at the beginning of the game than Broncos players.

7. A person can get high on second-hand smoke (and I hope I don’t need a drug test anytime soon)

Continue reading “Top 10 List: What I Learned at the Raiders/Broncos Game in Oakland Last Night”

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to compensate for their own hopelessness

Posted on: 09/3/19 5:07 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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In the shadow of yet another shooting this year, I’ve been reflecting on my research not only about bullied kids or even school shooters…but young people in general.

Looking for meaning, purpose…belonging.

I read the following quote this week in the book, Mindhunter, by John Douglas, the FBI legend who first coined the term “serial killer” and birthed the “behavioral science” unit at the FBI:  (emphasis mine)

“Whether we’re talking about a mail bomber like Ted Kaczynski, Charles Whitman, or any number of school shooters, or the raft of religious terrorists have come to plague much of the world, we’re exploring similar psyches. These are people who take up mass violence as a Continue reading “to compensate for their own hopelessness”

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