Teaching Discernment to Alyssa

Posted on: 02/8/10 9:55 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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This week’s Youth Culture Window article is a little different than normal… it’s a story of my 14-year-old Alyssa asking me permission to download a song on iTunes. This situation wasn’t one of those ‘cut and dry’ easy decisions. You know… like when your kids ask you if they can download a Crowder song (“Duh, yes!”)… or when they ask you if they can download Beyonce’s Video Phone (“Duh, no!”). This was one of those instances that actually took “discernment.” (Dang… why isn’t parenting easier!)

This just happened last week, and I thought it would be a fun story to share with other parents. Here’s just a snippet of the article:

“Dad, can I download Down?”

That’s what my 14-year-old asked me this week, hoping to download the song from iTunes onto her iPod. If you’re a parent, you may have experienced a situation similar to this, seeing that 76% of 8-18 year-olds now own these mobile music devices (KFF, Generation M2, page 29).

During lunch that day, Alyssa had heard Jay Sean’s song “Down” play over the school’s PA system (because that’s what our public schools often do in CA). There’s little wonder why my daughter heard this song at school. Though it’s currently ranked #23 on Billboard’s Hot 100, this song by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne has been on the charts for 30 weeks and it peaked at #1. In other words, this tune has gotten some serious air time!  I heard it in the airport last weekend.

My kids have an agreement with my wife Lori and me that they must review the lyrics before downloading any song. We’ve been trying to teach them to use discernment with what they listen to because we all know that music truly affects actions. (Just last week David’s Youth Culture Window article cited the unique study performed by the University of Sussex about the affect of music on teenagers. That study made me want to “knock some pencils off the table” in my house to see what happens!)

So when Alyssa asked me if she could download the song, I offered her the same response I always give. “Did you look at the lyrics?”

She answered honestly, “Yeah, but I couldn’t tell if they were bad.”

You gotta love this situation! Here’s my daughter being a normal teenager who likes the sound of a song. She knows the process in our house and she comes to me genuinely seeking an answer of what’s right… or just hoping I’d say yes!

Here lies the struggle. In moments like these I can’t help but second guess myself. Alyssa is a great kid. Am I monitoring her too much? Should I back off and let her just download what she wants? After all, my rules seem a little more stringent than many other parents I know…even some of those in my church.

Do you ever wonder what to do in these situations?

 You can read the rest of the article here, or it’s featured in the big Youth Culture Window magnifying glass on the front page of our site, www.TheSource4YM.com

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More of the Same from the Grammys

Posted on: 02/1/10 9:00 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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I don’t think I can say it any better than I did last year the day after the Grammys when I said, “Why are adults surprised that kids listen to raunchy music? Kids are only following their example.”

Last night, the Grammys once again gave us a true glimpse of who and what adults value in this world. And I couldn’t help but chuckle when I found out Beyonce received 10 nominations, winning six awards. This week it’s going to be difficult for Beyonce-fan moms to tell their own little girls, “You can’t go out dressed like that!” After all… Beyonce does it.

And how are moms going to impose boundaries on their teenagers cell phones, when they’ve got Beyonce’s hit song “Video Phone” (currently the 17th most popular video download on iTunes) blaring on the radio, spewing these lyrics:

What? You want me naked?
If you likin’ this position
You can tape it
On ya video phone

David pulled back the covers a few weeks ago here with his expose’ on Beyonce in our Youth Culture Window section of our web site.

Beyonce isn’t alone in her smut peddling. The top songs on the charts paint a pretty bleak picture right now. David’s current Youth Culture Window article about our kids’ daily increase in music saturation not only reveals an eye opening glimpse of some of the songs in the Top 10 right now, but also shares an interesting study about how much lyrics really affect kids. Fascinating stuff!

But I guess America would rather forget all the facts… and just keep awarding these “artists.”

Here’s a few of the awards given last night:

Album of the year
Taylor Swift, Fearless

Female pop performance
Beyoncé, Halo

Rap/sung collaboration
Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, Run This Town

Rock album
Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown

Record of the year
Kings of Leon, Use Somebody

Country album
Taylor Swift, Fearless

Song of the year
Beyoncé, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Pop vocal album
The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.

Male pop vocal performance
Jason Mraz, Make It Mine

R&B song
Beyoncé, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Rap album
Eminem, Relapse

Rap song
Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, Run This Town

Dance recording
Lady Gaga, Poker Face L

Electronic dance album
Lady Gaga, The Fame

Click here for USA TODAY’s complete list of the winners.

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Under-aged Texting

Posted on: 01/28/10 11:05 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Did you know that the average American teenager exchanges 3,146 text messages per month?

I get emails from Nielsen about their newest studies and research. This week they sent and interesting little tidbit from their 2009 research about texting. Nielsen is no joke. They analyze more than 40,000 mobile bills every month gathering data. Here’s a chart comparing the growth of texting over the past few years between kids under 12 (the blue line) and those age 13-17 (the red line).

In Nielsen’s 1/27/10 update, Roger Entner writes this:

The anecdotes documenting the love affair between teenagers and texting are countless. Many parents can attest that their offspring text rather than talk, even when they sit next to each other in the back of the car. Their children text in the morning before they brush their teeth and continue late into the night with the last text messages, also called SMS, sneaked in under the covers right before they close their eyes to sleep. Until now, there has been very little firm data available about how pervasive texting has actually become among the under-aged.

He goes on to break down the 3,146 messages per month that kids are using.

  • that’s more than 10 messages every hour of the month that they are not sleeping or in school
  • even the under 12 segment are sending 1,146 messages per month which is four text messages per waking hour that they are not in school

Read the whole report here.

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Virginity Sells… Sex Sells

Posted on: 01/26/10 6:15 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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On January 17th VH1 News presented a piece called “The New Virginity.” (You can catch some very amateur-captured glimpses of it all over YouTube) VH1’s website brags that the show “explores the roots of our current obsession with chastity–the stars who’ve made their virginity a major part of their public persona.”

You know- the Jonas Bros, Selena, Demi… VH1 seems to hint that their “purity pledges” will be short lived. They argue that stars want to keep their audience as they get older. The pattern that we see so far from artists like Britney is to be innocent, then slowly become more and more provocative.

This article about the VH1 show says it like this: “virginity may sell when you’re a teen, but sex sells when you’re an adult.”

The article goes on to present some polarized views:

Sexuality, not virginity, VH1 said, is the key to success for these soon-to-be adult stars like Cyrus and Gomez.

If purity rings and pledges aren’t practical for long-term Hollywood success, VH1 wasn’t any more positive about their value to even normal teens. If abstinence isn’t going to sell records or land you a TV show, don’t bother taking purity pledges, since they create “unrealistic expectations.” 

“There’s now an iPhone application,” said Jessica Valenti, author of “The Purity Myth,” “that’s a purity ring that you can have on your phone to show that you’re a virgin. I guess it’s actually kind of useful because once you lose your virginity – like most kids who take virginity pledges do – you can just trash it.”

Since teenagers can’t control themselves, Valenti said that “sexual education,” not abstinence, should be the focal point.

“Thirty-three percent of kids that take the pledge are more likely to initiate sex,” she said, “yet very few of them know anything about protection, so they’re less likely to actually use a condom and more likely to get an STD or get pregnant.”

That’s one way to read the statistics. Another way would be to note that the 33 percent is 8.8 percent less than the 42.4 percent of non-pledgers who initiate. And that pledgers are no less likely to use a condom when they do have sex.

VH1’s description of the show contends:

“In a world where tweens grow up too fast, a public declaration of chastity until marriage is a statement against the fast and furious life that many young stars succumb to, particularly those in the entertainment industry. But, as the show will point out, virginity doesn’t stop celebs from looking and acting provocatively–playing both sides with impressive marketing results. The stars aren’t the only ones caught up in virgin-mania. At Purity Balls across America, dads and daughters are living an abstinence fairy tale.”

Ouch!!!

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Media Consumption

Posted on: 01/22/10 4:46 PM | by Jonathan McKee

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I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at our new Youth Culture Window article that will be featured on our front page all this coming week. We just put it up on the site.

As you heard from my last blog, the Kaiser Foundation just released their most recent media consumption report, and WOW!

If you didn’t see the report, David provides us with a great summary. Here’s a snippet:

According to the long awaited and highly anticipated Kaiser Family Foundation’s report entitled Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-Olds, students between 7th and 12th grade spend 7 hours and 38 minutes every day (or 53.4 hours, weekly) taking in various forms of “entertainment media.”  

That’s more time than is required to drive from coast to coast. (Google it if you don’t believe me.) …

Every week, kids spend over 53 hours listening to music, surfing the web, watching TV, taking in a movie, thumbing through a magazine, playing video games, enjoying mobile apps on their cell phone…or all of the above…at the same time.

That’s right. Since kids tend to “media multitask” – for example, watching TV while listening to music at the same time – KFF inquired about that tendency, and found that kids actually cram a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes of different media into the span of 7 hours and 38 minutes!    

That’s like an all-you-can-eat media buffet!

Click here for the entire article

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8-18 Year-olds Average 7 hrs 38 minutes Daily to Entertainment Media

Posted on: 01/20/10 11:17 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Yes, it’s true, 8-18 year-olds average 7 hrs and 38 minutes per day consuming entertainment media. Do those numbers sound high? They should. Because today’s average daily media consumption in the lives of 8-18 year-olds has increased by over an hour per day since the last study 5 years ago.

7 hours and 38 minutes is the brand new total released just TODAY from the Kaiser Family Foundation that you’ll be seeing quoted in reports everywhere for the next 5+ years. The report is called Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18-Year-Olds.

Five years ago Kaiser released their March 2005 report, Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds. Since then, the Journal of Pediatrics, Pew Internet, CNN… EVERYONE… have used those numbers in their own reports about young people and media consumption.

Well… the new numbers are in. And media consumption is way up across the board. (Duh!)

This Sunday David and I will release our article with the summary of these findings in our weekly Youth Culture Window article. For those who want to get a sneak peak at the full Kaiser report, click here. Here’s some of what you’ll find:

Check out that increase in just the last 5 years!

Wow… kids are really reading that print-media, huh!  🙂

That’s just a snippet. You’ll also learn fun tidbits from the full report like the fact that cell phone talking and texting is NOT counted as media use (page 18, paragraph 2). That’s right, on top of the average of 7 hours and 38 minutes that young people spend per day in the above activities, there is also texting and talking on the phone.

  • 11-14 year olds spend an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes per day texting, and 36 minutes per day talking.
  • 15-18 year-olds spend an average of 1 hour and 51 minutes per day texting, and 43 minutes per day talking.

Add those numbers to 7 hours 38 minutes!

I’ve been looking forward to this report for a while now. Last week, Amanda Lenhart from Pew Internet told me that it was coming out today. (Another fascinating conversation… I had emailed her because I saw a report released from an organization I won’t name, a report that said that young people were spending 2.5 to 3.2 hours a day online. I read these reports all the time and that sounded high. A similar Nielsen report showed young people- depending on age- only spent a little over an hour per day. That’s an hour to two hours per day different! After examining both reports, I feared that this “un-named” organization was doing an internet survey. Think about that for a moment. “Let’s use the internet to poll people on the internet how often they are on the internet!”  🙂  Sure enough, my guess was correct. But I also emailed Amanda- I really respect her research– and asked her as a third party what she thought. She basically said, “Let’s see what Kaiser says next week!” Sure enough, this new report released today only reveals an average of 1 hour and 29 minutes of daily internet time.)

Again, we’ll give you the full summary next week on our Youth Culture Window page. But for those who have time, I really encourage you to read Kaiser’s full report. Just glimpse at some of their charts. Fascinating stuff about this young generation and their love for media.

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The Book of Eli

Posted on: 01/15/10 7:34 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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I got a chance to see a screening of the new Denzel movie, THE BOOK OF ELI, last night. Wow… probably one of the best films I’ve seen in the last decade.

The story is about a man on a journey through a post-nuclear world. The man’s name is Eli (played by none other than Denzel), and he’s carrying one of the most prized possessions of the times– a Bible.

It was amazing to see a film that truly represented the power of the Bible, and didn’t mock the guy who put his faith in it. This is probably one of the few films where being a follower of God’s Holy word is actually cool!

Denzel’s character Eli, was actually a noble guy too. He read his Bible daily, prayed, quoted scripture, and seemed to want to obey God’s will. I was waiting for him to go and do something stupid (like Hollywood usually does when portraying Christians). But Eli was not only noble, he was basically true to the Word (pacifists won’t agree– because he did defend himself to complete his mission). There were some great “discussion” moments including one scene where Eli talks about the importance of not just carrying the Bible, but following what’s in it.

The interesting aspect of this film was the motives behind people’s search for the Bible. Eli wanted to use it for good, where Oldman’s character wanted to use it to control people. True to life– some people have used God’s words with bad motives.

I warn you… some people won’t like the film’s violence. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a post-apocalyptic world, but never gratuitous.

That being said… great action flick. The film had some great fight scenes as Eli defended himself against attackers.

I go into more detail, including if the film is appropriate for kids, etc. in my official review on our MOVIE REVIEW PAGE .

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I guess we’re “missing the mark”

Posted on: 01/4/10 11:13 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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I get all kinds of emails and feedback from people about the free resources and articles we provide. Here’s an interesting one to ponder. I can’t say I like this person’s first sentence: “The youth culture window that you guys offer is missing the mark.”

He’s talking about our Youth Culture Window (YCW) articles, featured in the big magnifying glass on the front page of our web site each week.

Let me be the first to verbalize, “Don’t worry David (David writes over 80% of our YCW articles), I think you’re right on the mark! Critics are a dime a dozen. I appreciate your work!”

Here’s this guy’s entire email to us:

The youth culture window that you guys offer is missing the mark. Lets be honest, the majority of the posts deal with sex. This is what our culture as a church thinks is crucial to fight. Violence is also out there. Then comes what about the good stuff going on in culture? It is sad that all you can find in culture is things to complain about. Ultimately, what you are addressing is the symptoms of the larger issues within culture. Please, PLEASE, read Niebuhr’s “Christ & Culture” and see if you can incorporate something more than the “Christ against Culture” attitude.

It’s interesting that he observed that most of our posts have to do with sex. I agree. We simply report what’s going on in today’s youth culture and the media, and that’s pretty sex driven. I wish it wasn’t.

I also find it intriguing that he mentioned how much of this was “bad news.” David and I talk about this frequently as we research current attitudes and trends. We constantly are asking, “Isn’t there something mainstream that’s good that we can report about” And that’s the key– we want to try to focus on attitudes and trends that are predominant across the board, not the exception.

Considering his criticism, I looked at the list of our last few articles released and the subjects they covered.:

The New Form of Phone Sex (1/2/2010)
Beyoncé’s Newest Song “Video Phone”
This article is about Beyonce’s newest song and video which are filled with sexual imagery.

The #1 Hits of 2009 (12/11/2009)
A Review of 2009’s Top Songs and Their Message
This article reviews all the top songs of 2009, whatever their message.

Culture’s Confusion Over Sex (12/4/2009)
And The Impact It’s Making On Teens
Yes, this article is about sex, specifically new research about the confusing messages our students are being inundated with.

Fireflies from Owl City (11/28/2009)
Is That a Christian at the Top of the Charts?
This article is about a new song and artist that is not only popular… he’s clean!

Twilight Goes ‘Emo’ (11/12/2009)
Bella’s Self Destructive Dependence on Edward
This article is about on of the biggest media youth culture phenomenons of the year, the newest film from the Twilight series. The article focuses most of its attention on self destructive behavior.

Do Threesomes Come in Threes? (11/4/2009)
Youth Media Ups the Ante with Sexy Trios
This article focuses on the abundance of recent threesomes in the media, as well as the onslaught of “bi-curious” attitudes and activity portrayed.

“I’m Trying to Talk to You!” (10/30/2009)
Getting the Attention of Teenagers
This article discusses the different communication technologies used for contacting students and their effectiveness.

So… are our YCW articles a misrepresentation?

Thoughts?

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Top 10 Games of the Last DECADE!

Posted on: 12/31/09 10:22 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Wow… forget looking back just one year… how about looking back a whole decade!

My son is quite a “gamer,” so I found this particular list fun. It’s the Top 10 Games of the Decade from Yahoo Games.

One thing I liked about the list was how so many innocent games made the cut. Mario, Wii Fit, Wii Sports… good stuff. It also reveals that “game play” is still important.

This list also gives a pretty good glimpse of youth and gaming culture. With game giants like HALO (remember all the craze with each release?), and Guitar Hero (#1 for so long, fastest to reach the $1 billion mark, evening beating out the Grand Theft Auto releases… yeah!).

But unfortunately, the list also reflects the sad reality of our culture with its number 1 pick, Grand Theft Auto III, a game that gives into every fleshly urge imaginable. You’ve heard me blog about one of these games before, and may have even read David’s Youth Culture Window Article about 2008’s release of Grand Theft Auto 4.

But hey, I was happy to only see one game that truly disturbed me in a list of the decade’s top 10 games. Not bad!

Click here for the slideshow/list of the Top 10 Games of the Decade.

(ht to David R. Smith)

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Brand New Report on Minors Sexting

Posted on: 12/15/09 11:48 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Emphasis on “brand new” and emphasis on “minors.”

Yes, in the last year we’ve heard an abundance of reports about “sexting” … that’s when teenagers decide to use their mobile phones to send sexual text messages or images to each other. At noon today (hence the words “brand new”), Pew Internet released their newest report, Teens and Sexting, by Amanda Lenhart, their Senior Research Specialist.

The glaring number that popped right off the page at me was 4%. That’s right– this report shows only “4% of cell-owning teens ages 12-17 say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves to someone else via text messages.”

The 4% popped out at me because this is by far the lowest number I’ve seen yet and I wanted to know if it was accurate. (Just a week or so ago I blogged about another new poll citing “more than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting.”)

First, let me note that people tend to love to post the “bigger” or more shocking numbers when these reports are released. Take, for example, CNN’s article on the subject released today. Their headline: “15 Percent of Teens Get Sexual Text Messages.” I guess that sounds a lot better than a mere 4% who send them.  🙂

That being said, I really thought that 4% sounded low.

That’s why I, first, read the entire report, available as a PDF download, including the section on the study’s “methodology.” Then… I couldn’t help it. I had to call Pew Internet and ask them myself. I dialed their number and to my surprise got Amanda Lenhart on the phone. After introducing myself and thanking her for her report, I asked, “Why the disparity between these numbers and other reports?” I quickly sited the MTV/AP study, a study that this Pew Internet report even cited. In that study they reported that 19% of teens ages 13-18 had sent a sexually suggestive text message or email with nude or nearly-nude photos. It seemed that 4% and 19% weren’t very close.

She was not only happy to engage in a dialogue about the study, she was very articulate in her responses to my questions. The first thing she highlighted was that the MTV/AP study included 18 and 19 year-olds, where her report only went up to age 17, and that really changes the numbers. I agreed, noting that her own report revealed 8% of 17-year-olds and sent sexually provocative images via text and 30% had received them. The older kids are, the more they do this. It’s fairly clear that 18 and 19-year-olds really boost the percentages.

Looking back at the more recent AP-MTV poll that I blogged about just last week, that report (citing “more than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting”) was a study of 14-24-year-olds. It’s pretty important to notice those ages.

She explained that in her report she wanted to highlight the sexting by “minors.” So that difference in age accounts for much of the difference in percentages.

Her report spoke to the importance of this issue specifically with minors because of the laws and legislation emerging to deal with the issue. The report details several incidents where teenagers were accused, prosecuted or even listed as sex offenders for sending nude pictures to other minors.

We went on to talk about the methodology of the study. Her study was a phone study that required the consent of a parent to talk to the minor. I asked Ms. Lenhart blatantly, “Don’t you think that might affect your results, the fact that you are only talking to teenagers whose parents connected you with them?” I shared my personal experience with the large percentage of troubled teens whose relationships with their parents were less than civil. I don’t think any of those kids would have ever made it to the phone. I asked her, “Is this survey missing those kids?”

She contended that many of the kids who were surveyed seemed reluctant at first to even want to talk on the phone. She felt that their survey reached all kinds of kids. She went on to describe how accurate these samplings can be.

She summarized by saying that she didn’t think the numbers were that far off from other studies like the MTV/AP report when you take into consideration the age difference and the plus or minus 4% accuracy that most these studies have.

I was pretty convinced, once talking with her. The only thing that still has me skeptical is the phone call methodology (you can read all about it in the report). I’m not expert when it comes to surveys, but as a guy who has spent a lot of time on campus, it seems to me the best way to do these studies would be in cooperation with the schools, using a random mix of schools and a random sampling of kids (of all socio-economic backgrounds, different races, different academic abilities) … pull them from class and interview them. I would probably even try a personal interview (face to face) followed by an anonymous interview at a computer screen where the kids are assured that their answers are kept anonymous- noting the difference between the results as a whole.

Just my two cents.

Anyway, I encourage you to read her whole report. Fascinating stuff. Here’s a glimpse at the overview:

The report also shared some interesting new tidbits, including the newest mobile phone use data (an update from the data I shared just yesterday!), with the 2009 statistic that now 58% of 12-year-olds own a cell phone (I’ll have to use that stat with my 12-year-old daughter now when she says that all her friends own cell phones. Dang. It keeps changing in her favor!)

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