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No Media for 24 Hours

Posted on: 09/23/10 10:53 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This Saturday, September 25th, Nickelodeon goes dark for a day to encourage kids to go out and play!

(Hey, that rhymes. Will they play in the hay? How long will they stay? Until May? I digress.)

I love the idea. It reminds me of an early Simpsons episode where the power went out in Springfield. All the TV’s went dark in every household and we heard kids moan in disappointment. Then they slowly got up, opened the front door to their houses, stretched their arms, squinting in the light of the sun like someone who hasn’t seen light for weeks. Next scene we saw kids playing on playgrounds, climbing trees, making forts… Great scene.

Nick is trying to get kids to do much of this. Their Worldwide Day of Play website has all kinds of ideas of activities that kids can do for the day.

As much as I love Nick’s efforts, I don’t know how much of an impact they will make by themselves (this is their 7th year in a row doing this). I wish that they could get Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV and other channels kids frequent- all to own in on this (not that kids couldn’t just go play X-box).

Parents should use this as an opportunity to make this family-driven. Wouldn’t it be cool if families “shut off the power” and turned off all mobile devices for a day?

Last year our church had a 1 month media fast. I know… it sounds nuts. But it was truly amazing. We cut all entertainment media for 1 month. Families brought out old board games, went on walks, hikes… you name it. Our family moaned and whined the first week. But after the month was over, we talked about implementing the media fast as a regular event one day a week– Tuesdays. (It’s been pretty irregular- with homework and jobs, many nights have been without media lately).

Props to Nick!

RELATED ARTICLE: College blocks out Facebook for a week.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Family, News, Parenting, TV | | Leave A Comment

Does money buy happiness? Yes… well… sort of…

Posted on: 07/14/10 9:20 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Gallup just did the largest worldwide survey of it’s kind on the subject of happiness. For the first time, they have a global perspective on happiness and feeling good about oneself.

Yes, money does buy happiness, they conclude. Surprised? Well hold on, because their research led them to discover a difference between plain ol’ perceived “happiness” and what they call “feeling good.”

A snippet:

Although money also influenced emotions, the effect was much weaker. Both positive and negative emotions tended to be affected much more in relation to other psychological and social factors, such as feeling respected, having autonomy, strong social support and working at a fulfilling job.

This study found that most people were quick to relate “happiness” to how well off they were financially. This survey dug deeper to ask people about positive feelings like laughter and enjoyment.

I don’t want to rehash the whole article. I encourage you to read Washington Post’s entire summary of the study. Fascinating stuff.

I think the conclusions testify to the fact that some temporary thrills (money & “stuff”) are indeed “thrills.” But they eventually live up to their name, “temporary.” In the end, people are looking for something so much more. Something that lasts.

Hmmmmm… if that isn’t a Gospel message waiting to be preached… I don’t know what is. (more on that in the comments below)

Posted in Faith, News | | Leave A Comment

The New Online Red-Light District

Posted on: 07/3/10 1:25 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Porn sites are about to be given their own domain.

It’s official. People can now by domains that end in .xxx New York Times reported last week:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Friday agreed to move forward on a long-standing proposal from a Florida company to create a specialized dot-xxx suffix for adult entertainment Web sites.

People don’t really know how to respond to this. It will be an entire domain devoted to porn.

On one hand, it’s really sad that our world is that obsessed with lust (although historically, this is nothing new… it’s amazing what was going on 2,000 years ago when the Bible was being penned). On the other hand, this could turn into a good thing if all porn was forced to move to that domain. But as the above NY Times article argues, “some of the biggest names in online pornography prefer not to be in that neighborhood.”

CNET News expands on this:

The problem, in other words, is that as soon as .xxx launches, conservatives in Congress will begin to clamor for laws to make the domain mandatory for sex-related Web sites. That may not be a big deal for hard-core pornmeisters who prefer that virtual street address, but what about sex education sites that include explicit graphics and don’t wish to be blocked by filtering software? And where should Salon.com–which features images of topless women–or Playboy.com–which publishes important interviews with U.S. presidents–end up?

Ha, yeah… that’s why people read Playboy. Those really good interviews!! 🙂

I haven’t had time to think about the ramifications yet, but all porn on one domain doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me. It would sure be easy to block!!!

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Jonathan's Rant, News, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Dawn Treader Exclusive Trailer

Posted on: 06/16/10 1:49 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Okay… this is kind of cool.

I get to release to you an exclusive trailer for the new Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This trailer is only being released to a few people in the Christian media world right now so we can show it to you guys first. Pretty cool!

Here it is:

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader Official Teaser Trailer

(If you received this blog via email and can’t see the embedded trailer, click HERE to view it on my blog)

I’m pretty excited about this film. In my blog a few weeks ago, I not only showed you the cool new poster for the film, I mentioned that this film (coming December 10th) is going to be directed by Michael Apted… a really solid director.

I don’t know if it’s this preview or the fact that I grew up reading the book. Either way… I’m eager to see it!

Chime in and comment. Tell me what you think.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Movies, News | | Leave A Comment

World Cup Unites the Globe

Posted on: 06/1/10 3:58 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Last week a youth worker from South Africa emailed me letting me know that the last lot of World Cup tickets were going on sale… hoping she’d get some. That would be so cool! (Hoping you get them Laura!)

I’m so jealous! 🙂

If you haven’t seen the Nike commercial for it…be careful… if you watch it, fan or not, you might actually fall in love with the sport.

My local Sacramento Bee chimed in on this spectacular event coming just around the corner. The opening line of that article: “Most Germans prefer watching their World Cup soccer team to having sex.”

LOL (Sorry, I’m not that dedicated to soccer.)

A snippet from that article, World Cup Unites the Globe:

Thursday, the South Wales Argus reported that Welsh police are girding for spikes in domestic violence between June 11 and July 11 – when a global audience will be riveted by the World Cup.

Last December, the New York Times ran a story with the headline: “A Nation’s Shaken Ego Seen in a Soccer Loss.” It told of a national malaise in Egypt after its team failed to qualify for the World Cup, which starts in two weeks in South Africa. Some Egyptians compared the indignity to the 1967 military rout of Arab armies by Israel.

And if past World Cups are any indication, somebody will commit suicide when his team is eliminated next month.

It happens every four years. Some Americans wonder why, but it’s very simple: With soccer, the most desperate kids from Sudan share the same passion as affluent kids in the United States.

So cool! I can’t wait!

(ht to my mom for that article)

Posted in News, Personal | | Leave A Comment

My Dear Blog Fans

Posted on: 05/26/10 2:19 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I wanted to apologize to you for my blog lately. I won’t bore you with the details, I’ll just tell you that it’s Google’s fault! (seriously, it is!)

All you know is that you haven’t heard from me in a while. But I have been blogging… they just weren’t sent out. The quick explanation is that my blog feed is sent by Google (who took over Feedburner) and they made some switch sometime after the blog about my son, and then you guys experienced silence until this morning (Wednesday).

My faithful web guy Troy went in last night and retweaked it and we THINK that it is working now.

If you’re inbox is like mine, you received the last THREE blogs this morning (Wed). (And now you know all the dark secrets about me and Lori! Those who read the last of those three blogs know what I’m talking about. We had a great time by the way. Good wings!) So hopefully this blog I’m writing now will send out to my email subscribers Thurs.

Anyway… if that works, we’re over the hump and I’ll try to continue to send you good youth culture highlights, media insight, parenting tips, youth worker helps, and just plain fun stuff!

Hey… here’s an idea (speaking of fun stuff). First five people to reply (just hit reply- it goes to me) to my EMAIL FEED of this blog (which should send out the same time as my feed Wed morning), I’ll send them a copy of my most recent book CONNECT (actually… any one of my books in print. Name it.). In other words… when this blog sends out Thursday morning, I’m rewarding the first 5 people that reply to this blog in their email’s inbox (hoping that it indeed works again!)

How’s that for a test! 🙂 (a test to see who’s still reading at this point in this very boring blog!) 🙂

I’ll post the winner in the comments.

Posted in Contests, News, Personal | | Leave A Comment

Jesus Cartoon Series

Posted on: 05/8/10 8:56 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Wow… and I thought that South Park’s Jesus was bad enough!

It looks like Comedy Central is considering doing a cartoon series about Jesus Christ. And trust me, this isn’t going to be like a video that you buy at Family Christian.

Yahoo News shares this AP press release:

“JC” is one of 23 potential series the network said it has in development. It depicts Christ as a “regular guy” who moves to New York to “escape his father’s enormous shadow.”

His father is presented as an apathetic man who would rather play video games than listen to his son talk about his new life, according to Comedy Central’s thumbnail sketch of the idea. Reveille, the production company behind “The Office,” “Ugly Betty” and “The Biggest Loser,” is making “JC.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Jesus Christ has been on a Comedy Central cartoon; he’s a recurring character on the long-running “South Park.”

Sigh.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Faith, News, TV | | Leave A Comment

Neck Deep in Manure

Posted on: 04/23/10 8:57 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’ve always got my eyes on the news looking for illustrations or discussion starters. This headline definitely caught my eye:

Police Find Suspect Neck-deep in Liquid Manure Pit

Apparently a man wanted on meth charges was hiding from the police and thought, “They’ll never find me in here!”

(I pause for laughter)

How would you like to be the cops who had to pull him out and cuff him! (the article says he became combative and had to be shocked twice with a stun gun!)

Funny that someone would resist being pulled from manure.

Hmmmmm. Neck-deep in manure… sounds crazy…but our kids hide in it every day. Just look at the top songs on iTunes and Billboard (I gave you a peek at the top 10 last week). That’s a high concentration of crap. And according to the January Kaiser report, our kids average 2 hours and 19 minutes of music per day.

Music has always been a means of escape for people. Teenagers often turn to music when feeling down or depressed. Research shows that music can release chemicals in the brain that triggers certain memories or make you feel better. This is the point of Miley’s hit song, Party in the USA. A girl is feeling bad and insecure, but then, according to the song’s lyrics, “the Britney song was on” or “the Jay Z song was on…” and “I know I’m gonna be okay.” (We actually wrote a Music Discussion starter using this song)

Miley’s song has some truth. Music does give a temporary thrill. The Bible talks about David using music to soothe Saul’s temper. I love music. And Miley’s song is probably pretty true to this culture, naming two artists that are very popular (Britney and Jay Z). It’s just too bad that the lyrics coming out of both of these artists are pure crap.

Do you know what your kids are immersing themselves in?

Posted in Humor, Jonathan's Rant, Music, News, Sexuality | | Leave A Comment

How to Respond to the “Day of Silence”

Posted on: 04/8/10 8:56 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Friday, April 16th, is the Day of Silence, a day where hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults will take a vow of silence to encourage their friends to address the problem of anti-gay, anti-lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender behavior.

Christians always get wacky on how to handle this day. They’ve even come up with their own day in response… the Day of Truth.

Sigh.

If you want my two cents, check out my blog from last year. I state my opinion on the matter clearly.

As for this year? I’ve gotta link my buddy Walt Mueller’s resource on the subject. Walt does an incredible job informing us about the history and purpose of this day, then sharing some vulnerable insight to his own feelings on the subject, and finally providing us with a glimpse at his reaction- step by step- of how he responds to people on this day – a reaction that models Christlike compassion and truth.

Walt also provides a link to a neat little free 10-page booklet (a PDF that you can print out and fold- tricky to read on the screen- it’s meant to be folded) from Harvest USA, “How Can Christians Respond to The National Day of Silence.”

I found all these resources enlightening and spot-on. I encourage you to take a peek at them.

Posted in Faith, Jonathan's Rant, News, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Parental Boundaries Work

Posted on: 02/11/10 9:25 AM | by Jonathan McKee

For the last few weeks you’ve been hearing me chime in quite a bit about the new Kaiser Family Foundation media consumption report (kids now average 7 hrs and 38 minutes a day consuming entertainment media). For the last two weeks we’ve seen articles on the subject popping up like prairie dogs. Earlier this week, USA TODAY’s Health & Behavior section featured one that I think is worth peeking at.

The article’s title says is well: Teens do better with parents who set limits. (Rather apropos, considering this week’s Youth Culture Window article on our web page, “Dad, Can I Download This Song?”) The USA TODAY article contends that parents who keep setting boundaries make a huge difference.

Some of the highlights:

…And it doesn’t stop with screen time. Other recent studies have found:

•Teens who had a bedtime of 10 p.m. or earlier, set by parents, got more sleep and were less likely to be depressed or consider suicide than those allowed to stay up past midnight. (The study was published in Sleep in January.)

•Teen drivers whose parents set and enforced rules were more likely to wear seat belts and less likely to speed, get in crashes, drink and drive, or use cellphones while driving. (That study was in Pediatrics in September.)

Teens whose parents set rules also smoke less, delay sex and do better in school, research shows.

“The reality is that teenagers care deeply what their parents think,” says Kenneth Ginsburg, author of the driving study and a specialist in adolescent medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The challenge for parents is to get across rules and boundaries in a way that doesn’t feel controlling.”

In the driving study, as in many other studies, the most effective parents were those researchers call “authoritative.” They set firm rules but explain and enforce them in a warm, supportive way. Parents who set no rules, fail to enforce them or rule with a “because I said so” iron grip are less effective.

Click here for the entire article.

(ht to Ypulse.com)

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