Teen Online Behavior 2014

Posted on: 06/10/14 5:00 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Teenager-Online-DangersLast week McAfee released their newest Teens and Screens study to help us understand exactly what our kids are doing online.

The report revealed some interesting findings about teens’ online habits.

Here are a few observations worth noting:

Teenagers Love Talking with Strangers:

  • 59% of teenagers engage with strangers online.
  • 1 in 12 meet the online stranger in real life.
  • 33% of teenagers feel more accepted online than in real life.

This report isn’t alone in their findings. Just a few weeks ago Continue reading “Teen Online Behavior 2014”

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The Social Media Irony

Posted on: 04/24/14 3:20 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Millennial watching laptop(and 5 Ideas to “Socialize”
the Socially Isolated)

In a world where 4 out of 5 teenagers are social media users, you’d think young people would be growing more… social?

Sadly, no.

In fact, most research is revealing quite the opposite. The reality is, the more time a young person spends dialoguing with people through screens, the fewer close friends they have, and the more difficult it becomes for them to actually communicate with people face to face.

Let’s break that down, and then I’ll provide 5 ideas to help you “socialize” a generation who have socially isolated themselves Continue reading “The Social Media Irony”

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5 Days of Get Your Teenager Talking- DAY 2

Posted on: 04/1/14 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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talking-with-teensEach day in my blog this week I’m giving you a little somethin’ you can use to provoke meaningful conversations with young people. (Click here for yesterday’s.) My brand new book, Get Your Teenager Talking has 180 conversation springboards that “get teenagers talking”… I thought I’d share some with you. I’ll give you one each day:

Conversation Springboard No. 2:

If the power went out in our city for a day (and you forgot to charge your battery-operated devices), what would you do? Continue reading “5 Days of Get Your Teenager Talking- DAY 2”

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Keeping Social Media Safe

Posted on: 03/24/14 3:45 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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phone-safety-children“Should I allow my 13-year-old to use Twitter?”

It happens after every parent workshop I teach. Parents line up with specific questions.

“Is Instagram bad?

Should I let my teenager have her phone in her room at night?

“Should I be worried if I found my teenager using Omegle?”

“All my daughter’s friends are on Ask.fm and she wants to be too. Should I let her?”

(By the way, I know I’ll get comments asking, so my answers to those questions would be: no, no, yes, and no. I let my own teenage daughters have multiple social networking sites, but Omegle and Ask.fm both are venues where anonymous people can chat with little to no accountability, and that’s never a good situation. Here’s an article with more specific details about individual apps.)

The questions always vary, but they all root from the same question:

“Is social media safe?”

This is a pretty broad question. It’s like asking Continue reading “Keeping Social Media Safe”

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Young People and Selfies

Posted on: 03/12/14 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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teen-girls-selfieSmile!

“Aren’t we cute?”

Within seconds the selfie pic is posted to Instagram, and Tweeted to her 326 followers. Just another emblematic snapshot from the life of today’s teen.

Five years ago we didn’t even know the word “selfie.” Fast forward to the end of 2013 and it was declared “word of the year.”

What’s the fascination teens have with selfies? Does this desire to snap pics in everyday life make them narcissistic?

When most people hear “selfie,” they probably think of a Continue reading “Young People and Selfies”

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Instagram Contest

Posted on: 02/26/14 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Jonathan-McKee-InstagramWINNERS POSTED! (at bottom of post)

I feel like giving something away!

Last week in Chicago my 16-year-old got on my case for Tweeting and posting pics on my Pinterest… but not Instagram. So I finally caved in to her repeated onslaughts.

“Okay… I’ll get an Instagram. Shut up!”  (Isn’t that how loving father’s talk?)

So there it is. I just leapt onto the Instagram bandwagon, and thought it would be fun to have a little contest Continue reading “Instagram Contest”

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The Biggest Surprise from the Super Bowl

Posted on: 02/4/14 3:15 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Bruno-Mars-Halftime-ShowBoring, depressing, a complete blowout… call it what you want, but Sunday’s Super Bowl game was the most-watched television show in U.S. history, drawing 111.5 million people on average. That’s a lot of people watching the competition between the top two teams, the greatest commercials of the year… and a 12-minute concert that literally changed the music charts.

So, what did families take away from this year’s Super Bowl television experience?

Past years’ on-screen antics have probably made some parents a little apprehensive about the content of this event that historically has brought friends and families together in one room watching one big screen together. Did this year prove to be the same?

Starting with a bad snap, the day was full of surprises, but the most unexpected element most people found was Continue reading “The Biggest Surprise from the Super Bowl”

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Selfie

Posted on: 01/29/14 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Dove-Real-Beauty-SelfieDove does it again, delivering another eye-opening piece about women’s self image, and providing a great opportunity to talk with our young girls about their insecurities (prompting me to write this discussion you can use with their video, with small group questions, scripture and a wrap up).

You might remember Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches,” where a forensic artist was asked to draw sketches of women based on their own descriptions. Or you might remember their “Evolution” video where a woman sits down and is bombarded by people applying make up and hair… and then Photoshop… to attempt to measure up to the world’s definition of beauty. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has had enough of the world’s unattainable definition of beauty.

Dove just released another video, this time about the selfie Continue reading “Selfie”

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Craving Face to Face

Posted on: 01/2/14 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Today's-Teens“My kid spends way too much time staring at her phone!”

It’s the number one complaint I hear from moms and dads at my parent workshops across North America—kids spending too much time glued to technology.

So whose fault is that?

Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd says parents should blame themselves.

“Teens aren’t addicted to social media. They’re addicted to each other.” Boyd says. “They’re not allowed to hang out the way you and I did, so they moved it online.” Continue reading “Craving Face to Face”

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Building a Girl’s Self-image

Posted on: 12/4/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

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Yesterday my 16-year-old daughter Ashley was lying in front of the fireplace doing homework. Not knowing her mother and I were both gazing at her, she lightly brushed her hair aside with her forefinger.

Her mom couldn’t resist. “Ashley, you are beautiful.”

Ashley looked up at her with skepticism and chuckled. “Yeah… right!”

Sadly, in a world bombarded with unattainable images of what beauty should be, I don’t know many teen girls who truly think they’re beautiful.

Why is beauty the one characteristic that seems to trump all others? How about wisdom? How about integrity?

As a father of two teenaged daughters, and a guy who keeps up on youth culture for his job, I’m always on the lookout for good advice about raising confident kids. This year I fell upon Continue reading “Building a Girl’s Self-image”

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