Youth Culture Archives - Page 18 of 57 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

What We’ll See at the MTV VMAs Sunday

Posted on: 08/22/13 10:33 AM | by Jonathan McKee

MTV is rolling out the heavy hitters this year for the 2013 VMAs: Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis… practically everyone teens want to see.

The question is: what will young people take away from Sunday night’s show?

This Sunday night literally millions of young people will be watching the MTV Video Music Awards (the VMAs), an event where the most popular celebs in music, movies and television come together to celebrate the greatest music videos of the year. This event always provides a sobering glimpse Continue reading “What We’ll See at the MTV VMAs Sunday”

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Skeptical about Zombies

Posted on: 08/19/13 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Not a lot of people know exactly how many hurdles I encountered trying to publish a Christian book for teenagers with the word “zombie” in the title. I won’t name publishers, but I had several tell me verbatim, “Sorry, we can’t publish anything with the word zombie in the title.”

My Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenagers was officially released last Thursday, and by its release date we were already blessed with piles of pre-orders and even 18 reviews from youth workers and parents who gave it a try on Amazon. Many have approached the book with skepticism, but so far, anyone who has actually given it a gander (we provide the first four chapters as a free download here) has responded positively to its forthright approach using a fictional premise to provoke conversations with teenagers about real issues teens are facing today.

I ‘m humbled with the positive response. I’ve actually Continue reading “Skeptical about Zombies”

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Meme Contest

Posted on: 08/13/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

For any of you who have teenagers or work with teenagers, you know what a “meme” is. Those crazy little pictures with a funny caption that teenagers pass along to each other (often from iFunny, reddit, or even Google images).

That’s why we’re giving away a bunch of prizes (including a $100 gift card to Starbucks, Best Buy or Amazon) to the best zombie-themed meme, in celebration of my brand new book, The Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenagers, releasing this week!

THE CONTEST IS SIMPLE Continue reading “Meme Contest”

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Responding to The Jonas Brothers’ New Music Video

Posted on: 08/5/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I like to keep an eye on the music charts and see what young people are putting in their heads. The next few months, and even weeks, will be interesting, because new music is on its way from Katy Perry (Aug 12), Lady Gaga (Aug 19) and others. But among these, it was the new Jonas Brothers music video that caught my attention.

Unlike so many artists today who become the heroes and role models of kids today, The Jonas Brothers seem to have kept a pretty clean slate. Back in 2008 Continue reading “Responding to The Jonas Brothers’ New Music Video”

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Teenagers and YouTube

Posted on: 07/29/13 2:32 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I went camping last weekend with about 20 families from my church, all families with teenagers. I always look forward to this time away from technology. It’s fun to see teenagers sitting around campfires, swimming in a lake, hiking… probably one of the only times of the entire year I see teenagers without their phones out!

But it wasn’t totally tech-free for the four days we were there. At times a young person would pull out their phone in the middle of a huddle of teenagers and start playing music through their little iPhone speaker (something I’ll never understand… if I can’t hear it through good speakers, I don’t want to hear it at all), or a group would pull out one of their phones and immediately it would start, “Have you seen this one?” Then they’d show each other the newest and funniest YouTube video. Continue reading “Teenagers and YouTube”

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Evolution of the Bikini

Posted on: 07/10/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

How do most guys respond when they see a woman in a bikini?

That’s what a group of men at Princeton sought to discover. In their study they showed men photographs of scantily clad women and observed brain activity.

“They are responding to these photographs as if they were responding to objects.”

This is just a snippet of the research clothing designer Jessica Rey shares in this fascinating little YouTube video about the history of the bikini:

This video probably provokes polar responses from audiences, cheers from one end and sneers from the other (the teenage side of the audience). And that’s what I like about it. It’s heated topics like this that Continue reading “Evolution of the Bikini”

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The Paradoxical World of Teens

Posted on: 06/28/13 2:57 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Marko just wrote an amazing article for our parenting page this week about the paradoxical world of teenagers.

If you have a young teenager in your home… you probably have experienced this.

Here’s just a snippet of that article:

They want to be treated like adults, but have the opportunity to act like children. This has enormous implications. They’re caught in an in-between world. They know where they want to go: they know they want to be treated like adults, to have more freedoms, to make more decisions on their own, to not be treated as if they were 4th graders. It’s important to talk to young teens with an adult voice, and to begin the move to a come-alongside perspective.

But at the same time, they are still very much children, and need Continue reading “The Paradoxical World of Teens”

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Google Glass 101

Posted on: 06/27/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Are those some new bizarre type of reading glasses?

No… those are Google Glass, the newest attempt from Google to take the next step into the future of technology.

I can’t think of Google Glass without the recent Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” report coming to mind… Continue reading “Google Glass 101”

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5 Years of Miley

Posted on: 06/25/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

“Yikes. Now she is getting crazy.”

“Miley? Knock knock… U still in there… (broken heart icon)”

“She’s trying way too hard and it’s embarrassing to watch.”

Those are the top three comments on Miley Cyrus’ new We Can’t Stop music video on iTunes today. Even many of her fans seem to have lost hope in her. I read 20 comments and less than half were good.

I can’t say I disagree with her “fans.” Miley is a young woman with enormous potential, but her standing as a role model for young girls is rapidly morphing from Hannah Montana to Lindsey Lohan. It’s been sad watching Miley’s moral decline over the past 5 years (scroll to the bottom of this post where I provide quick-links to Miley’s antics over the past 5 years).

It’s hard to even describe Miley’s new We Can’t Stop music video. USA TODAY’s Patrick Ryan says it well Continue reading “5 Years of Miley”

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