Youth Culture Archives - Page 44 of 57 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

Are these numbers inflated?

Posted on: 04/14/09 12:07 PM | by Jonathan McKee

We’ve been hearing a whole lot of hype about “sexting” and stats in the news lately. Today I found a fascinating article giving us a little bit of “behind the scenes” on some of these polls.

First we heard about the huge numbers of kids involved in this sexting trend; then we heard from “experts” saying we shouldn’t worry. That prompted my Youth Culture Window article on the subject this week, Fact or Fiction. After all… who can we believe?

In my article I provided three suggestions for you when navigating the world of statistics and percentages, one of those being “looking how the study was done.”

Today I stumbled across an article from last week’s Wall Street Journal that gave further insight about how these studies were done, specifically the validity of “online polls” and the type of audience that might draw.

Just a snippet:

“These kinds of samples select Internet cowboys and cowgirls,” says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, who has used the telephone for his studies of teens and online behavior. “These are more likely to be the kind of people who engage in this kind of activity.” He guesses that online poll-takers might be two to four times more likely to send nude photos of themselves than the average teen.

Funny… most of the “experts” who were already “doubting” that sexting was a real problem (such as in this article) … most of them failed to make this observation, one that I think would have been a valid argument for their side.

The Wall Street Journal article goes on to suggest that alternate methods such as phone or snail mail might be more representative of the whole of teenagers. But the researchers who did the online poll plead their case, saying, “Who the hell answers a telephone survey these days, especially if you’re a teen on Mom and Dad’s landline phones?” 🙂

Fascinating stuff. I encourage you to check out the whole article here.

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A Peek Into the Teenage Mind… Twilight Comments

Posted on: 04/3/09 11:59 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Last week I blogged about Twilight as the movie was released on DVD. In the last week, almost 30,000 people have clicked through this blog, mostly moms and young girls (My blog and website are being picked up by Google searches big time right now, and millions of young girls are doing “Twilight” searches… hence the heavy traffic).

The comments that have been posted on this blog are such an insight into the mind of a young teenage girl. My blog, addressed to parents and youth workers, asks the question, “Should I let my kids see Twilight?” I then link our article on the subject where I encourage parents and youth workers to talk about the movie with those who have watched it… but I also share my concerns, primarily the sensuality (i.e. the fact that a young girl is in her underwear and a t-shirt kissing a guy on her bed. Our article goes into detail).

Here’s where this gets amusing.

Realize… this film is very clean by today’s standards. There’s no sex or nudity at all– they only kiss. There is some violence, but as I said… VERY TAME by today’s standards. So most people in this world consider this film “clean.” And that’s probably why so many people are wondering why I could even ask the question, “Should I let my kids see Twilight?”

Kids just don’t see this as “a big deal.”

I love the comments I’ve been receiving. Here’s a few:

i read the books and saw the movie several times. originally i thought i wasn’t going to read it but i did and i LOVED it! i am 14 and i dont see anything wrong with it. the movie has only two kisses in it and the books arent graphic in kissing or anything. id say its for 8 and up. theres only one of the books i might stop my kid from reading, breaking dawn(the 4th book) because she becomes pregnant(so obviously she had sex). other than that i would say see the movie and get the book.
Left by Kate on Mar 31, 2009 5:46 PM

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TWILIGHT IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER AND BARELY INAPPROPRIATE, SURE, A KISS, WHOOPTI DOO. A FRICKEN KISS. I DONT CARE!!!!!
Left by annonymous on Mar 31, 2009 6:42 PM

I LOVE TWILIGT SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
I have read all the books and am now on the last book for the third time!
I think kids should be alould to watch it cause it only has like two kisses in it!
Left by ! on Apr 01, 2009 10:13 AM

twilight is freakin AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im 12 and ive read the entire series 3 times already. i read the last book(breaking dawn) after fighting with my mom and sis for a while, and i didnt find anything wrong with it. the movie, well theres nothing wrong with it. sure, theres 2 kisses ( i have seen the movie like 10 times already) but really, isnt there more than that in like every movie? i say you let ur kids watch and read it.
Left by anonymous on Apr 01, 2009 7:33 PM

I don’t think there is anything wrong with kids watching the movie Twilight, or reading the book for that matter. There is no profanity, no sex, no drugs, no alcohol. There really is only one violent scene in the movie, and it’s really not even that bad. It’s a love story, but not a mushy-gushy make-out-all-the-time movie. In fact, they only kiss twice in the whole movie. The book is a little more mushy but back to the point – youth are going crazy over this book and I think it’s a great fictional story! Go Twilight!
Left by jessica on Apr 01, 2009 10:17 PM

YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT, IT IS A MUST SEE MOVIE
seriously, its awesome there is only one little kiss, big deal
WATCH IT!
Left by cindy on Apr 02, 2009 2:54 PM

OMG I just turned 12 today and I read all of the Twilight books and saw the movie when I was 11. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Edward and Bella are madly in love. Who cares if they kiss 2 times??? Yeah, Breaking Dawn (Book 4)has sex in it, but like jessica said, they are already married and their is no description. I luv Twilight. THey are one of the best books I ever read in my life!!!!! I wish I could find someone like Edward!!!
Left by Zhanee’ on Apr 02, 2009 3:36 PM

You can read all the comments here.

I think the comments speak for themselves. “A kiss. What’s the big deal.”

And that’s exactly what I was talking about in my original article about the film. The subtle messages of Twilight are just that: “This is no big deal.” “Wouldn’t it be cool if a guy cared about you this much, loved you this much, and would come and kiss you in your bedroom like this, controlling his desires because of his great love!”

I think I have to agree with the mom whose response I posted in this blog. Sorry kids… he doesn’t exist.

One of the most common questions kids ask me when I speak on sex is, “How come it’s so difficult to stop when I’m making out?”

My answer is always, “Because God designed it to where you aren’t supposed to stop. He gave us sex to enjoy… and it’s a process that starts with kissing and grows and progresses like a wildfire from there.” (my seminar on the topic)

It’s actually been “affirming” reading the comments to this blog all week. I think the comments seem to confirm our original suspicions and concerns even more.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Movies, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

You Can Have Whatever You Like… in Prison!

Posted on: 03/30/09 10:42 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I can hear the rap song playing right now: “You can have whatever you like.”

Sorry T.I., I guess that doesn’t include guns. On Friday the young grammy winning rapper was just sentenced on gun charges.

Yes, on October 13, 2007, rapper T.I. was arrested by federal agents for having his bodyguard buy machine guns and silencers for him. Unfortunately for him, his 1998 crack cocaine conviction made it illegal for him to own guns.

Aw. Poor little T.I.

Rapper T.I. caught the attention of our young people last year with hits like “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life.” These songs, deemed clean by the world’s standards, got plenty of radio play, riding the top of the charts for weeks. The “clean versions” edited out lyrics like, “… late night sex, so wet, it’s so tight,” only leaving the clear message of materialism ringing in our kids ears. The music video shows him draping furs and diamonds on a girl, singing, “You can have whatever you like.”

Maybe T.I. wasn’t just selling woof tickets with those lyrics. Because he got a 20 year sentence reduced to just one year.

Maybe the judge liked his song???

Yahoo news reports:

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Grammy-winning rapper T.I. was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on Friday for illegally possessing machine guns and silencers, as prosecutors lauded his anti-violence advocacy since his arrest.

T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, originally faced up to 20 years in prison and the effective end of his career but performing community service as part of his plea agreement with prosecutors reduced his sentence.

T.I., 28, who was sentenced at a federal court in Atlanta, toured the United States in recent months speaking to tens of thousands of young people about the dangers of drugs and gangs, as he completed more than 1,000 hours of community service.

His anti-crime advocacy has been chronicled on cable channel MTV’s reality show “T.I.’s Road to Redemption.” He posted $3 million bail after his arrest.

The Atlanta-born rapper, whose hit songs include “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life,” could have his one year and one day sentence further reduced by 15 percent with good behavior.

Isn’t it nice to know that T. I. is doing school assemblies?

Hmmmmmmm.

(ht to YCW guru David for the article)

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Online Obstacles

Posted on: 03/26/09 8:37 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I just got off the phone with David talking about next week’s article for our Youth Culture Window page (it will be on our site Sunday). The article is about what kids are doing online and their “online integrity” compared to “real life” integrity. Fascinating stuff.

Meanwhile, I’m putting my final touches on my parenting seminar I’ll be teaching in New Jersey on Saturday morning. In this particular seminar, Parenting the Texting Generation, I always include a lot of current information about youth culture, attitudes and trends. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve looked at iTunes, Billboard, MTV.com, etc. It’s amazing… these sites never cease to amaze me. I found myself dropping my jaw several times looking at the “most downloaded” and “most popular artists” that this generation is filling their heads with.

Check out iTunes Top 10 Downloaded Songs today:

(Does anyone wanna try tell me that Hip-hop isn’t dominating the charts?) If you want a real treat, go to iTunes and click on each of those songs and give them a listen. Or jump onto a lyrics site (just Google “Lil Wayne Hot Revolver Lyrics”) and check out the words.

And iTunes Top 10 Music Videos today:

This list includes even more sexually explicit words and images (note that “J**z In My Pants” is still on the list, along with “If U Seek Amy“).

Two of my three kids have iPods and can access iTunes on our family computer. I monitor what they download and we talk about music frequently. I’m just saddened by how difficult it’s getting to dodge the filth that’s being thrown at our kids. I don’t want to raise my kids in a shoebox… but there’s times I feel like yanking that cord out of the wall!

Well… back to my studies. I’ve gotta finish my presentation about not over-reacting and yanking the plug out of the wall, but teaching values and discernment so that our kids can be like Daniel, resolving on their own not to defile themselves as they encounter the outside world someday.

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

Diversity in Ministry

Posted on: 03/25/09 11:24 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Many of you have seen our FOUR MINUTE videos, bringing you a four minute glimpse of various aspects of ministry. Our most recent video was launched last Sunday, a video from my good buddy Fred Lynch.

Fred is well known in urban youth ministry settings with almost 20 years of youth ministry experience. He is the founder of Urbnet, a National Network of Urban Youth Workers. Fred is also the editor of our SLANG DICTIONARY and co author of our hit e-book, What’s a Fo’ Sheezy, a book with over 300 questions from “slanguage” to get teenagers talking.

In this quick little video, Fred addressed the need for the Church to become a safe haven where diverse groups can become connected.

(If you receive this blog via email, click here for that YouTube video.)

You can see past FOUR MINUTE videos here.

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What to Do with “Twilight” …Now on DVD

Posted on: 03/20/09 1:36 PM | by Jonathan McKee

“Should I let my kids see Twilight?”

I’ve heard that question from parents more than any other question in the last 12 months.

If you don’t know about Twilight, it’s more than just a movie… it’s been a youth culture phenomenon. And now it hits DVD on a special release this weekend (this film prompted a special Saturday release). My neighborhood Blockbuster Video store is staying open past midnight tonight (Friday) just to rent it out. They are expecting a huge response.

Yes, your kids will probably want to see it and will have countless opportunities to see it (including at school- for those high school kids who are in public schools. PG-13 is okay by most standards).

So what should parents and youth workers do?

We’ve written so much about it in the last few months, I’ll just provide you with the links:

Our original Youth Culture Window article with all the facts CLICK HERE

My original blog about it, and a million comments from my readers CLICK HERE

My follow up blog once the film was released CLICK HERE

Todd’s movie review of the film CLICK HERE

My final blog about the film with two classic reactions CLICK HERE

In summary: If your kids do see the film, use it as an opportunity for healthy dialogue.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Movies, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Professional Cheating- the Rise of Essay Mills

Posted on: 03/19/09 8:53 AM | by Jonathan McKee

My mom, a professor at California State University in Sacramento, just slipped me a fascinating article about college level cheating. Apparently cheating is gradually becoming a booming business.

Cheating is a huge temptation for students today. In a December, 2007 Youth Culture Window article, we cited research revealing that 95% of students admitted cheating on some level (copying homework, etc.). In a recent blog, I highlighted a 2008 study from the Josephson Institute, revealing 64% of U.S. high school students have cheated on a test, and 36% used the internet to plagerize an assignment (up from 33% in 2004). According to the same study, 93% of these students were satisfied with their personal ethics and character.

Since “guilt” is obviously out of the picture, the only thing stopping cheaters from cheating is the fear of “getting caught.” Smart cheaters are aware of plagiarism-detection software and are turning to paper mills.

What is a paper mill?

Good question.

Here’s an excerpt from the article my mom sent me:

The orders keep piling up. A philosophy student needs a paper on Martin Heidegger. A nursing student needs a paper on dying with dignity. An engineering student needs a paper on electric cars.

Screen after screen, assignment after assignment — hundreds at a time, thousands each semester. The students come from all disciplines and all parts of the country. They go to community colleges and Ivy League universities. Some want a 10-page paper; others request an entire dissertation.

This is what an essay mill looks like from the inside. Over the past six months, with the help of current and former essay-mill writers, The Chronicle looked closely at one company, tracking its orders, examining its records, contacting its customers. The company, known as Essay Writers, sells so-called custom essays, meaning that its employees will write a paper to a student’s specifications for a per-page fee. These papers, unlike those plucked from online databases, are invisible to plagiarism-detection software.

These paper mills don’t see cheating as a problem. They see it as an opportunity to make money. The article goes on:

That’s pretty much how Charles Parmenter sees it. He wrote for Essay Writers and another company before quitting about a year ago. “If anybody wants to say this is unethical — yeah, OK, but I’m not losing any sleep over it,” he says. Though he was, he notes, nervous that his wife would react badly when she found out what he was doing. As it happens, she didn’t mind.

Mr. Parmenter, who is 54, has worked as a police officer and a lawyer over the course of a diverse career. He started writing essays because he needed the money and he knew he could do it well. He wrote papers for nursing and business students, along with a slew of English-literature essays. His main problem, he says, is that the quality of his papers was too high. “People would come back to me and say, ‘It’s a great paper, but my professor will never believe it’s me,'” says Mr. Parmenter. “I had to dumb them down.”

And apparently religious studies courses aren’t off limits. The article cites how one individual paid Essay Writers $100 to research and write a paper on the parables of Jesus Christ for his New Testament class. At the time, the senior at James Madison University who was majoring in philosophy and religion, defended the idea of paying someone else to do your academic work, comparing it to companies that outsource labor. “Like most people in college, you don’t have time to do research on some of these things,” he said. “I was hoping to find a guy to do some good quality writing.”

Hmmmmm.

Posted in Internet, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Girl Commits Suicide After Nude Pic is Circulated

Posted on: 03/12/09 10:28 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This is really sad.

18-year-old Jesse Logan did something all too common- she sent a naked picture of herself to her boyfriend. When they broke up, the boyfriend shared the pictures with others, and the harassment began. One thing led to another… until finally Jesse’s mom came home one day to find her hanging in her bedroom closet. The pressure was too much. Jesse took her own life (click here for the CNN video with an interview with her mother).

You’ve heard us talking about a trend known as “sexting” (many of you read our Youth Culture Window article on the subject), a stepping stone to teenagers using cell phones for posting/viewing naked pictures of themselves or others (yes, we wrote a Youth Culture Window article on that subject as well). That latter article revealed these facts:

20% of teenagers say they’ve sent (or posted) naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves, mostly to be “fun or flirtatious,” (33% of 20-26 year olds have done the same)
33% of teenage boys say they’ve seen nude or semi-nude images sent to someone else (about 25% of teenage girls have done the same)
39% of teenagers say they’ve sent suggestive text messages (59% of those ages 20-26 admit to it as well)
48% of teens have received sexually suggestive text messages (64% of young adults also have)

The story of Jesse is sobering because it reminds us that these numbers are kids. Each of these numbers represents a story… the story of a kid struggling to find themselves in a world that often applauds risque’ behavior.

Remember to pray for Jesse’s family.

As parents and youth workers, we should read articles about this story with our kids, perhaps even showing them that CNN video linked above. Then talk with them about choices and their consequences. This isn’t a time to lecture… but a time to let the article tell its story. It’s powerful by itself. David also provides us with further conversation helps in the bottom of his Youth Culture Window article on Mobile Porn.

(ht to Tom B. for the CNN story)

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The Comeback of Modest Clothes

Posted on: 03/9/09 3:24 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Despite all the negatives of a dismal economy… I see one positive on the horizon: more modest clothes.

USA Today had a fascinating article yesterday about the return of modest apparel options. Apparently when the economy was booming, stores could afford to operate with a “what you see is what you get” mentality. Now these stores can’t afford to, as the article says, “ignore the muted voices asking for, say, a decent supply of sleeved shirts or prom dresses that show more fabric than skin.”

The article goes on to say:

Now, however, it’s the rare retailer who’s willing to take the chance of turning off any possible customer. Luxury-store clerks can no longer afford to look down at scruffy shoppers, and store owners of every sort are recognizing the one-size-fits-all approach to retail buying no longer works.

Whether it’s more of a fiscal or moral shift, understated girls’ clothing may indeed be making a comeback.

Even flashy Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld declared “bling is over” and noted the economy is prompting a “new modesty,” in an interview with the International Herald Tribune this year.

Retail consultant Ken Nisch says the trend is more moderation than modesty, but the effect may be the same.

“It’s not because of a moral revival but about sensibility,” says Nisch, chairman of retail brand and design firm JGA. “What’s provocative has often been ultra trendy, and it just doesn’t make sense to buy things you can’t wear for a lot of occasions anymore.”

Hmmmmmm.

(ht to Jamie L.)

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Jonas Brothers Talk Hip Hop

Posted on: 03/4/09 11:41 PM | by Jonathan McKee

MTV news seemed to mock the idea, but I don’t think it’s giving the Jonas Bros any credit. Look at the situation in context:

The article is titled, “Jonas Brothers Go Hip-Hop?” Okay.. it does sound a little funny. But don’t worry. They aren’t doing a Jaoquin Phoenix. The article reports that the brothers simply have one song that might benefit from the influence of a hip hop artist like Common or Mos Def.

Featuring a Hip-Hop artist isn’t exactly a stupid marketing move in today’s culture. I actually recommended the same thing to several Christian bands in the last year. (Think about it. It happens all the time in the secular world. Consider last year’s number seven most downloaded song by OneRepublic AND Timbaland: “Apologize.” Or the number 10 song where Madonna joined Justin Timberlake and… again… Timbaland for “Four Minutes”)

It’s hard to deny Hip-Hop’s popularity.

The only question is… could they bring in someone clean? That will be the hard part.

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