smartphones Archives - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

How well do you know young people’s media habits?

Posted on: 11/10/19 2:17 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Take Jonathan’s Quick 8-Question
TWEENS, TEENS & SCREENS QUIZ

How many hours a day does the average teen (13- to 18-year-olds) spend soaking in entertainment screen time?

Are tweens (8- to 12-year-olds) any different?

What entertainment activity do they enjoy the most?

Let’s test your knowledge!

After all, the newest numbers have just been tallied by Common Sense Media’s brand-new report tracking media use by tweens and teens…and this is the biggest and most widely cited report of its kind. For the last four years Continue reading “How well do you know young people’s media habits?”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, TV | Tags: common sense media, Media Use, screen time, smartphones, teens, Tweens | Leave A Comment

Instagram Hides “Likes”

Posted on: 07/23/19 5:47 AM | by Jonathan McKee

In the last year we’ve seen some really positive strides by tech and social media giants to actually help the mental health of its users…last year when IOS and Droid released new updates that includes screen time limits, downtime, etc… and now Instagram testing (lets just hope it lasts) hiding the likes everyone receives in effort to create a “less pressurized environment.”

This is HUGE for young people today.

It’s like this:

Kristy posts a picture of her new shoes and gets 32 likes Continue reading “Instagram Hides “Likes””

Posted in Self Image, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media | Tags: Instagram, mental health, self esteem, smartphones, social media | Leave A Comment

Helping Teens Become Wise with Their Screens

Posted on: 05/15/19 3:22 AM | by Jonathan McKee

How should parents, mentors, teachers and youth workers respond to a generation that can’t seem to pry their eyes from their screens? The answer is conversations… and here is a YouTube video where I present four necessary conversations we need to have with today’s young people!

This is a talk I gave at Summit Ministries’ Basecamp event in Colorado Springs last week… and they just posted my talk to YouTube! The topic was helping teens become wise with their screens… only 30 minutes and change. Enjoy! (He introduces me at 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the video.) Continue reading “Helping Teens Become Wise with Their Screens”

Posted in Internet, Music, Parenting, Self Image, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, Youth Culture | Tags: screen time, smartphones, social media | Leave A Comment

The Newest on Teens, Social Media & Technology

Posted on: 07/24/18 3:33 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Pew Research just released their newest report on Teens, Social Media & Technology giving us the newest numbers confirming what we already knew: almost all teens have smartphones and use social media a lot!

But their numbers also revealed some interesting realities about where teens navigate and their perceptions about social media. Here are some random facts that stood out to me from their report:

95% of teens have access to a smartphone. That’s huge! They don’t even talk about phone ownership, but access. Last time Pew released this report (in 2015) 73% owned a phone and 85% had access.
Only 3% didn’t use social media Continue reading “The Newest on Teens, Social Media & Technology”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, Youth Culture | Tags: smartphone ownership among teens, smartphones, social media, teens, teens on instagram, teens on snapchat, teens on social media | Leave A Comment

Helping Teens Press Pause

Posted on: 06/12/18 1:00 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Whenever I talk with young people about their mobile devices I ask, “How many of you think people are spending too much time staring at their devices?” An overwhelming majority of hands will go up.

Yet if you followed those same teens for 24 hours, you’d probably catch them “spending too much time staring at their devices.” (And before we start labeling anyone hypocritical… adults are in the same boat).

Let’s review. Teens are aware that phones monopolize too much of their time, but they aren’t really doing much about it.

So why not Continue reading “Helping Teens Press Pause”

Posted in Parenting, Smartphones/Cell Phones | Tags: Media fast, mobile devices, parenting, smartphone addiction, smartphones, teenagers | Leave A Comment

Refreshingly brutal advice to young guys

Posted on: 04/24/18 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Today’s guys face a lot of distractions… a lot more than I faced as a young man.

Let’s be honest. When I was 13 in 1983 I had access to porn, drugs, and raunchy entertainment media.

But porn wasn’t just a click away in my pocket, it was in a magazine at my friend’s house if we dared to sneak into his dad’s bedroom.
Marijuana was available, but it wasn’t mainstream or encouraged… and it sure wasn’t legal.
I loved movies, music and television, but my house had one screen and a boombox. Now I have a dozen screens, and my entire entertainment media library is available in the cloud. Name a movie or music video. I can watch it within seconds, regardless of rating.

But I think the biggest difference between then and now is Continue reading “Refreshingly brutal advice to young guys”

Four conversations parents must have

Posted on: 04/17/18 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

As requests are coming in for speaking this fall, I wanted to let you know about a new workshop I’m launching… FOUR CONVERSATIONS! It’s the first parent workshop I’m doing where I have parents and kids in the same room!

Right now my go-to workshop for parents is PARENTING THE SMARTPHONE GENERATION… I taught this workshop in almost 30 churches in the U.S. last year Continue reading “Four conversations parents must have”

Posted in Parenting, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, Speaking/Training | Tags: Jonathan McKee, parenting, parenting teens, phone contracts, smartphones, social media, teens | Leave A Comment

Interviewed on Canadian TV

Posted on: 03/20/18 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Last Friday I was interviewed by our polite neighbors up north on Canadian TV show 100 Huntley Street.

The conversation was about teens and mobile devices–who our kids are talking with, what they are posting, and the content they’re absorbing. I love host Maggie Johns who opens the door immediately declaring, “Social media! You can’t hide it from your kids forever!” She thanks me for my new book, The Teen’s Guide to Social Media and Mobile Devices and informs me, “This is the book I’m going to give to my son Ethan on his 13th birthday!” Continue reading “Interviewed on Canadian TV”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Parenting, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media | Tags: 100 Huntley Street, Canadian TV, parenting help, sexting, smartphones, social media, wise posting | Leave A Comment

What age should my kid be on social media?

Posted on: 03/16/18 10:21 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s one of the biggest questions I hear from parents at my workshops each month. “What age should I let my kids have a smartphone?” or “What age should I allow them to get SnapChat, Insta and all the other social media apps they want?”

We’ve posted some great resources on TheSource4Parents.com recently that will help answer that question, including a brand new article posted just this week titled, Parenting Middle Schoolers: More Than Just Surviving This Transitional Phase. But parents of high school students shouldn’t ignore that article, because in the early part of the article where I talk about “Delaying Social Media” I not only provide some brand new research about the undeniable connection from social media to the rise of depression in America, but I also provide some helpful questions you can ask your kids to engage them in meaningful conversation about this subject Continue reading “What age should my kid be on social media?”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Parenting, Self Image, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media | Tags: mobile devices, parenting help, smartphones, social media, teen depression, teens and social media | Leave A Comment