Podcast
Youth Culture Today with Walt Mueller
Hosted by Walt Mueller · EN
Youth Culture Today is a 60-second daily radio spot from CPYU and Walt Mueller, now available as a podcast. It provides a quick glance into the world of teenagers and today's youth culture for parents, youth workers and others who care about kids and want to help them navigate adolescence in ways that bring glory to God.
113episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Parents as Idol Smashers
Jun 200:01:00Tap to summarizeI was recently reading about the Old Testament king of Judah named Asa. In Second Chronicles two, verses two to four, we read this about King Asa: “He took away foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.” Asa was commended as a leader who did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. As I read, I was struck by the fact that Asa modeled what it means for us as parents and youth workers to lead our children and teens well. We live in a world full of idols. As parents, we are given a unique position, responsibility, and opportunity to lead our kids into God’s Word, teaching them how to recognize and tear down idols, while fostering their love for the One true God. Parents, teach your kids to tear down the idols that are derailing them from seeking the Lord and keeping His commandments. This is your high calling.
Transcribe →The Latest on Self-Injury
Jun 100:01:00Tap to summarizeAs parents, we are called to be diligent about monitoring the attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and health of our children and teens. One recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association reports on one type of behavior that we to be aware of, and which requires our intervention. The behavior is self-injury. Non-suicidal self-injury is the act of harming your own body on purpose, such as cutting or burning yourself as a way to cope with stress, sadness, emotional pain, and anger. The study reports that self-injury has been on the rise among children and adolescents, at about a three-point-five percent rate since two thousand. It is more prevalent among our girls, and self-injury has been reported in ten percent of our youth. Parents, if you discover that your child is engaged in self-injury, seek the help of a qualified and experienced Christian counselor. We want our kids to learn to run to Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, when life becomes overwhelming.
Transcribe →AI - Parents as Digital Gatekeepers
May 2900:01:00Tap to summarizeAll this week we’ve been looking at AI and the potential role it will play in the lives of our children and teens. Specifically, were looking at some conclusions made by the Brookings Institution and their new report titled, “A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect.” The report issues a clear warning regarding the implementation of AI into our lives, that we need to protect our kids by intentionally and carefully developing and implementing safeguards for its use. These safeguards must address issues of privacy, emotional well-being, and safety, along with protecting our kids’ cognitive and social development. The report also tells us in no uncertain terms, that parents need to manage their children’s use of AI in the home. Parents, we live in a world where the potential dangers no longer exist only outside the walls of our homes. Thanks to digital technology, the dangers exist 24/7. Exercise your God-given calling to insure your kids are safe.
Transcribe →AI - Mastering the Machine
May 2800:01:00Tap to summarizeAll this week we’re looking at AI and the potential role it will play in the lives of our children and teens. Specifically, were looking at some conclusions made by the Brookings Institution and their new report titled, “A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect.” One of the main conclusions offered in the report meshes well with God’s calling on our lives to pursue what is good, true, and beautiful. That conclusion is that we must do the hard and intentional work of preparing ourselves to integrate and use AI ethically, effectively, and humanely in our schools, homes, churches, and lives. Specifically, the folks at Brookings are warning us that if we use AI to undermine our human agency, allowing it to do all the work for us, we are in effect sacrificing our humanity. From a Christian perspective, that’s a road we cannot go down. We have been created by God to image God. That means that we are to manage AI, rather than letting AI take over and manage us.
Transcribe →AI - Tools that Teach or Tell?
May 2700:01:00Tap to summarizeAll this week we’re looking at AI and the potential role it will play in the lives of our children and teens. Specifically, were looking at some conclusions made by the Brookings Institution and their new report titled, “A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect.” The report says that if our kids are going to prosper, we must deliberately focus on using AI in ways that advance, rather than undermine the educational process and the well-being of our kids. One recommendation is for parents to work with educators to develop the best practices for implementing AI cautiously into the educational experience. Specifically, we should only use AI tools that teach, not tell. This is most important in a world where more and more of our kids are going to AI to bypass the work of solving problems, writing papers, and doing research. As Christians, we know that God wants us to use our brains to his glory. Teach your kids to use AI as an appropriate help, not as a substitute brain.
Transcribe →AI in Schools - Calculate the Risks
May 2600:01:00Tap to summarizeAll this week we’re looking at AI and the potential role it will play in the lives of our children and teens. Specifically, were looking at some conclusions made by the Brookings Institution in their new report titled, “A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect.” The report offers a framework for schools and families to consider related to their main findings on AI. Researchers looked at potential negative risks, along with how to prevent those risks while maximizing the potential benefits of AI. Researchers are telling us as parents, educators, and youth workers to be very careful and to move slowly, as the risks of AI overshadow the benefits. They report that AI can enrich the learning experience when safety guardrails are erected and caution is taken to ensure that AI content is accurate. In addition, over-reliance on AI can put our children’s learning capacity, relationships, and well-being at risk. Parents, exercise oversight and caution.
Transcribe →AI - Proceed with Caution
May 2500:01:00Tap to summarizeRecently, I ate a spicy meal of a food I had never had before. It tasted good going down, and in the moment I believed I had discovered something wonderful that I would look forward to having again. Then, during the night, my body began sending signals that the food wasn’t sitting well in my belly. I wound up being okay, but the experience did make me think differently about eating that food again. You’ve had this same experience, I’m sure, and when you have it, your realize that we don’t know what a new food will do to us until we add it to our diet. Since the advent of all the digital technologies and screens that now are part of our diet, we are able to look back and see where they’ve done us good, and where they’ve upset our human flourishing. Since AI, or artificial intelligence, is now a part of our lives and something we can add to our digital diet, we need to exercise caution in how we use it, and how much we use it. Join us tomorrow and all this week as we look more closely at AI.
Transcribe →Teens and Driving - The Two-Ton Responsibility
May 2200:01:00Tap to summarizeParents, are you keeping an eye on your teenagers who are now driving? Recent research from the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Hospital polled parents on the driving behaviors of their kids, and found that risky driving behaviors are quite common. Seventeen percent of parents have observed their kids engaging in what’s called impaired driving, which includes driving while sleepy, emotionally upset, or after drinking alcohol or using marijuana. Twenty-five percent of parents have observed their kids engage in distracted driving, which includes texting and multi-tasking. This would include those who put on makeup while driving. Finally, forty-four percent of parents have observed their kids engaging in what’s called aggressive driving, which includes speeding, tail-gating, and road rage. Parents, we encourage you to not only monitor your kids and how they drive so that you can intervene when necessary, to teach your kids that as with all things, they are to drive to the glory of God.
Transcribe →The Latest on Digital Addiction
May 2100:01:00Tap to summarizeWhen the internet, smartphones, and gaming devices were relatively new, experts were unwilling to label habitual use of these digital tools as addiction. But now that they’ve been around for some time, experts are able to look not only at the anecdotal evidences of digital device addiction, but a growing amount of data that supports how habit-forming these things are. The journal Frontiers in Psychology is reporting on research telling us that excessive engagement in digital activities has been shown to result in negative effects on physical health, mental health, academic performance, occupational functioning, and interpersonal social skills. The researchers are saying that digital addiction’s impact on our kids is similar in scope to that of anxiety and depression. Parents, we have been called to protect our kids from harm and to provide for their well-being. Don’t introduce screens too early, and when you do, set and enforce boundaries and limits.
Transcribe →Wake-up to Nudification Tools
May 2000:01:00Tap to summarizeIf you pay any attention at all to the changes taking place in youth culture, you will be sure to encounter words and terms occasioned by the new pressures, problems, challenges, and opportunities facing our kids as they grow up in today’s world. One of those terms that should cause us to wake up and take notice is this: nudification tools. These tools take the form of artificial intelligence- powered apps that allow users to upload a picture of a person, then hit a button to create sexualized images, typically nude photos. A new study from George Mason University has found that the use of these nudification tools which have historically been used by more boys than girls, are now being used by girls at the same rate as teenage boys. Researchers found that roughly one in six teen girls and boys used nudification tools frequently to see how they looked. Nudification is becoming normalized for our kids. Parents, warn your kids about the moral, relational, and spiritual issues related to this troubling trend.
Transcribe →