Youth Culture Today with Walt Mueller

Living in a world where information comes at us at breakneck speed makes it almost impossible to know what to believe and what not to believe. This has been pounded home to us over the course of the last several months as we continually hear about fake news. As parents and youth workers, we must teach our kids how to discern what is true from what is false. We must also communicate the truths of G...

Parents, today I want to give you a heads-up and issue a warning which I hope motivates you to track with the latest developments in digital technology and the way in which these developments might undermine the well-being of our kids. You’re no doubt aware that Virtual Reality and the Metaverse here to stay and will be advancing quickly in the years to come. Based on the fact that online victimiz...

The prayers we find in the Scriptures are prayers that we can pray for our children and teens. In II Thessalonians 3:5, the Apostle Paul follows up his statements on God’s faithfulness and promised protection from the evil one with this prayer: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” First, Paul prays that God would “direct,” or “make straight” the...

“I had a simple rule for my kid. I now realize what a hypocrite I am.” That’s the headline over an article about kids and device usage written by Molly Mulshine, a young mother of a one-year-old. Mulshine begins by proudly telling readers that she never puts her phone in the hands of her child for the admirable reason that she doesn’t want her spending time on or getting addicted to a device. But...

I recently read through the report on teens and media from the University of California and found some thought-provoking data. The report is titled “Reality Bites: Teens and Screens 2024.” The survey found that when asked what adolescents most want to see in terms of content, the top content choice for ten to twenty-four year olds was fantasy, with over thirty-six percent ranking fantasy highest o...

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks at the issue of bullying in the lives of our twelve to seventeen-year-olds. The report defines bullying as occurring when “a person is exposed to aggressive behavior repeatedly over time by one or more people and is unable to defend themself.” More than a third of the kids surveyed say they’ve been bullied over the past ye...

The other day I was driving down our local interstate highway and I found myself stuck behind a car that wouldn’t move out of the left lane. The driver was not only driving under the speed limit, but drifted to the left and over the line several times, then quickly catching themselves and making a course correction. When I finally had an opening to pass them in the right lane, I looked over to see...

As the recreational use of marijuana has become more widespread, socially acceptable, and even legal in many states, the notion that smoking or ingesting cannabis products is actually harmless has spread as well. But a growing body of research is reporting on a variety of harmful effects from the use of cannabis. A new study published in the journal, Addiction Biology, is suggesting that using can...

Australia has recently enacted some legislation that not only makes good sense, but models steps that should be taken by the rest of the world to protect our kids from harm and to provide for their well-being. What exactly has Australia done? They’ve passed a new law that bans kids from using social media until they reach the age of sixteen. The new law won’t go into effect for another year, but i...

I recently read through the report on teens and media from the University of California and found some thought-provoking data. The report is titled “Reality Bites: Teens and Screens 2024.” The survey found that that the number one reason young people ages ten to twenty four report for using social media is to escape and take their minds off of things. This is not at all surprising in light of all...

Today we conclude our week-long look at what it means to entrust our children to God. To entrust our children to God is to completely entrust our children to God! While yes, we have been given the aforementioned responsibilities to tend, teach, and train, we cannot drag, push, or pull our kids screaming and kicking into the Kingdom of God. There is no guarantee that we will see the results that we...

All this week we’re looking at what it means for us as Christian parents to entrust our children to God. In First Timothy four, six to ten we learn that to entrust your children to God is to train them in righteousness. Knowing sound doctrine is a worthless pursuit if that doctrine is not translated into everyday living. Our parenting should be directed to the end of not just honoring God with our...

All this week we’re looking at what it means for us as Christian parents to entrust our children to God. To entrust your children to God is to teach them doctrine. Our children and teens are seeking answers to two basic developmental questions: “Who am I?” and “What do I believe”  Thanks to smartphones and social media, culture is catechizing our kids around the clock. While they turn to their dev...

All this week we’re looking at what it means for us as Christian parents to entrust our children to God. One of the most important things to remember is that to entrust your children to God is to tend to yourself. I love Tedd Tripp’s definition of parenting as “shepherding the hearts of your children in the ways of God’s wisdom.” It follows that the only way we can effectively nurture our children...

My fourteen-year-old self had gone to bed at my usual 9pm time. Two hours later, I woke up to use the bathroom. While walking undetected past my parents darkened room, I not only heard my dad whispering, but I heard him whispering my name. It was at that unforgettable moment that I learned that my parents’ bedtime routine included intercession on behalf of their three children. I had been blessed...

There’s some new data on teenagers and vaping that deserves our attention. Published in the journal Pediatrics, the data looks at trends in vaping behaviors among our eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders. Near daily vaping was admitted by one-point-seven percent of eighth graders, four-point-two percent of tenth graders, and almost eight percent of twelfth graders. When asked why they vape, the thre...

A recent article in the UK’s “Daily Telegraph” newspaper is reporting on an online behavior happening over the pond that it is very reasonable to assume is happening here in the United States at the same or a very similar rate. Researchers in the U.K. have found that the majority of children on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are lying about their age and date of birth...

One of the most beautiful and telling aspects of the Genesis Creation narrative relates to the importance of relationships. In Genesis one twenty-six we read these words, “Then God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image.” The God who created human beings as the crowning point of creation is a trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And out of that divine relationship comes the creation of those who Go...

As Christian parents, we are called to raise our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We must be doing what we can to lead them into an adulthood that is spiritually, emotionally, relationally, intellectually, AND physically healthy. Their physical health depends greatly on how we teach them to steward their God-given bodies during their childhood and teenage years. One aspect of this t...

I recently read through a report on teens and screens from the Center for Scholars and Storytellers at the University of California. I want you to hear these important words from the reports introduction: “An alarming proportion of today’s adolescents are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, and they are inundated with storytelling media that exerts a powerful influence. Media is more pr...

I recently read through the report on teens and media from the University of California and found some thought-provoking data. The report is titled “Reality Bites: Teens and Screens 2024.” There’s some good news coming from the survey regarding what our kids think about friendship and sexuality. In 2023, over fifty percent of adolescents desired content that focused on platonic relationships and f...

With the New Year upon us and resolutions being made here, there, and everywhere, let me suggest a parenting and family priority that all of us can institute in our homes with our kids. In the past, I’ve shared some of the data regarding the decline in reading among children and teens, much of that occasioned by time spent doing other things like scrolling through their phones or playing video gam...

A blessed and happy New Year to you! 2024 is now in the past and we look forward with great expectation and perhaps a bit of trepidation to 2025. Today is a perfect day for you to sit with your kids and talk about the days in which we live, the reasonable expectations we must have, and where to find our hope. I’ve gotten into the habit of using each and every New Year’s Day to pause and pray. I th...

“Be sure to look them in the eye and say please and thank you.” If you grew up in home like mine, you constantly heard those words from your mother as she was training you to be kind and polite in social situations. I learned that lesson well and hope that we were successful in passing it on to our own kids. New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has found that when family m...

I recently read through the report on teens and media from the University of California and found some thought-provoking data. The report is titled “Reality Bites: Teens and Screens 2024.” As I was reading through the survey there was one bit of data that caused me to pause, and I want to pass it on to you. This question was asked to the ten to twenty-four year olds who participated in the survey:...