Making Wise Media Choices in a World of Teenage Dreams

While at the National Youth Worker’s Convention in Nashville, Tennessee recently, I attended a session by Walt Muller from the Center for Parent and Youth Understanding (CPYU) on teaching students to integrate their faith into their media lives by processing media from a Christian perspective.

Walt talked about what our role as parents and educators should look like in helping with that process:

When our kids are young, we think for them.
As they grow older, we think with them.
When they are older, they will think for themselves.

Unfortunately for a lot of us, we never move past step one. When it comes to media choices, we want to yell at our kids for what they’re watching or listening to and tell them to turn it off when the message is less than positive. This does not prepare kids to learn to think for themselves.

In the session, we were able to practice thinking through a media choice with a teen. We watched the music video for the Billboard Chart topping song “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. For those of you who haven’t heard the song it starts, “You think I'm pretty without any make-up on, you think I'm funny when I tell the punch line wrong, I know you get me, so I'll let my walls come down.”

Is there anything wrong with the feelings portrayed with these lyrics? I don’t think so. She’s sharing that her significant other likes her for her. That’s a good thing. It’s the expression of these feelings where things go wrong in the lyrics. “Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love” and “We drove to Cali and got drunk on the beach. Got a motel and built a fort out of sheets. I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece. I'm complete.”

What an opportunity this song provides to talk about what healthy relationships look like compared to what happens when we live out relationships like they’re portrayed in this song.

CYPU has put out a great resource entitled “How to Use your Head to Guard your Heart: A 3(D) Guide to Making Responsible Media Choices.” In it, Walt suggests a three step process of Discover, Discern and Decide when evaluating your media choices.

Here are just a few of the questions he encourages us to work through during the Discover phase:

• How is the media piece intended to make listeners/viewers feel? How does it make me feel? Does it manipulate listener emotions in any way?
• Does the piece make any overt or covert suggestions on how to think, talk, act, or live?
• Where are human value and worth found?
• What is the source of happiness and satisfaction in life?
• What does it say about sexuality?
• What does it say about the nature of love? What does it say about how to express that love?

In the Discern phase, examine what Scripture has to say in light of what the media piece is presenting.

Finally, Decide the following:

• Should I watch/listen?
• Will I watch/listen?
• Should I support this artist and media message with my money and attention?
• Will I support this artist and media message with my money and attention?
• How does this help me see and understand the worldview and needs of my culture and my friends?
• How would Jesus share His story and message with people who think and live this worldview?
• What biblical examples of Jesus and God’s people can shape my response to these needs?

Don’t pass on the opportunity to have open, honest discussion with the kids in your life when it comes to the media. Help them to think things through rather than just telling them what to think. Then you can trust they will be able to make God-honoring choices when you’re not looking.

Teresa Russell
Director of Development

You can receive CYPU’s weekly Youth Culture e-Update for free by signing up on their website.