Young men say they are modeling themselves on fictional characters, Tyson vs. Paul breaks Netflix, and boredom is on the rise. But first:
Resource of the Week: The Axis Advent Calendar
Christmas is right around the corner—and in true Axis fashion, we wanted to create a resource to help connect parents and teens. Enter the Axis Advent Calendar! From Mariah Carey to Elf on the Shelf, our calendar focuses on bridging the gap between holiday culture and the true meaning of Christmas. It’s a totally free, Gospel-centered way to rekindle the hope, peace, joy, and love of the Christmas season with teens, written by the same people who bring you the Culture Translator every week. You have until November 30th to sign up, so head over to Axis.org today!
Three Conversations
1. Man Alive
What it is: In an age of conflicting and contradictory messages about masculinity, many young men are looking to fantasy characters and superheroes for inspiration.
Why it’s worth paying attention to: A recent study of 1,250 8-to-30 year-old boys and young men by the National Research Group found that just 52% had real people in their lives who serve as role models. A remaining 26% primarily looked up to fictional characters, and 21% primarily looked up to public figures and celebrities. Even though NRG acknowledges that “fictional role models can’t fully replace real-life ones,” they also point out that not everyone has access to positive real-world role models. As a result, they’re calling on media companies to be more intentional in the creation of male characters who might serve as role models for viewers—particularly, characters who neither completely conform to stereotypes of masculinity nor overtly reject them.
Continue the conversation: To what extent can a fictional character truly serve as a role model?
2. Fight Night
What it is: A much-anticipated boxing matchup between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul left audiences (and Tyson) in a daze.
Why fans felt frustrated: Just a few years ago, Jake Paul was only known as a YouTube prankster. But now he’s become a powerful force in sports, business and entertainment, having co-founded the betting app Betr, the men’s personal care brand W, as well as making a name for himself in the boxing ring. Paul’s fight against Tyson was streamed on Netflix (though perhaps the term “streamed” is too generous as the fight kept buffering), and 108 million people tuned in (or, well, tried). It immediately became apparent that this wasn’t a fair fight, with the halting, sloppy 58-year-old taking some serious punishment in the ring from Paul. Almost immediately, fans took to social media to express their suspicion that the fight went according to a predetermined script—which would be a huge problem, considering that the event broke records for sports betting.
Continue the conversation: Why do you think a legend like Mike Tyson would get in the ring with Jake Paul?
3. Big Boredom
What it is: A recent perspective published in Communications Psychology combined a decade of survey responses from US and Chinese students to make the argument that rising boredom rates are connected to increased digital media use.
Why it could make sense: Most of us (including our teens) reach for a digital device when we feel boredom creeping in. We might logically assume that the near-constant stimulation we receive from our devices would reduce our experience of boredom—but the truth might be the opposite. Analysis and discussion based on ten years’ worth of data suggests that while boredom might drive us towards digital media, it isn’t actually satisfied by it. Many users find themselves in a loop where the perceived solution to restlessness and boredom actually amplifies those uncomfortable feelings. In other words, the “thirst” of boredom leads us to the “water” of digital media, but the water is salty.
Let’s translate this one further…
Many modern men and women have become accustomed to immediately attempting to cover their feelings of boredom with social media, video games, streaming, or any number of other digital pacifiers. But boredom also can drive us to action, inspire us to try new things, and encourage us to explore new hobbies and interests.
So, if boredom is sometimes a good thing, and this data shows that it’s becoming more common, wouldn’t that also be a good thing? Well, it might be—if we let our boredom direct us toward healthy solutions. Instead, we so very often let our boredom drive us into things that feel like they help, but actually make it worse. Instead of listening to the deeper call underneath our boredom, we simply distract ourselves and believe that we fixed it.
As we disciple the teens in our lives, we need to highlight that what they might define as “boredom” is actually an important part of their faith journey. John Mark Comer argues that distraction is one of the greatest threats to our spiritual health—and when we turn to the Bible, we see he has a point.
Consistently throughout scripture, God meets with people who seek Him in silence and solitude—things modern teens (and adults) avoid with alarming regularity. The prophet Elijah waits until after the noise passes to hear God’s voice. David in Psalm 62 highlights the connection between hearing God and silencing our souls. Jesus himself prioritized finding space to be in solitude to pray.
Our teens (and we ourselves) can learn a lot from these examples. Maybe the next time our teens have some down-time, we can encourage them to lean into boredom, to take a break from the distractions of digital media, and to seek God; and maybe the next time we have some down-time, we can try the same thing.
For more context and nuance, check out our Monday Roundtable podcast on Spotify or Apple. In the meantime, here are three questions to spark conversation with your teens:
Continue the Conversation:- Do you feel bored a lot? What does it feel like?
- How do you normally deal with your boredom?
- When was the last time you were alone and without your phone or any other device?
Parenting together,
The Axis Team
PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!