Glass Fruit, 28 Years Later, and 90s Summers

AI-generated “Would You Rather?” videos involving fruit with special powers began trending on TikTok, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie continued to be a theatrical success, Netflix’s “Trainwreck” anthology landed documentaries about Astroworld and the so-called “Poop Cruise” in the top 10, people on #BookTok defended annotating books, and teens shared memes about World War 3.

But here are the conversations we’re focused on having this week:

Song of the Week: “Manchild” – Sabrina Carpenter

Sabrina Carpenter’s newest song has catapulted to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it has been since its release. It features more of Carpenter’s unique fusion of 80’s synth, pop, and country. What has really taken the internet by storm are the lyrics (language) though, which are effectively Carpenter finding creative ways to call the men in her life dumb. In the song’s bridge, she at least takes some ownership of her emotional baggage and apparent tendency to attract immature partners. With an f-bomb in the chorus, we suspect most parents won’t find the song endearing.

And now for our three conversations…

1. Like Eating Glass

What it is: An ASMR trend of slicing… glass… fruit is taking over For You Pages, YouTube recommendations, and Instagram feeds.

Why people say it’s satisfying: This trend looks so real, it feels surreal. But no fruit, or knives, or teeth are being harmed in the making of these videos. They are generated by an AI prompt, which then produces the video of a prismatic glass orange, grape, apple, kiwi, etc, getting sliced by a large kitchen knife. The slicing happens in slow motion, with a satisfying cutting-board clink after each cut. Sometimes AI-generated people then eat the glass fruit, and viewers get to hear the sound of them crunching on glass.

Continue the conversation: What’s the weirdest AI trend you’ve seen so far?

2. 28 Years Later…

What it is: 28 Years Later is the latest installment of the well-known zombie series directed by Danny Boyle. Set decades after the original outbreak, it follows a new generation trying to survive in a world still wrecked by the past.

What parents should know: Horror movies are a big hit with teens in the summer, and zombie stories especially tend to draw them in. But not all horror is created equal. While some use suspense to explore fear in creative, even meaningful ways, 28 Years Later leans hard into intense violence, disturbing imagery, and also features several scenes of brief but graphic nudity. It’s more unsettling than thought-provoking and not something we’d recommend, even for older teens (or, really, anybody.) For parents, discussion of the red flags in this film can be a good opportunity to talk about how the media we consume shapes our hearts and imaginations.

Continue the conversation: Do you enjoy horror movies? What is it about them that pulls you in or pushes you away?

3. It Was the Best of Times—Or Was It?

What it is: Thousands of TikTokers are reminiscing about “90s summers”—with parents expressing their hope to recreate the experience for their kids.

What they’re even talking about: The idea of a “90s summer” is about chasing a feeling of freedom more than it is about longing for a time machine. Because in the 1990s, days spent listlessly staring up at the clouds, eating endless ice pops from the supermarket, and getting pushed into the pool without a thought to the phone in your pocket seemed to be the norm. At least in our memories, there was space to explore, time to get bored, and an emphasis on enjoying our time, not optimizing it. No wonder it feels like a completely different time.

Let’s translate this one further…

The year is 1995. The small backyard of my parents’ condo is well-stocked for any kids who might want to drop by, with water balloons, plastic water guns from the dollar store, and a cooler full of Mountain Dew and Hawaiian Punch. I hear the distant twinkly tones of the ice cream truck approaching, so I know it’s around 5’o’clock, and my Little Mermaid bathing suit is hanging up to dry after a few hours playing with my dad in our community pool.

Looking back on it now, it seems pretty perfect. But was it?

As parents like me idealize their own idle summers, and teens idealize a screen-free heyday they didn’t even live through, I wonder if this idea of a 90s summer—innocent, lazy, and long—ever actually existed beyond a fleeting moment of happy contentment that happened here and there. When you step outside of time, to quote Kurt Vonnegut, “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.”

Now, moms and dads are expected to know, do, and engage with so many more things than they can keep up with. (Three apps and an email chain to participate in one travel sports team? IYKYK.) It’s making parents miserable, but it’s also freaking out our kids. Maybe that’s why this next generation was born longing for a time gone by. Rightly or wrongly, it seems to them like the 1990s were a time with less to worry about.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 advises us not to ask why the past was better than the present. Perhaps Solomon was thinking of our human tendency to put the past on a pedestal, forgetting that it, too, was full of problems.

This summer, we can take what we want from our own past without the pressure of trying to perfectly recreate it. That means embracing the unique era that we’re living in, even with its flaws—but maybe picking up a few water guns from the dollar store for good measure.

For more context and nuance, check out our Roundtable podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the meantime, here are three questions to spark conversation with your teens:

PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!