Netflix officially announced an Assassin’s Creed live-action series, IGN said the new Donkey Kong Bananza game is “shockingly good,” Superman may have just murdered the traditional press junket, Stranger Things star Sadie Sink is executive producing a modern reimagining of The Crucible called John Proctor Is the Villain, and comedian Shane Gillis made awkward fun of dozens of athletes in his opening monologue (language) for the ESPYs.
But here’s what we’re focused on this week:
Song of the Week – “Big Poe” (feat. Sk8brd) – Tyler the Creator
Climbing to the #1 spot on Spotify and Apple Music, “Big Poe” is the first song on Tyler, the Creator’s new album DON’T TAP THE GLASS. The song begins with instructions which include “no sitting still” and “leave your baggage at home.” Fans interpret this to mean that in Tyler’s mind, the time for vulnerable self-reflection ended with last year’s album (CHROMAKOPIA), and that now is the time for dancing, partying, and debauchery. If you (really) want to read the lyrics, click here (language).
And now for our three conversations…
1. Piercing Observation
What it is: The term “septum theory” is being used online to suggest that people (usually women) with septum piercings are mentally unstable and should not be listened to.
What it means: Most people who type the phrase “septum theory” into a comments section do not specify what the actual theory is. This “theory” appears to have started in 2017, when a Twitter user named Torraine Walker started suggesting that if a woman has a septum ring, it’s probably a good sign that she is a radical feminist who also hates men. Today, the theory has grown to include the notion that, as TikToker @osiekaplan puts it, “women with septum rings make trauma their whole personality.” Both definitions provide an opportunity to discuss whether it is right or wrong to make assumptions about other people based on their style choices.
Continue the conversation: Have you ever been tempted to judge someone without knowing them? Why?
2. A Rush of Blood to the Head
What it is: Footage of a couple embracing at a Coldplay concert—then panicking when they saw themselves on the jumbotron—became the biggest viral moment in recent memory.
What it actually revealed: When the young fan who posted the clip of the cheating couple online was interviewed, she said, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” This phrase is often found on forums like Reddit’s r/relationships; when behaving poorly in public (i.e. playing a stupid game), public humiliation often follows (the stupid prize). The young fan’s reaction seems representative of her generation, which has become so used to being filmed and scrutinized at all times that cheating at a stadium concert strikes them as unimaginably foolish. If there is a winner of the whole debacle, it is probably Coldplay; and while the TikTok generation may see Coldplay as “dad-rock,” lead singer Chris Martin’s bemused narration of the awkward moment is part of the reason the clip became so popular. Even before this incident, “Sparks,” a song from their 2000 album Parachutes, was already climbing the charts.
Continue the conversation: Would you post a clip that exposed a cheating couple? Why or why not?
3. Churn Baby Churn
What it is: Are shortform videos churned out by AI ruining our ability to think? An article in Vox dives into how “swipeable smartphone-shaped videos” are impacting consumers.
What they found: Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have existed alongside TikTok for years, but now we’re seeing this specific style of video outside of social media. Now they are everywhere we look—including on news sites and music streaming platforms. One contributing factor is how AI video platforms (like Google’s Veo 3) continue to improve, which allow for easier production of these short, vertical videos. Some of this content is technically impressive and engaging, but much of it is pointless, nonsensical “AI slop.” But even as we recognize this slop for what it is, mass exposure to it is still reducing our ability to focus, and, some researchers worry, breaking our brains.
Let’s translate this one further…
I recently went to an incredible magic show performed by a close-up magician named Cosmo. (That’s his real name, I promise.) As my friends and I discussed the show afterwards, our discussion turned in an interesting direction. We all concluded that it didn’t seem like Cosmo spent much time on social media.
It wasn’t because he seemed out-of-touch or disengaged; it was because he seemed focused. You could tell he had devoted his life to being a really good magician, and he hadn’t let anything distract him.
As the relationship between humanity and social media continues to unfold, data is showing us what most people could have guessed: short-form video dismantles our ability to focus. One 2023 study concluded that “the combination of short videos and rapid context-switching impairs intention recall and execution,” and that study was done before we had tools to easily churn out endless, attention-seeking videos that barely imitate reality. There’s a reason they’re called slop, and they can create chaos in our brains.
As poet Mary Oliver famously wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” Her words echo a truth we see throughout the Bible. The Psalms begin with an encouragement to choose carefully how we spend our time and who we spend it with. To not sit in the seat of scoffers or walk in the counsel of the wicked, but to focus on the word of God. Essentially, to place our focus on good things so that we can root ourselves well and be set up to prosper.
Shortform videos, when consumed without limit, might warp our ability to focus on good things, because they impair our ability to focus on anything at all. And when you consider that the tradeoff is “scroll through a bunch of AI faces pretending to eat lava with a spoon” versus “actually be able to remember how I cultivated my spirit and time,” the choice to be intentional becomes an obvious (though not easy) one to make. There’s no magic trick to choosing to focus on and be planted by good things. It’s a choice that teens and parents alike have to continue to make.
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:
- When do you feel really focused? When do you feel unfocused?
- How long do you think your attention span is for videos? How long do you think mine is?
- What’s something you want to focus on this week?
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