Each month, our Tech Trends blog unpacks how technology is shaping, influencing and changing us todayâand especially how itâs impacting kids. And it will also give you the scoop on those things called âhashtags,â so you can stay up to date on all the things your kids might be obsessed with.
And ICYMI (âin case you missed it,â for those up on their social acronyms), you can check out Julyâs Tech Trends, too.
Letâs dive in.
TikTok onâand inâthe Brain
Elon Musk seems like heâs in the news almost all the time. But you might have missed this little story–on Twitter, er, X, of course. On the platform formerly known as Twitter, a graphic designer at Dogecoin tweeted (or xâed? It just doesnât work quite as well, does it?), âTikTok is destroying civilization.â Mr. Musk responded with an, er, um, x of his own: âI tried using TikTok and felt their AI probing my brain, so I stopped.â
Iâll walk past the temptation to comment on how Twitterâs algorithms likely work similarly, and say simply that research continues to uncover new ways that TikTok is, it seems, very much at work on our brains. Scientists are fascinated by the recent popularity of bottle-smashing videos there, and they speculate that the sound of smashed glass has a strangely therapeutic effect on some folksâ brains.
Meanwhile, still more research suggests that TikTok is, in fact, obliterating our collective attention span. The Week summarized new research addressing the question, âWhat happens to our brains when we get hooked on short-form videos?â No surprise here: It ainât good. Addictive behavior and an inability to engage in âdirected attentionâ activities, such as reading, are among the outcomes of too much exposure to this medium.
Writing earlier this year, The Oxford Blueâs contributor Jui Zaveri notes:
âPersonally, I donât think I could sit through a whole film anymore. Why would I want to? An Instagram Reel could give me the same hit of emotion in a much shorter timeframeâit is literally designed to be the perfect quick fix. The people around me are the same: lectures on double speed, YouTube videos watched with one finger tensed over the button that skips 5 seconds ahead, impatience with any media longer than a few minutes at most. In fact, nearly 50% of users surveyed by TikTok said that videos longer than a minute long were âstressful.â The truth is that our attention spans are shrinking.â
Who Could Possibly Believe That? Well, Teens.
âDad, youâre never gonna believe this story I saw on Instagram!â your teen breathlessly tells you. And, heâs right: You donât. Thatâs because itâs obviously a conspiracy theory. So if youâve ever wondered if your child is particularly naĂŻve in this area, take comfort: New research suggests that teens are more prone to believe online conspiracy theories than previous generations.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, which focuses on identifying misinformation (more on that in a moment), recently reported that 60% of 13- to 17-year-olds agreed with four or more harmful conspiracy theory statements often found on social media, compared to 49% for adults. And the percentage rose, to 69%, for teens who spent four or more hours a day on a single social media outlet.
âThereâs a prejudice towards believing that youth will save us from the ills created by the former generations, but when it comes to misinformation, there are no future generations to save us from the damage that weâve caused,â said CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed. He also believes that failure to help children discern what constitutes misinformation could undermine âour democracy and the values that underpin it,â which he says are âunder an almost impossible strain.â
Perhaps ironically, however, some government officials have also questioned the CCDHâs understandings of what constitutes misinformation and whether or not eliminating it online could constitute censorship and a threat to the First Amendment. (Also, Elon Muskâs X is suing CCDH, alleging that the companyâs research has damaged the social media platformâs traffic.)
Still, if we want to help our kids grow in media and news discernment as they encounter potentially questionable stories online, some simple questions can teach them to ask and then regularly engage in conversations using those questions:
- What is the source of this story?
- Does the basic premise of the story seem likely to be true?
- Can you sense any bias in the reporting skewing toward a particular interpretation?
- How could you verify whether the claims in this story are true?
Just teaching our kids to ask some basic questions like theseâand then modeling those questions for themâcan go a long way to helping them grow in news media discernment.
Which Brand Do (British) Kids Think is Coolest? Itâs Netflix.
If youâve been lying awake at night wondering feverishly what the kids are into these days, well, you can look forward to a full nightâs sleep tonight. Because Beano Brain, self-described as a âspecialist kids and family insights agency,â has just released its annual answer to that question. Well, in the UK, at least, where it surveyed 60,000 kids between the ages of 7 and 14. Itâs a curious mixture of technology, junk food and, um, footwear. Here are the top 10:
- Netflix
- YouTube
- McDonaldâs
- Nike
- Oreo
- Nintendo
- Pringles
- Disney
- Roblox
- Coca-Cola
Looking at a list like this, itâs no surprise that the World Economic Forum prognosticates that half the worldâs population will be overweight by 2035.
#HashtagTrending
Hashtags, trends, reels, sounds, tracks, storiesâwe know it feels impossible to keep up with what the kids are into these days. But hereâs a quick overview of what your teen might be posting/watching on TikTok, Instagram and all the other âsocialsâ this month. (Compiled by Emily Tsiao)
- âDance The Nightâ (883K posts) â There are a couple of Barbie-themed trends this month, starting with this one featuring Dua Lipaâs âDance the Nightâ from, you guessed it, the Barbie movieâs soundtrack.
- âGirrlâ (393K posts) â This one isnât so terrible. Essentially, influencers are using the âGIRRLâ audio by Raymon Marco to showcase all the footage they havenât had a chance to use yet.
- âSuper Shyâ (258K posts) â Iâm not entirely sure what New Jeansâ âSuper Shyâ has to do with nail art or morning vlogs, but thatâs the trend.
- âLove Like Thisâ (181K posts) â Creators are pairing âLove Like This,â an audio clip from Austin Millz, to recap their weekends. Because, you know, why tell people in person when you can show them online?
- âBarbie Worldâ (174.3K posts) â Told yaâ thereâd be more Barbie. This TikTok trend isnât really surprising. Folks are basically showing off anything and everything pink. But parents should be aware of some serious issues with the song itself by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.
- âCruel Summerâ (160.3K posts) â With the extension of Taylor Swiftâs Eras tour, you may be hearing this sped up version of her song on top of everything from recipe how-tos to travel vlogs.
- âVampireâ (152.6K posts) â In yet another weird TikTok trend, users are pairing this popular (and somewhat problematic) track by Olivia Rodrigo with videos that have almost nothing to do with the song.
- âYachtsâ (100K posts) â Folks like to showcase their daily routines, exotic travels and creative projects. And thatâs what this trend is all about.
- âSummer Rainâ (90.6K posts) â Man, youâd think people would get tired of showcasing their lives on TikTok and Instagram. But If thereâs a âchill vibesâ track out there, you can bet itâll start trending soon thereafter for just this purpose.
- âSick & Twistedâ (14.7K posts) â Whatâs a situation thatâs âsick and twisted?â Well, this trend that drops an f-bomb for one.
3 Responses
-The best gift for parents to give their children is the foundation for a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one who can best help us discern His truth from the lies of the devil.
-“some government officials have also questioned the CCDHâs understandings of what constitutes misinformation and whether or not eliminating it online could constitute censorship and a threat to the First Amendment.”
The Internet doesn’t belong to any nation, let alone the US government, and private forums don’t owe hate speech a platform or an audience; otherwise, one could argue that even moderating the comments on Plugged Inâwhich I think the site generally does a great job ofâwould itself be ‘censorship.’ Even Truth Social has rules on how to report “hateful conduct.”
I find it bizarre that so many Christians are so concerned about ‘free speech’ when the Word given to us tells us not that we can say what we want, when we want, but that “everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36, New International Version, excerpt), which I find sobering in light not only of the things so many of our politicians say, but also of the awful things too many pastors and teachers say from the pulpit.
-The opposite attention span effect can happen in a way. When TV went digital instead of analog, my family waited half a year, hoping the price of digital antennas would decrease. During that time, I only watched movies. When we got broadcast TV back, I found commercials to be very disjointed.