Culture Clips: The Kids Aren’t All Right
More and more young people are struggling with suicidal thoughts and actually taking their own lives, according to recent research reported by USA Today. The suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 doubled between 2007 and 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a new Vanderbilt study that analyzed data […]
Culture Clips: Why Are Political Dramas Tanking?
Have American viewers grown weary of fictional political dramas on TV? The answer seems to be yes, according to a Huffpost article analyzing declining ratings for the genre. Writer Stephanie Marcus notes that virtually every politically themed series—including Scandal, The Americans, Homeland, Madame Secretary, Quantico and Designated Survivor—has seen viewership decline since the election of […]
Faithkeepers Focuses on Christian Persecution in the Middle East
We hardly go a week—or even a day—without news reports of horrific happenings somewhere in the world. Often they involve terrorism at the hands of Islamic extremists. And often they take place in the Middle East. For those of us who don’t live in that region, it’s easy, I think, to grow calloused and numbed […]
How Do I Say No to a Movie My Kids Want to See?
We live in a culture of yes. If something makes you feel good, our permissive society encourages, then go for it. No limits. No right, no wrong. Just do it. Raising children has never been easy. But in this indulgent culture, I’m not sure that saying no to them has ever been harder. Especially when […]
Culture Clips: Emma Watson, Post-Gender Awards Darling
MTV has savvily generated awards-show headlines for nearly 35 years now. This year was no different at network’s annual movie (and this year for the first time, TV) awards. What was different was the reason the broadcast made news: it’s elimination of separate gender categories for awards. Actress Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast, Harry […]
From May the Fourth to the Gospel
It was pretty festive in the Holz household this morning. After all, it’s May 4. What’s so special about that, you ask? Well, some years ago, Star Wars fans claimed this day as their own as a play on that franchise’s tagline, “May the force be with you.” In its new iteration, it became, “May […]
Culture Clips: Revenge of the Books
It wasn’t that long ago that the much-ballyhooed advent of e-books triggered fretting and nail-biting regarding the future of the printed variety. Would people still want old-fashioned, analog books? Or would everyone gravitate toward their electronic versions? Would the citizens of the future even know what a real book was? A perhaps surprising sales trend […]
We’re Not Living in a Neutral Zone
Obviously, I spend my days working as one of Plugged In’s editors. We do our best to sift through what’s happening in the entertainment world to give our readers accurate information they can use to make the discerning decisions for their families. But I have a confession to make: It can still be easy to […]
A Tool for Evaluating Your Children’s Screen Time
We hear a lot about the hazard of excessive screen these days. For ourselves. For our kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics refined its recommendations for children’s screen time last October. For babies below the age of 18 months, the AAP suggests no screens at all. Between that milestone and 2 years, screens can be […]
Culture Clips: Clowns Are Scared of It
Professional clowns are not happy about yet another cinematic remake of Stephen King’s seriously creepy 1986 horror novel It. The titular It in question here takes the form of a scary, nasty clown named Pennywise. And given the recent scary, nasty clown sightings in the real world last fall, those who still put on colorful […]