Nachos Meme Goes Viral on Social Media
What? In the landscape of social media, “wanting someone’s “nachos” simply means that you want something that someone (usually a celebrity) has, be it talent, style, an award, etc.
So What? While there’s nothing too worrying about this viral meme, it could perhaps spark arguments among teens if someone is falsely accused of “wanting someone’s nachos.” Or if your child is “reheating someone’s nachos”—which is a little more serious since it means that he or she is copying the lifestyle, image or even creative work of another person.
Now What? Unless your child is “reheating nachos” or getting into petty arguments about wanting nachos, there’s not much to worry about here. It’s silly, sure. But even the root of this meme, wherein a woman appeared to be longingly staring at someone else’s actual nachos, doesn’t have any serious red flags. That said, parents who do want to go deeper might use this meme to talk with teens about comparison and how it can be the enemy of contentment in our own lives, and how Scripture warns us against coveting what our neighbor has that we don’t (Exodus 20:17).
Screentime Linked to Myopia or Nearsightedness
What? Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, “is a vision condition where a person can see objects close to them, but ones far away look blurry,” says Parents.
So What? Research published in JAMA Network Open found that just one hour of digital screentime daily increased the risk of myopia by 21%. Risks increased with more time spent on screens each day. And the rates of myopia are up 42% from 25% in the 1970s, with almost 50% of all people expected to have nearsightedness by 2050.
Now What? Although the risk of myopia increases with any near-vision work, including reading and studying, a 2021 study published in medical journal The Lancet found that screen-based activities increase the risk more than non-screen ones. So researchers suggest that parents limit screentime—including time spent on schoolwork—to less than one hour per day to reduce risk.
Teens Want Stories About Friendship, Not Romance or Sex
What? In UCLA’s 2024 “Teens and Screen” report, teens showed a higher interest in “content that doesn’t include sex or romance” (8th out of 21 options) than content including “romance and/or sex” (15th place) says PC Gamer.
So What? Ratinghigher even than nonromantic, nonsexual content were stories about “friendships and social groups,” which came in 5th. The report found that adolescents interested in “nomance” have increased to 63.5% compared to just 51.5% the previous year.
Now What? While it’s great that teens are less interested in explicit content in TV and video games, parents shouldn’t take a back seat regarding what their kids are viewing. One study found that 73% of young people ages 16 to 24 “sometimes or always feel alone.” Which is perhaps why the desire for stories about friendship has increased. But another report found that 79% of children encounter “violent pornography” before the age of 18. So while adolescents might desire less sex in traditional media formats, that could also be attributed to them encountering or consuming that sort of content elsewhere.
5 Responses
Good survey and article for the last paragraph, but it makes me worry somewhat about our teens and young people, not because of sexual material but because of a larger issue of loneliness. Where can these people hang out today? Some places don’t allow unaccompanied minors at shopping malls outside of certain time windows. Some restaurants don’t allow people to congregate there unless they’re paying customers. Not all communities have libraries, and young people don’t always have access to safe parks to play with each other at.
I don’t watch a whole lot of television, so I’m unfamiliar with what kind of content is prevalent in shows that are popular with teens. “Even without the survey data, the notion that today’s youth are especially uninterested in romance and sex has been treated as common knowledge on social media for the past few years, the story going that Covid isolation and increasing anxiety has created a generation of wallflowers.” My hypothesis about the increasing anxiety: too many boys are worried about being labeled as predators, and too many girls are worried about being hurt by one. I don’t know how common that is, but anecdotally I’ve seen it elsewhere among my own age group (I came of age before the first iPhone came out, when high-speed internet was really starting to become widespread in the US).
Back when Mass Effect 1 came out in 2007, having grown up on a lot of role-playing games that were developed by the company BioWare, I had a worry about the degree of sex and nudity that was present in that game, not because of a taboo against depicting either — both have a holy place in our interactions with God and with one another, and too often some churches seem to demean both just as much as they accuse the world of “cheapening” them — but more because of a concern that, with onscreen depictions of sex no longer left to the imagination outside of PC-only games (gaming PCs weren’t usually marketed to children and casual gamers in the same way you might see gaming consoles marketed), there came a risk of romantic stories in games transitioning into a flimsy excuse to show sex and explicit depictions of bodies while leaving the actual romantic stories underdeveloped.
This leaves a prime opportunity for the Church to showcase the beauty of what Godly romance can really look like, in all of its dimensions, sexual and otherwise, without arbitrarily shaming or overemphasizing any one aspect that God has created to glorify Him and bless others with. Christian artwork wasn’t always so hesitant to do so, such as the numerous paintings of Susanna and the Elders. But the issues I have with what few presentations of sex I’ve seen in modern Christian media (e.g., “sex as temptation”) are also too often mirrored in secular media, often in ways that seem misogynistic. Woman as temptation or tempter, man as philanderer in ways that don’t always seem cognizant of power structures or of women’s perspectives. I don’t know precisely what a modern holistic Christian depiction would look like, but I do remember that when I was growing up, my churches (and I attended a huge number thereof) felt like the last place I could safely go to get wisdom and insight about this sacred topic.
Returning to the subject of friendships and social groups, the friendship mechanics in Persona 5 Royal have made for some of the most deeply meaningful and tremendously beautiful storytelling and time management that I’ve seen in any video game in quite a long time.
“So researchers suggest that parents limit screentime—including time spent on schoolwork—to less than one hour per day to reduce risk.”
Good luck with that.
Yeah, a lot of adults I know wouldn’t be able to pull that off, to say nothing of those of us who constantly use screens for our jobs.
I guess we could listen to more audiobooks to help with myopia.
I’m interested in knowing if doing regular outdoor activities (where one focuses on objects far away) helps counteract myopia.
Also, it could be worse now as instead of watching TV from a sofa across the room, we can watch it on closer screens.
Thank you for reporting on this!
Personally I believe a relationship should be based on not just sex but love, trust, honesty, and mutual companionship. I think wayy too many movies and videos nowadays including video games focus too much on flesh and opposed to the actual person. Now guaranteed I like the classic romance just like any other girl
The classic snow white for example is one of favorites- shows beautiful, courageous, kind girl who escapes from evil queen. Personally find nothing wrong w/ original love story that is innocent, sweet, classic and way better then the new feminist agenda snow white character and doesn’t rip on beloved, iconic figure… those stories are more what need.