The Culture Translator

Three Big Conversations: A brand called Fear of God sells must-have hoodies - 10:22 The Freemasons are recruiting heavily from Gen Z - 25:26 What parents need to know about how gore travels online - 39:12 Song of the Week: "Janice ST*U" by Drake - 3:04 → Click here to read the lyrics → Click here for A Parent's Guide to Loneliness → Click here for A Parent's Guide to TikTok → Click here for A Parent's Guide to Instagram → Help us improve our podcast! Click here to fill out this three-minute survey. In Other News: - 51:28 The Mandalorian and Grogu, a Star Wars adventure starring Pedro Pascal and his travel-sized "baby Yoda" sidekick, is expected to earn $160 million this weekend. A new Instagram feature called "Instants" allows users to send quick, unedited photos through direct messages. Similar to features on Snapchat and BeReal, Instants disappear within 24 hours, or after they're viewed. The American Music Awards (AMAs) will air on Monday, May 25, and feature performances from KATSEYE, Teddy Swims, and sombr—as well as the Pussycat Dolls and Busta Rhymes. Spotify celebrated its app's twentieth anniversary with a suite of special listening history features, and also temporarily switched its icon to a glowing green mirror ball. But the logo switch was confusing, and users became irate. Teen Vogue predicts that the wave of preppy, 90s fashion nostalgia will continue to swell into the summer, with bandanas, sweaters tied around the waist, checkered and polka-dotted prints, and loafers with socks all trending.

A brand called Fear of God sells must-have hoodies, the Freemasons are recruiting heavily from Gen Z, and what parents need to know about how gore travels online. Song of the Week: "Janice ST*U" by Drake → Click here to read the lyrics → Click here for A Parent's Guide to Loneliness → Click here for A Parent's Guide to TikTok → Click here for A Parent's Guide to Instagram → Help us improve our podcast! Click here to fill out this three-minute survey. In Other News: The Mandalorian and Grogu, a Star Wars adventure starring Pedro Pascal and his travel-sized "baby Yoda" sidekick, is expected to earn $160 million this weekend. A new Instagram feature called "Instants" allows users to send quick, unedited photos through direct messages. Similar to features on Snapchat and BeReal, Instants disappear within 24 hours, or after they're viewed. The American Music Awards (AMAs) will air on Monday, May 25, and feature performances from KATSEYE, Teddy Swims, and sombr—as well as the Pussycat Dolls and Busta Rhymes. Spotify celebrated its app's twentieth anniversary with a suite of special listening history features, and also temporarily switched its icon to a glowing green mirror ball. But the logo switch was confusing, and users became irate. Teen Vogue predicts that the wave of preppy, 90s fashion nostalgia will continue to swell into the summer, with bandanas, sweaters tied around the waist, checkered and polka-dotted prints, and loafers with socks all trending.

"Would you share ideas and council on navigating the fine line between keeping church attendance and spiritual disciplines as a family pritory (i.e. wanting to establish and model this as a lifelong priority for our kids), and not turning your teen off from Christianity, where your teen runs away from the faith because of you "making them go" to church every Sunday. Drawing from Paul's words, how can we parent in regards to church attendance in the spirit of Colossians 4:2-6, especially verse 6?" - Aileen

Three Big Conversations: Gen Z hits the track (and the tracking apps) - 02:42 A new Lord of the Flies adaptation hits home - 17:30 Pop songstresses say they are manifesting their dream lives - 31:04 Resource of the Week: Faith and Life Survey - 01:54 → Click here to watch our video about manifesting. → Click here to watch our video about Looksmaxxing. → Click here to read the article about these local running clubs. In Other News: - 45:00 Teen boys and young men are turning to injectable peptide stacks in order to achieve physical transformations and faster muscle recovery, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (paywall), in a trend being fueled by looksmaxxing culture. The latest Gen Z trend is the comeback of the hacky sack. Teens are starting clubs at schools, making TikToks about their newest hobby, and the footbags are already selling out in stores. Winning out over MrBeast, LeBron James, and Taylor Swift, the celebrity young people want to emulate most is Zendaya, who came in second to "none of the above". With age verification requirements on the rise, some kids are fooling age-checking technology with a fake mustache. Subnautica 2, the sequel to Subnautica, a quiet hit about crafting, exploring, and avoiding giant leviathans in an underwater world, releases this week in early access.

Gen Z hits the track (and the tracking apps), a new Lord of the Flies adaptation hits home, and pop songstresses say they are manifesting their dream lives. Resource of the Week: Faith and Life Survey → Click here to watch our video about manifesting. In Other News: Teen boys and young men are turning to injectable peptide stacks in order to achieve physical transformations and faster muscle recovery, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal (paywall), in a trend being fueled by looksmaxxing culture. The latest Gen Z trend is the comeback of the hacky sack. Teens are starting clubs at schools, making TikToks about their newest hobby, and the footbags are already selling out in stores. Winning out over MrBeast, LeBron James, and Taylor Swift, the celebrity young people want to emulate most is Zendaya, who came in second to "none of the above". With age verification requirements on the rise, some kids are fooling age-checking technology with a fake mustache. Subnautica 2, the sequel to Subnautica, a quiet hit about crafting, exploring, and avoiding giant leviathans in an underwater world, releases this week in early access.

Jen Pollock Michel is the award-winning author of six books: A Rule for the Rest of US, Teach Us to Want (Christianity Today's Book of the Year), Keeping Place, Surprised by Paradox (Christianity Today's Book of the Year Award of Merit—Beautiful Orthodoxy), A Habit Called Faith, and In Good Time (Canada's Word Guild Book of the Year Award).  Jen is a sought-after contributor to publications like Christianity Today, The Christian Century, The Gospel Coalition, Mockingbird, and The Dispatch, among others. She is also a first-year mentor in Whitworth University's MFA in Creative Writing program, and she travels to speak at churches, conferences, and retreats. Over the past several years, she has been teaching rule-of-life workshops to hundreds of people across various life stages. The mother of five children, she is married to Ryan, and they live in Cincinatti, Ohio. → Click here to preorder A Rule For the Rest of Us, which will be published in September.

Three Big Conversations: The jury is out for The Devil Wears Prada 2- 06:18 The Met Gala made people mad for different reasons - 21:00 Moms are ready to organize—so they can boycott school events- 29:06 Slang of the Week: "Chud"- 1:28 In Other News: - 42:58 The Savannah Bananas, an "exhibition baseball" team that includes comedy and choreographed dances in games of what they call Banana Ball, played in front of 102,000 fans this past Saturday with a cameo from the Dude Perfect team. Angel Studios' new adaptation of Animal Farm (paywall) hit theaters this past weekend, uniting George Orwell's classic critique of totalitarianism with fart jokes and other trappings of modern kids' movies. Scalpers are purchasing the new Pokémon Pop-Tarts from Target and selling them for up to eight times their worth (with their original price being $2.89 per box of 12). After Justin Bieber's performance at Coachella, he became the artist with the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with just over 141 million monthly listeners as of this week. While the Taylor Swifts and Harry Styleses of the world may still get away with charging obscene prices for concert tickets, many other artists (like Post Malone and Kid Cudi) are also trying to increase sale prices—and then often cancelling concerts after low sales.

The jury is out for The Devil Wears Prada 2, the Met Gala made people mad for different reasons, and moms are ready to organize—so they can boycott school events. Slang of the Week: "Chud" In Other News: The Savannah Bananas, an "exhibition baseball" team that includes comedy and choreographed dances in games of what they call Banana Ball, played in front of 102,000 fans this past Saturday with a cameo from the Dude Perfect team. Angel Studios' new adaptation of Animal Farm (paywall) hit theaters this past weekend, uniting George Orwell's classic critique of totalitarianism with fart jokes and other trappings of modern kids' movies. Scalpers are purchasing the new Pokémon Pop-Tarts from Target and selling them for up to eight times their worth (with their original price being $2.89 per box of 12). After Justin Bieber's performance at Coachella, he became the artist with the most monthly listeners on Spotify, with just over 141 million monthly listeners as of this week. While the Taylor Swifts and Harry Styleses of the world may still get away with charging obscene prices for concert tickets, many other artists (like Post Malone and Kid Cudi) are also trying to increase sale prices—and then often cancelling concerts after low sales.

Parenting right now just feels… different. We're doing it in the middle of smartphones, social media, and nonstop input. We're thinking about safety, screen time, mental health, cyberbullying… all of it, all at once aaand probably even before 9am. So this question keeps coming up: is it actually harder to raise kids now, or was it just a different kind of hard back then? Did previous generations have more freedom because they weren't monitoring devices or even getting pulled into doomscrolling themselves? Or were they carrying a weight we might underestimate? Less support, less language for mental health, less flexibility at work?  

Three Big Conversations: Tweens are grabbing an iced latte to get a hit of belonging. - 7:24 Third of Gen Z believe they have "psychic abilities." - 20:10 Nearly half of young adults say they'd live in the past if they could. - 33:20 Slang of the Week: "You the birthday." - 1:57 → Click here to see the video high school in the 90's → Click here to listen to our podcast episode Freya India on How to Care for Teen Girls in a Digital Age In Other News: - 46:14 The Devil Wears Prada 2, which comes out today, is projected to make $180 million on its opening weekend. The original film is a cult classic with younger viewers, and the trailer for this sequel set a record of getting 181 million views within 24 hours. Michael, a movie about pop star Michael Jackson, set its own record for musical biopics with a $97 million opening last weekend. The film, which stars Jackson's nephew, has been criticized for sanitizing parts of the origin story of the one-time King of Pop. Stranger Things: Tales from '85, an animated spinoff series that continues to explore the world of Eleven and Mike in Hawkins, Indiana, is now streaming on Netflix. The music video for Laufey's new single "Madwoman" highlights a lineup of Asian American Gen Alpha favorites, including figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu, The Summer I Turned Pretty's Lola Tung, and Katseye's Megan Skiendiel. The discontinued iPod has a nostalgic aesthetic and analog-esque appeal, according to several young people interviewed by the New York Times who got the devices second-hand. One summed it up: "I find this modern even though it's really old." 

Tweens are grabbing an iced latte to get a hit of belonging, a third of Gen Z believe they have "psychic abilities," and nearly half of young adults say they'd live in the past if they could. Slang of the Week: "You the birthday." →Click here to see the video high school in the 90's →Click here to listen to our podcast episode Freya India on How to Care for Teen Girls in a Digital Age In Other News: The Devil Wears Prada 2, which comes out today, is projected to make $180 million on its opening weekend. The original film is a cult classic with younger viewers, and the trailer for this sequel set a record of getting 181 million views within 24 hours. Michael, a movie about pop star Michael Jackson, set its own record for musical biopics with a $97 million opening last weekend. The film, which stars Jackson's nephew, has been criticized for sanitizing parts of the origin story of the one-time King of Pop. Stranger Things: Tales from '85, an animated spinoff series that continues to explore the world of Eleven and Mike in Hawkins, Indiana, is now streaming on Netflix. The music video for Laufey's new single "Madwoman" highlights a lineup of Asian American Gen Alpha favorites, including figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu, The Summer I Turned Pretty's Lola Tung, and Katseye's Megan Skiendiel. The discontinued iPod has a nostalgic aesthetic and analog-esque appeal, according to several young people interviewed by the New York Times who got the devices second-hand. One summed it up: "I find this modern even though it's really old." 

Freya is the author of the Substack GIRLS, where she writes about the challenges girls and young women face in the modern world. She's also a staff writer for Jonathan Haidt's newsletter, After Babel. She has contributed to publications including The New Statesman, The Spectator, and The Free Press.  Today, we are going to be discussing her debut book, GIRLS, Generation Z and the commodification of everything, which will be out in the US in May. Her book serves as both an account of her upbringing in the digital age, as well as an inside look for parents and caring adults about what adolescence online is like right now.

Three Big Conversations: Teens are birdwatching - 13:12 Posting on Snapchat - 26:50 Learning to slow down from John Mark Comer - 41:34 Song of the Week: "drop dead" by Olivia Rodrigo - 2:08 → Click here to read the lyrics (language). → Click here to watch The Conversation Starter on Offline Hobbies. In other news: - 58:36 Young people are speedrunning their Bachelor's or Master's degrees, finishing them in as quickly as three months, as less traditional forms of University attendance become more popular. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the newest game in Nintendo's oddest series, which plays as a mix between The Sims and Animal Crossing, and its brand of social engineering makes for a lot of internet hilarity. Coachella continued into its second weekend, highlighted by Justin Bieber inviting Billie Eilish on stage, Madonna joining Sabrina Carpenter, and Karol G as the first Latina artist to headline. Some trendspotters are calling rainbow flip-flops the "shoe of the summer," as young people continue to reclaim 90s fashion. The meteoric rise of the band Geese has led some to wonder if there's some conspiracy behind their popularity. To be fair, social media marketing can sometimes feel more CIA than Don Draper, and streaming numbers are often manipulated.

Teens are birdwatching, posting on Snapchat, and learning to slow down from John Mark Comer. Song of the Week: "drop dead" by Olivia Rodrigo → Click here to read the lyrics (language). In other news: Young people are speedrunning their Bachelor's or Master's degrees, finishing them in as quickly as three months, as less traditional forms of University attendance become more popular. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the newest game in Nintendo's oddest series, which plays as a mix between The Sims and Animal Crossing, and its brand of social engineering makes for a lot of internet hilarity. Coachella continued into its second weekend, highlighted by Justin Bieber inviting Billie Eilish on stage, Madonna joining Sabrina Carpenter, and Karol G as the first Latina artist to headline. Some trendspotters are calling rainbow flip-flops the "shoe of the summer," as young people continue to reclaim 90s fashion. The meteoric rise of the band Geese has led some to wonder if there's some conspiracy behind their popularity. To be fair, social media marketing can sometimes feel more CIA than Don Draper, and streaming numbers are often manipulated.  

This week, we're taking a break from the Axis Conversations podcast—including the Roundtable, Ask Axis, and our interview series. We are meeting with members of our Axis community to dream and pray together about this upcoming year and beyond. We appreciate your support, and we're excited to see you back here next Thursday and Friday, when our regular schedule will resume—including the CT Audio Podcast and the Culture Translator Roundtable! See you then!  - The Axis Team

People are paying to talk to an AI avatar of Jesus, texts from teens make perfect emo songs, and Justin Bieber reminds everyone of why he became a pop star in the first place. But first:  Resource of the Week - Parent Guide to Gen Alpha Check out our YouTube Episode → What Christians Are Missing About Gen Alpha In Other News: In a strange TikTok trend (as opposed to a normal one), young men are seeing how far they can run into Scientology centers for social media clout as they film themselves dodging security and sprinting deep into the buildings of the secretive pseudoreligion. The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, is on track to become the fifth A24 title to cross the $100 million mark, according to IMDB. Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games movie installment, just dropped its official trailer. The film will be released on November 20, 2026. Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, a new Star Wars animated series on Disney+, appears to be resonating with viewers. The show's four episodes have already earned a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes—better, even, than the finale of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi.  For several of the Artemis II astronauts, outer space was a religious experience. Pilot Victor Glover emphasized how special life on Earth really is in an Easter message sent from the craft, saying, "In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist (in) together."  

Amy Amy Adamczykis Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Programs of Doctoral Study in Sociology and Criminal Justice at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Trained as a sociologist of religion, her research focuses on how different contexts (such as nations, counties, friendship groups), and personal religious beliefs shape people's deviant, moral, and health-related attitudes and behaviors. We'll be talking today primarily about the findings from her book Handing Down the Faith.

Three Big Conversations: The Night We Met is BookTok's latest darling - 6:30 teenagers are wearing pimple patches in public - 20:16 Super Mario Galaxy brought tweens to the box office on Easter weekend - 28:16 Slang of the Week - "Clipped" - 1:58 In Other News: - 41:34 A squishy stress-relieving toy has taken over the internet, and they are sold out everywhere. It's safe to say that teens and tweens are obsessed.  Olivia Rodrigo announced her first single from the album is called "drop dead" and will be out on April 17. Anticipation is building for I Have Proof, a new horror movie that will be recording on old VHS tapes. The filmmaker purchased 30 tapes from eBay and recorded the movie over people's old home movies—feel old yet? RAYE's new album, "THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE." is all about how faith in God pulled the singer out of darkness. The show might be over, but the movie is still ahead of us. The Summer I Turned Pretty will begin filming in Wilmington on April 27.

The Night We Met is BookTok's latest darling, teenagers are wearing pimple patches in public, and Super Mario Galaxy brought tweens to the box office on Easter weekend. Slang of the Week - "Clipped" In Other News: A squishy stress-relieving toy has taken over the internet, and they are sold out everywhere. It's safe to say that teens and tweens are obsessed.  Olivia Rodrigo announced her first single from the album is called "drop dead" and will be out on April 17. Anticipation is building for I Have Proof, a new horror movie that will be recording on old VHS tapes. The filmmaker purchased 30 tapes from eBay and recorded the movie over people's old home movies—feel old yet? RAYE's new album, "THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE." is all about how faith in God pulled the singer out of darkness. The show might be over, but the movie is still ahead of us. The Summer I Turned Pretty will begin filming in Wilmington on April 27.

"Thanks for your awesome content. As a father of 3 girls in a hybrid homeschool setting (they are in a classroom two days a week), we are fairly sheltered from outside influences/influencers. I would love practical advice on how and when to guide my girls in developing good judgement and discernment regarding which influences to embrace and which to ignore." - Matthew

Three Big Conversations: Teens are inspired by the fashion in Love Story - 08:22 Everybody, everywhere is maxxing - 21:34 The meaning of Easter might feel lost somewhere in the baskets and plastic grass - 37:28 Song of the Week - "Babydoll" by Dominic Fike - 02:50 → Click here for the lyrics In Other News: - 54:16 If you thought the popularity of KPop Demon Hunters wouldn't survive into 2026, look no further than your local McDonald's, which has Huntr/x and Saja Boys themed meals (and a Derpy the Tiger McFlurry). With the Artemis II mission, NASA is sending astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions (over 50 years ago!). The four astronauts won't land on Luna, just journey around it, but it's an exciting moment, as the prep, launch, and journey are all livestreamed and accessible for those curious. An AI fruit-themed take on reality shows like Love Island has surged in popularity in the last few weeks, with videos getting tens of millions of views on TikTok. Teens are "mallmaxxing" as young people are driving an in-person shopping comeback, including, yes, malls. YouTube is rolling out a survey asking users if what they watched felt like "AI slop." It could be a way for YouTube to enforce its own AI policy, or, as some have hypothesized, it could be a way for Google to train its own AI video models for free.

Teens are inspired by the fashion in Love Story, everybody, everywhere, is maxxing, and the meaning of Easter might feel lost somewhere in the baskets and plastic grass. Song of the Week - "Babydoll" by Dominic Fike In Other News: If you thought the popularity of KPop Demon Hunters wouldn't survive into 2026, look no further than your local McDonald's, which has Huntr/x and Saja Boys themed meals (and a Derpy the Tiger McFlurry). With the Artemis II mission, NASA is sending astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions (over 50 years ago!). The four astronauts won't land on Luna, just journey around it, but it's an exciting moment, as the prep, launch, and journey are all livestreamed and accessible for those curious. An AI fruit-themed take on reality shows like Love Island has surged in popularity in the last few weeks, with videos getting tens of millions of views on TikTok. Teens are "mallmaxxing" as young people are driving an in-person shopping comeback, including, yes, malls. YouTube is rolling out a survey asking users if what they watched felt like "AI slop." It could be a way for YouTube to enforce its own AI policy, or, as some have hypothesized, it could be a way for Google to train its own AI video models for free.

CJ Fant is one of our own team members at Axis. As basically our resident gaming aficionado, I wanted to bring CJ on to talk about how parents can understand this medium a little better and enter into some intentional conversation around video games with the next generation. 

Three Big Conversations: Epic Games lays off 1,000 employees - 04:31 Gen Z is posing like a platypus - 15:61 BTS releases their first album since 2020 - 43:24 Resource of the Week - The Pour Over - 02:21 In Other News: - 55:50 It's sequel season for Kirsten Dunst. The actress just signed on for the untitled Minecraft movie sequel and The Housemaid 2 alongside Sydney Sweeney. The actress said in an interview with Town and Country that she just wants to make a "pile of cash." A new Chappell Roan drama is trending after a claim that her security guard yelled at Jude Law's 11-year-old daughter at a hotel in Brazil. Roan says the guard wasn't with her team and that she never even saw what happened, but the internet has already turned it into a round of who's to blame. Sora, OpenAI's video app, is on the chopping block. The company is shutting it down, and Disney has walked away from its billion-dollar plan to put its characters in Sora clips after months of pushback over deepfakes, consent, and AI slop in entertainment. Chuck Norris, the martial arts star behind Walker, Texas Ranger, has died at 86. His family says he passed away on March 19 in Hawaii after a medical emergency. People are saying goodbye by bringing the classic "Chuck Norris facts" jokes as a way to honor the icon who inspired them.  ABC has pulled Taylor Frankie Paul's upcoming season of The Bachelorette,, and Hulu has paused filming on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, after a domestic violence video involving Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, resurfaced. 

Epic Games lays off 1,000 employees, Gen Z is posing like a platypus, and BTS releases their first album since 2020. Resource of the Week - The Pour Over In Other News: It's sequel season for Kirsten Dunst. The actress just signed on for the untitled Minecraft movie sequel and The Housemaid 2 alongside Sydney Sweeney. The actress said in an interview with Town and Country that she just wants to make a "pile of cash." A new Chappell Roan drama is trending after a claim that her security guard yelled at Jude Law's 11-year-old daughter at a hotel in Brazil. Roan says the guard wasn't with her team and that she never even saw what happened, but the internet has already turned it into a round of who's to blame. Sora, OpenAI's video app, is on the chopping block. The company is shutting it down, and Disney has walked away from its billion-dollar plan to put its characters in Sora clips after months of pushback over deepfakes, consent, and AI slop in entertainment. Chuck Norris, the martial arts star behind Walker, Texas Ranger, has died at 86. His family says he passed away on March 19 in Hawaii after a medical emergency. People are saying goodbye by bringing the classic "Chuck Norris facts" jokes as a way to honor the icon who inspired them.  ABC has pulled Taylor Frankie Paul's upcoming season of The Bachelorette,, and Hulu has paused filming on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, after a domestic violence video involving Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, resurfaced. 

"My kids go to church because that is what we do as a family. They know God is good and Jesus is the Messiah because of what they have been taught and how my husband and I center our lives on Jesus. But how can I encourage them to seek a personal relationship with the Lord that isn't built on what they've done all their lives and been told? To instead, build it out of an independent, self-driven desire to know the God of all creation? How can I help them from deconstructing their faith in the future when they are out on their own and encounter questions set out to attack their belief?" - Tana Kara is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute, the founder of the TENx10 Collaboration, and the Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her team has been doing some groundbreaking research on who Gen Alpha is and how faith formation looks different for this new rising generation. → Listen to Kara's Interview Episode → Check out Fuller's Research and Resources 

Three Big Conversations: The latest TikTok trend involves sounding like a brainless sycophant to mimic ChatGPT - 07:16 senior prank goes wrong in Georgia - 20:18 Project Hail Mary packs art, science, and Ryan Gosling into a family-friendly movie - 34:28 Song of the Week - "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley - 01:58 → Click here to read the lyrics → Click here for reviews of Project Hail Mary In Other News: - 44:30 The Oscars happened. Ryan Coogler was the second Black screenwriter to win Best Original Screenplay. Plus, for the seventh time in the history of the award show, there was a tie. youraislopbores.me is a new website where users can role-play as AI, with users playing the human or AI role. People are posting screenshots of the humorous human responses and bonding over their shared dislike for AI slop. It's time to make your brackets, because March Madness is here! The annual college basketball tournaments will be dominating TV screens until the national championship game in early April. NVIDIA announced a new feature that uses AI to make games look "better." Backlash ensued, with some users calling it a "slop" AI filter for games."Noah Kahan: Out of Body," a documentary following the singer-songwriter's mental health journey on tour, will be out in April. 

The latest TikTok trend involves sounding like a brainless sycophant to mimic ChatGPT, a senior prank goes wrong in Georgia, and Project Hail Mary packs art, science, and Ryan Gosling into a family-friendly movie. Song of the Week - "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley → Click here to read the lyrics → Click here for reviews of Project Hail Mary In Other News: The Oscars happened. Ryan Coogler was the second Black screenwriter to win Best Original Screenplay. Plus, for the seventh time in the history of the award show, there was a tie. youraislopbores.me is a new website where users can role-play as AI, with users playing the human or AI role. People are posting screenshots of the humorous human responses and bonding over their shared dislike for AI slop. It's time to make your brackets, because March Madness is here! The annual college basketball tournaments will be dominating TV screens until the national championship game in early April. NVIDIA announced a new feature that uses AI to make games look "better." Backlash ensued, with some users calling it a "slop" AI filter for games."Noah Kahan: Out of Body," a documentary following the singer-songwriter's mental health journey on tour, will be out in April. 

Dr. Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute, the founder of the TENx10 Collaboration, and the Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. We'll be talking today about some of the Fuller Youth Institute's new research on Gen Alpha—including how exactly they're different from previous generations of teens (including Gen Z), and what faith formation looks like for the world's youngest generation.  → Check out Fuller's Research and Resources 

Three Big Conversations: Timothée Chalamet angers opera singers and ballerinas - 06:46 Harry Styles' new album debuts to middling reviews - 19:00 Donna Kelce's home renovation becomes the internet's favorite distraction - 30:26 Slang of the Week: "Big Chungus Life" - 01:34 In Other News: - 45:45 Miami Heat player Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in a game this week, passing Kobe Bryant's 81 points for the second-most points in a single game in NBA history. (Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game from 1962 still stands as the #1 record.) According to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), Gen Z is driving a resurgence in mall shopping, with many malls redesigning public spaces to be more "photogenic" and social-media friendly, as well as popular online stores like Edikted opening brick-and-mortar locations. For some middle schoolers, the word "burger" is now funny, thanks to a clip from Disney+'s show Just Beyond going viral, alongside absurd TikTok edits like this one. The controversial AI-generated "actress" Tilly Norwood was featured in a new music video, in which she was made to sing verses like "AI's not the enemy, it's the key." According to an article from Fortune (paywall), Gen Z is becoming more skeptical of TikTok, with 53 percent saying TikTok feels more commercial than it did a year ago, and 72 percent agreeing that content now feels more staged and performative.

Timothée Chalamet angers opera singers and ballerinas, Harry Styles' new album debuts to middling reviews, and Donna Kelce's home renovation becomes the internet's favorite distraction. Slang of the Week: "Big Chungus Life" In Other News: Miami Heat player Bam Adebayo scored 83 points in a game this week, passing Kobe Bryant's 81 points for the second-most points in a single game in NBA history. (Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game from 1962 still stands as the #1 record.) According to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), Gen Z is driving a resurgence in mall shopping, with many malls redesigning public spaces to be more "photogenic" and social-media friendly, as well as popular online stores like Edikted opening brick-and-mortar locations. For some middle schoolers, the word "burger" is now funny, thanks to a clip from Disney+'s show Just Beyond going viral, alongside absurd TikTok edits like this one. The controversial AI-generated "actress" Tilly Norwood was featured in a new music video, in which she was made to sing verses like "AI's not the enemy, it's the key." According to an article from Fortune (paywall), Gen Z is becoming more skeptical of TikTok, with 53 percent saying TikTok feels more commercial than it did a year ago, and 72 percent agreeing that content now feels more staged and performative.  

"How do we talk to a skeptical generation about discipleship, and the reality of the spiritual world?"  This month, we're spotlighting the work of discipleship that parents, youth pastors, and other adults do in the lives of the next generation. We've got an upcoming podcast conversation with Dr. Kara Powell about faith formation in Gen Alpha, a new episode of our YouTube show about how Gen Alpha processes life and faith, and another on the philosophical and theological question of why does God allow pain and suffering; we're promoting a new video Conversation Kit on the topic of miracles and what God's involvement in the world looks like today.  Resources → A Parent's Guide to Discipling Teens A Conversation Kit on Miracles

Three Big Conversations: Jim Carrey reacts to being called a clone - 12:30 What parents should know about the new Resident Evil video game - 26:42 Why people are still talking about Alysa Liu's Olympic performance - 45:48 Slang of the Week: Moving in silence - 01:14 In Other News: - 1:02:00 Early reviews for the new game Pokémon Pokopia have been enthusiastic, with critics comparing it to a blend of Minecraft creative mode and Animal Crossing's relaxed village life. The game focuses more on building and exploration than traditional Pokémon battles. Apple is stepping into the budget laptop market with the new $599 MacBook Neo. The price places it much closer to the Chromebooks and Windows laptops that many schools recommend for students. Rumors that Zendaya and Tom Holland secretly got married started after Zendaya's stylist casually told reporters the wedding had "already happened." The couple hasn't confirmed anything, but fans online are already in full detective mode. About 40% of Gen Z and millennials say spiritual advice from AI can be just as trustworthy as advice from a pastor, according to a recent survey by Barna and tech platform Gloo. Many young adults say they already use AI tools for prayer, Bible study, and spiritual questions. Energy drinks were once marketed almost entirely to young men, with branding tied to extreme sports and masculinity. Now companies are launching pastel-colored cans and fruitier flavors aimed at women, including cotton candy, which is delicious at a carnival and deeply questionable as a beverage.

Jim Carrey reacts to being called a clone, what parents should know about the new Resident Evil video game, and why people are still talking about Alysa Liu's Olympic performance. Slang of the Week: Moving in silence In Other News: Early reviews for the new game Pokémon Pokopia have been enthusiastic, with critics comparing it to a blend of Minecraft creative mode and Animal Crossing's relaxed village life. The game focuses more on building and exploration than traditional Pokémon battles. Apple is stepping into the budget laptop market with the new $599 MacBook Neo. The price places it much closer to the Chromebooks and Windows laptops that many schools recommend for students. Rumors that Zendaya and Tom Holland secretly got married started after Zendaya's stylist casually told reporters the wedding had "already happened." The couple hasn't confirmed anything, but fans online are already in full detective mode. About 40% of Gen Z and millennials say spiritual advice from AI can be just as trustworthy as advice from a pastor, according to a recent survey by Barna and tech platform Gloo. Many young adults say they already use AI tools for prayer, Bible study, and spiritual questions. Energy drinks were once marketed almost entirely to young men, with branding tied to extreme sports and masculinity. Now companies are launching pastel-colored cans and fruitier flavors aimed at women, including cotton candy, which is delicious at a carnival and deeply questionable as a beverage.

"I have a newly 8 year old male. Honesty has been a major struggle in our home because he hides the truth in order to avoid punishment. I feel that I have created an environment at home that doesn't feel safe enough to express mistakes. How should dad and I proceed to raise 2 sons that have the fruit of The Spirit?" - Marie → Read about the "authoritative" parenting style → Click here for the Barna research for indicating resiliant familes

Three Big Conversations: A Pokémon card sells for $16.4 million - 3:15 Barna research sheds light on the three things resilient families prioritize - 19:04 Everyone seems to relate to an abandoned monkey in a Japanese zoo - 33:22 Resource of the Week - Conversation Starter - YouTube Video - 1:42 In Other News.. - 46:06 USA hockey set viewership records at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, with both men's and women's teams winning gold, setting hockey up to hang on to its place as the fourth most-followed sport in the US—at least, until the FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles enters the chat. The so-called "boy blush" trend is gaining traction, with artists like Sangwon and Bad Bunny wearing noticeable blush on major stages, and teen boys increasingly experimenting with makeup as part of their personal style. A TikTok meme called "baby boo" started with people dancing to a clip that repeats "she gon' call me baby boo" and has since morphed into users calling it "baby boo syndrome." Eric Dane, known for his roles in Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria, passed away on February 19, one year after announcing his ALS diagnosis. Since then, TikTok has filled with edits of his most emotional scenes. At the BAFTA film awards, a guest with Tourette's syndrome involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage. The moment sparked conversations about the real harm that racial slurs carry for Black people, alongside questions about the awareness around Tourette's and the responsibility of live broadcasting. → Click here to check out the Pour Over Newsletter

A Pokémon card sells for $16.4 million, Barna research sheds light on the three things resilient families prioritize, and everyone seems to relate to an abandoned monkey in a Japanese zoo.   Resource of the Week - Conversation Starter - YouTube Video   In Other News.. USA hockey set viewership records at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, with both men's and women's teams winning gold, setting hockey up to hang on to its place as the fourth most-followed sport in the US—at least, until the FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles enters the chat. The so-called "boy blush" trend is gaining traction, with artists like Sangwon and Bad Bunny wearing noticeable blush on major stages, and teen boys increasingly experimenting with makeup as part of their personal style. A TikTok meme called "baby boo" started with people dancing to a clip that repeats "she gon' call me baby boo" and has since morphed into users calling it "baby boo syndrome." Eric Dane, known for his roles in Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria, passed away on February 19, one year after announcing his ALS diagnosis. Since then, TikTok has filled with edits of his most emotional scenes. At the BAFTA film awards, a guest with Tourette's syndrome involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage. The moment sparked conversations about the real harm that racial slurs carry for Black people, alongside questions about the awareness around Tourette's and the responsibility of live broadcasting. → Click here to check out the Pour Over Newsletter

"I struggle to find reputable, biblically based resources from a child of divorce POV - specifically navigating through talking about the sanctity of marriage when I'm speaking from a place of separation myself (and keeping parent's "adult issues" out of it so I never want my kids to think our problems have anything to do with them). I know one of the first questions my teen will ask will involve "...but you and Dad didn't stay married," or some version of that. It would be great to hear a podcast speaking about this topic!" - Jacquie Brand New Axis Resource → How To Talk About Divorce With Your Teen

Three Big Conversations: Southeastern University cancels class to pray and worship Jesus. - 07:54 "Smart glasses" with AI take creepiness to a new level. - 17:14 What parents should know about the new Wuthering Heights movie. - 29:10 Slang of the Week: lowkenuinely - 01:11 In Other News: - 42:08 Sony Animation Studios (the team behind Into the Spider-Verse and KPop Demon Hunters) has a new animated film called GOAT, starring Stranger Things' Caleb McLaughlin and NBA star Stephen Curry. A new video game in the "Roguelite" genre called Mewgenics had an incredibly successful release last week, but parents should know the game features a lot of questionable—even sacreligious—content. A new TikTok account called @DanySlicer started with two short videos of a man whose face is obscured in shadow. Inexplicably, both videos got millions of views, and many started referring to this completely silent character as the "internet's new villain." Netflix is diving into mixed martial arts, kicking off with a fight between two pioneering and sometimes controversial fighters, Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey. This month on our podcast we explored romantasy and the question many parents are asking: Why are teens and adults so drawn to fantasy and romance novels? Check it out here, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Southeastern University cancels class to pray and worship Jesus, "smart glasses" with AI take creepiness to a new level, and what parents should know about the new Wuthering Heights movie. Slang of the Week: lowkenuinely In Other News: Sony Animation Studios (the team behind Into the Spider-Verse and KPop Demon Hunters) has a new animated film called GOAT, starring Stranger Things' Caleb McLaughlin and NBA star Stephen Curry. A new video game in the "Roguelite" genre called Mewgenics had an incredibly successful release last week, but parents should know the game features a lot of questionable—even sacreligious—content. A new TikTok account called @DanySlicer started with two short videos of a man whose face is obscured in shadow. Inexplicably, both videos got millions of views, and many started referring to this completely silent character as the "internet's new villain." Netflix is diving into mixed martial arts, kicking off with a fight between two pioneering and sometimes controversial fighters, Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey. This month on our podcast we explored romantasy and the question many parents are asking: Why are teens and adults so drawn to fantasy and romance novels? Check it out here, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

The Big Conversation: This month we're focusing on relationships, and we're tackling a question many parents are asking: "Why are teens and adults so drawn to romantasy books?" Axis Resources → A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating → A Conversation Kit on Dating → A Parent's Guide to Kicking Off the Sex Talk  

Three Big Conversations: The hills are alive with the sound of kids saying "chicken, banana," - 14:38 A new AI tool called OpenClaw has an iron grasp on data - 20:20 Backlash took center stage after Bad Bunny's halftime show. - 49:04 Song of the Week: "The Great Divide" - Noah Kahan - 01:16 Click here to read the lyrics. In Other News.. - 1:04:02 James Van Der Beek passed away this week after battling colorectal cancer. Best known for his role as Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek, he helped define late 90s teen drama, and his legacy continues through streaming nostalgia and even one of the internet's earliest viral reaction GIFs.  At a congressional hearing last week, self-driving car company Waymo admitted that sometimes its cars are being remote-controlled by workers based in the Philippines. An emerging star of the 2026 Winter Olympics is American figure skater Alysa Liu, who won gold and then promptly broke her medal. Cool guys have bangs now, according to GQ. Fellas are trading the long-popular long-on the-top, short-on-the sides haircut for softer, more lived-in fringe. This weekend, the long-awaited, R-rated adaptation of the gothic romance novel Wuthering Heights will hit 3,600 screens and is projected to hit $50 million on its opening weekend.  Axis Resource → A Parent's Guide to Talking About Hell

The hills are alive with the sound of kids saying "chicken, banana," a new AI tool called OpenClaw has an iron grasp on data, and backlash took center stage after Bad Bunny's halftime show. Song of the Week: "The Great Divide" - Noah Kahan Click here to read the lyrics. In Other News.. James Van Der Beek passed away this week after battling colorectal cancer. Best known for his role as Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek, he helped define late 90s teen drama, and his legacy continues through streaming nostalgia and even one of the internet's earliest viral reaction GIFs.  At a congressional hearing last week, self-driving car company Waymo admitted that sometimes its cars are being remote-controlled by workers based in the Philippines. An emerging star of the 2026 Winter Olympics is American figure skater Alysa Liu, who won gold and then promptly broke her medal. Cool guys have bangs now, according to GQ. Fellas are trading the long-popular long-on the-top, short-on-the sides haircut for softer, more lived-in fringe. This weekend, the long-awaited, R-rated adaptation of the gothic romance novel Wuthering Heights will hit 3,600 screens and is projected to hit $50 million on its opening weekend.  → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

"Today's teens, especially those who are too young to drive, enter what they call "talking stages," which seem to be a substitute for dating. It's basically a stream of conciousness texting session with one another. I have a 14 year old son. Girls are coming out of the wood work trying to enter a "talking stage" with him. Right now he is talking to 4 girls. He has decided he really likes one of these girls. So the question is, should he continue talking to the other girls, or let them know that he really likes someone other than them? What he has done is ghost the other girls, he simply doesn't answer their texts; this doesn't feel right. What do you think the right way is to handle the situation? I have no idea where girls are getting his number but every week someone new  is texting him out of the blue. It usually starts with, "I thought you were cute so I asked for your number." To me this is also concerning. I think the type of girls he should be looking for are not the ones chasing boys." - Michelle  Axis Resource → A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating Axis Resource → A Conversation Kit on Dating

Three Big Conversations: The Grammys offered a chaotic celebration of modern music. - 8:08 "Etsy witches" are getting kicked off of Etsy. - 21:12 Sports betting looms large over Super Bowl LX this Sunday. - 35:06 Song of the Week: "Aperture" by Harry Styles -1:25 Click here for the lyrics. In Other News: - 53:08 "She's free" is a TikTok trend where friends line up, clap and shine phone flashlights as someone walks a celebratory runway after a breakup.  The 2026 Winter Olympics in the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina begin today. If the 2024 Summer Olympics were any indication, teens will probably be fascinated by the athletes and their respective social media presences. A new platform called Moltbook is designed to be a Reddit-style social media forum for AI bots to publicly chat with each other. The Lunar New Year is coming up soon, which brings a new Chinese zodiac. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, and people on TikTok are freaking out about it. Iron Lung, a sci-fi horror film that stars YouTuber Markiplier (who also wrote, directed, and financed it), was a surprise box office success that almost beat Disney's Send Help in its opening weekend.

The Grammys offered a chaotic celebration of modern music, "Etsy witches" are getting kicked off of Etsy, and sports betting looms large over Super Bowl LX this Sunday. Song of the Week: "Aperture" by Harry Styles Click here for the lyrics. In Other News: "She's free" is a TikTok trend where friends line up, clap and shine phone flashlights as someone walks a celebratory runway after a breakup.  The 2026 Winter Olympics in the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina begin today. If the 2024 Summer Olympics were any indication, teens will probably be fascinated by the athletes and their respective social media presences. A new platform called Moltbook is designed to be a Reddit-style social media forum for AI bots to publicly chat with each other. The Lunar New Year is coming up soon, which brings a new Chinese zodiac. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, and people on TikTok are freaking out about it. Iron Lung, a sci-fi horror film that stars YouTuber Markiplier (who also wrote, directed, and financed it), was a surprise box office success that almost beat Disney's Send Help in its opening weekend.

Nick Stumbo is the Executive Director of Pure Desire, an organization that exists to provide hope, freedom, and healing from compulsive sexual behavior and betrayal trauma through Jesus Christ. Their work at Pure Desire is clinically informed and biblically based. As a third-generation pastor, Nick Stumbo started his ministry career at the East Hills Alliance Church in Kelso, Washington, where he observed the fallout of sexual brokenness and devastation in the lives of men and women in the church. Confronted with his own addiction to pornography, Nick and his wife, Michelle, found hope and healing through the counseling and group ministries of Pure Desire, which, again, he is now the Executive Director of.  --> Check out Pure Desire Ministries → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table.

Three Big Conversations: TikTok has a new US owner, which users worry is muddying the platform's approach to censorship. - 10:16 Data shows that sad and angsty songs are ruling the streaming charts. - 29:28 It's official: our algorithms are making us lonelier. - 40:12 Emoji of the Week:

TikTok has a new US owner, which users worry is muddying the platform's approach to censorship; data shows that sad and angsty songs are ruling the streaming charts, and it's official: our algorithms are making us lonelier. Emoji of the Week:

Jenna is a writer and content creator based in Orange County, California. She works at Axis as a content specialist. She is currently working on a Master's in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care at Talbot School of Theology. She also runs a Substack publication called "Jenna's Column" where she writes about faith from a Gen Z perspective. In her free time she loves to read (preferably at the beach) and hang out with her husband Parker and their cat, Dolly. Check out our updated Parent's Guide to Teen Slang Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

Three Big Conversations: Nostalgia for 2016 hits social media. - 8:54 Some hopeful, if complicated, mental health statistics about college students. - 24:40 Teens would rather send a voice note than make a phone call. - 38:08 Slang of the Week - Ragebait - 1:48 In Other News: - 54:22 The Indiana Hoosiers won an electrifying College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, punctuated by an iconic, fourth-down touchdown run from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. BookTok's beloved People We Meet on Vacation, an Emily Henry book-to-movie adaptation, has debuted at No.1 on the Netflix film chart with 17.2m views. A new trend on TikTok involves impersonating owls. "Bringing random items to school" is a TikTok trend where kids pull increasingly unhinged objects out of their backpacks purely for laughs. The tremendous success of a stationery store in Chicago is being hailed as indicative of the "return to analog" trend, as the popularity of journals, calligraphy, and sending snail mail letters surges. Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.