Axis Conversations

It’s Smartphone September, and we’re releasing a whole suite of new content aimed at the glowing rectangles that dominate so much of our lives, and how families can navigate these devices with wisdom.  Click here for the magazine or experience it at Axis.org.

Three Big Conversations: Roblox is getting sued for failing to protect children from online predators. - 6:58 Jazz-pop musician Laufey sings about self-worth on her new album (language). - 26:48 What the celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement says about our culture. - 39:20 Slang of the Week - “41” (language) - 1:40 Elsewhere in culture: - 53:40 The music-streaming app Spotify will soon roll out a direct messaging function for app users. Forrest Frank created a video offering forgiveness to the other Christians—particularly Cory Asbury—who have been making parody videos about his back injury. A California family is suing OpenAI for ChatGPT’s role in their son’s suicide. Many people on YouTube and other platforms are changing their profile pictures to images of the once-hated Clippy to protest ethical failures in modern tech companies. Our newest episode of the Conversation Starter is all about the hit zombie show, and game, The Last of Us. Check out our video on Roblox here. Become a monthly donor today with the Table. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

Roblox is getting sued for failing to protect children from online predators, jazz-pop musician Laufey sings about self-worth on her new album (language), and what the celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement says about our culture. Slang of the Week - “41” (language) Elsewhere in culture: The music-streaming app Spotify will soon roll out a direct messaging function for app users. Forrest Frank created a video offering forgiveness to the other Christians—particularly Cory Asbury—who have been making parody videos about his back injury. A California family is suing OpenAI for ChatGPT’s role in their son’s suicide. Many people on YouTube and other platforms are changing their profile pictures to images of the once-hated Clippy to protest ethical failures in modern tech companies. Our newest episode of the Conversation Starter is all about the hit zombie show, and game, The Last of Us. Check out our video on Roblox here. Become a monthly donor today with the Table. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

I’m here today with Dr. Preston Sprinkle and Laurie Krieg, the President and Director of Parent Programs respectively for the Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender. Preston is a New York Times–bestselling author who’s written over a dozen books, and got his PhD in New Testament from Aberdeen University. Laurie has a master’s in evangelism and leadership from Wheaton Graduate School, and hosts the Hole in My Heart podcast with her husband Matt, with whom she also co-authored the book An Impossible Marriage, and the upcoming book Raising Wise Kids in a Sexually Broken World with Matt Krieg. Today we’ll be talking about the new, upcoming resource from the Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender called Christian Sexuality: Raising Kids, which is designed to be a comprehensive discipleship resource for parents, and will be coming out next week, on September 1. To check out the resource, click here. Click here to check out Laurie's new book: Raising Wise Kids in a Sexually Broken World Become a monthly donor today with the Table. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

Three Big Conversations: The Queen of RichTok makes $500,000 necklaces seem boring. - 07:34 Back-to-school trends come with a Y2K flair. - 25:50 AI researchers are preparing for the worst.- 39:34 Slang of the Week - “6-7”- 1:20 Elsewhere in culture: - 57:30 Europe’s premiere gaming conference, Gamescom, kicked off this week, with new games being detailed and announced, including a new Lego Batman game. Christian musician Forrest Frank has surpassed Drake in terms of monthly listeners on YouTube Music. The Cambridge Dictionary has officially added the words skibidi and delulu. Educator and influencer Hank Green helped create a successful productivity app called Focus Friend, in which going to distracting apps prevents your cute pet bean from being able to finish knitting. A 2017 book about resisting tyranny has sold over 250,000 copies this year after going viral on TikTok. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

The Queen of RichTok makes $500,000 necklaces seem boring, back-to-school trends come with a Y2K flair, and AI researchers are preparing for the worst. Slang of the Week - “6-7” Elsewhere in culture: Europe’s premiere gaming conference, Gamescom, kicked off this week, with new games being detailed and announced, including a new Lego Batman game. Christian musician Forrest Frank has surpassed Drake in terms of monthly listeners on YouTube Music. The Cambridge Dictionary has officially added the words skibidi and delulu. Educator and influencer Hank Green helped create a successful productivity app called Focus Friend, in which going to distracting apps prevents your cute pet bean from being able to finish knitting. A 2017 book about resisting tyranny has sold over 250,000 copies this year after going viral on TikTok. For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

"How do you think artificial general intelligence will affect our children? How do we prepare our families for AGI's advent in 2 to 3 years?" - Christina Ai will change what it is to be human. Are we ready? - Article This podcast is entirely Q&A based! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. And for more resources, go to axis.org.

Three Big Conversations: The “Nicki Minaj stiletto challenge” encourages influencers to film themselves balancing on one stiletto-clad foot. - 05:50 OpenAI released GPT-5 and users hate it. - 16:08 Why time (unfortunately) flies when we’re using social media. - 43:22 Slang of the Week - "Dogwater" - 01:25 Elsewhere in culture: - 53:06 Taylor Swift announced (on her boyfriend’s football podcast) that her 12th album will be titled The Life of a Showgirl, and available for pre-order soon. Popular TikTok couple Nick and Cassie, featured on @cassiesbooktok, are breaking up—and the video announcing it has almost 8 million likes and numerous comments, each with hundreds of thousands of likes. An article in Airmail connects the trend of brides planning wedding proposals for themselves to the fact that proposal content tends to get more likes on social media. The phrase “just found out I’m chopped and also unc” is trending, and jokingly refers to someone being both unattractive (chopped) and old (unc). Chappell Roan’s new song “The Subway” is about struggling to get over a breakup (language and sexual content). For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

OpenAI released GPT-5 and users hate it, the “Nicki Minaj stiletto challenge” encourages influencers to film themselves balancing on one stiletto-clad foot, and why time (unfortunately) flies when we’re using social media. Slang of the Week - "Dogwater" Elsewhere in culture: Taylor Swift announced (on her boyfriend’s football podcast) that her 12th album will be titled The Life of a Showgirl, and available for pre-order soon. Popular TikTok couple Nick and Cassie, featured on @cassiesbooktok, are breaking up—and the video announcing it has almost 8 million likes and numerous comments, each with hundreds of thousands of likes. An article in Airmail connects the trend of brides planning wedding proposals for themselves to the fact that proposal content tends to get more likes on social media. The phrase “just found out I’m chopped and also unc” is trending, and jokingly refers to someone being both unattractive (chopped) and old (unc). Chappell Roan’s new song “The Subway” is about struggling to get over a breakup (language and sexual content). For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

Lee Strobel, a New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist, dives deep into the unseen world in this exciting discussion. He shares fascinating insights from his book, exploring near-death experiences and deathbed visions that reveal people’s encounters with angels and deceased loved ones. The conversation also tackles the divide between spiritual beliefs and traditional religion, the nature of consciousness and the soul, and the validity of miracles amidst skepticism. It's a thought-provoking journey into the supernatural!