Axis Conversations

A solution to the problem of what to do when our kids have friends we don’t like, why some high school and college students are giving up the use of AI, and the aftermath of the tragic shooting at Annunciation. Resource of the Week - The Table Elsewhere in culture: Sabrina Carpenter said that her new album Man’s Best Friend was “not for any pearl clutchers,” as reported by The Hollywood Reporter (strong language and sexual content). Memes about Wal-Mart’s recall of “radioactive shrimp” started trending. Episode 1 of the new season of The Great British Baking Show will be released tonight in the United States. TCU destroyed North Carolina 48-14 in Bill Belichick’s college football coaching debut. Long-awaited indie game Hollow Knight: Silksong was released yesterday and was so popular it was crashing digital storefronts.

“I’m sure people are asking this but I am overwhelmed with technology. I have put into place the parental controls on the iPhone and my 15 yr old hacks around it. I bought him a bark phone now. But I can’t seem to make him “get it”. To know and feel integrity and make wise choices when nobody is looking. It seems no matter what I do, the tech outsmarts me and I feel like a failure as a parent that my son has somehow gotten addicted to porn behind my back. I hope you can address this in a podcast.” - Cara This podcast is entirely Q&A based! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. Resources from the episode: Click here for the Everything Smartphone Guide on Amazon  Or experience it here. Sherry Turkle's book: Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age Brain, Heart, World Documentary Axis: Talking to Your Teen About Pornography Pure Desire - Ministry and Resources Donate today through The Table For more resources, go to axis.org.

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 Everything Smartphone Guide on Amazon  Or experience it here. Donate today through The Table. And for more resources, go to 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.

Dr. Preston Sprinkle, a New York Times bestselling author and president of the Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, teams up with Laurie Krieg, director of Parent Programs and co-author on parenting resources. They discuss navigating sexuality in a broken culture, emphasizing proactive, age-appropriate conversations for kids. They explore reframing life purpose beyond marriage, affirming both marriage and singleness as valid vocations. The importance of modeling love and resilience in the face of cultural challenges is also highlighted, offering practical tools for parents.

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.