Multitasking: Mental Obesity

Multitasking: Mental Obesity

“The pursuit of maximum moments drives many a multitasking life and an often-distracted mind,” writes Carolyn Curiel in her recent New York Times opinion piece. “We think of America as a sleep-deprived nation, but we are becoming deep-thought deprived, too. A closed door does not stop interruptions, because we are packing the weapons that can shatter concentration or quiet contemplation. Our fingers are always on a button.”

Even before computers, cellphones, and other wireless technology, the radio was placed in homes and then cars, helping to fill the dead air that accompanies housework and long rides. But now, technology has pushed our escape from quiet thought to dizzying new heights where we never have enough time to mull over a question that requires a long, complicated answer, because we’re constantly beckoned by a million distractions. In the Information Age many of us are a mile wide and an inch deep.

The following words, spoken by Francis Schaeffer decades ago, are increasingly relevant to our generation: “No one seems to want (and no one can find) a place for quiet,” he notes, “because when you are quiet, you have to face reality. But many in the present generation dare not do this because on their own basis reality leads them to meaningleness; so they fill their lives with entertainment, even if it is only noise.”

Such escapism makes sense for non-Christians, yet most Christians act the same way — escaping from meaningful thought through the distraction of technology. I can remember many times when I’ve felt particularly thoughtful, but then the computer would beckon me. Ten minutes later I would have read a few emails, checked the comment section of our blog, browsed Google News and in the end, entirely lost my train of thought. Oh well, it probably wasn’t important. Was it?

Afraid Of Our Own Thoughts
When was the last time any of us took just twenty, undistracted minutes to think about deep, substantial things, like our future or our relationship with God? Did you know that we probably couldn’t? Through media our minds have been conditioned (or perhaps de-conditioned) to avoid deep or prolonged thought. We must constantly be moving and doing, but never thinking and planning. Every empty space must be filled with music or movies or Internet or texting or IMing. Every empty space must be filled, except the one between our ears.

By God’s grace nearly every distraction we face has an ON and OFF switch, a STOP and PLAY button, or an OPEN and QUIT option. Though technology is increasingly prevalent and our generation faces a media onslaught 24/7, we are not forced to watch, listen or play.

We don’t have to listen to our iPods while we’re doing the dishes. We don’t have to text message anyone while we’re riding in the car. We don’t have to surf the Internet while we’re doing our homework. We don’t have to play video games after dinner.

Ironically, we can quit, close or turn off all of these distractions, but we can’t do the same to our minds. Our minds can’t be shut down. They can only be overpowered, distracted, corrupted and/or atrophied, and that is exactly what our culture is trying to do to them.

I’ll be honest, when I have to do a monotonous job like washing the dishes, weeding the yard or mowing the large field at the front of our property, the first thing I reach for is my iPod. When I’m bored my first inclination is to get on the computer and surf the Internet.

The questions I have to ask myself are: “Is there really so little in my own brain that I couldn’t occupy myself for a little while with my own thoughts? Has there really been no sermon or book or passage of Scripture that has sufficiently challenged me recently that I could meditate on and think about?”

We fail to realize what an insult it is to our own intellects that we can’t occupy ourselves with our own thoughts but must be constantly entertained by other things. We fail to see how dangerous it is not to ponder important questions about who we are and where we’re going.

“As Christians,” writes Schaeffer, “we must follow God’s absolute moral standards, and we must not be robbed of a place of quietness with God.” (See Eph. 5:18-19)

“Both in in theory and practice Christians can dare to face the realities of life unclouded, ” he concludes. “We do not need these things to fill the crannies of our lives. In fact, we should want to face reality: the glory of the world God has created and the wonder of being human — yes, and even the awful reality of the Fall and the tragedy of marred men and women, even our own flawed character. We are not to be people of escape. The Christian is to be the realist. To face reality as born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit is the Christian’s calling.”

Technology Is Not The Problem
Of course, the problem is not with technology — Schaeffer was addressing these same issues long before Steve Jobs ever dreamt of the iPod. Rather, the problem is the way and the frequency with which we have decided to use technology. This means that for most of us the question is not whether to have a cellphone, but instead whether the cellphone will be helpful, used as a tool, or distracting, used as a toy.

There are countless profitable ways to occupy our minds, even with the gadgets that often distract us. I almost exclusively use my iPod to listen to sermons or other audio messages that stretch and strengthen my mind, I frequently find thought-provoking articles online and I occasionally have IM conversations that I feel sharpen me.

The key is to make sure that our use of technology is supplementing our thought life, not distracting from it; that it is providing opportunity for deep thought — not keeping our minds constantly busy dealing with new articles, IM conversations, and song lyrics.

Just as it is ridiculous to think that a constant intake of food will benefit our bodies, it is also ridiculous to think that a constant torrent of information will improve our minds. Like food, information must be carefully selected and properly digested to fulfill its God-given purpose.

Unfortunately, the selection and digestion process takes time that our generation lacks because we can’t say no to mental distractions. We’re constantly feeding our minds mental snacks but never allowing for quiet reflection or thoughtful meditation. Worse still, we’re feeding ourselves “junk food” thoughts — high entertainment value, all sugar, and no nutrition.

The result is a generation of fatties. If you think physical obesity is a problem in America wait until you see our nation’s brains. Mental obesity is the curse of the Information Age.

If we want to lose mental weight we’ll need to go on a radical diet — cutting the fluffy junk food and replacing it with solid, nutritious cuisine. We’ll need to get off our behinds and start excercising. We’ll need to do hard things by thinking hard thoughts.

Read: Intro / Productivity / Thought Life / Relationships / Closing

Multitasking: Doing Less By Doing More

Multitasking: Doing Less By Doing More

For many of us multitasking is a way to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. “I usually finish my homework at school.” says Piers Cox (14) in an interview with TIME Magazine, “But if not, I pop a book open on my lap in my room, and while the computer is loading, I’ll do a problem or write a sentence. Then, while mail is loading, I do more. I get it done a little bit at a time.”

Unfortunately for Piers, and other teens like him, research shows that doing multiple things at once lowers the quality of each activity.

“People often take pride in their ability to multitask,” writes Dr. Edward Hallowell in his book CrazyBusy, “but often they do none of their tasks as well as when they focus on one at a time.”

In fact, a 2001 study conducted at the University of Michigan shows that 20-40% of a person’s productivity is eaten up by “task-switching,” the time it takes to mentally re-engage when shifting from one task to another.

“When you divide your attention, there is a loss on both ends,” says Lyman Steil, president of The Masters Alliance, “Our research is crystal clear that multitasking does not mean people are doing their work productively.”

Interestingly, many of us enjoy the rush of doing many things at once because it gives us a feeling of control and productivity. In reality our split attention is only serving to hide our diminished efficiency — we’re living in an illusion.

Though certain kinds of multitasking are possible without diminishing productivity — for instance when the tasks are simple and virtually automatic (think walking and chewing gum) — most multitasking which requires repeated task-switching is akin to jamming two TV signals down the same cable wire. The result is static, not high-definition.

Nevertheless, according to Presentations Magazine (October 2003 Issue) multitasking is such an ingrained part of our culture that most people don’t know how to change, even if they recognize the problem. The most common reason? “There’s not enough time to deal with it.”

How should we, as young people who have the time to “deal with it,” respond to this issue? What is our responsibility? Well, the first step, as always, is to look at what God’s Word tells us.

Working With All Your Heart
In Colossians 3:23 (NIV) the Apostle Paul writes, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” This idea of being singly-focused is the secret of true efficiency.

One way that I have tried to apply this in my own life is to never leave my Instant Messaging program open unless I actually need to talk with someone, and to close my mail program when I’m doing any serious writing so that I won’t be distracted by incoming emails.

However, when the project is particularly important, I do something even more extreme: I will throw away my web browsers so that there are absolutely no distractions on my computer. When I believe that what I’m doing is important I want to make sure I’m giving it my best, which is all of me — my full attention. I have found this to be one of the most helpful things I can do.

Of course, I do have my reservations. I am not always eager to completely shut off my connection to people and information outside my immediate purview. In the words of another author, “I might miss something, or someone might miss me. And that would be disastrous. Wouldn’t it?”

But, as I close AIM and drag Firefox to the trash, I realize that, no, it wouldn’t be disastrous. In fact, it would be better, because right where I am, doing what I’m doing with all my heart, is just where God wants me and my attention.

What This Doesn’t Mean
Of course, this doesn’t mean we should never multitask. Our ability to multitask is unrivalled by any other creature in God’s creation. It is a good gift, just not one to be abused.

What we need to understand is that both our ability focus and our ability to multitask are extremely valuable. We would never want to practice one at the expense of the other. Sadly, our culture’s busyness, where the average employee switches tasks every three minutes and is interrupted every two minute, seems to be crippling our ability to focus. Studies show that most employees are unable to focus on any task longer than 12 minutes.

As unfortunate as that is, we shouldn’t jump into the ditch on the other side of the road where every little thing we do requires 100% concentration. The Apostle Paul’s encouragement in Colossians comes right after he challenges husbands and wives in their marriages, fathers towards their children, and children and slaves in serving their parents and masters. In other words, Paul is exhorting us to honor God by giving appropriate attention to all of our relationships and tasks, not to chew gum with all our hearts.

We show our priorities by the focus and attention we give certain things. When we are gripped by God’s Word and fully absorbed in it, we demonstrate that we truly treasure the Bible. In the same way, we show how strongly we believe in the value of our work and studies by the attention we give them.

Our challenge is to get our priorities straight and then not allow our culture’s crazy pace to rob our work (whether it be homework or work-work) of the attention it deserves.

Read: Intro / Productivity / Thought Life / Relationships / Closing

Generation M, for Multitasking

Generation M, for Multitasking

Our generation multitasks constantly. Chances are that some of you won’t even be able to finish this article without checking your email — while others are already listening to music or IMing a friend. In fact, a recent Yahoo! and OMD conducted survey says that you’re probably doing three to four other tasks while surfing the Internet.

Though multitasking has long been epitomized by the corporate executive, it has more and more become a characteristic of the modern teenager — especially when it comes to media consumption.

A 2005 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that even while young people are spending an absurd amount of time on the phone, listening to the radio, surfing the Internet, and watching TV (50 hours per week, and that doesn’t even include movies, music or email) the actual amount of media content we consume is far greater due to our ability to interact with more than one medium at a time. Other studies show that teens are packing up to 44-hours of activity into a 24-hour day by doing multiple things at once — that’s nearly a 50% jump!

Consider the following narrative by Heather, an 11th-grader from Chicago:

“Last night, I was watching “Sex in the City” on TiVo with my friend and my dad. I heard this song. I really wanted to download it, but I didn’t know what it was called. So, first I went online and I tried to download. I couldn’t, but then I was online. One of my friends who had been out of town was back, and I saw him online and we started talking. Then I went back to watch “Sex in the City.” I just kept going back and forth. I was eating ice cream too. Then I checked my email. It was late at night. It was getting later. So I was just talking to people. No one really went out because it was Father’s Day.”

Many laud such development as progress — I mean, Heather was spending time with her family, connecting with friends, eating ice cream, checking her email, watching TiVo, and doing research at the same time! But one has to wonder at the quality of the time Heather spent with her father that Father’s Day. In fact, several questions come to mind as I read her description of a seemingly typical night.

For instance, regardless of what it was, does she remember anything about the show she was watching? She couldn’t locate the song she was looking for — did she ever go back and find it? Finally, she seemed to be talking to a lot of people (albeit, not the people she was actually with), but did she feel like she drew closer to any of them?

In an era where it has become routine to conduct six IM conversations, watch TV and Google the names of last season’s American Idol finalists all at the same time, such questions must be asked not only of Heather, but of ourselves. Though multitasking has been around for ages, it is our generation that has been dubbed, among other things, Generation M — M for Multitasking.

The modern level of multiprocessing and interpersonal connectivity is now so commonplace that our generation, who have grown up with it, just don’t realize how recent of a phenomenon it actually is. Eight years ago (1998, when I was nine) most home computers weren’t even linked to the Internet.

Think about it: We are the first generation of teenagers to have high-speed, wireless Internet access. We are the first generation of teenagers to widely use cellphones. We’ve learned to juggle a myriad of doodads and options — text messaging, search engines, PDA’s, blogs, Wi-Fi, and cell phones that try to do all of the above. Most significantly, we’ve been promised that we haven’t seen anything yet.

If all this is true, and it is, then there is a tremendous need for us to step back and reassess our generation’s proclivity for multitasking. As life gets faster and faster and technology continues to advance we’ve got to stop texting long enough to ask ourselves whether we’re really more efficient when we multitask. How does this “juggling show” we allow ourselves to put on affect our productivity, our thought life, and our relationships?

Read: Intro / Productivity / Thought Life / Relationships / Closing

Busy Signal(s): Cell-ing Our Souls

Busy Signal(s): Cell-ing Our Souls

“In case you were, I don’t know, too busy text-messaging to notice, Americans today are looking to use their cell phones for a lot more than just phoning people.”

— Dave Wischnowsky, Enter The Mind of a Teen, June 21, 2006

Cell Phone, Help Me Cheat On My Test
According to recent Siemens Communications Inc. survey many Americans want their cell phones to not only serve as their phone, but also as their MP3 & video player, gaming console, digital camera, and email service.

Not only that, but phone companies are quickly learning that one of their largest markets — teenagers — want even more than that.

“Especially among younger people, it appears that customers are ahead of cell phone companies in devising new applications,” says an unnamed Siemens Communications spokesman.

But what kind of new features are teenagers across the country clamoring for? That was the question MediaPost.com intended to answer by conducting interviews with dozens of teens across the country.

“We decided a little man-on-the-street follow-up was necessary to confirm that teens want new cell phone features,” said MediaPost.com columnist, George Simpson.

The answers offered not only a surprising array of farfetched features, but also a disheartening window into the mind of the American teen — full of obvious intent to use technology to aid and abet irresponsibility, rebellion against parental authority, and in several instances, crime itself (see below).

Seventeen-year-old, Rye, New York: “I want an auto-redial feature that leaves a voice mail that says, ‘I am so NOT talking to you right now.’ That would be a real time-saver.”

Eighteen-year-old from Garden City, New York: “I wish I could put my cell on the dashboard and have it give me a ringtone like ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ when I hit a radar zone.”

Fifteen-year-old from Calabasas, California: “I’d like to be able to scan in exam questions so I can text them to my friends in the library. My thumbs get really tired having to manually enter them now.”

Fifteen-year-old from Hartford, Conneticut: “I want a cell phone that will tell me if surveillance cameras in the mall are fixed on me. That’d be a big help.”

Nineteen-year-old, Park City, Utah: “I want a countdown bar, like the battery indicator, that tells me when I am running out of ‘anytime’ minutes and I’ll have to pay back my Dad for the calls that go over the plan.”

Fourteen-year-old, Lexington, Virginia: “I want built-in text copy that I can insert into messages with real phrases like “Oh, my god!”; “So totally”; “She is SUCH a [bleep]“; and “Promise me you won’t tell anyone else, but…”

Fifteen-year-old, Chicago: “I want a phone that has different background noises, like crowds at a football game or class period change bells that you can switch on, so my parents won’t know where I really am when they call.”

Eighteen-year-old, Miami: “I want a wire extension that projects my cell screen on my glasses so I can play ‘Bejeweled’ without looking down during Earth Science. Man, that class really sucks. And I know that fascist teacher totally hates me.”

Fifteen-year-old from New Canaan, Conneticut: “I want a voice filter that makes it sound like I’m sober when I call my parents.”

Sixteen-year-old from Houston: “I need to be able to block my ex-boyfriend’s text and voice calls. He is driving me crazy. You know I tol’ him it was O-Vah, but he don’t listen.”

At School: The New “Mosquito” Ring Tone
Even without these crazy features cell phone use is becoming a big problem in government schools for both high school and middle school age-groups — so much so that schools are having to impose strict policies regarding cell phone use on school property.

“Most public schools have strict policies regarding cell phones at school,” says Greg Taillon in his article, “Cell Phones For Kids?” on Preteenagers Today, “I found out that some instructors will deduct up to 5 percent of a child’s grade for a ringing cell phone in the classroom.”

Regardless of school policies, Mr. Taillon estimates that up to 75 percent of middle school children have their own cell phone, with this percentage rising in the high school years.

Not only that, but many teens are finding ways around rules against cell phone use in the classroom — most notably by utilizing a high-pitched ring tone that teens can hear but most adults can’t due to the natural loss of hearing sensitivity as a person ages.

“When I heard about it I didn’t believe it at first,” said Donna Lewis, a technology teacher at the Trinity School in Manhattan in an article in the New York Times. “But one of the kids gave me a copy, and I sent it to a colleague. She played it for her first graders. All of them could hear it, and neither she nor I could.”

The high-pitched buzz was originally created to annoy teenagers that tried to congregate in malls while not disturbing adult shoppers. The plan has backfired due to an ingenious coup by modern teenagers, but it is highly unfortunate we can’t find something better to do.

Nevertheless, Alex and I encourage you to make the ring tone a family science lesson and compare the ability of different family-members to hear the sound. You can download an MP3 by clicking here. After your done, study this pitch chart, made available by NYtimes.com.

Text-Messaging: U Could B Dumber 4 It
Teenage America’s obsession with their cell phones, especially with popular text-messaging, could be damaging our IQ’s, according to a recent study conducted by King’s College London.

The study of 1,100 adults found their intelligence declined as tasks were interrupted by incoming e-mails and text messages. The average reduction of 10 IQ points, though temporary, is more than double the four-point loss associated with smoking marijuana.

“Doziness, lethargy and an increasing inability to focus reached ’startling’ levels in the trials by 1,100 people,” writes Martin Wainwright with Guardian Unlimited. It seems that constant interruptions not only damages productivity, but also wears the mind down with constant questions and challenges on often unrelated topics.

According to the JSonline.com, the effect on those who tried to juggle new messages with existing work was the equivalent, over a day, to the loss of a entire night’s sleep.

Mike Salman, chief executive officer of All Star Wireless Communications said that he couldn’t address the issue of falling smarts. But he did say that most of his young clientele come to his shop seeking cell phones for texting, not talking.

“It’s the first question they ask,” Salman said, “whether or not a certain phone is good for text messaging or e-mail. And honestly, I’d say more than half of the people who come to me don’t even ask about phones for talking on them.”

Email Is, Like, So Yesterday
As yet another indication that our desire for instant gratification has reached a crisis-stage, email is being neglected in favor of the more “instant” alternative: text-messaging.

“It’s too complicated to send e-mail,” explains 14-year-old Jennica Paho of San Jose, “I have to go in and type it, and send it, then wait for a reply.”

Ironically, many arguments that were once made in favor of email are now being used against it. In his interview with MercuryNews.com, Alex Stikeleather, 17, of Palo Alto, argues that “e-mail is more like snail mail.”

With text-messaging and instant messaging on the rise many employers are becoming concerned because their younger employees are instant-messaging while at work.

“It’s an issue lots of employers are having to deal with,” says Michael Wood, vice-president of Teen Research Unlimited in Chicago, “The concept of always staying connected with their friends — they’re going to take that with them” as they grow older.

Many teenagers spend hours each day “texting” and “IMing” their many friends. Haggai Dziesietnik, a senior at a California high school says he sends and receives about 280 text messages a day, but in one three-day weekend at Tahoe he logged about 4,000.

“The more friends you have, the more cool you are,” says Aston Carney, 11, from San Jose, and most students it seems believe that technology is the best way to make and keep those friends.

What Do You Think?
As always, our goal is not just to provide information but also to encourage thoughtful discussion. Here’s a few questions to get us started:

• How do we guard ourselves from using technology as a way to get away with sin, instead of as a tool to glorify God?
• What are your thoughts on our generation’s obsession with text-messaging and IMing?
• How much have you noticed “texting” among your own group of friends and acquaintances? How much do you do it?
• Where do you think the balance is between using technology to be more effective for God and wasting time, and possibly, energy and brain cells?
• How do you think technology is changing the definition of “friendship” among young people today?

Merchants of Cool: Teens, Culture, and MTV

I've almost finished reading the Harris brothers' book Do Hard Things. It's really good, see if you can pick up a copy at your library.

Merchants of Cool: Teens, Culture, and MTV

In January of 2004, David Kupelian, vice president and managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com and Whistleblower Magazine, published a shocking, but excellent, exposé of modern youth culture (Link: Part 1 - Part 2), based in part upon a 2001 PBS Frontline documentary called Merchants of Cool.

CAUTION: Due to the nature of the topic, Mr. Kupelian’s article and the Frontline documentary contain graphic language, as well as disturbing themes, images, and descriptions. This post includes choice excerpts, in hopes that you won’t have to dig through any grime to find them yourself.

Both article and documentary were targeted at an adult audience, however, much of the information is of arguably greater importance to young people themselves. In this post I will be letting Mr. Kupelian and others speak for themselves, with brief additional commentary. Please consider carefully what they have to say:

“They want to be cool. They are impressionable, and they have the cash. They are corporate America’s $150 billion dream.”

That’s the opening statement in PBS’s stunning 2001 Frontline documentary, “Merchants of Cool,” narrated by Douglas Rushkoff. What emerges in the following 60 minutes is a scandalous portrait of how major corporations – Viacom, Disney, AOL/Time Warner and others – study America’s children like laboratory rats, in order to sell them billions of dollars in merchandise by tempting, degrading and corrupting them.

Think that’s a bit of an overstatement?

It’s an understatement.

Both Mr. Kupelian’s commentary and the Frontline documentary confirm many of the messages we’ve written about here on The Rebelution. They do so by going in depth and undercover into modern, media-defined youth culture:

“Today,” [Frontline correspondent Douglas Rushkoff] discloses, “five enormous companies are responsible for selling nearly all of youth culture. These are the true merchants of cool: Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Universal Vivendi, and AOL/Time Warner.”

“The entertainment companies, which are a handful of massive conglomerates that own four of the five music companies that sell 90 percent of the music in the United States – those same companies also own all the film studios, all the major TV networks, all the TV stations pretty much in the 10 largest markets,” University of Illinois Communications Professor Robert McChesney reveals in the documentary. “They own all or part of every single commercial cable channel.”

Professor McChesney echoes the theme of The Rebelution’s post My iPod Is My Best Friend, explaining how the entertainment companies use all forms of media to shape and mold the character, and consequently, the desires of young people:

“They look at the teen market as part of this massive empire that they’re colonizing… [A]nd their weaponry are films, music, books, CDs, Internet access, clothing, amusement parks, sports teams. That’s all this weaponry they have to make money off of this market.”

And as The Rebelution wrote in The Myth of Adolescence:

[M]edia-saturated youth culture, not only follows trends and fads, but it creates them. Classrooms, TV shows, magazines, and websites, are not only addressing us at the level of social expectations, but they are in fact dictating those expectations.

Mr. Kupelian agrees, describing the same concept with even greater candidness:

[C]ompanies are creating new and lower and more shocking… marketing campaigns, disguised as genuine, authentic expressions of youthful searching for identity and belonging, for the sole purpose of profiting financially from America’s children…

This would be bad enough – if corporate America were just following and marketing the basest instincts of confused, unsupervised teenagers. But they are not following, they are leading – downward.

According to Rushkoff, it’s a vicious cycle:

“It’s one enclosed feedback loop,” Rushkoff says. “Kids’ culture and media culture are now one and the same, and it becomes impossible to tell which came first–the anger or the marketing of the anger.”

And as Frontline reports:

[O]bservers say [that] as everyone from record promoters to TV executives to movie producers besieges today’s teens with pseudo-authentic marketing pitches, teenagers increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today’s version of what’s cool.

Both Mr. Kupelian and the documentary spend a considerable time addressing two such “cool” creations of corporate youth-marketing: the “mook” and the “midriff.”

The mook, Mr. Kupelian states, is a caricature of the wild, uninhibited, outrageous and amoral male. Take for instance, professional wrestling, the most-watched shows among teen males today.

The midriff, on the other hand, is a mini Britney Spears, obsessed with appearances — a sexual object, but proud of it. While the mook is arrested in adolescence, the midriff is prematurely adult. As was written in The Myth of Adolescence:

In what could be considered the most maddening aspect of this crisis, not all areas of maturity are being stunted… It is heartbreaking that so many young girls, while constantly pressed to become more and more sexually alluring, are not expected to attain any notable level of character beneath the surface.

And of course, the media is very careful to undermine the young person’s ability to receive and benefit from the wisdom and experience of their parents and other God-established figures of authority:

[S]ays Miller, “it’s part of the official rock video world view, it’s part of the official advertising world view, that your parents are creeps, teachers are nerds and idiots, authority figures are laughable, nobody can really understand kids except the corporate sponsor.”

The purpose of Mr. Kupelian’s article (and the purpose of this post) is not to create a feeling of hopelessness, but to call us to action — to wake up and recognize the lies of our culture for exactly what they are: lies. As Mr. Kupelian concludes, our only hope in combating the culture is to “create (or plug into) another culture entirely - a subculture.”

Mr. Kupelian, sir, thank you for stating the truth with such boldness. Allow me to introduce you to The Rebelution.

For those of you who have been around since the beginning, you may remember the post “Rebelize” Your Youth Group, where the following was written:

The only way to truly combat cultural expectations is to create a [counter] culture that results in an entire community of mature and responsible young people.

Brett and I believe that it was for that very purpose that this blog, and now the conferences, came into existence. Our sidebar of links to fellow rebelutionary’s blogs and websites (like Regenerate Our Culture) is just the beginning of an online counter-culture that is quickly becoming a very real Christian youth movement — a movement of young adults rebelling against the rebellion and corruption that is being constantly thrown at them.