This past week, Lauren Daigle broke Christian music records as her song, “You Say,” became the longest running No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart. At 63 weeks in the top spot, it has beaten out Hillsong UNITED’s “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” which previously held the top spot, according to The Christian […]
Continue Reading
They say numbers don’t lie. And if that’s true, then the online gaming world may have a problem on its hands, especially in light of a new study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Before you throw up your hands and digitally turn away grumbling about studies, let me pile on a whole bunch of numbers […]
Continue Reading
This just in: Fortnite Battle Royale, the wildly popular online shooter game, isn’t as wildly popular as it once was. Part of that dip is apparently the fault of Fortnite itself: Players were disgruntled with the tweaks made to the game in recent weeks and moved away from it—at least temporarily. But simple game fatigue […]
Continue Reading
When 13 Reasons Why debuted on Netflix two years ago, many voices offered a strong word of caution regarding the graphic depiction of a teenage girl’s suicide in the first season’s final episode. Experts worried that the scene could act as a trigger for young or emotionally vulnerable viewers. Plugged In reviewer Paul Asay wrote, […]
Continue Reading
You may never have heard the term “burner phone” before. But if you’ve seen a spy movie in the last, oh, 20 years or so, you already know what a burner phone is. Simply put, a burner phone is typically a cheap, disposable, low-tech mobile phone with an anonymous phone number that can’t be tracked […]
Continue Reading
This is the third part of a three-part series examining the connection between our entertainment/media culture and mental health, the latter of which is a growing problem for America’s youth. Last week, Paul Asay unpacked the ways that movies and TV depict characters struggling with mental illness. This week, we focus on what researchers are […]
Continue Reading
Underneath the reviews, the blog posts, the vodcasts and Twitter missives, Plugged In is built on one basic premise: Media matters. The entertainment we consume—the stories we watch and read and listen to and play—impact us deeply, and on levels we might not fully realize. Obviously, the relationship between entertainment and its real-world impact is […]
Continue Reading
How much would you pay to see a movie? Ten bucks? Fifteen? Wait for it to hit Redbox and $1.75? How ‘bout $10,000? That’s how much opening-weekend tickets for Avengers: Endgame are going for on eBay in some places, according to Fandango.com. And while that might seem a bit overpriced, get this: Someone spent $15,000 […]
Continue Reading
The world was horrified last week when news spread of the horrific shooting that claimed the lives of 50 people at two New Zealand mosques on March 15. And though similar mass shootings around the world have become a terrible recurring story over the last couple of decades, such wanton carnage increasingly has a disturbing […]
Continue Reading
We’re in our second day of unveiling nominees for our world-renowned, mightily coveted Plugged In Movie Awards. And in this installment, we turn our attention to movies suitable for teens. This doesn’t mean that they’re solely for teens, of course. Many adults don’t mind watching superheroes do their thing. By default, this tends to be […]
Continue Reading
‘Tis the season to hand out gifts. But in our harried culture, not everyone has time to write letters to Santa Claus these days. And since Kris Kringle doesn’t have a Twitter account (or does he?), we at Plugged In thought we’d ask for a few presents for some culture’s movers and shakers. So Santa—can […]
Continue Reading
In Social Animals, a new documentary directed by Jonathan Ignatius Green, a teen laments the chaos that is Instagram: “You have to deal with the perverts, the disrespectful teenagers, the racist people, and family members,” she says. “That’s too much.” But is she going to delete her account? Probably not. Instagram may be “too much,” […]
Continue Reading
If you’ve ever wondered exactly what teens tend to post on social media, well, wonder no more! Pew Research just published an in-depth look at “Teens’ Social Media Habits and Experiences.” And the data mavens at statista.com have broken down those results into this infographic: You will find more infographics at Statista. In addition to […]
Continue Reading
Many of us likely spent our Thanksgivings with family and friends, passing the mashed potatoes and side-stepping politics as much as humanly possible. But Thanksgiving at Wanda Dench’s house looks a little different. In 2016, 59-year-old Wanda invited her teen grandson and his girlfriend over for Thanksgiving dinner via text. Or, at least, that’s who […]
Continue Reading
When researching a book I wrote about media discernment, I found scores of studies linking numerous negative human behaviors to entertainment. For instance, researchers believe that kids who see characters smoke onscreen are more likely to light up in real life. Other studies link onscreen sexual activities and actual sexual behaviors. But what about suicides? […]
Continue Reading
About UsEn Español
Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
©1999-2014 Focus on the Family (1-800-A-FAMILY)
PLUGGED IN is a trademark and SHINING A LIGHT ON THE WORLD OF POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT is a service mark of Focus on the Family
apps
newsletter
facebook
twitter