When Netflix unveiled the first season of 13 Reasons Why last spring, the streaming service knew the show would be buzzy. It might not have understood the show’s sting. Based on the book by Jay Asher and produced in part by singer/actress Selena Gomez, the show’s first season revolved around the suicide of a young […]
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I pride myself on knowing what’s happening in the world and culture. But I had a funny exchange with my wife last week. We were watching TV when an add came on for an upcoming special titled something like, Meghan Markle: An American Princess. “She’s American?!” I asked, somewhat startled. I’d missed that little factoid. […]
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We’ve all heard about Facebook and Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Certain apps and social media platforms are as ubiquitous as, well, the smartphone you’re probably clutching in your hand right now. But kids flock to some apps that we parents are sometimes woefully unaware of. The Musical.ly app may be one of those. On the […]
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In spite of all the bad press Facebook has gotten lately over leaking-like-a-sieve privacy concerns, it seems that the youthful set is still flocking regularly to that social media stopover and other venues like it. The latest compiled numbers from sources such as the Associated Press and the Pew Research Center suggest that: Nearly 90% […]
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My first job was as a high school teacher in inner-city Philadelphia. Fresh out of college, I was eager to teach and dying to make an impact. It was a wonderful time in my career that came with many amazing moments. But it came with some moments that were extraordinarily difficult, as well. It was […]
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OK, a quick show of hands: Who would like to get a kiss from Katy Perry? Well, perhaps Plugged In readers are not a representative sample of America as a whole. Certainly, plenty of folks would gladly accept a smooch from the singing superstar. And maybe that’s what Perry was thinking when she planted a […]
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And the Oscar goes to … Jennifer Lawrence! No, no, that can’t be right. The actress isn’t even nominated for anything this year. But, as last year’s Oscar telecast taught us, sometimes mistakes can be made, even on moviedom’s biggest night and on its biggest stage. So in light of last year’s oopsie—when La La […]
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It’s Valentine’s Day, folks—a time when many of us turn our attention to love, romance and lots and lots of chocolate. We’re all about that sort of stuff here—honoring love, recognizing our loved ones and, of course, the chocolate—but there are those who, in this frazzled culture of ours, are having a harder time figuring […]
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We’re in our second day of unveiling the nominees for the Plugged In Movie Awards, and we’ve hit one of my favorite categories: Best Movie for Teens. The name’s a bit misleading, because lots of other folks can enjoy these movies besides teens, of course. But by default, these tend to be where the big, […]
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It’s not easy being a teen. Never has been, never will be. How are today’s adolescents navigating that vast pubescent wasteland? Both teens and the scientists who observe ’em like lab rats have offered some thoughts on that over the last several days. First, some good news: High schoolers aren’t having sex as much as […]
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Our newsfeeds have been filled with a lot of serious news as of late. And we here at Culture Clips Central have dutifully reported much of it, from sexual harassment scandals to teen depression to accidents caused by Pokémon Go. But today, we want to delve into something really critical: whether the new Star Wars […]
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OK, let’s start with Truth, shall we? Many of us have probably played a game of Truth or Dare at some point in our past, right? Sure, we didn’t have all of today’s high-tech gadgetry to draw upon, but it’s possible that some of you still doled out those boundary-pushing teenage challenges in some antiquated […]
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We all know that it’s a pretty common thing these days to see families playing video games together. Games can be interactive, fun, and even educational if you find the right ones. Of course, finding the video games that fit your family room is the real challenge. And that equation can have as many variables […]
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It’s that time of year again. Yup: It’s Hallmark season. I came home a few nights ago to find my wife and two daughters watching a schmaltzy, sentimental Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel. “Didn’t we see this one last year?” I asked. They looked at me with blank expressions, my wife answering, “Yes. And?” […]
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Fourteen-year-old Hannah Smith lived in Leicestershire, England. Fifteen-year-old Natalie Natividad lived in a little town called Hebbronville, Texas. Neither girl knew of the other, but they had a few things in common. For one, they were both bombarded with hurtful messages online, some saying nasty things about the way the girls looked, others going so […]
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