Mission

The mission of the Media Academy has been created by the academy board to reflect the interests and concerns of christian families.

General Mission

The academy will explore issues and devise action plans to address the challenges and effects of media and technology on the lives of our children, teens and families. This effort is driven by our gospel commission to address the issues that are eroding human dignity and the sanctity of life in our larger Christian community.

Time for Action

The Media Academy has been created to be a place to support faith based options for families to take part in. This will include options for the creation of faith based projects, events and media. Members of the academy will also provide support for family action plans to take back control of how media influencers impact the lives of our children.

Members of the academy realize that action needs to take place at the local community level in order to instill ideas and support for change. The organization of a multi-step plan is essential to make progress. Steps will include conversation and planning on the ministry mission, development of strategic focal points, promotion of ministry, education of board, participant training and media project development. All of this organization is moving forward by volunteers coordinated by the church.

Strategic Focal Points

Smart Phones and Mental Health

The introduction of smart phones and the launch of social media platforms have recently been directly connected to the increase in mental health issues among young teens in the U.S. and other nations.

Children and teens have access to smart phones which provide access to social media and other platforms.

Children are often exposed to inappropriate content on social media and other platforms.

Algorithms sort content to send to all viewers feeds.

Children and teens are fed content that creates unrealistic expectations about themselves.

Research indicates that watching videos triggers small dopamine hits in the brain which causes a craving for more videos which can lead to addiction.

Research now confirms that addiction leads to depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and actions, and sometimes violence. These mental health issues began to rise in the U.S. and other nations following the introduction and growth of smart phone use.

Awareness of the systems and the addictive behaviors can be a productive first step to resolving these mental health issues.

The media academy will address this technology trend and the mental health issues as a first step to improving the health of teens.

Academy leaders will invite specialists as guest speakers to introduce their research and lead discussions with children, teens and parents.

Critical Viewing and Thinking

The advancement in smart phone technology with built in video cameras has enabled users to create semi-professional videos about any topic. This has led to the development of “influencers” with thousands or millions of users who share their lifestyle, voice their opinions and affect the behavior of their followers.

Children and teens “follow” influencers by subscribing to their channels and then receive content on a regular basis.

Children and teens model the behavior of influencers.

Children and teens may engage in unhealthy activity as a result of this following.

The media academy will address this trend and invite discussions about critical thinking and viewing of content. Academy leaders will share tools to help children, teens and parents monitor and regulate media use.

Understanding Video Production

The original concept of introducing workshops on video production was driven by a need for more faith based video content on social media.

The workshops have been designed to be interactive . Workshop leaders encourage participation to further develop critical thinking skills.

Spring 2024: first interactive workshop to focus on increasing awareness of vocations and an introduction to media production to 5th and 6th grade students. Two student hosts completed two faith-based interviews with adults from our Catholic community.

Fall 2024: a workshop introduced students to the process of short segment video production. The training explored how content is created and guided student teams in the production of segments on their gifts and talents. The school workshops also explored the nature of creativity, the art of writing a compelling story and the steps of producing a short video segment. Students produced four faith-based segments on their gifts and talents.

Spring 2025: a workshop focused on the role of the producer working on a production on location. Students gained experience in preproduction organization and production of a faith-based interview segment with an adult director of a catholic based organization.

Fall 2025: a workshop was launched to involve teens who take part in Youth Group at the church. The workshop focused on teen issues and included team discussions, video production equipment training and video segment producer training. The youth worked in teams to produce four short video segments with a strong emphasis on the impact of faith in their lives.

To date more than 40 students and youth group teens have participated in the new ministry.

All sessions listed above produced a variety of videos which are published on the Saint Joseph Catholic Church YouTube channel.

This design of these workshops will continue to evolve so as to further educate students in the video production process. The goal is to provide a faith based foundation for them to produce content that reflects the values and teachings of the catholic church.

The Role of Faith in our Lives

How do young people view the role of faith in their everyday lives? What are the current trends for teens and church attendance? Is there an increase in attendance and, if so, what are some of the theories and factors affecting the trends?

Some additional questions to consider:

What is faith? How does faith work in us? Can having faith make us stronger? Can having faith help guide us through difficult times? How can faith work in our community? Can we see the results of faith in action? Is it ok to question faith?

What is the current trend in faith based media? Who are the influencers? Why are they popular? Do they have a common message? Why is that message resonating with teens today? What is missing from the messaging? How can that gap be filled?

5. AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Explore the impact of AI on children, teens, young adults and parents in our everyday lives.

Definition of AI: building computers that think in similar ways that humans think. These computers can reason by breaking down complex problems into logical, multi-step sequences. They can learn and act much like a human. AI uses access to large amounts of information to process requests and create something quickly.

AI needs the most advanced hardware, which are fast microchips, and advanced software with algorithms, that provide the steps to do the work.

AI can now recognize voices and faces, write new stories, restore old photographs, change new photographs, create new videos with some prompts,

EX: Chat GPT 5.4.0, Gemini (Google), Claude, Microsoft Copilot AI, ElevenLabs.

Types by Capability (Stages of AI)

Narrow AI (ANI): Specialized in a single task (e.g., facial recognition, internet searches, driving).
General AI (AGI): Theoretical AI that can understand, learn, and apply knowledge across diverse fields, similar to a human.
Super AI (ASI): Theoretical AI that surpasses human intelligence, reasoning, and creativity.

Current Stage of AI

As of early 2026, the current stage of AI is considered Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)—also referred to as “Weak AI”—but it is rapidly transitioning from passive generation to active, autonomous agentic systems. While AI excels at specific, high-skill tasks, it is not yet capable of general human-level reasoning across all domains

Questions to Consider:

What are the current capabilities and application examples of AI?

How does AI affect your day-to-day life?

What are the concerns of AI?