Our age-based reviews and ratings are a guide -- but ultimately, you're still the expert when it comes to your kids.At this age, teens' intellectual powers allow for perception and insight.The way our kids consume and create media profoundly affects their social, emotional, and physical development.That's why, when we make assessments about age appropriateness, we rely on developmental criteria from some of the nation's leading authorities to determine what content and activities are best suited for each age and stage.On the plus side, it's easier for kids this age to make ethical decisions, and they're developing their own ideas on social issues -- which they may be excited to discuss.Teens have the ability to handle more complex issues, but they're also trying on different social personas.Use situations on TV shows, in the movies, and in the news as springboards to talk about complexities of character.

Teens can now glean educational value from less straightforward situations, and gaining an understanding of negative situations can be educational -- especially in an historical context.

Continue to expose teens to a diversity of experience, ethnicity, race, and socio-economic situations.

As teens start to look out to the world around them and experience different cultures, lots of challenging content gets introduced -- though teens are also able to think critically and distance themselves from the material emotionally.

Their avatars and screen names can express their inner identity issues, but they also dampen consequences and mask responsibility -- and online anonymity can make teens both brave and mean.

(Online life can also become highly sexualized at this age.) Fourteen-year-olds know right from wrong, but they have to learn how to apply ethical behavior to Internet life -- for instance, when it comes to uploading video or photographic content (which becomes big at this age).