CBS News: “Horrors” Found In Tween, Teen Dating.

Tweens and teens in dating relationships are experiencing significant levels of various forms of abuse, many don’t know the warning signs of an abusive relationship, and many parents don’t know what’s going on in those relationships, a new survey says.  Among the findings:

-69 percent of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

-40 percent of the youngest tweens, those between the ages of 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships, and nearly one-in-ten (9 percent) say their friends have had sex.  Read the full story…

Older Americans’ Online Behavior Mirrors Younger Users’, Even Teens’ 

76 percent of Americans over 50 say the internet is an important source of information for them. That figure is up from just 51 percent five years earlier, according to findings from AARP and the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, MarketingCharts reports.  The research, part of the Digital Future Project, also found Older Americans embraced Web 2.0 and often use the web — and several forms of social media — as much as, or more than, younger and more tech-savvy counterparts.  Instant messaging and video downloading still remain more popular with a younger crowd, but Older Americans check the ‘net for news more frequently than younger users and are logging onto online communities, researching purchases, becoming socially active and playing games in increasing numbers. Read the full story…

Washington Times: Many teens opt to get pregnant.

Pregnancy pacts among teenage girls are really nothing new. The 1986 movie “Peggy Sue Got Married” featured one.
When high school senior Peggy Sue said she no longer cared who her boyfriend Charlie dated, best friend Maddy snapped to attention. “But I always thought you were going to marry Charlie, and Carol would marry Walter, and I’d marry Arthur,” Maddy protested to Peggy Sue. “We’d all live on the same street and take our kids to the park together and have barbecues every Sunday. It’s going to spoil everything if you and Charlie break up.” Read the full story…

 

US Sex Education Debate: The Students 

In a forum to discuss sex education in US schools, some young people commented: Vanessa Geffrard, University Of Maryland: “Sex is something private, something great between people.” Benjamin Barrows, Bowie High School: “Sexuality is a part of our being.” Nikki Babayeva, University Of Maryland: “A comprehensive sex education program will include both parts: abstinence and contraception.” Gyawu Mahama, George Washington University:  “Adults in general just ignore the issue.”  Read the full story…

 

 ‘Beer Pong’ Video Game Has Controversy Brewing

Richard Blumenthal said Monday that the Entertainment Software Rating Board made a mistake by clearing the game for young teens and he worries other games in the yet-to-be-released Frat Party Games line will also be approved for those same gamers. “Beer Pong” was designed by Las Vegas-based JV Games Inc. as a downloadable game for Nintendo Co.’s popular Wii game system. Read the full story…

 
MTV’s ‘True Life’ captures fickle young audience 

WHEN WE first meet 16-year-old Chris in an episode of the MTV documentary series “True Life,” he’s practicing skateboard stunts with his buddies and ignoring the floppy brown hair that hangs like a curtain across his eyes. Typical teenage stuff, right? Not exactly. Chris is deaf. And as the show proceeds, he undergoes surgery to have a cochlear implant inserted into his head, allowing him to hear for the first time in his life. Moments after the implant is turned on, he walks through a parking lot and revels in the symphony of unfamiliar sounds. “I can hear the wind,” he signs. “And I can hear cars going by … and people walking… . And talking everywhere. I can hear it. It’s cool.” It’s a quiet triumph, an extraordinary moment in the life of an ordinary (read: unfamous) person. Read the full story…

When I graduated high school I remember attending at least 5 graduation parties where alcohol was furnished to teens by parents.  To me this was unusual because it seemed like assisting young people in getting drunk and breaking the law wasn’t the most responsible send off for a group that has such a bright future ahead of them.

But, as research shows, many parents see it differently.  According to a Harris Research study, 1 in 4 parents think teens should be able to drink while at home with parents present. Additionally, new government research shows that nationwide 600,000 teens get alcohol from their parents. The belief among many adults is that since most teens will be drinking anyway, it’s better for them to do so while under adult supervision and in the safety of their own home.

However, while many parents claim that drinking is part of adolescence and this approach is merely an effort to keep teens safe and to teach them to drink responsibly, it may be doing far more damage than parents know.

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USMagazine.com: Heidi Montag wants to record a Christian Album.

There is a different side to Heidi Montag that you don’t see on MTV’s The Hills, the 21-year-old budding singer tells USA Today. “I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God,” says Montag, who identifies herself as “kind of non-denominational Baptist.” Montag — who just released her latest single “Fashion” and frequently reads the Bible — says she even wants to record a Christian album. She adds that she once planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa.  Read the full story…

 

US News & World Report: Housing crisis popular with popular teens. 

While the housing bust is threatening to drag the entire economy into a debilitating recession, it’s great news for the teenage party scene.  With a wanton lack of sympathy for the mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit crisis, teenagers in one California community are using abandoned foreclosed homes as venues for unchaperoned—and presumably “raging”—drinking parties. Read the full story…

Minneapolis Star tribune: Teens who speed may soon meet cars that tattle.

Here’s one way to get teen drivers off the cell phone: Make them hook it up to the speedometer and automatically text Mom and Dad whenever the car is speeding.  The phones could conceivably keep track of such things as the number of passengers in the car, whether they’re wearing seatbelts and even monitor the volume of the stereo. Read the full story…

New York Times: Teen cruising declines as gas prices rise. 

For car-loving American teenagers, this is turning out to be the summer the cruising died. Kevin Ballschmiede, 16, pined for his 1999 Dodge Ram — “my pride and joy” — the other night as he hung out in a parking lot in this town outside Chicago. Given that filling the 26-gallon tank can now cost more than $100, he had left it at home and caught a ride.  From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters. Read the full story…

Kansas City Star: Growing modesty movement shows teens they can be stylish without revealing too much

Low-cut camis and short dresses may be the rage in fashion and celebrity magazines, but many young women say the styles expose too much, especially during summer. They’ve turned to faith-based organizations for help. The modesty movement, as it’s called, is gaining support from religious leaders who say it’s time to cover up. Religious groups have promoted modest-themed fashion shows and proms, and referred brides-to-be to shops that sell modest gowns. This month, hundreds attended the sold-out Pure Fashion Show at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa in Sacramento, Calif. The Friday night show featured local teens from various churches modeling modest fashion from casual wear to evening formals. Read the full story…

TIME: Should you drink with your teen? 

The data indicate there are fewer young drinkers, but a greater proportion of them are hard-core drinkers. Parents have helped create this paradox. Many parents seem torn between two competing impulses: officially, most say in surveys that they oppose any drinking by those under 21. But unofficially many also seem to think kids will be kids—after all, not so long ago, they were themselves drinking as teens. A few of these parents have even allowed their kids to have big drunken parties at home. Read the full story…

What Are Youth Watching on their Phones?  

There is a lot of noise about mobile video lately. Just the other day, MoCoNews reported that 90 percent of Venture Capitalists in a poll said mass adoption of mobile video will take off in the next five years, and 60 percent expect it will happen within the next three years. The question seems to be WHAT we will be watching. The answer could differ for teens and adults. The latter, it seems, enjoy watching mobile video in-transit or between activities. Mobile phones, in and of themselves, are, to some degree, founded on the principle of multi-tasking – i.e. being able to do certain things while involved in other activities. Read the full story…

AP: Poll: Schools not properly preparing kids. 

Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, an Associated Press poll released Friday finds.
“A lot of kids, when they get out school, are kind of lost,” said Jamie Norton, a firefighter in Gridley, Calif. “When you get out of high school, what are you educated to do?” Read the full story…

Teens, church hold different views of oral sex 

More than 10 years after President Clinton made the argument that oral sex isn’t really sex, a generation of adolescents seems to agree. Defining chastity was a prominent issue of two religious youth conferences earlier this month, one for Catholics in Boca Raton and another for Mormons in Miramar. Although church and school leaders say they have become more explicit in their teachings, 70 percent of 14- to 19-year-olds still don’t consider oral sex to be sex, according to a 2007 study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Read the full story…

MultiMedia Intelligence: Teen Mobile Market Running Out of Steam as Subscribers Reach the Saturation Point.

The US 12-17 teen cellular subscribers surpassed 16 million in 2007, according to market research and consultancy firm MultiMedia Intelligence. This is up 12% from 2006.  By 2012, the number of teen subscribers will reach 17 million, a delta of only 1 million subscribers from 2007. Wireless penetration rates for teens are reaching saturation, resulting in stagnating growth. Since the teen market is not a multiple handset demographic, subscriber growth is forced to slow.  “The teen market has been the ‘golden child’ for cellular providers in the US,” according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. “In addition to growing subscribers, teen ARPU has been growing higher than that of the overall market. Teens simply use their phones to do more, from text messaging to purchasing premium content. However, pricing pressures and teen cellular saturation are bringing an end to the teen cellular gold rush.”  Read the full story…

Teens go green.

As evident from the large number of performers touring on bio-diesel buses, organic cotton T-shirts lining store racks and eco-friendly residences featured on reality shows, the world as teens know it is turning green. Teens are responding to the push for environmentalism by making green lifestyle changes and raising awareness about this prominent issue.

The first time I heard about Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed A Girl” it was being sung by numerous young people.  Whether they liked or disliked it (some of them informed me that they thought it was dumb…) it was still being sung to a degree that made me realize the extent of its catchiness.  Then I contemplated the lyrics.  It dawned on me that a girl was singing about kissing a girl and liking it.  Uh oh!  

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