Entries in Politics (5)
The State of Our Nation's Youth
August 21, 2008 
This year’s Horatio Alger State of our Nation’s Youth survey results were released recently and as it turns out America’s young people are collectively not very optimistic, but individually they believe they have a bright future. These results are based on a phone survey of 1,006 students between the ages of 13 and 19.
One point about the survey that stuck out to me is that in the past 5 years, young people’s optimism about the future of America has declined 22 points! Yikes! Another thing that I noticed was that the 2 things that teens said would make their education better were more up to date technology and better job training. The tech part is pretty obvious because all students want to be cruising the Internet and typing up reports on the hottest new computer on the market. But I also think there is something to the need for better job training in schools. As I talk to teens about going back to school, the things I always here are that they need more teachers that make earning fun and that they wish teachers would show them how to use what they learn. Teens are cynical and if they don’t think geometry of U.S. History is going to benefit them in the real world, they will tune you out and doodle on their notebooks. I think this in part due to the fact that many teens see celebrity, fortune and fame as much more attainable now.
Today's teens and Politics.
August 4, 2008
During every presidential election season that I’ve paid attention to (I’m young so this is only the 4th) I’ve read news stories that predicted record numbers of young voters would show up on election day to ensure victory for one candidate or another. Historically, this has failed to happen as was seen in the 1996 and 2000 elections that saw only 36% of participation among voters ages 18-24, an all time low since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1972.
However, this failure among young voters to show up and vote is beginning to change. In the 2004 election, young voter participation jumped 11 points to 47% and a recent Harvard University study reported that 61% of 18-24 year-olds say that they will definitely be voting in the 2008 presidential election. In another study, nearly ¾ of surveyed 13-15 year-olds believe that people their age can make a difference in the political process.
What we are seeing is an entire generation of young people who want to get involved and believe that they can change the world. They are part of what social scientist William Strauss calls a “civic generation” that is drawn to issues of community, politics and deeds rather than the issues of self, culture, and morals that defined previous generations.
An important contributing factor in this outlook among today’s youth is parents. A study conducted by the American Political Science Association found that teens that live in homes where politics and current events are regularly discussed have a greater interest in politics and are more likely to participate in community meetings, raise money for charities, and volunteer.
This positive civic attitude and interest in America’s political process is important for today’s young people because they are, in fact, the future of our nation.
Politics McCain, Obama, and the Youth Vote
July 24, 2008 
A recent Newsweek article explores the relationship between the presidential candidates and the current generation of young Americans. Many of these young people will be first time voters and it’s important that each party properly courts this demographic in order to get their votes. It’s also important because this generation young voters will be the next generation of world leaders, politicians and activists. The issues that concern us today will be the very same issues that they are addressing tomorrow. Because of this, candidates, political parties and parents need to reach out to this young group of voters to help them make sense of the election system and the issues that concern them, the country and this election season. Read the whole article….
Pop Culture, Politics Libraries adding Video Games, Movies kicking the habit, Gossip Girl crossing the line - again, Schools Go Green, Online teen dating dangers, McCain, Obama, and the Millenials.
July 21, 2008 
Libraries adding video games. The American Library Association has announced a new project funded with a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation, the charitable branch of Verizon Communications. The project will place video gaming systems like XBOX 360’s and Wii’s in public libraries and will then will be studied to see how video gaming affects the literacy skills of young people. This is an interesting way for libraries to adapt to the changing interests of today’s youth in order to remain relevant. Read the full story here…Summer camps place cell phones, electronics on hold. In our ultra-connected world, young campers are learning to be without their Ipod’s, cell phones, and video games. Read the full story…
Movie Studios Agree To Help Discourage Teen Smoking. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says teenagers are twice as likely to pick up the habit if they see cigarette smoking in movies, on television, or in cigarette ads. Also, tobacco companies use menthol flavor to get young people to smoke, says a new study to be published in the American Journal of Public Health. To combat this glamorization of smoking motion picture studios will be placing commercials discouraging smoking on DVD copies of films that depict characters smoking. Read the full story…
Gossip girl goes too far again. As an inappropriate follow-up to April’s edgy marketing of WB’s Gossip GIrl series (picture at left), the network has once again pushed the envelope. The series seems to be capitalizing on the criticism it has received from parent groups that have taken issue with the series’ sex and drug riddled plots involving teens. Click here to see the current marketing images…
VA School may “Go Green” and implement a 4-day school week. Read the story here...
Teens listening to more FM Radio. After a 2007 study suggested that most teens are listneing to less radio than they had in the past, a new study has stated that teens report increasing radio listening this year. While the reason for this is unknown I would speculate that young people find it easier to flip on a radio rather than constantly be flipping through songs on an Ipod. Additionally, in our connected world, listening to the radio creates a greater feeling of being linked with the outside world than an MP3 player. Read the story here…
“Playground for pedophiles”. A new teen dating site called MyLOL.net is receiving criticism that it will become a “playground for pedophiles”. With 19,000 worldwide members (150 of which are males over 40) the site has become the top teen dating site on the net. Read the full story here. / View video here.
Teen Headlines: June 1, 2008
June 1, 2008 Canadian study says Facebook violates privacy.
The university’s Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is asking the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to investigate what it considers to be Facebook’s violations of Canadian privacy law.
Facebook’s policies – from sign-up requirements and advertising policies to third party applications and mobile access – represent 22 privacy violations, according to CIPPIC.
Wall Street Journal: A film with underage fans faces marketing chalenges.
Scores of women are reserving tickets to see New Line Cinema’s R-rated “Sex and the City” movie, which opens Friday. But the season’s biggest female event is also generating buzz in a group that isn’t supposed to see it: girls under 17 years of age.
The situation reflects the fact that a lot has changed for Carrie Bradshaw and her friends since the original HBO series had its finale in 2004. On HBO, the series was known for using bawdy sexuality and frank language to chronicle the night-crawling lifestyle of four Manhattan women.
But for the past few years, a sanitized version of the show has been in heavy rotation on Time Warner’s TBS network, and it has drawn the under-18 crowd, who now make up 10% of the audience.
Salon.com: Will the youth vote win it for Obama?
Just who are you, Generation Y? The salvation of Barack Obama and America? Or just more fool’s gold in the Democratic search for El Dorado? For as surely as the sun rises in the east, and Tim Russert’s Election Night board will focus on one overhyped swing state (Virginia? Colorado?), so have three electability talking points emerged from Obamamania. You, Generation Y, otherwise known as “the youth vote,” are one of them.
Survey: Parents Let Their Own Experiences Affect Drug and Alcohol Boundaries Set for Teens at Prom and Graduation Parties
A new survey released yesterday from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America(R) and MetLife Foundation found that parents’ personal past experiences with alcohol and drugs at prom and graduation parties may influence the rules and limits they set for their teens during this time of the year.
According to the survey, parents who drank or used drugs at their own proms or graduations were likely to be more permissive with their kids than those parents who did not. Among parents who drank or used drugs on these occasions, 66 percent set a “zero tolerance policy” for their teens. Among parents who did not drink or use drugs, that number jumps up to 87 percent of parents who set hard rules about drinking and drugs for their kids. Parents who abused drugs or alcohol are also more likely to suspect that teens will use drugs or drink at prom or graduation parties – 51 percent versus just 36 percent of parents who didn’t use drugs or alcohol.