Its Labor Day weekend which of course means the kids have gone back to school and fall is about to kick summer, and it’s warmth, out the door. As the weather gets colder and night falls earlier, it looks like we’ll all need a new TV show or three to watch this fall. Y Pulse has released this summary of the TV shows that will be beginning their seasons this week. It struck me as helpful because it offers parents and other adults an idea of what TV shows young people are likely to start talking about and how to know what’ good, what’s bad, and how to handle it. Below I have outlined some of the shows that caught my eye:

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Here’s a quick series of stories about teen girls and their search for identity in the media saturated world we live in.  A story talking about the effect of teen magazines like Seventeen, Cosmo Girl!, Teen, and Teen Vogue on girls can be found here.  It’s a good read and I suggest you check it out.  And to find out what your teen daughter is reading this month in those magazines, head on over to Ypulse and check out their summary.

After you finish reading those articles, you can head on over to Australian paper, The Age, and read an interesting article by Celia Walden about identity cannibalism among teen girls.  To explain that peculiar term for you a little bit, here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Focusing entirely on those whose personality or physical attributes she covets, there is a new breed of woman who longs to be someone she isn’t, as if it were as easy as creating an avatar in some paradise-like cyber-universe. By definition, these identities cannot be acquired; but that does not stop the covetous from trying, and young women are ending the first decade of this century in a black hole of impossible desires. They are Identity Cannibals — or Cannibelles — desperate to be anyone but themselves, willing to steal another’s clothes, look and lifestyle to create a new “me”.”

As we approach a new school year and a new set of expectations and pressures from teen boys and girls alike to conform and fit in, this is an article all parents, educators, and youth ministers should read.

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.

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When I was a little kid I loved pro wrestling.  Of course this was before it got trashy.  This was a simpler time before Hulk Hogan had a reality show, when he still wore yellow and red and when everyone kind of thought it might be real. But then all of a sudden pro wrestling got popular and it was appearing in prime time and apparel was being sold at JC Penney and Wal-Mart. The plotlines (if you can call them that) suddenly became more complicated, violent and sex saturated. All of a sudden the Monday night entertainment of choice for me and all my elementary school friends became a little too risky for my household and I quit watching.  I think alot of people have quit watching over the years and as a result the WWE has decided to return to their more family friendly roots by taking a PG approach to their programming this year.  To find out more you can read this article from Variety.

Tina Wells at The Huffington Post wrote an interesting editorial about Gossip Girl and their marketing choices. The idea is that Gossip Girl might not be what teen girls really want and that the way that the show is written and marketed is based on the idea that young people will love whatever their parents hate. I think that this thinking might be a bit flawed because there are alot of kids out there that hate what their parents hate simply because it’s common sense. While I don’t agree with everything stated in this editorial piece, I think it definitely is worth a read. Check it out HERE.

This past May research reported that 50% of people who watch television shows online consider it a replacement for regular television viewing.  This is bad news for networks who have insisted that the option of watching TV shows online is additive and not a replacement for viewers tuning in to shows on actual TV’s. From personal experience I can say that I watched most of last season’s LOST and the Office episodes on my computer and not on TV.  The reason for it is that many times I was unable or unwillling to dedicate my Thursday evenings to sitting in front of a TV. 

This convenience can be both a good and bad thing.  For instance, if there is a show you’d like to watch with your teen but your schedules don’t exactly allow that to happen, now the two of you can enjoy watching it together at a time that is convenient for both of you.  Or maybe you’d like to hang out with your teen some night and play a game or go out to eat but your invitation is met with, “I can’t.  My show comes on at 7 and I can’t miss it.”  (I know that happened more than once when I was a teen and the latest developments on Dawson’s Creek, The O.C. and Friends seemed to take precedence over any other event that might be occurring during the show’s time slot.)  Well now, thanks to online viewing, your teen can catch the episode the next day online. 

Of course, the bad part about all this is that if there is a show that you don’t want your teen to be watching, it might not be as simple as keeping the TV off of a certain channel at a certain time.  An easy way for them to circumvent the watchful eye of mom and dad is to just watch episodes online when you’re at work or after you go to bed. 

In that case it’s really hard to prevent them from watching it.  However, I tend to think that what’s better than trying to constantly block your teen’s access to bad things is to help them understand why you object to them.  If your teen understands that you want what’s best for them and they are honest with you and respectful of your wishes then maybe you won’t have to worry if their catching episodes of Gossip GIrl online while you’re not home.

But in the end, whatever your teen sees on TV, hears in music or watches in a movie is no match for the influence of a caring and involved adult. 

 A British study has suggested that parents begin watching sex-laced shows like Gossip GIrl with their teens.  The idea behind it is that many parents do not initiate conversations about sex with their children because they find it uncomfortable.  As a result teens are finding a lot of their questions about sex answered through shows like Gossip Girl and The Secret Life of The American Teenager and before that on the O.C. and Dawson’s Creek.  

Ideally, I would suggest that teens not watch shows like Gossip Girl in the first place.  The plots are pretty much saturated with objectionable behavior by teens and watching those shows may give young people the impression that the actions of those characters are what normal teen behavior should be.  However, if your son or daughter is watching the show anyway, it would be best if, as a parent,  you watched it with them.  Then, when sex or drugs or dishonesty pop up in the story line of the show, you have a perfect opportunity to ask, “What do you think about that?” 

The conversations that can be had during a commercial break over the moral, spiritual and emotional implications of the actions of a character may provide you a better chance for instructing your teen than a lengthy talk about the Birds and the Bees.

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…

Textbooks going electronic. With McGraw-Hill reporting that they will be offering 95% of their textbooks in electronic versions, Amazon is looking to capitalize with their new e-reader Kindle. Imagine a world where a college student can have all of their textbooks easily accessible in a device the size of a notebook. No more lugging around heavy backpacks! It reminds me of the moment I bought my first Ipod and realized I could hold my entire music collection in the palm of my hand. The one drawback is that I guess it would be hard to sell your used textbooks. Read the full story…

“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.

In This User-Generated World, Teen Girls Prefer Expert Content. Even though this is a generation that loves to create content, teen girls seem to still prefer to receive information from experts found in magazines rather than from friends’ blogs. Read the full story…

New teen show ‘Queen Bees’ Premiere’s on the N

From the lands of backstabbery and fakeness, the brats have come. Gisbelle and Stassi and Camille, from Trophy Club, Tex., and Shavon, Michelle, Kiana and Brittany have come to your television to compete on a reality show that totters between “so bad it’s good” and “so bad it’s bad and makes you question yourself and humanity.” And we are talking serious nasties, dude, girls who fake pregnancies and then miscarriages to win attention, who refuse to hang out with their “ugly” friends and “don’t really feel bad for homeless people.” Or say so. They are mean. But through the course of this show, they shall become nice. Or pretend to. For $25,000. This is the premise of “Queen Bees,” which premieres tonight at 9 on cable channel the N Network and can also be seen at The-N.com. It represents the latest incarnation of a mean girls frenzy that began with Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 book “Queen Bees and Wannabes.” They’re the girls who start ruining life for everybody else in middle school. Read the full story…

Helicopter Parents Freak Out As Kids Go Off To Camp 

Eve Pidgeon watched the large group of kids, many of them laughing and chatting excitedly as they boarded a bus for camp last summer. “They just couldn’t wait,” said Pidgeon, whose 8-year-old daughter, Zoe, was among the young campers. Then Pidgeon looked around and noticed something else: “There were no children crying — just parents.” These days, camp leaders and family counselors say it is an increasingly common dynamic. It used to be the homesick kid begging to come home from camp. While that still happens, they have noticed that it is often parents who have more trouble letting go. They call it “kidsickness,” a condition attributed in large part to today’s more involved style of parenting. Observers also say it is only being exacerbated by our ability to be in constant contact by cell phone and computer, as well as many parents’ perception that the world is a more dangerous place. Read the full story…

With school events limited, teens use Facebook to draw big crowds to private parties 

When Cliff Sheckles decided to host a dance, he didn’t call everyone he knew and invite them. He didn’t put up posters or hand out fliers. He just logged on to Facebook. The then-sophomore at the Lakeside School ended up playing host to 1,200 people at his April event in the South Lake Union Naval Armory building, his seven-person security staff holding up a line of boys as if at a nightclub — a far cry from teenage sock hops of yesteryear. Large-scale private dances, like the one he coordinated, have been easier to promote since Facebook opened its doors to high school students several years ago. And a recent decision by Seattle Public Schools to limit high schools to three dances a year — down from six or seven at some schools — seems to have added fuel to the fire. Read the ful story…

NPR: Teens, Tech And Language: A Tired Old Tale Retold 

From the telegraph to the typewriter to the text message, every new technology inspires rhapsodies about the effect it’ll have on language — especially the language of the young. In his commentary, Fresh Air’s resident linguist points out that language — and the young — somehow manage to survive. Listen to the story on NPR.org… 

 

Technology reshapes America’s classrooms 

From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America’s classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves. Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers. She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game. Read the full story…

Melanoma surges in young women

Increasing numbers of younger women continue to receive diagnoses of the most dangerous form of skin cancer even as the rate of new cases has leveled off in younger men, federal health officials reported yesterday. An analysis of government cancer statistics from 1973 to 2004 found that the rate of new melanoma cases in younger women had jumped 50 percent since 1980 but did not increase for younger men in that period. 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.