I’m not a gamer. This is painfully evident everytime I sit down to  an Xbox to play Halo 3 and within the first 5 minutes of play the other players call me a “noob”.  Sure gaming is a nerdy pursuit , and I’m prone to delighting in nerdy pursuits, but I never really got into the whole video game thing.  Maybe it’s because I have poor coordination or maybe it’s because I’ve never been very competitive. Either way, I think I’d rather watch a documentary about video games rather than play one myself.  

Even though I don’t count myself among these armies of “Couch Commandos” that daily strive to save planets and princesses, I do think they are a bit misunderstood by the rest of the world.  For example, I don’t believe that every young person that plays a violent video game on a regular basis is going to stockpile weapons and try to recreate this game in real life.  I also don’t think that video games make teens more violent.  I believe that if someone is set off by playing a video game, then there was likely something going  on in that person’s life long before he or she picked up a controller. I also think that some video games are actually making people smarter.  To read more about this I suggest you pick up Stephen Johnson’s “Everything Bad is Good For You.” 

Anyway, I understand that there needs to be a scapegoat for the world’s problems and that things that are misunderstood are often the ones that get blamed.  I mean TV was supposed to be the downfall of our civilization and it seems like the majority of people have learned how to balance that pretty well.  In the same way that adults in the past didn’t understand TV, many adults today simply don’t get why teens love video games so much.  

As a result, the majority of the public view video games as something that primarily male children play and that cause them to be aggressive, violent, socially isolated, desensitized, and is an all around waste of time.  But according to MIT professor Henry Jenkins, the public is wrong.  To walk you through each of these misconceptions he has posted an article debunking the myths about video games.  It can be found here. Meanwhile, I’m going to go play Tetris.

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…

LA Times: Kids and teens: The slow slide to a sedentary life

Grades aren’t the only things parents of children and teens should be keeping an eye on. Their physical activity should be scrutinized as well, considering that from ages 9 to 15, some kids could fall into a steady downward spiral of lethargy. It shouldn’t be surprising that an uptick in video game playing, television watching and computer surfing is probably to blame for the fact that as kids grow older, their time spent moving may greatly decrease, according to a recent study. Read the full story….

 

Kansas City Star: Teens herald the death of e-mail 

A pair of 2007 studies conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that teens are steadily drifting away from the old-fashioned medium. While 92 percent of surveyed adults said they regularly used e-mail, only 16 percent of teens made it a part of daily life while text messaging (36 percent), instant messaging (29 percent) and social network site messaging (23 percent) gained in popularity. Read the full story…

Genes May Play Role in Turning Teens into Criminals 

Researchers at the University of North Carolina reported Monday that genes may play a role in young men who grow up in tough neighborhoods or with disadvantaged families and later become violent criminals. The scientists have identified three genes they believe play a role. One, called MAOA, played a particularly strong role, and had been shown in previous research to affect antisocial behavior. The researchers called the gene “disturbingly common”. Sociology professor Guang Guo, who led the study, said those with a particular variation of the MAOA gene known as 2R were extremely prone to criminal and delinquent behavior. Read the full story…

Star Tribune: Investing in youth has a measurable economic payoff 

Paul Anton, a good student and shooting guard out of Minneapolis Washburn High in 1966, turned his sharp eye to the study of mathematics and economics at the University of Minnesota. He spent 30 years at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. Bancorp and as a consulting economist for a firm that did a lot of work for financial institutions. In his latest gig, Anton is applying the cost-benefit and return-on-investment analysis of the business analyst to examining social programs — and the money taxpayers can save when kids are ready for kindergarten, when youth intervention programs keep teens out of crime, and when drug courts get offenders clean and into work-release programs for less than $40,000-a-year stays in prison. Read the full story…

Forbes: Teen Retailers’ Back-to-School Blues  

If Steve & Barry’s financial woes are any indication, the back-to-school season will be a difficult one for teen-focused retailers. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, citing $693.5 million in assets and $638 million in debt. Best known for celebrity fashion lines, including Bitten by Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and Starbury by New York Knicks star Stephon Marbury, Steve & Barry’s sells super-cheap clothing for teens and college students. Prices rarely exceed $20. In an economic downturn in which the Wal-Marts of the world are succeeding (see “Consumers Save Money, Discounters Live Better”), one would presume that a teen retailer like Steve and Barry’s, which is also a discounter, would be somewhat immune to hardship. Read the full story…

Turn off TV during meals or teens may get fat.

Everyone knows what too much television can do to the mind and what too little exercise can do to the body, but a Canadian study has now shown that the boob tube can also lead to an increase in how much we eat.  Studying childhood obesity, University of Toronto nutritionist Harvey Anderson found that kids who watched TV while eating lunch took in 228 extra calories than those who ate without the television on. Read the full story…

Hannah Montana in 3D. 

The hit Hannah Montana movie will be nearly inescapable on television this month in every dimension.Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert will come to Starz in standard- and high-definition starting 9 p.m. ET Saturday, July 26, the premium cable channel announced Thursday. The 3-D version of the film, which had a limited-engagement theater run earlier this year, will begin showing on the Starz on Demand and Starz HD on Demand channels on Sunday, July 27, along with the other two versions. Read the full story…

 
New study finds 1/3 of all entertainment is consumed on computers. 

36 percent of all entertainment is consumed on computers, according to Netpop Research, whose recent findings underscore the central role of the PC as a primary access point for entertainment, reports MarketingCharts. Teens and adults (those age 13-34) with broadband connections now spend more time in front of computers than watching blockbuster movies or reading novels and fashion magazines, the study found. In a typical month, according to Netpop, content consumed on desktop and laptop computers is responsible for. Read the full story…

Theaters planning on having night long showings of new Batman movie. 

In a frenzy, fans have bought so many late-night tickets for the July 18 opening of the next Batman movie that theaters in places like San Diego, Chicago, and even Eagan, Minn., are scheduling 6 a.m. screenings for those who can’t get in at midnight or 3 in the morning. Movie theaters have sometimes opened their doors at odd hours for their most highly anticipated films, say, an entry in the “Star Wars” series, and midnight shows have become part of the summer blockbuster ritual. Read the full story…

Teens find it easy to get heroin.

There is an alert for parents everywhere. A dangerous drug is lurking the halls of your child’s school. Health officials say heroin is quickly becoming the drug of choice not just for those who typically use it, but for high school students in search of a new high. Most parents have no idea how easy this is for their kids to get a hold of. The issue is a big concern in Portage and the focus of a meeting at the district’s Administration Building Thursday. The death of Amy Bousfield, a recent Portage Central graduate is shining light on a heroin problem among teens. The 18 year old recently died from overdosing on the drug. Read the full story…

 

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…

TheStar.com:  Can subcultures still thrive in the glare of the digital age?

The underground, and especially the subcultures that inhabit it, have been much debated and examined since British academic Dick Hebdige published Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979), a groundbreaking examination of the symbols and rituals of the punk subculture in London. Almost a decade after Subculture, in an essay reflecting on youth culture, Hebdige wrote: “Subculture forms up in the space between surveillance and the evasion of surveillance, it translates the fact of being under scrutiny into the pleasure of being watched. It is a hiding in the light.” Read the full story… 

Family meals turn teenaged girls away from drugs, alcohol 

Adolescent girls who sit down for frequent meals with their families are half as likely to smoke, drink and use marijuana as those who share family meals less often, according to a new study. “Part of it is just parents being more in touch with their kids, being able to see earlier on if their kids are veering down a path that might not be filled with healthy choices,” says Marla Eisenberg, lead author of the paper and a professor of pediatrics in the University of Minnesota’s medical school. Read the full story…

MediaPost: Overexposed: Kids See Too Many Alcohol Ads On Cable

Alcohol TV commercials are on the rise—and more young people are being exposed to them, especially on cable programs. Georgetown University’s Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) says 12- to-20-year-olds witnessed nearly a 40% rise in alcohol messaging from 2001 to 2007. The group says exposure levels to these ads by young people are the highest since the group begin monitoring ads in 2001. But there is some progress—especially from one self-regulating approach from alcohol trade associations. Where 30% or more of a TV show’s audience is made up of underage drinkers—under age 21—the group notes that the percentage of alcohol product ads on these programs has been trimmed to 6.3% in 2007 from 11% in 2003. The main problem is cable TV. Read the full story…

New York Post: RETAILER SEES RED OVER RISQUE AD ‘SPEED DRESSING’ 

New York ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi is trying to contain the damage after a major client, JC Penney, took the firm to task over a fake viral ad that makes light of teen sex. The ad, called “Speed Dressing,” shows two teens practicing taking their clothes off - and then putting them back on quickly - in anticipation of eventually hooking up in the basement while mom is upstairs. The spot displays Penney’s logo and campaign slogan, “Every Day Matters.” Penney officials claim they became aware of the ad, which never aired on television, only after it popped up on YouTube and a slew of other Web sites over the weekend. Read the full story…

Red Herring: Report: Apple Killed Music Industry 

Apple’s iPod is partly to blame for the collapse of the music industry, according to a report Friday from researcher eMarketer. The Mac maker helped set the tone for a “rat’s nest of restrictions and incompatibilities” that have stalled the growth of digital music, according to Paul Verna, the author of the report. Revenue in the music industry continues to decline in part because of consumer confusion, the report said. A big part of the reason is music fans are asked to sort out the explosion of incompatible formats, players, restrictions, and retailers. That lack of simplicity  has slowed sales. Apple has been a “double-edged sword” for the industry, the report said. Its closed system works well for iPod users, “but leaves many frustrated consumers outside of that system.” Read the full story…

CNET: Kid Rock’s surprising take on illegal downloading 

Kid Rock’s sarcastic “just do it” YouTube rant on illegal downloading is funny and makes the point—illegal downloading is stealing. With a smile on his face Rock says, “I’m rich,” so sure it’s OK to steal my music. Oh, and while you’re at it, “Steal everything.” Steal an iPod, Steve Jobs is a billionaire, he’ll never miss it. Get yourself a Toyota, “They’re foreign” and the gas too, “You know how much money the oil companies make?” Rock shrugs it all off, “They’re not going to miss $30 or $40 worth of gas.”  Read the full story and watch the video… 

MSNBC: Religious Americans: My faith isn’t the only way 

America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don’t feel their religion is the only way to eternal life — even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise.  The findings, released Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don’t know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.  Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attendees said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.  Read the full story…

AP: Little `Barbie Brat’ bullies become concern 

Recess was Allie Long’s favorite part of the day until the second grade, when some of her friends on the playground pressured her to join their whisper campaign against a classmate. Allie shrugged. She didn’t want to hear their rumor or help spread it around. In an instant, her best friends since kindergarten became her tormenters. “They started taunting and teasing her,” said Allie’s mom, Trudy Ludwig. “She was on this play structure and they blocked all of the exits and wouldn’t let her off. They started moving closer to her. Allie just freaked out. One of the girls realized it was getting out of hand and got a teacher to help.” Bullying among adolescents has captured the attention of researchers, educators and parents alarmed by a parade of mean girls and cyber-bullies caught in mid-punch on viral video. But such aggression may not just happen in a whirl of adolescent hormones, some in the growing anti-bully movement argue. Read the full story…

Advertising Age: Hey, Buddy, Can I Bum a Snus Off You? 

Faced with rising taxes for cigarettes — in New York the price of a pack hit $9 — and ever-tightening smoking bans in places such as Los Angeles, where a bill threatens to force smokers out of all outdoor eating areas, Big Tobacco is trying a new approach to keep America’s dwindling 45 million smokers in the fold. The solution: snus (they are always curiously plural), a pinch of steam-cured tobacco nestled in a tiny tea-bag-like pouch. Snus don’t need to be spit out like traditional fermented dipping tobacco; they simply remain under your upper lip until you’ve gotten your nicotine fix.  Read the full story…

Advertising Age: In Google We Trust

The most reputable company in America: Google, which toppled Microsoft from the top perch in the 2007 Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient study released today — and sent it tumbling all the way down to No. 10. But what should be even more eye-opening to the companies rounding out the top 10 — which include Johnson & Johnson and General Mills — and the rest of the list is that Google’s victory shows that a company that spends nothing on advertising can still be the most positively perceived by consumers.  Read the full story…

Texting ‘addiction’ costing teens, parents

When the cell bill arrived, complete with a $300 payment notice, Travis Ramsay was in a state of disbelief. Travis Ramsay ran up a $300 mobile phone bill, mainly because of texting charges. “I was pretty mad,” the 13-year-old said. “I walked outside and punched the wall as hard as I could.” He was mad because even though the bill was his father’s name, Travis Ramsay had to pay it. After all, it was his text messaging that padded the amount due. Ramsay said when he started texting his friends, some who at times were standing right by him, and he didn’t realize the cost. Plus, he said, it was fun. Read the full story…

Emaxhealth: Strong Student Connection To School Community Key To Preventing Violence

In a report issued by McLean Hospital, the United States Secret Service and the United States Department of Education, researchers note that creating a positive school climate in which students believe the school staff genuinely wants to hear from them about threats or possible attacks is critical to preventing future Columbine-like school violence. The 15-page report “Prior Knowledge of Potential School-Based Violence: Information Students Learn May Prevent a Targeted Attack,” available at www.secretservice.gov , outlines the results of multiple interviews of bystanders to violent school attacks to determine how students with prior knowledge of school violence made decisions regarding what steps, if any, to take after learning the information. Read the full story…

New York Times: Starving Themselves, Cocktail in Hand

Manorexia. Orthorexia. Diabulimia. Binge Eating Disorder. All are dangerous variations on the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia, and have become buzzwords that are popping up on Web sites and blogs, on television and in newspaper articles. As celebrity magazines chronicle the glamorous and the suffering, therapists and a growing number of researchers are trying to treat and understand the conditions. The latest entry in the lexicon of food-related ills is drunkorexia, shorthand for a disturbing blend of behaviors: self-imposed starvation or bingeing and purging, combined with alcohol abuse.  Read the full story…

The National Post: Exposed G-string tied to today’s social values.

For hippies, it was the androgynous tunic; for modern teens, it is the exposed G-string. “There’s always a link between style and social values,” said Mariette Julien, a professor at L’Universite du Quebec a Montreal who presented a paper on the topic of teen dress at the country’s largest annual gathering of academics last week. “People aren’t conscious of the symbolism in their style of dress, but it remains very present.” Read the full story…

Other Headlines:

 

• Possible Gossip GIrl Spinoff
• Gen Y Fears Wrinkles: Cosmeceutical Sales To Hit $21 Billion
• Beloved Characters as Reimagined for the 21st Century
• Disney Revs Up Tween Star Machine
• Thai School gets bathrooms for transvestite students
• Why GTA IV Was the Beginning of the End
• Teen Choice Awards 2008 Nominations
• Sears teams with MTV to lure teens
• Facebook overtakes MySpace worldwide
• Disney’s “Camp Rock” racks up ratings
  
  

Combating Child Obesity: Helping Kids Feel Better by Doing What They Love

For many gamers of the 8-bit generation, this opening line was an introduction to their first experience of the quintessential “hero on a quest” role-playing game (RPG).

For the next few weeks of the player’s life, they would venture into dank, unlit dungeons and swamp-infested lands in search of treasure, a mythical Ball of Light, and the villainous Dragonlord.

Dragon Warrior completely immersed the player in a personal journey as they defeated hundreds of green slimes, upgraded magical weapons, and rescued a princess. Throughout all of this, the player witnessed their character physically growing in power.

As their avatar leveled up, many gamers would notice their virtual confidence rise in conjunction… but what did it do for their real world self-esteem?

When all was said and done and the mighty Dragonlord was defeated, the player would return to reality.

While their pixelated hero ran countless miles across countryside and engaged in hundreds of physical battles, the actual body of the gamer just spent dozens of hours doing thumb push-ups with their rear planted firmly to the couch.

Read the full story…

Entertainment Weekly: How teens took over pop culture

Anyone who’s a teenager — or one of the many adults whose pop culture tastes lean in that direction — might want to blow off that summer job. Given how much teen entertainment will soon be gushing into the nation’s TiVo queues and iPod playlists, this might be the best time ever to be a fan of teen-tertainment. Whereas five years ago you’d have been stuck with only The O.C., now you’ll spend summer catching up on Gossip Girl while downloading new albums from Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and Jesse McCartney. 

Read the full story… 

 

 What not to say to overweight teens.