August 27, 2007

MTV and the Associated Press have published the results of their Youth Happiness Study, which offers a revealing look at what today's 13- to 24-year-olds value. If you've watched MTV recently, you might think the answer to the question, "What one thing in life makes you most happy?" would be sex, money or reality shows. In fact, the top five answers to this open-ended, multiple-response question were spending time with family (20%), spending time with friends (15%), spending time with a spouse or loved ones (11%), children (6%) and a relationship with God (5%) which tied with the ambiguous other miscellaneous mentions. When asked specifically about relationships with their parents, 72% said that this important connection made them either "very happy" or "somewhat happy." In comparison, 51% said their "religious or spiritual life" made them very or somewhat happy, while just 36% of respondents picked those two categories to describe their feelings about money. Exercise (or playing sports) and music rated high in providing satisfaction (67% and 88% respectively), while various rebellious behaviors rated lower (sex: 29%; drugs: 7%; and drinking: 25%). [AP-MTV Youth Happiness Poll, 4/16-23/2007; AP, 8/20/07 stats]

The CBS reality show Kid Nation, set to premiere Sept. 19, is coming under fire for how it treated its young reality stars during filming, all of whom are between the ages of 8 and 15. At least one parent has alleged that the experience for the children bordered on abuse and neglect, and the New Mexico Attorney General's office apparently warned producers during filming that the show might violate state child labor laws. The children, who were paid $5,000 for their participation, were required to "work" 14 hours or longer each day. Four kids needed medical attention after accidentally drinking bleach, and one girl burned her face with grease while cooking in an unsupervised kitchen. [nytimes.com, 8/18-22/07]

QUOTE: "It is clear to me that my life has become completely unmanageable because I am addicted to alcohol and drugs. Recently, I relapsed and did things for which I am ashamed. I broke the law, and today I took responsibility by pleading guilty to charges in my case. No matter what I said when I was under the influence on the day I was arrested, I am not blaming anyone else for my conduct other than myself. I thank God I did not injure others. I easily could have. I very much want to be healthy and gain control of my life and career and have asked for medical help in doing so." —21-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan, in a statement issued after she decided to plead guilty to misdemeanor DUI and drug charges. Lohan will spend one day in jail, serve 10 days of community service and complete an 18-month drug-treatment program. She'll also be on probation for 36 months and must finish a three-day program in which she visits a morgue and talks with families hurt by drunk drivers. Los Angeles deputy district attorney Danette Meyers said after Lohan's hearing, "She's getting what everyone else would get." [mtv.com, 8/23/07; AP, 8/24/07]

QUOTE: "I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts. What I did was very immature. ... I need to grow up." —27-year-old Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who has pleaded guilty to a federal dogfighting charge and been suspended indefinitely by the NFL, on the bad example his choices have set for young fans [AP, 8/27/07]

QUOTE: "We are so obsessed about the dangers of adolescence [that] we have all sorts of mechanisms to prevent kids from disaster. But we don't have that for young people in their 20s. It's the 20s that are risky." —University of Houston professor Steven Mintz, commenting on the fact that the 20s, not the teen years, are for many young adults the season of life during which they're most likely to engage in risky sexual activity, violent behavior and binge drinking. [usatoday.com, 8/14/07]

MySpace. Facebook. And ... Playboy U? Hugh Hefner's Playboy Enterprises has rolled out a new social networking site exclusively targeting collegians. (No professors, no parents and no little sisters and brothers allowed, say Playboy reps.) Though the site bars actual nudity, sexually-oriented message topics include subjects such as, "How Many People Have You Slept With? To Lie or Not to Lie." Adam Gibson, a 24-year-old public relations major at West Virginia University, comments on the site's appeal: "They do a really good job at blending in the Playboy lifestyle with the student." For their part, company execs hope exposing students to the Playboy brand will help keep their pornographic empire afloat. Since the magazine's apex in 1974, the average paid circulation has fallen from 6.25 million "readers" to 2.9 million today. [AP, 8/22/07 stats]

According to a recent Pew Research Study, adults of all ages consider unwed parenting to be a problem for our society, and 71% say that births to unwed mothers is a "big problem." About the same proportion—69%—say that a child needs both a mother and a father to grow up happily. Oxymoronically, just 38% believe that premarital sex is wrong. [yahoo.com, 8/16/07; Pew Research Center, 7/01/07 stats]

Child development experts worry that movies based on toys, such as Transformers or Bratz, are hastening the demise of creative playtime. These psychologists say that in the good old days, children would create their own plots for toys to act out. Now, these plots are often spoon-fed to them via films. "When children see the film and then they have all the toys, there's less room to experiment or come up with meaning of their own," says Susan Linn, a Harvard Medical School psychiatry instructor and co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. [Time, 8/16/07 c&e]

Nickelodeon says it won't allow its characters to promote junk food anymore. Beginning in 2009 (once the network's current licensing agreements expire), animated stars such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and the Rugrats crew will only help promote healthy food. That said, Nickelodeon is already making exceptions to the rule by allowing tie-ins with candy attached to sugar-laden holidays such as Halloween and Valentine's Day. [United Press International, 8/22/07]

QUOTE: "In my career as a gamer, I've racked up quite a virtual body count. And I've just taken down one more: Big Daddy, a hulking monster with a giant drill bit for an arm. I had to unload all my armor-piercing rounds into his body suit, and I barely escaped with my life. And now for my reward: a bioenhanced substance that will give me more superhuman powers. To claim it, all I've got to do is kill the thing the monster was protecting: a tiny little girl, known as a Little Sister, staring up at me with tear-filled eyes. Can I do it? Could you do it? She's not real. It's just a videogame. But that doesn't matter: I put her down and let her go free, forgoing my power upgrade so she can scamper away. It'll be that much harder to take down the next monster, but I feel better about myself." —Wired game reviewer Chris Kohler, commenting on the "creepy moral dilemmas" in the new Xbox 360 and PC game BioShock [wired.com, 8/24/07]

Hilary Duff and Nick Cannon hosted this year's Teen Choice awards on Aug. 26. A blitzkrieg broadcast identified teen faves in more than 30 categories in under two hours. (All told, awards were assigned in 65 categories.) Teens gave awards to the movies Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Holiday, Disturbia and the R-rated Knocked Up. As for TV, High School Musical 2, Hannah Montana and American Idol took top honors among young fans. Music: Fall Out Boy, Avril Lavigne, Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Timbaland, Rihana, Akon, Hilary Duff, Sean Kingston, and Gym Class Heroes. The CHOICE MALE HOTTIE award went to High School Musical 2's Zac Efron, while Jessica Alba snagged the corresponding female award. [fox.com, 8/27/07]