Is the Internet a Waste of Time for Teens?

Posted on November 22, 2008 at 8:00 am

Parents often fear that their kids are wasting their time clicking around the web. But a new study on teen use of online media commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation found that “America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online – often in ways adults do not understand or value.”
The most extensive U.S. study on teens and their use of digital media was conducted over a three-year period by 28 researchers and collaborators at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley. They interviewed over 800 young people and their parents, both one-on-one and in focus groups; spent over 5000 hours observing teens on sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other networked communities; and conducted diary studies to document how, and to what end, young people engage with digital media.
“It might surprise parents to learn that it is not a waste of time for their teens to hang out online,” said Mizuko Ito, University of California, Irvine researcher and the report’s lead author. “There are myths about kids spending time online – that it is dangerous or making them lazy. But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”
The study found that there were two primary categories of online activity, “friendship-driven” and “interest-driven.” “While friendship-driven participation centered on ‘hanging out’ with existing friends, interest-driven participation involved accessing online information and communities that may not be present in the local peer group….Youth are navigating complex social and technical worlds by participating online.” But, the study concluded, they are not taking full advantage of opportunities to go beyond their known social connections to reach out to new contacts and educational opportunities.
I agree that these skills are important. But I worry that we are ignoring some other skills children and teens also need. No matter how wired we become, in-person social interaction (call it analog if you must), from polite conversation to thank-you notes, will always be indispensable skills, as will research that can only be conducted off-line and the ability to write complete and grammatical sentences. The online world is an important one, but so is RL.
Thanks to my dad (and BFF), Newton Minow, for sharing this study with me.

Wall?E’s Hidden Secrets

Posted on November 16, 2008 at 8:00 am

Now that Wall?E is being released on DVD and you can hit the “pause” button, here are some things to look for:

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Still Leaving it to Beaver

Posted on November 14, 2008 at 8:00 am

The Washington Post has a poignant tribute to Leave It to Beaver from a man who found his favorite childhood show unexpectedly comforting when he was struggling with serious illness.

“Leave It to Beaver” rejuvenates me. I need its gentle tone and mild-manneredness, its absence of deep drama and complicated characters, and its simple, predictable, formulaic story lines, in which nothing seems to have lasting consequence. And I need Beaver’s innocence, his youthful ability to trust and believe completely, his state of confused wonderment (“Gee whiz, Dad, has it always been hard on kids being kids?”), and his wholly natural, small-boy approach to life. When my cancer refuses to slow down for sentiment, “Beaver” helps me feel embraced by life, not tossed around by it….

It’s easy to lose one’s perspective in the suffocating web of cancer. I don’t know if watching “Leave It to Beaver” is pathetic or liberating. But for now, I’ve put my faith in the idea that these stories from my childhood — realistic or not — possess the kind of redemptive power referred to by William Maxwell. “Stories,” he wrote, “can save us.” Such is the reality; such is the hope.

Appreciation for one of “Beaver’s” stars comes from an even more surprising place. The Louvre, with one of the world’s great art collections, the place that houses the Mona Lisa, will show a sculpture from Tony Dow, who played Beaver’s older brother, Wally.

“Of course, I’m really proud of ‘Leave It to Beaver’ and my directing career in television,” said Dow. “Those are great accomplishments. I’m really proud of them, but this is interesting because I don’t think they know anything about that at the Louvre.”

Still, I suspect Dow and his fellow castmates will be most fondly remembered for their 1950’s television show. It does hold up remarkably well, not just for the way it evokes a more innocent time, but because it evokes the worldview of a child. Sweet but not sugary, it is a family classic.

Doctor Group Objects to Smoking in Movies for Kids

Posted on November 11, 2008 at 10:00 pm

USA Today has a story about smoking in movies:
A new study by the American Medical Association Alliance, the volunteer branch of the AMA, finds that over the past six years more than half of the movies geared toward children feature characters smoking. In more than a quarter of the movies, actors light up cigars.
The study’s own figures show that while the majority of PG and PG-13 films show characters smoking, it has decreased since 2007, when a stricter rating policy from the MPAA went into effect.
MPAA spokesman Seth Oster takes issue with the study. He says his organization’s own four-year analysis of 3,400 films found that of the 1,938 movies that featured smoking, 75% were rated R. In addition, he notes, the MPAA has added phrases such as “glamorizes smoking” and “pervasive smoking” in its ratings. “We have incorporated smoking as a factor on par with other issues like language, violence and sexual situations,” Oster says. “The motion picture industry takes very seriously the issue of smoking in films.”
The AMAA and American Lung Association would like an R rating for any film with smoking unless it is a biographical film or a movie addressing the dangers of tobacco.

(P)G is for Box Office Gold

Posted on November 9, 2008 at 10:31 pm

Madagascar 2 (PG) made more than $63 million in its opening weekend. Just to put it in perspective, number 2 was the R-rated Role Models, at $19 million, which under normal circumstances would have been enough to make it number one. But $63 million puts “Madagascar 2” in the top 50 opening weekends of all time, around the level of “Wall?E” and “Lord of the Rings.”
Last week’s number 1 was the G-rated High School Musical 3, for the second week in a row. This week, at number 3, it continued to do well, increasing its total to a domestic $75 million and over $160 million world-wide.
Why does Hollywood keep having to re-learn the lesson that there is an enormous and enthusiastic audience for family-friendly movies?