Changing Faith for Changing Teens
Youth are remarkably faithful, according to a new study by the Christian research organization The Barna Group: About six in 10 teens attend some sort of spiritual get-together every week, and many say that spirituality is very important to their lives. The Barna study also suggests many teens are growing more disengaged—at least from the standard ways in which these things are measured. Youth are not praying as much as they used to or donating to their churches as they once did. They’re less engaged with small groups, too. All these telltale signs of a changing faith—perhaps a faith growing stagnant—often are missed by youth workers because attendance at church and youth group has remained pretty steady for years. “While there is still much vibrancy to teen spirituality, it seems to be ‘thinning out,’ says David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group. “Teenagers view religious involvement partly as a way to maintain their all-important relationships. Yet perhaps technology such as social networking is reconfiguring teens’ needs for relationships and continual connectivity, diminishing the role of certain spiritual forms of engagement in their lives. Talking to God may be losing out to Facebook.” (The Barna Group)
Youth Looking for Sex, Porn Online
Children and teens actively are looking for the Internet’s red light district, according to OnlineFamily.Norton, an online monitoring service. The organization analyzed more than 15 million searches during 10 months and separated them by the age of the searcher—and found that terms such as sex and porn were very popular search terms for the 18-and-under set. However, there were interesting differences. Children 7 and under searched for porn more often. (It was the fourth most popular search word, behind YouTube, Google and Facebook), while youth 8 to 18 favored the word sex (again, the fourth most popular term). “Older children are searching the term sex to look at the images,” says Michael MacKenzie, assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, “while the 7 and unders are searching to find out what the taboo term porn means.” (New York Times)
Cyrus Not as Popular with Youth
While teen starlet Miley Cyrus may be trying to broaden her fan base, her push to sexualize her previously squeaky-clean image may be alienating the young girls who propelled her to stardom in the first place. Sales for Cyrus’ new album Can’t Be Tamed have been pretty dowdy compared to her previous releases, and a recent survey of 13- to 17-year-olds found that only 24 percent “liked” her—down from 45 percent two years ago. Marketing consultant Tina Wells did another survey among 8- to 12-year-olds and found that Cyrus was rated as the seventh “coolest” celebrity around. Not bad, but in 2008 Cyrus ranked No. 1. Turns out, kids can be far more critical of Cyrus’ new style than their parents. “It was weird,” said 11-year-old Perry Hamm, responding to Cyrus’ newest video (in which Cyrus wears digital wings and a black ribbon corset). “I feel like she acts 25. She looks so old. She is too old for herself.” (New York Times)
Are Gamers Couch Potatoes? Perhaps Not.
A new study suggests that gamers who play sports videogames are also more likely to play sports—often the same sport—in real life. About 75 percent of gamers play a sport, according to ESSEC, the French school of business that conducted by the study. “Video games are frequently demonized,” says ESSEC marketing chief Thierry Lardinoit. “We now know these fears are unfounded. While it is difficult to fight against the consumption of video games, which has become more and more widespread among youth, we can use this consumption to further the realistic goal of encouraging physical activity among adolescents.” (IndustryGamers)
Top Search Terms
Ages 13-18
1. Youtube
2. Facebook
3. Google
4. Sex
5. MySpace
6. Porn
7. Yahoo
8. Youtube.com
9. eBay
10. Wikipedia
Ages 8-12
1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Sex
5. Club Penguin
6. Youtube.com
7. You Tube
8. Miniclip
9. Yahoo
10. eBay
Ages 7 and Under
1. Youtube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Porn
5. Club Penguin
6. Yahoo
7. Webkinz
8. You Tube
9. Games
10. Miniclip
Source: OnlineFamily.Norton
