Too Sexy for our Teens
Pediatricians are typically full of great advice: Eat your veggies, they’ll say. Get lots of exercise. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. So when the American Academy of Pediatrics’ released a statement that said, in essence, the entertainment industry’s obsession with sexuality was unhealthy for kids, a lot of people took notice. “Television, film, music and the Internet all are becoming increasingly sexually explicit,” the pediatricians wrote in a recent statement, “yet information on abstinence, sexual responsibility and birth control remains rare.” According to the statement’s lead author, Dr. Victor Strasburger, the media are filling a void left open by our culture’s other primary teachers. “We do such a poor job of educating kids about sex in sex education classes in school, and parents are notoriously shy about talking to kids about sex,” he says. “The media pick up the slack.” That’s bad news for kids, considering about 75 percent of prime-time television shows contain sexual content, while only 14 percent get into potential risks or consequences. The ratio when it comes to other forms of media, including music and teen magazines, is equally out of kilter. The research shows us the portrayal of sex in the media is unrealistic. It’s unhealthy,” says Alan Delamater, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami. “It doesn’t consider the consequences of sexual behavior. This is what are kids growing up thinking. This is what sex is about.” (Bloomberg Business Week, Los Angeles Times)

Smoking Linked to Depression
Does smoking make teens more depressed? It seems so, according to a new Canadian study. While previous studies have suggested smoking and depression are somehow linked, researchers couldn’t tell whether lighting up was a trigger for depression or if more depressed teens self-medicated by smoking. This new study found that teens who started to smoke during the study were more likely to be depressed near the end of it than at the beginning. “This observational study is one of the few to examine the perceived emotional benefits of smoking among adolescents,” said Michael Chaiton of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit of the University of Toronto. “Although cigarettes appear to have self-medicating effects or [are sometimes used] to improve mood, in the long-term we found teens who started to smoke reported higher depressive symptoms.” (UPI)

Scary Situation
Costume-shop owners and managers already are preparing for Halloween, and they expect that “Jersey Shore”-themed costumes will be among the season’s biggest draws. Other outfits expected to fly off the shelves? Lady Gaga apparel, wigs that mimic the hair of disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and anything to do with the film Avatar. (Chicago Sun Times)

Top 10 Richest YouTube Performers
Not many people make money when they post a video on YouTube, but these five performers have found a way to monetize their work on the video-sharing site. Here’s a list of them, including how many views each has garnered (as of the end of August) and the money they reportedly have made.
1. Shane Dawson (Christian comic/actor): 432 million views, $315,000
2. The Annoying Orange (animated fruit created by Dane Boedigheimer): 350 million views, $288,000
3. Philip DeFranco (vlogger also known as “PhilyD” or “sxephil”): 249 million views, $181,000
4. Ryan Higa (vlogger known as “nigahiga”): 207 million views, $151,000
5. Fred Figglehorn (actually 16-year-old Lucas Cruikshank, who makes YouTube videos for children): 201 million views, $146,000

Quote:
“The moms like to overshare about things [such as] menopause that their kids want nothing to do with or know anything about.” – Leanne Leitenberg, who launched a site last year called “Oh Crap! My Parents Joined Facebook.” Many teens are horrified that their parents have become friends with them on a social network, allowing them to listen to and join into conversation that previously were more private. About 16 percent of teens said they’re actually leaving Facebook now that their parents have joined, and 14 percent complain there’s too many old people on the network now. “They join out of the mentality that they’re the cool mom, and they just want to be part of the gang,” said Leitenberg. “They don’t realize how horrifying or how intrusive they actually are.” (Los Angeles Times)