Social Media, Social Lives Teen Study from Commonsense Media

Some very interesting studies on Internet usage have hit the Interwebs in recent weeks.  Chekka looka these nuggets to become informed about the social media usage of today's teens. For those of you (including me) who are still a safe distance from the teen years, take a good, long look at your sweet child, then take a deep breath and a mental snapshot.  You might also want to steer clear of high schools and shopping malls for awhile.  Now, on to the study.....

The non-profit organization Commonsense Media used a nationally representative, probability-based sample of 13- to 17-year-olds to create the report:

Commonsense Media: Social Media, Social Lives: How Teens View Their Digital Lives

The report illustrated just how much social media is woven into the daily lives of most teens:

• Three out of four (75%) teenagers currently have a profile on a social networking site, and one in five (22%) has a current Twitter account.
• 68% of teens surveyed text a least once a day, half (51%) visit social networking sites daily, and 11% send or receive tweets at least once a day. 
• More than a third (34%) of teens visit their main social networking site several times a day.

While the term "addiction" was not defined in the questions, 41% of cell phone-owning teens answered "yes" when asked whether they would describe themselves as "addicted" to their phones.

The apple does not fall far from the tree in media usage as 28% of those whose parents have a mobile device say they consider their parents "addicted" to their gadgets, and 21% of all teens say they wish their parents spent less time with their cell phones and other devices.  This same sentiment was well illustrated in the 2011 book Alone Together written by MIT psychologist Sherri Turkle.

On a positive note, the study also reveals teens reported various personal impacts from social media including making them feel less shy (29%), more outgoing (28%); more confident (20%), more popular (19%), and more sympathetic to others (19%). Fifteen percent say it makes them feel better about themselves.

The study contains good news for parents eager to maintain communications with their teen as more than a third (37%) say social media use has mainly helped their relationships with family members.

While social media is not going anywhere, some teens long for a break:

• Forty-three percent of teens agree strongly or somewhat that they sometimes wish they could "unplug" 
• More than a third agree at least "somewhat" that they sometimes wish they could go back to a time when there was no Facebook.

While I have no idea where all of this is headed, at least I won't be completely surprised in a few years. Then again, all of social media is only a few years old today, isn't it?

Click here to view a larger version of colorful Infographic from Commonsense Media:  

Will Handwriting Go the Way of The Dodo?

In this age of rapid change, I often ponder which skills and character traits will be most needed for my kids in the future. Some are timeless: honesty, personal responsibility, a sense of humor, math facts, integrity, good manners, empathy, good hygiene and a strong work ethic. 

Some would argue the need for "math facts" in this calculator-in-your-pocket era, but I'm holding out on that one. Being quick with numbers is useful worldwide for use in large negotiations and simple market transactions and that is not going to change. I mean who whips out their phone to calculate tip in a taxi cab or restaurant?

New necessities: a global mindset and experience, patience, flexibility, entrepreneurship, and the ability to think fast and write well.

Skills I'll probably never use again: push-reel lawn mowing, paper map navigation, winding up a car window, and perusing the Encyclopedia Britannica which - by the way - announced in March it will cease printing after 244 years!

One life skill I've never questioned, is handwriting. Yet, my son's third grade teacher doesn't think kids will use handwriting in "about ten years". Not just cursive, which has its own debate, but good old fashioned pen and paper, love letter, Declaration of Independence signing handwriting. Gone before they get to college. Rendered obsolete by the prevalence of touchscreen keypad, fingerprint readers, and Siri's future grandchildren.

An interesting article debating the demise of cursive explains that handwriting has not actually been around that long and its demise has been predicted before. The article mentions that an observer in 1955 in the Saturday Evening Post complained somewhat hilariously:

“Nowadays people compose all their letters on a typewriter, or dictate them to a tape recorder, or sign them with a rubber stamp, and, as a result, the muscles of the thumb and forefinger which were formerly employed to grip a pen have fallen largely into disuse, except for picking olives out of Martinis or occasionally pinching stenographers in crowded elevators.”  

How very Mad Men!

Still it surprised me to hear that my son's third grade teacher believes the demise of handwriting is truly near. This is not some naive, newfangled teacher, too. She is a 20-year veteran of teaching. Her children are grown. Working in the heart of Silicon Valley, her classroom has the benefit of smart boards and document cameras which she uses wisely. Yet she is pretty down to earth. I'm sure she gardens and reads books made of paper. She commutes a decent distance to school on foot. In other words, she has her feet firmly on the ground so I cannot dismiss her prediction as crazy.

We both agree and have accepted that - like it or not - technology is a part of these kids' lives. She has taken that additional step by confidently believing that handwriting will soon go the way of the DoDo. Despite my son's messy penmanship, I'm still not ready to go there. Are you?

Is Madonna Really Lady Gaga's Grandma?

Uh no. But my nine-year old son did think that for a short bit after tonight's Super Bowl. The conversation was brief:

Son: Who is that?

Me: Madonna

Son: Who is she?

Me: Lady Gaga's Grandma

As my husband nearly spat out his beer, I congratulated myself on providing an explanation far more succinct than the one I fumbled a few nights earlier when the same son asked about the meaning of the song "Moves Like Jagger." "Um, er, ever hear of the Rolling Stones? Jumpin' Jack Flash? Hon, we've got some work to do". 

Bathed in the culture and trivia of Star Wars and Harry Potter, my kids are pretty clueless about pop culture and music icons in general. I have no qualms about shielding them from the WB or Hanna Montana and take little offense to the popular position of being anti-Justin Bieber on the playground.

That being said, we've neglected to give our kids much exposure to the truly innovative REAL cultural icons that inspired and influence those they hear now. My nine-year old moon-walked (accidentally) the other night in the kitchen and my husband and I struggled to explain the original and insanely talented Michael Jackson...remember before all that other stuff? Our son took off to play before we could pull up a YouTube video – which would have hardly done justice to MJ’s talent and impact on music and dance today.

Thanks to Pandora, we listen to plenty of music around the house, but it trends toward alternative and English folky (or whatever you call Mumford & Sons and David Gray, etc) or a bit of grunge when we're feeling homesick for Seattle. Notable female singers like Sarah MacLachlan, Florence and the Machine, and Annie Lennox waft through the house on my "me" days, but most of this goes right through their heads.

The accidental moonwalk and Madonna’s pretty-darn-impressive-for-a-53-year old Super Bowl performance have inspired me to seek out, and share with the kids, a few icons of their parent’s generation. Who needs (or can afford) Lego camp? Maybe it's time for rock-n-roll roots camp this summer. We can start with Madonna and Michael, and then move on to all that classic rock of the 60s and 70s I grew up listening to on 92.3 KGON in Portland. That’s right, KGON <Still> Rocks 24/7 by the way, if you ever need a fix. Why stop there? We’ll keep working back through the Beatles, Elvis, the Supremes and the whole Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame collection of musical roots. Good god, we’ve got our work cut out.

Madonna may not be Lady Gaga’s grandmother, without her breakthrough influence, there would be no House of Gaga. Most of the other clowns on MTV -- or whatever music video channel kids watch today -- would be nobodies without the influence of people old enough to be their grandparents: So here’s to a few favs: Mick, Ron, Charlie, Keith (Richards and Moon), Roger (Waters and Daltrey), Pete, Jim and so on – It’s time to start Talkin 'Bout My Generation!

Coming to Terms with the Lego Marketing Juggernaut

The new Lego magazine came this week. The arrival of this bimonthly marketing publication reminds me I've had "cancel Lego magazine" on my To-do list for a good long time. I haven't had the heart, so I must not be the "mean mom" my kids sometimes refer to....not yet anyway.

Lego -- which is Danish for "play well" -- was started in 1932 by a Danish carpenter. Today, Legos are sold in 130 countries.  Not long ago, Lego was losing money and an acquisition target.  Since then, it has engineered an amazing turnaround, in large part by churning out licensed Lego versions of popular brands: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and an ill-fated Prince of Persia (remember the buffed up Jake Gyllenhall mini-figure?). The company that means play well, has learned to market well.  

New products today are released with drumbeat timing supported by interactive content on Lego.com, board games, video games, "visual" encyclopedias, and comic book-like magazine inserts sent to children worldwide.  It's a veritable marketing powerhouse.    

In the current issue we learn that DC Comics characters are the next new thing. Batman & Robin. Superman. The Joker. Wonder Woman.  In Lego form, coming to a plastic Gotham near you. Draining piggy banks in households everywhere!  

It is great fun to see my sons' eyes light up when they spot the new magazine peeking out from the mailbox. It occupies them for days and fills their conversations. The magazine arrival borders on a community event in some circles. Kids exuberantly run up to their equally-excited friends to rejoice in the latest Hero Factory 3.0 characters....which are apparently much better than the 2.0 guys, although no child can clearly articulate why. The buzz resembles that of an i-phone release among adults, except it happens every two months, and these are five to nine year olds.  

The magazine's arrival has the power to alter the mood in our house from "play well" toward, "I want that!".  That can get me down. We have a LOT of Legos, yet a new magazine causes my sons to forget the sets and characters they once pined for and received as gifts, earned, or bought with their own money. Whatever Lego decides to feature in the next issue, that is what the kids covet most.  

On the heels of a Christmas holiday filled with moderate, yet perfectly happy, gift giving and receiving, I've started to fight back against the juggernaut. I want my kids to be conscientious consumers and be thankful for what they have. I am responsible for teaching them to be wise to marketing tricks disguised as entertainment.

Let's face it. You can't beat Lego. If I cancel the magazine, the neighbor boys or schoolmates would bring it over. So why not join my “foe” by developing some sneaky messaging of my own? For example:

"Tell me, how exactly is Von Nebula 3.0 sooo much better than 2.0? Is that worth your $12?"

"Did you know the Lego company earned $3.5 billion kroner last year? Some of that money was your allowance!" For the currency exchange-challenged, that's US $670 million, but it sounds bigger in Danish money. 

"If you are no longer excited about Rocka, now that Rocka XL is here, I know plenty of other kids would love to have him".

While trying to teach my kids to question advertising, look for real value in upgrades, and spot savvy marketing, I also hope they internalize that happiness can come from being content with the toys you have, especially when you understand that many kids would love just some of that.

My sons may not be fully aware of my motives, yet my questions do give them pause.  They nod slowly, before starting back up about how the latest Furno Bike now has dual plasma blasters.  I smile. "Is that so?"  

I hope to be encouraging my children to "play well" and be more empathetic, while also becoming wise little consumers. It is a tall order, yet necessary.

Our kids will be the most marketed-to generation yet. They’ll need to be savvy to hold onto their hard-earned dollars as they maneuver the daily gauntlet of advertising and sneaky promotions. First we mastered skipping TV commercials. Now we must find a way to deal with new marketing avenues:  banner ads, social media, app pop-ups, and product catalogs cleverly disguised as comic books....courtesy of the marketing geniuses at the Lego Company.