Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

 Update: Feb 17, 2012 Boom! And that’s how it’s done. Congrats HopeMob.Congrats world.

Feb 16, 2012 Tired of skanky media with lousy messages and negative role models? Prefer to find fabulously positive uses of social media to uplift and inspire humanity? Ready to be part of something worthy, exciting, and impactful?

In less than 24 hours Shaun King could be fully funded for his amazing HopeMob.org venture (“What Happens When Generous Strangers Unite”) on Kickstarter…but he needs your help to rally.

“I believe in miracles” (cue soundtrack by Hot Chocolate which is in my brain…Actually…scratch that…Hope Mob has its own soundtrack, called “Believe”–the Walk of Hope (catchy too, and you get it free when you become a backer!)

Shaun’s description of HopeMob would make any venture capitalist with a heart grin widely and open a wallet…I can even envision the pitch deck, as he describes, “if Mother Teresa built a platform with the tech base of Groupon, Foursquare, & Netflix & the heart of CNN Heroes, it’d look like this!”

Those of you familiar with Kickstarter know that he won’t get a penny unless he hits that mark, and no donations will be processed UNTIL he does. So, for a great post-Valentine’s Day to humanity, how about showing this project some love? I’m in. You? (more…)

Feb. 14, 2012 Feisty about commercialization of Valentine’s Day and corporate “couple-talism?”

Wondering why “ily” texts feel as empty and vapid as a meaningless “lol” habit?

Check out Occupy V-Day on Tumblr where people take back the red-pink-purple-washing and share their own celebration of love in all its forms using media as the delivery channel. 

I wonder how many teens will join in, versus lip-locking and gift displaying on Facebook in “can you top this” attention-baiting mode?

Lately it feels like there’s some very public grandstanding that wreaks of saccharine sterility in the form of ‘over the top “PDA.” (public display of affection in military terms)

When prom hoopla becomes like wedding fanfare and ASKING someone out is under scrutiny for social cred “oooh, how did s/he do it?” then voted up in social network “likes” of ‘awww you two are so cute together’ peer validation, it seems we’re edging toward exhibitionism over connection, acquisition over authentic, heartfelt commonalities shared.

Just when I think it’s curbed by a few choice youth comments lobbed to peers like reminder grenades,  whammo, incoming…another round even stickier and ickier starts oozing onto the social stage of syrupy ‘sweethearts’ and ‘babes’ (or raunchy, provocative, thug-speak) to the point where I need a post-research shower.

I realize self-branding personas is part of the whole social media zeitgeist of  growing up with digital intimacy (DYR report here) but when you start to see teens literally holding up signs with arrows to their new BF/GF relationship to have peers ‘weigh in’ it smacks of “lookee what I have” objectification consistent with the rest of our pop culture. Bleh. The tech tools become an almost robotic form of  “I’ve got mine” (as in, “BF? GF? Check. Got one of those) which makes me squirm a bit projecting into the future of what might be mistaken for ‘intimacy.’

Some child development pros and family therapists call it out specifically: “Is media creating a generation of narcissists,” pointing toward the fame game of reality TV as the culprit with “hottie factor/arm candy” winning out over deeper touchpoints. I see it as more nuanced… (more…)

Feb. 5, 2012 Update: Handy list of corporate twitter handles to callout sexist ads via Shelby Knox at Change.org.

Feb 4, 2012 Super Bowl Sunday! Are you ready for some (political) football?

Thrilled to see the advocacy momentum of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s excellent documentary film Miss Representation is igniting passionista fervor far beyond media education.

Daughters everywhere are about to toss a red flag penalty play on sexist Super Bowl ads, “tweeting” in Howard Beale/Network “I’m mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore” social media style using the Twitter hashtag, “Not Buying It.”

That’s right, we all get to turn the Super Bowl into an “I spy with my sexist eye” game of experiential wrist-slapping and a mindful media lesson on corporate accountability.

Gents, will you join us too?

If you’re unfamiliar with the amazing Miss Representation film particulars, it’s a jaw-dropping show-n-tell evidentiary piece of “you can’t make this stuff up” journalism, weaving in the outrageousness of sexist media portrayals in a tapestry of high profile firsthand experiences from renowned leaders and women’s media experts.

It’s an engaging, fast-paced, often humorous, poignant romp…like an Onion spoof except for the painful fact that the inequities and absurdities are blindingly true…

(more…)

Feb. 1, 2012

“25% of young women 18-34 would rather win America’s Next Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize…”

…”And 23% would rather lose their ability to read than their figures” opens Lisa Bloom’s THINK: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World…

I’ll be interviewing author Lisa Bloom of THINK  later this month asking her about ‘the other 75%’ of young women, but for this post about the new documentary that just premiered at Sundance,  About Face: The Supermodels Then and Now my lizard brain skittered over to this thought: “Ka-Ching! This film is going to be a cash cow for HBO in an age-obsessed young and younger skewed zeitgeist, as Variety noted,  “to hear some tell it, the world’s most successful model now would be a 7-year-old with breasts.” Shudder.

Why will the film generate such buzz as a clickable, sharable, conversable yak-fest among the general populace when it hits? Partly because we’re living in a comparative culture where self-worth is inextricably entwined with appearance, and partly due to morbid curiosity, like rubberneckers on a freeway.

Even those of us championing brains over bod in a vapid pop culture preoccupation with narrow definitions of beauty have clicked through “celebrities without makeup” viral videos (almost 3 million views?) either responding to a tug for authenticity to justify one’s own body image insecurities, or to grope for a sense of reality in assessing the human condition from an uber distorted lens. Directly or indirectly, there’s no doubt in my mind some facet of About Face: The Supermodels, Then and Now will seep into your ambient media intake, so it’s important to THINK about this conversation as it pertains to youth, body image and teen tips for surviving today’s media morass.  (more…)

Update: Jan 31: SY posts will resume from hiatus tmrw, Feb. 1, per plan.

Jan 1, 2012 It’s a New Year of high hopes, fresh starts and corporate credos getting a sponge-bath.

Here’s hoping companies will begin to listen to consumer concerns from the START of product builds rather than mopping up marketing messes AFTER-launch, scrambling to reframe messages ‘um, what we really meant was’…

Case in point? Mattel’s backpedaling, reframing and attempted goodwashing of their absurdly sexualized Monster High dolls. And quite possibly soon? The marketing myopia of Lego Friends. I’m not ‘outraged’ or ‘freaked out’ or whatever loaded media-baiting punditry is flinging about regarding the new Lego Friends line targeting girls with the pinkification of ‘ladyfigs’ (complete with itty bitty breasts, curves, names, backstories, as beautified assembly props instead of open-ended imaginative, buildable play) I am baffled.

How (and why) are we missing profound opportunities to leverage neuroscience breakthroughs for positive change, wellness and play? With all this Lego research ‘anthropology,’ why aren’t we closing learning gaps with  innovation?

How can we finally be tossing aside ‘hardwired’ corpus calossum theories on differences in boys/girls, acknowledging brain plasticity and realizing this play pattern/edu deficit stuff is NOT ‘set in stone’ and yet simultaneously standby to see Lego spend $40 million in mega-marketing bucks to proceed to SET it in stone. Truly…baffling. Why would we DO that?

It confounds me that after we’ve connected the dots on the hackneyed ‘girls are more verbal, boys are more spatial’ themes only to find they’re not ‘wrong’ but are simply ‘learned’ in lather/rinse/repeat toy choice, environment, and behavior mode, that someone isn’t wildly waving their hands saying ‘hey, let’s look at this, make changes by design and improve outcomes for BOTH genders.’ (more…)

Dec. 20, 2011 True confessions, it’s been a heckuva challenging year, and it got me thinking about what different people do to bootstrap themselves out of adversity in its many forms whether it’s “first world” stress, third world crisis, health, home or holiday blues.

I turned to our SY advisory board child development specialist, Dr. Robyn Silverman and pointed the ‘whatcha got, girl?’ in her direction, and she replied with this “Cheer for the Cheerless” blog post pronto, my head bobbing with validation perusing her checklist of tips.

For an infusion of positive energy that streams directly into the soul,  I go straight for media that matters spotlighting REAL people making a difference in the world. Whether it’s broadcast en masse, like the recent CNN Heroes show (which will air again on Christmas eve and Christmas day, see international listings) or much smaller, online youth community hubs like the champions at Kids Are Heroes you’ll find a sure cure that uplifts and inspires. (more…)

Dec. 10, 2011 Usually “it’s the thought that counts” is mumbled in the unwrapping-to-wincing phase of needless holiday consumption but I’d like to flip that message into a heart-felt, fun-filled, family tradition instead.

With budgets cut to the quick and the focus on children when it comes to ‘doing something special’ for holiday gifts, here’s a long overdue idea for adults that won’t cost a cent…pick out gifts for loved ones, but just don’t buy them.

Seriously. Why not? If it’s truly “the thought that counts” then why not skip the consumption in woulda/coulda mode?

After all, how many of us see ‘hilarious’ catalog items ‘perfect’ for so and so, fork out the dough for a giggle, but secretly know it’ll show up in the ‘regifted’ bin?

By turning the sentiment virtual in a fresh new way, relatives and friends know you’re thinking of them with joy and humor minus the mailing costs, spending and credit card bills. (and since ‘the sky’s the limit’ and there’s no budget, you can discover all kinds of fun finds)

Here’s how it works: Write a post full of links with what you’ve picked out for each individual, then invite the key players in your world and let them ‘figure out the puzzle’ in the name of ‘virtual gifting.’

By literally skipping the ‘buy, buy’ flurry and dodging the neuroscience of shopping there’s more time for mindfulness and genuine sharing of thoughts that ‘remind you’ of a certain someone…It could catch on as a beloved annual holiday game ritual. (more…)