Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Pardon this Interruption for a Brief Rant

Stimulus Plan for Candy: Pack It Full of Caffeine

The candy industry is rolling out new sweets packed with more than just sugar.

Buzz-inducing candy, spiked with caffeine and, often, vitamins, are the low-growth, $29 billion U.S. candy, gum and chocolate industry's answer to surging competition from energy drinks. And just like those beverages, the caffeine-infused candy often sports a controversial name that critics say evokes illegal drugs.

Last month, Mars Inc. introduced Snickers Charged, a version of the candy bar with a cup-of-coffee's worth of caffeine, plus B vitamins and amino acids, ingredients typically found in energy drinks. Jelly Belly Candy Co. has come out with Extreme Sport Beans, which are caffeinated and contain electrolytes, compounds beneficial for hydration, while Hershey Co. has launched caffeine-enhanced Ice Breakers Energy mints. Along with Jolt mints and gum, Buzz Bites, Foosh Mints, Crackheads chocolate-covered espresso beans and several others, these products make up a burgeoning "energy candy" category.

The new products are appearing as the candy industry is losing part of its most bankable audience -- kids. There were 3.3% fewer kids age 6 to 11 in 2007 as in 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales of sugar confectionary dropped by 4% from 2001 to 2006, while energy-drink sales rose by more than 400% to $3.23 billion in the period, according to market researcher Mintel.

Source: Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120286243886763861-email.html

I'm not by nature an angry person. But sometimes, some THING pushes the right button that sets me off. This news item managed to do it for me. I have no philosophical problem with companies trying to make a profit. But, puhhhleeaaassseee! Can anyone give me one legitimate reason why kids and teens should actually need extra caffeine in their diets? And even if there is one, why provide it in candy form? Is there any doubt that this is just one example of an industry attempting to pad their bottom line at the expense of our kids? This just seems so WRONG to me, encouraging kids to eat candy that provides an extra buzz! (As if the sugar isn't enough?) Jelly-beans with caffeine? That's just what the kids need in their Easter baskets this year! This is just another example of a crazy marketing mindset that does nothing to protect the health interests of our kids. Okay, I feel a little better now.

Parents' Drinking Influences Teenagers

Another news item to file under the "No Surprise" category...

When it comes to alcohol, many teenagers may take a cue from their parents, new research suggests.

In a study of more than 4,700 teenagers, researchers found that parents' drinking habits appeared to influence their children in both direct and indirect ways.

In the first case, teenagers seemed to simply follow the example of a parent who drank excessively, the study found. In the second case, many teens seemed to view parents' drinking as a sign of lax parenting, and this, in turn, affected their likelihood of drinking.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSKUA25603920080212?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Reading between the lines, this study particularly focuses on parents who drink excessively and how these behaviors influenced their teenagers. The article noted "the link was partially explained by the teens' perceptions of their parents as monitors and disciplinarians. Parents who drank heavily tended to be lax in monitoring their children's comings and goings, but tended to punish them more often. Those tendencies seemed to influence their teenagers' odds of drinking and getting drunk, particularly at the age of 14."

I am curious why I haven't seen a study on how teen drinking behaviors are influenced by parents who drink infrequently or moderately. Perhaps I've just haven't found them. If you know of anything current in this area, please post a comment.

If you are interested in reading more about preventing teen alcohol usage, click on the following article title:

Helping Your Kids Stay Alcohol-Free

Follow-Up: Facebook Acts to Make Quitting Easier

In a follow-up to my last post, the New York Times reports on how Facebook is trying to make it easier for people to delete their profiles...

Quitting Facebook Gets Easier

Aiming to address the privacy concerns of disenchanted users, Facebook.com said on Tuesday that it was trying to make it easier for people to delete their accounts permanently from the social networking site.

Until now, Facebook has offered only a deactivation option, which keeps copies of the account’s personal information on the company’s servers. It is possible to delete an account fully using a cumbersome manual method, but it is difficult; many users complained that Facebook did not provide clear instructions.

On Monday, Facebook modified its help pages to tell people that if they wanted to remove their accounts entirely, they can direct the company by e-mail to have it done. But on Tuesday, representatives of Facebook stopped short of saying the company would introduce a one-step delete account option.

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/technology/13face.html?

At least this is a step in the right direction.

Is Facebook the New "Hotel California"?

Remember the classic Eagles' tune "Hotel California"? The place where you can "check out any time you like but you can never leave"? It turns out that Facebook might qualify as the new "Hotel California" as some users are finding it almost impossible to completely delete their profiles. Here's an excerpt from a New York Times piece on this issue:

How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free
Are you a member of Facebook.com? You may have a lifetime contract.

Some users have discovered that it is nearly impossible to remove themselves entirely from Facebook, setting off a fresh round of concern over the popular social network’s use of personal data.

While the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Indeed, many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network.

It took Nipon Das, 34, a director at a biotechnology consulting firm in Manhattan about two months and several e-mail exchanges with Facebook’s customer service representatives to erase most of his information from the site, which finally occurred after he sent an e-mail threatening legal action. But even after that, a reporter was able to find Mr. Das’s empty profile on Facebook and successfully sent him an e-mail message through the network.

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11facebook.html?

This is just another friendly reminder to parents that like it or not, whatever information your kids post to a website may float around in Cyberspace for a very long time. For more on the dangers of posting information on the Internet, see my previous post by clicking here.

Teen Insomniacs More Than Tired

Teenagers are not getting enough sleep and now, one of the largest studies on adolescent insomnia finds the lack of sleep is taking a toll on their health. The study reveals those youths with insomnia, particularly chronic insomnia, are at greater risk of future somatic and especially psychological problems.

The study was led by researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. Study authors collected data from 4,175 youths between 11 and 17 years old. The participants were asked about their sleep, including symptoms of insomnia. Researchers followed up with more than 3,000 youths one year later.

Study authors say teens should get about nine hours of sleep each night.

Source: Ivanhoe Newswire
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=18092

A Reminder of the Obvious

I would be surprised if anyone is actually surprised by this:

Study finds U.S. music awash in booze and drugs
U.S. popular music is awash with lyrics about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Medical researchers have reviewed the words of the 279 top songs of 2005 to estimate just how common they are.

Their report on Monday showed a third of the songs had explicit references to substance abuse. And two-thirds of these references placed drugs, alcohol and tobacco in a positive light by associating them with sex, partying and humor, according to the team led by Dr. Brian Primack of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

They calculated that with Americans aged 15 to 18 listening to 2.4 hours of music daily, they hear 84 musical references to substance use a day and more than 30,000 a year.
Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0144737220080204?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews

The article noted that 15-to-18-year-olds hear 30,000 references to substance abuse per year. If two-thirds of the references are from a pro-substance use perspective, then kids hear 20,000 such messages per year. Can it actually be that these references have no impact on kids? I'm not sure it's possible to completely prevent these messages from having any influence. To be sure, this is a good reminder to parents that they need to engage their kids in discussions about media influence and to be proactive in laying a solid foundation of morals and values.

To learn more about media influence and building healthy morals and values, click on the following article titles:

Keeping Your Kids Safe by Being Media-Wise
Building Healthy Morals and Values

Kids who "Have it All" Don't "Have it All" -- After All

That's what Madeline Levine, a practicing psychologist in Northern California, chronicles in her new book, "The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids" (HarperCollins). Levine recounts studies show that:
-- 30 percent to 40 percent of affluent teens experience significant emotional problems, and that's three times the national rate;
-- Depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and psychosomatic disorders are higher among affluent teens than among teens in any other socioeconomic group;
-- Private-school kids, as a group, don't fare better in these areas than public-school kids;
-- Affluent kids feel less close to their parents than any other group of teens.
The author argues that too often today parents are trying to fill our children with the wrong things -- material goods, an incredible push to achievement and worldly success and status. Even worse, parents aren't filling them with the "right" things: values and character, a sense of being loved unconditionally, a work ethic.
Source: ScrippsNews
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/30062

This doesn't surprise me in the least, particularly with a eye to a families whose parents have a secular worldview. The author of the book is right on the mark with her comments about filling kids with the wrong things and not the "right" things. It seems to me that parents who don't have a spiritual foundation just pass along to their kids the prevailing view of the American Dream: achievement, worldly success and status are what matters. These characteristics leave kids empty in the end. Jesus' words are instructive here: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Further, and just to be clear, don't be complacent in thinking that this mindset does not infect the church. In my years as a youth pastor, I experienced parents who were very clear that they did not want their kids to pursue careers in missions or local church ministry because they wanted their kids to focus on pursuit of the American Dream.

A few years back, the National Study of Youth and Religion concluded that typically, kids grow up to reflect the faith and mindset of their parents. Christian Smith, the lead researcher of the study, stated in his conclusions in the book Soul Searching (Oxford Press), “The evidence clearly shows that the single most important social influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents.”

Where parents lead in terms of instilling faith, morals and values, their kids are most likely to follow.