Media Vamping: Twilight Talking Points, Bite Me Brouhaha

July 9, 2010 “There’s an obsession among many teens today for all things vampire, and it looks like the craze is now leaving a mark…literally.” So goes the opener for CBS News Early Morning Show this week titled “Teen Twilight Trend: Love Bites”…Coupla things here: First, in our media-hyped culture of ‘three makes a trend’ I’d like to lob the powerball question into the “who … [Read more...]

Amy Jussel On Kids’ Media Management and Childhood Matters

Why ‘Amy Jussel’ instead of ‘Shaping Youth’ in the headline today? Because this time it’s personal…That’s mama code for ‘don’t do as I do, do as I say’ on the media management front from my own tween experience regarding familial cellphone contracts, texting and mobile media. I was on the radio with talk show host Nurse Rona Renner (podcast to be archived here) who runs … [Read more...]

My Daughter Drank the Kool-Aid: Media Moments in Adolescence

Media's power has an odd way of sneaking up on you at unexpected moments...Remember this one I wrote about preteen body/beauty influence? Well, this weekend, she eagerly tapped into wikipedia and YouTube to get the scoop on how to dye the ends of her long blonde hair with Kool-Aid unsweetened bright red cherry mix in an attempt to 'look like a rocker,' using her own sitting … [Read more...]