July 13, 2012
HomeWord's Culture Brief is provided to help parents and ministry leaders stay current with today’s youth culture.

Correction:  In last week's Culture Brief (7/6/12) we mistakenly reported that 3% of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies. The correct statistic should read as follows:  53% of 13-year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies, a number that increases to 78% by age 17 and three out of four teenage girls feel depressed, guilty and shameful after spending three minutes looking through a fashion magazine.

Google Hot Internet Searches - 7/13/12
    1.    big brother
    2.    steam
    3.    joe paterno
    4.    kristin chenoweth
    5.    espys
    6.    robert blake
    7.    eddie murphy
    8.    daniel tosh
    9.    kate upton
    10.    all star game 2012
Source: Google

Top 10 U.S. Websites - 7/13/12
    1.    Google
    2.    Facebook
    3.    YouTube
    4.    Yahoo!
    5.    Amazon
    6.    Wikipedia
    7.    eBay
    8.    Twitter
    9.    Craigslist
    10.    LinkedIn
Source: Alexa

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 7/13/12
    1.    Wide Awake - Katy Perry
    2.    Whistle - Flo Rida
    3.    Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - Pink
    4.    Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
    5.    Want U Back - Cher Lloyd
    6.    Titanium (feat. Sia) - David Guetta & Sia
    7.    Lights - Ellie Goulding
    8.    Good Time - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
    9.    Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye
    10.    Payphone - Maroon 5
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 7/13/12
    1.    America's Got Talent - Monday
    2.    Bachelorette
    3.    The Big Bang Theory (Special)
    4.    Hells Kitchen - Monday
    5.    America's Got Talent - Tuesday
    6.    Master Chef - Monday
    7.    The Big Bang Theory
    8.    Hells Kitchen - Tuesday
    9.    Master Chef - Tuesday
    10.    US Olympic Trials - Monday Night
 Source: Nielsen Co

Top 5 Most Viewed Videos on YouTube - This Week - 7/13/12
    1.    Sell Out - RayWilliamJohnson
    2.    My New Emo Hair! - smosh
    3.    Elders React to Dubstep - TheFineBros
    4.    Tekkit Part 6: The Iron Door - Blue Xephos
    5.    Shadow of Isphrael Part 39 - Blue Xephos
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Week Ending 7/13/12
    1.    The Amazing Spiderman
    2.    Ted
    3.    Brave
    4.    Magic Mike
    5.    Savages
Source: Variety

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Facebook Does Not Lead to Depression

A new study refutes earlier suggestions that the amount of time spent on Facebook and other social media sites might lead to depression. Researchers believe it may be unnecessarily alarming to advise patients and parents on the risk of “Facebook Depression” based solely on the amount of Internet use. The results of the study by The University of Wisconsin researchers are published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The new report counters last year’s American Academy of Pediatrics study that suggested exposure to Facebook could lead to depression. In the new study, students were surveyed with 43 text-message questionnaires at random intervals over a seven-day period between February and December of 2011. Evaluation of the data, including the depression-screening results, discovered no significant associations between social-media use and the probability of depression.

Source: PsychCentral

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/07/10/facebook-activity-does-not-lead-to-depression/41399.html
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School Is Too Easy, Students Report

Millions of kids simply don't find school very challenging, a new analysis of federal survey data suggests. The report could spark a debate about whether new academic standards being piloted nationwide might make a difference. The findings from the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank that champions "progressive ideas," analyzed three years of questionnaires from the Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national test given each year. Among the findings: 37% of fourth-graders say their math work is "often" or "always" too easy; 57% of eighth-graders say their history work is "often" or "always" too easy; 39% of 12th-graders say they rarely write about what they read in class. The data suggest that many kids simply aren't pushed academically: Only one in five eighth-graders read more than 20 pages a day, either in school or for homework. Most report that they read far less.

Source: USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-07-09/school-too-easy/56120106/1
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U.S. High Schools Lax in Preventing Dating Abuse

Although dating violence is a recognized problem for U.S. teens, a majority of high school counselors say their school provides no training or guidelines for dealing with abusive romantic relationships, a new study finds. "We found that the majority of schools don't have a protocol to deal with incidents of teen dating abuse," said lead researcher Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, an assistant professor of community health education at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. "This means that most of the school counselors would not know what to do. This is also true for school nurses," he said. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News and World Report

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/07/09/us-high-schools-lax-in-preventing-dating-abuse-study