Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

What's Hot? 12/21/12

Trending Today on Twitter - 12/21/12
     1. Jack Reacher
     2. #IllNeverRegretMeeting
     3. #EndOfTheWorldConfessions
     4. #FollowFriday
     5. #mayans
     6. #TGIF
     7. Breds
     8. Happy Holidays
     9. Merry Christmas
    10. Jordans
Source: Twitter

Popular Today on Bing - 12/21/12
    1. Midwest Blizzard
    2. Hairspray Star Loses 60 Lbs
    3. Mystery Woman Linda
    4. Drug Lord's Daughter Freed
    5. Facebook $1 Fee
    6. Paul Simon Newtown
    7. Adam Lanza Haircut
    8. Jenny McCarthy Abs
Source: Bing

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 12/21/12
     1. Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
     2. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
     3. Ho Hey - Lumineers
     4. Scream & Shout (feat. Britney Spears) - will.i.am
     5. Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
     6. Diamonds - Rihanna
     7. Home - Phillip Phillips
     8. Beauty and a Beat (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Justin Bieber
     9. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars
    10. Try - Pink
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 12/16/12
     1. NBC Sunday Night Football
     2. 60 Minutes
     3. NCIS
     4. The Big Bang Theory
     5. NCIS: Los Angeles
     6. Person of Interest
     7. Two and a Half Men
     8. The Voice - 12/10
     9. Criminal Minds
    10. The Voice - 12/11
 Source: Nielsen Co

Most Viewed YouTube Videos  - 12/21/12
    1. Rewind YouTube Style 2012
    2. Golden Eagle Snatches Kid
    3. The Glitch
    4. Even more bets you will always win
    5. Fruit Ninja in Real Life to Dubstep
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Week Ending 12/20/12
    1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
    2. Lincoln
    3. Rise of the Guardians
    4. Skyfall
    5. Life of Pi
Source: Variety

U.S. Teen Smoking Falls to Record Low in 2012

Cigarette smoking among American teenagers dropped to a record low in 2012, a decline that may have been partly driven by a sharp hike in the federal tobacco tax, researchers said on Wednesday.

An annual survey of about 45,000 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades found that the overall proportion of those saying they had smoked in the prior 30 days fell by just over a percentage point to 10.6 percent.

"A one percentage point decline may not sound like a lot, but it represents about a 9 percent reduction in a single year in the number of teens currently smoking," Lloyd Johnston, the principal investigator in the study, said in a statement.

He said reductions on that scale can translate into the prevention of thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of cases of cancer and other serious disease.

The researchers also cited the increase in federal cigarette taxes, raised by 62 cents a pack in 2009, as a likely contributing factor. The findings were part of an annual survey by University of Michigan researchers released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Smoking rates fell for each of the individual age groups surveyed, most notably among eighth graders - from 6.1 percent in 2011 to 4.9 percent in 2012, the survey found.

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/20/usa-smoking-youth-idUSL1E8NJLJ920121220

Instagram Claims Right to Sell Users' Photos

Instagram said today that it has the perpetual right to sell users' photographs without payment or notification, a dramatic policy shift that quickly sparked a public outcry.

The new intellectual property policy, which takes effect on January 16, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquisition of the popular photo-sharing site. Unless Instagram users delete their accounts before the January deadline, they cannot opt out.

Under the new policy, Facebook claims the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency. One irked Twitter user quipped that "Instagram is now the new iStockPhoto, except they won't have to pay you anything to use your images."

"It's asking people to agree to unspecified future commercial use of their photos," says Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "That makes it challenging for someone to give informed consent to that deal."

That means that a hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could write a check to Facebook to license photos taken at its resort and use them on its Web site, in TV ads, in glossy brochures, and so on -- without paying any money to the Instagram user who took the photo. The language would include not only photos of picturesque sunsets on Waikiki, but also images of young children frolicking on the beach, a result that parents might not expect, and which could trigger state privacy laws.

Another policy pitfall: If Instagram users continue to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and subsequently delete their account after the deadline, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity. There's no obvious language that says deleting an account terminates Facebook's rights, EFF's Opsahl said

Source: CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57559710-38/instagram-says-it-now-has-the-right-to-sell-your-photos/

Heavy Drinking, Pot Use Tied to Teen Brain Changes

Teens who are heavily into drinking and smoking pot may show signs of breakdown in the brain's wiring system, a small study suggests.

Using brain scans of 92 teenagers, researchers found that kids who regularly drank and used marijuana showed negative changes in the brain's "white matter" over 18 months.

The brain has two broad types of tissue, known as gray matter and white matter. The gray matter can be seen as the brain's information-processing centers, while the white matter is like the wiring connecting those centers.

"White matter is the information highway. It allows the brain to communicate quickly and efficiently," said the study's lead researcher, Joanna Jacobus, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego.

If white matter is "less healthy," she explained, there could be subtle effects on a person's memory, attention and mental processing speed.

Dr. Duncan Clark, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who studies teen substance abuse, also weighed in on the study. "We are concerned that alcohol, marijuana or other substance use may cause delays or deficits in teen brain development," Clark said. "This study adds to those concerns."

The findings, reported online Dec. 14 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, are based on 41 teenagers with a history of habitual drinking and pot smoking, and 51 teens who reported little, if any, alcohol or drug use. As a group, Jacobus and her colleagues found, kids who drank and smoked pot showed negative white-matter changes. In particular, the more they drank over the study period, the worse their white-matter integrity.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/12/14/heavy-drinking-pot-use-tied-to-teen-brain-changes

What's Hot? 12/14/12

Trending Today on Twitter - 12/14/12
     1. #TheGifter
     2. #LetsPretend
     3. #TGIF
     4. Anibal Sanchez
     5. #HappyFriday
     6. #Tigers
     7. The Hobbit
     8. #nowplaying
     9. Susan Rice
    10. First Take
Source: Twitter

Popular Today on Bing - 12/14/12
     1. Track Palin Divorce
     2. Lady Gaga's Little Sister
     3. Ariel Winter
     4. Nurse Left Suicide Note
     5. Casey Anthony
     6. Delonte West
     7. Josh Hamilton
     8. X Factor
Source: Bing

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 12/14/12
     1. Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
     2. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
     3. Ho Hey - Lumineers
     4. Scream & Shout (feat. Britney Spears) - will.i.am
     5. Diamonds - Rihanna
     6. Beauty and a Beat (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Justin Bieber
     7. Home - Phillip Phillips
     8. Die Young - Ke$ha
     9. Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
    10. Gangnam Style - PSY
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 12/9/12
     1. NBC Sunday Night Football
     2. The Big Bang Theory
     3. Person of Interest
     4. Two and a Half Men - 11/29
     5. Football Night in America, Part 3
     6. The Voice - 12/03
     7. 60 Minutes
     8. The Voice - 12/04
     9. The OT
    10. Criminal Minds
 Source: Nielsen Co

Most Viewed YouTube Videos  - 12/14/12
    1. Man of Steel - Official Trailer #2
    2. WCU vs App State - Worst Free Throw Ever
    3. Moses vs Santa Claus - Epic Rap Battle
    4. Jenni Rivera dies at 43 in plane crash
    5. Queridos Suegros
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Week Ending 12/13/12
    1. Skyfall
    2. Rise of the Guardians
    3. Lincoln
    4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
    5. Life of Pi
Source: Variety

Google Top Searches for 2012

Google, the world's largest Internet search-engine, has released its listing of top rated searches for 2012.

 1. Whitney Houston
 2. Gangnam Style
 3. Hurricane Sandy
 4. iPad 3
 5. Diablo 3
 6. Kate Middleton
 7. Olympics 2012
 8. Amanda Todd
 9. Michael Clarke Duncan
10. BBB12

Source: Google
http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#the-world/searches

Binge-Eating Teens More Likely to Use Drugs

Binge-eating adolescents are more likely to use marijuana and other drugs and become depressed, according to a study that suggests doctors be aware of their teen patients eating habits to help avert these issues.

Teens and young adults who reported being binge-eaters or overeaters were almost twice as likely to start using marijuana than those without the eating disorder, research published today in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found. Binge eaters and overeaters were 1.59 to 1.89 times more likely to use other drugs, researchers said.

People who binge eat can be more impulsive, a trait that may lead them to drug use, said Kendrin Sonneville, the study’s lead author and director of nutrition training in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. More research is needed to look at how to better identify and treat kids who overeat or binge eat, she said.

Source: Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-10/binge-eating-teens-more-likely-to-use-drugs-study-finds

Dating Violence in Teen Years Can Have Lasting Impact

Teenagers who experience dating violence could be more likely to get involved in violent relationships and have health problems as young adults, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed surveys of nearly 6,000 teens across the United States that were taken when the teens were between the ages of 12 and 18, and again five years later. The surveys asked about physical and psychological violence in romantic relationships, and also about feeling depressed, having suicidal thoughts, drinking and doing drugs.

"What stood out was, across both genders and types of victimization, teens who experienced teen dating violence were two to three times more likely to be re-victimized by a partner in young adulthood," said study author Deinera Exner-Cortens, a graduate student in the department of human development at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Exner-Cortens and her colleagues also found that teens who were victims of dating violence faced higher rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and heavy drinking, which varied by gender.

The findings were published online Dec. 10 and in the January 2013 print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/12/10/dating-violence-in-teen-years-can-have-lasting-impact

Most Mobile Apps for Kids Secretly Collect and Share Information

A study from the Federal Trade Commission has found that most mobile apps for kids are secretly collecting information from children including device IDs, phone numbers, locations, and other private information without their parents' knowledge or consent.

Nearly 60% of the mobile apps the FTC reviewed from the Google Play and Apple App stores transmitted the device ID. They also often shared that ID with an advertising network, analytics company or another third party. Of those 235 mobile apps, 14 also transmitted the location of the device and the phone number, the FTC found.

More than half of the apps also contained interactive features such as in-app purchases and advertising that were not disclosed to parents.

Yet only 20% of the apps disclosed any information about their privacy practices.

"While we think most companies have the best intentions when it comes protecting kids’ privacy, we haven’t seen any progress when it comes to making sure parents have the information they need to make informed choices about apps for their kids. In fact, our study shows that kids' apps siphon an alarming amount of information from mobile devices without disclosing this fact to parents," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a written statement. "All of the companies in the mobile app space, especially the gatekeepers of the app stores, need to do a better job."

Source: Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-ftc-most-mobile-kids-apps-secretly-collect-and-share-information-20121207,0,1679873.story

What's Hot? 12/7/12

Trending Today on Twitter - 12/7/12
    1. #HappyBirthdayNicki
    2. #MessageToMyEx
    3. Pearl Harbor
    4. #TGIF
    5. #FollowFriday
    6. #fiscalcliff
    7. DJs
    8. #tcot
    9. #nowplaying
   10. #job
Source: Twitter

Popular Today on Bing - 12/7/12
    1. Mario Lopez Wedding
    2. Susan Luckey
    3. Japan Earthquake
    4. Mall Santa Fired
    5. Roethlisberger
    6. Ellen Ad
    7. McAfee Heart Attack
    8. Ashley Judd
Source: Bing

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 12/7/12
    1. Love and War - Tamar Braxton
    2. Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
    3. Ho Hey - Lumineers
    4. Scream & Shout (feat. Britney Spears) - will.i.am
    5. I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
    6. Diamonds - Rihanna
    7. Gangnam Style - PSY
    8. Beauty and a Beat (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Justin Bieber
    9. Home - Phillip Phillips
   10. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 10 TV Shows in Prime Time - Week Ending 12/2/12
    1. NBC Sunday Night Football
    2. NCIS
    3. The Big Bang Theory
    4. Dancing with the Stars Results - 11/27
    5. Dancing with the Stars - 11/26
    6. 60 Minutes
    7. NCIS: Los Angeles - 11/27
    8. Person of Interest - 11/29
    9. Two and a Half Men - 11/29
   10. Criminal Minds - 11/28
 Source: Nielsen Co

Most Viewed YouTube Videos  - 12/7/12
    1. Yasha Swag - Pickles Official music video
    2. Extremely Scary Ghost Elevator Prank
    3. Pop Danthology 2012
    4. G Fuel: Mission Gunship
    5. Is The 5-Second Rule True?
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Week Ending 12/6/12
    1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
    2. Skyfall
    3. Lincoln
    4. Life of Pi
    5. Rise of the Guardians
Source: Variety