Every single day millions of children are constantly bombarded by media. Television, Internet, Movies, Video Games, Music, Videos are some of the many forms of media that continues to feed particular messages and ideas into our children and ultimately into our culture.
Dr. Douglas A. Gentile, a developmental psychologist and assistant professor in Iowa State University’s Department of Psychology, offered an explanation.
With the 21st century offering a greater number of media than any other period in history, younger generations can view or listen to almost any sort of content at the …

New research found in the November Issue of Pediatrics, suggest that pregnancy rates are far higher in teens who watch a lot of “sexy” TV shows that involve sexual behavior and dialogue. Teens who watched such shows were twice as likely to become pregnant over the next three years.
This research focused on shows that highlight “positive aspects” of sexual behavior without properly showing the risks involved. Such shows can lead teens to have unprotected sex. This study follows previous research from the same group that have already found that watching …

After posting the entry about Surveillance of Skype Messages in China, I was immediately informed that the issues highlighted in the Citizen Lab report affect only the TOM-Skype software distributed by TOM in China and that standard versions of Skype remain unaffected. [thanks Peter]. This is indeed an important piece of information as to appease the fears of the Skype user base.
It looks like Skype has been active in addressing the public in regards to this matter. Here are some excerpts from their President Josh Silverman.

The New York Times reported that a group of Canadian human right activist and a computer security researcher has discovered a surveillance system that monitors and archives web text messages and conversations. It is triggered when the conversation includes politically charged words. Researchers in Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto uncovered hundreds of message records after they decrypted the messages. Example words are “communist”, “quit the party”, “democracy”, “Tibet”, “Tiananmen” “SARS”, “Taiwan Independence”, and “milk powder”.
Media Monitoring Controvery
This new discovery again highlights the controversy of media monitoring by the …

Just Inappropriate for Kids or Just Inappropriate
Many people talk about how the media affects our children, how it may lead to violence or how it may encourage promiscuous lifestyles. There is a lot of merit there, but one thing that is increasingly noticeable but overlooked is the fact that the parents themselves are underestimating the influences of media in their own lives and indirectly how it affects their children.
Take a look at movie review sites where users list their ages, you’ll see adults saying the movie is inappropriate for the …

Back in March, Google rejected a Google Adwords ad from the Christian Institute, a British group. It stated “UK Abortion laws: Key news and views on abrotion law from The Christian Institute.” This group put out this ad during a period where the House of Commons was considering a bill regarding abortion issues. Google rejected this ad stating that it contained “abortion and religion-related content”.
The lawyers of the Christian Institute immediately filed a lawsuit saying the company was discriminating on religious grounds. They said it violated the United Kingdom’s …

One trend that is becoming more and more common practice in advertising is to appeal to the emotions rather than the features or functionalities of the product. Rather than talk about why you should buy some product and discuss some of the practical features, many ads go about painting a lifestyle that you would want to have and placing their product as part of that wonderful exciting lifestyle.
Take a look at some of the advertisements below and ask yourself, what are they selling? What did I learn about the product? …

Yesterday was Sept 11th. A date which needs no explanation as we remember the 3,000+ victims of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. It was a day where everyone stopped, stunned beyond belief. A day when everyone forgot about what busy work they had that day and started to dwell on what is more important in life. How could there be so much evil? What truly is important in life? What is the meaning of life? And so on.
I am still stunned by what happened. I remember waking up …

Casting Crowns is one of my favorite bands because their music is just stock full of content and powerful messages. Casting Crown’s new song “Slow Fade” talks about how mistakes, regrets, wrongs, sins don’t occur all at once or in a single day. It is gradual. It is based on small decisions we make day to day. We find ourselves often having done something or at some place we didn’t expect to be, not because we woke up one morning choosing to do something, but rather little by little our …

As everyone has heard by now, it was later found that the cute little girl, Lin Miaoke, was lip syncing while the original girl, Yang Peiyi, was yanked from the program last minute told to sing from backstage because she wasn’t “flawless in image” according to the musical director of the olympics. The musical director said the reasons were for national interest and that the child on camera should be “flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in these aspects”. “The reason why little Yang was …

The 2008 Beijing Olympics was the most widely watched Olympics in history. It had all you could ask for. It had high drama, incredible feats, and one of the most beautiful opening and closing ceremony ever. I was completely in awe with the beautiful creativity in displaying all of China’s history and culture. Great job China.
However… coupled with such great display of the magnificence of Chinese culture, so was the display of some not so magnificent incidences. Lot of deception was carried out by the Olympic decision makers to put …

A new report by Berkeley Media Studies Group, part of the Public Health Institute in Berkeley, California focuses on the different methods companies use to advertise food to kids. It focuses on methods that have become popularized in the last two years such as the utilization of social networks. The main concern is that though mediums such as TV are somewhat regulated, but the online world still has no true regulations. Junk food advertising has been a huge concern and lawmakers have started to move to present a proposal to …