Self-Centered Kids Need Longer School Days?

My colleague Adam passed on two articles today. The first, from MSNBC, deals with growing narcissism in college students:

The researchers traced the phenomenon back to what they called the “self-esteem movement” that emerged in the 1980s, asserting that the effort to build self-confidence had gone too far.

It's an interesting article, though I'd be curious to see how they'd back up points such as:

“Current technology fuels the increase in narcissism,” Twenge said. “By its very name, MySpace encourages attention-seeking, as does YouTube.”

The second article, from CNN, explores the idea of an eight-hour school day. I like this idea (as school kids around the nation groan), especially with the way schools have been cutting art and music classes. I also think it's odd that this is the first I've heard anyone even suggest adding time to the school week in this way.

At Edwards Middle School, an extended-day school in Boston, students are staging musicals, designing book covers for favorite novels and coming up with new cheers to boost school spirit -- an activity favored by 13-year-old Janice Tang.

"This is a class where I can express myself, be active," Tang said one afternoon after she pumped her arms in the air during a girls-only class that incorporates cheering with topics such as sex education and discouraging smoking. "It's very cool, and I have fun a lot."

iStuff

Yea! Another post! When it rains, it pours. This morning a coworker (hi Elaine!) passed along this article from the New York Times about all the wacky iThings your can iPlug into your iPod. (iGag.) Some of these are pretty cool, but I'm glad they didn't mention all of the "3000 types of iPod extras" that have "received Apple's blessing." Good heavens.

Blockbuster: Total Access or Else

Were you aware-- because I certainly was not-- that there are certain movies that you can only rent at Blockbuster?

Let me first say that I am an avid Netflix fan. I've been a member for almost a year and I've been nothing but happy with the service. As far as Netflix's rival, Blockbuster Total Access, I have basically taken a "too-little-too-late" approach-- Netflix simply beat BTA to my business by providing an awesome service first.

And if you aren't familiar with BTA, they have a number of "perks" that allow them to compete with Netflix. For instance, you can exchange your movies at your local Blockbuster branch. Smart thinkin', and probably enough for some people to move their account away from Netflix.

Now back to my original point. Last night my dad rented School for Scoundrels from Blockbuster. The DVD itself was branded with a bold "Blockbuster Exclusive!" logo, and before the movie started there was a screen that said something to the effect of "Rent it only at Blockbuster!" We laughed about it at the time, but afterwards tried to "rate it" on Netflix.

Netflix doesn't recognize that the movie exists.

After a little digging, it turns out that there is a whole slew of movies that I can't rent through Netflix. That, my friend, has taken the rivalry one step further. Instead of an incentive, this feels like a punishment for not renting through Blockbuster.

I'm not saying this isn't a smart business move for Blockbuster-- it definitely is. I was not even aware that a company could own the rights to rent out the movie. Amazing.

What do you think? Aggressive last-ditch effort or cunning business tactic?

Gender Roles and... Muppets?

How did I miss a new muppet?

When I was growing up, Sesame Street was my thing. (It was probably "my first brand," if you think in those terms.) Today I stumbled across an article from this past August, all about a new female character on the Street: Abby Cadabby.

Whether or not you've already seen Abby on TV, this article is worth reading. It takes an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the development of a character (and essentially an extension of a brand). Sesame Workshop knows what it's dealing with and what it takes to get a kid to connect to a character. Plus, on perhaps an even more interesting note, the article looks at gender issues, not only on camera but behind it.

Even bastions of liberal creativity like “Sesame Street” are apparently vulnerable to the realities of show business, including a disproportionately high ratio of male to female puppeteers, said Rosemary Truglio, executive vice president for education and research at Sesame Workshop. (Miss Piggy has always been played by male puppeteers, starting with Frank Oz.)

No matter your background (marketing, gender studies, Sesame Street nostalgia), give this article a few minutes of your time. Then maybe you can write off your Fraggle Rock DVDs as an educational business expense.

Dove Pro-Age

While Dove's newest campaign isn't intrinsically kid-relevant, campaigns like this will shape how kids (I'm especially thinking GIRLS) will grow up to see themselves. Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty has been going on for a while, including elements that focus on young girls' self esteem and the way media skews what real women look like. Dove is now taking steps to boost awareness of another often-slighted demographic: women aged 40+.

Here is the link to their advertising, which I first noticed in print form in Oprah Magazine, but coworkers have begun pointing out tv spots too.

Personally, this campaign gives me shivers. Good ones. My brother turned up his nose when I showed him the ad. Here's a very interesting part of the Dove Pro-Age campaign: the polarizing effect that Dove embraces. Combine that with the community that they're encouraging, and you can see why campaigns like this could influence not just basic purchases (though there's that, too) but changes in society.

Pipes: Update

A quick update related to my previous Yahoo! Pipes post... a friend sent me a link to a blog entry he found, which gives some solid, useful examples of how Pipes can be used.

While you might not be interested in the actual applications of something like Pipes, it's important to recognize how easily programmable the internet is becoming. (And the sooner you can wrap your head around a system like this one, the sooner you could discover the next Big Thing.)

Gobble Gobble Addys Gobble

If you haven't watched WonderGroup's Thanksgiving greeting on YouTube, you should. Why the sudden re-interest? It just won a Gold for Self-Promotion at the Addys (Cincinnati) this weekend! Congratulations, WonderGroup, on this Addy and the others we brought home for television and illustration!

Pipes

I usually feel like I'm keeping up with the web pretty well, but every now and then my little brother will chime in and e-mail me something like this:

let's all cheer for web 2.o

speaking of- if you havn't heard of Pipes, you need to read up

it's sweeping the nation

Almost a little techie haiku, no? Anyway, I looked into Pipes. It made my brain hurt. I aligned with my most weblicious friends and I'm still working on really grasping not only what Pipes can do, but why on Earth you'd want to do it.

Here's a post on BoingBoing that might help you out. In the meantime, I going to be reading the New York Times through Flickr... I think.

See? What did I tell you.

Remember when I posted about ttyl, a young adult book written completely in IMs? Welllll, here's another article that points to kids using the IM lingo in their homework assignments and essays, and generally blurring the lines between casual speech and formal writing. While I definitely recognize that language is ever-changing (and should be)-- isn't there a point where we need to clearly define that line again?

(Thanks for the link, Kevin.)

Hogwarts meets the Cincinnati Zoo

This curious little tidbit was brought to my attention by a colleague (hi Lisa!). The long and short of it is that you can drop your kids (7-12) at the Cincinnati Zoo (for a fee, of course) and your kids can experience a little taste of Hogwarts. There's even a full-blown graduation ceremony at the end of the course.

What a stroke of genius for a zoo, eh? What better way to get kids pumped up about education than by tying it so fittingly into a popular kids' property.