YouthWorker Journal - March/April 2009 - (Page 9)

Says Christopher Bensch, curator for the Strong National Museum of Play (which houses the hall), they are astonishingly versatile. “It can be a Wild West horse, a Medieval knight’s sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band,” Bensch says. “This toy is so fantastic that it’s not just for humans anymore. You can find otters, chimps and dogs—especially dogs—playing with it.” For more information on past inductees, go to www.strong museum.org/NTHoF/inductees.html. (Associated Press) “One of the main things we found is that it is highly motivating for kids to learn from peers, whether it’s the everyday social stuff or learning about new technology or making videos or doing creative writing,” says Mizuko Ito of the University of California, Irvine. “They’re learning a lot of the basic social and technical skills they need to participate in contemporary society. If kids are excluded from participating, they’re not learning to engage with media and technology in the way their peers are.” (Los Angeles Times) subjects were those who watched up to 10 hours of television every day. Experts say TV isn’t as much a source of unhappiness as it is a catalyst for ignoring the things that do make us happy: Reading, spending time with friends, etc. “TV is a pacifier,” says personal coach Lauren Zander. “It may be entertaining and relaxing, but when you watch TV, you’ve checked out of your life.” (New York Daily News) C’mon, Mom, Everyone’s Doing It TECH TALK Games Linked to Aggression Researchers have long said violent video games are connected somehow to violent behavior. What wasn’t quite so clear was whether one actually caused the other: Did the games make kids more aggressive? Or were aggressive kids simply more prone to play violent video games? Now some researchers say that, according to their studies in the United States and Japan, kids exposed to violent games for prolonged periods of time actually grow more violent—“pretty good evidence,” according to researcher Dr. Rowell Huesmann, that games can trigger aggressive behavior. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that because a kid plays a violent video game they’re immediately going to go out and beat up somebody,” said Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family. “The real impact is in shaping norms, shaping attitude. As those gradually shift, the differences start to show up in behavior.” (CNN) I Think; Therefore, I Play “Judecca” is bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase “mind games.” The video game, a prototype created by Square Unix, a Japanese game publisher, and NeuroSky, a U.S.-based technology company, is the first ever to be controlled via brain waves. It works like this: Players slap on a headset-like device that picks up electrical activity in the brain. If a player is, um, thoughtful enough, he’ll be able to see the Judecca’s zombies and walk through the game’s walls. It’s like “The Matrix,” only without all the leather. While the game’s not going to be on shelves anytime soon, NeuroSky hopes to start marketing the headset next year for as little as $50. (Fox News) MIXED MEDIA Must-Not-See TV Unhappy? Turn off the tube. That’s what researchers from the University of Maryland say. A recent study, compiling more than 34 years of data from 45,000 respondents, found the more TV folks watch, generally the unhappier they are. The unhappiest If you meet a kid between the ages of 12 and 17 who claims not to play video games, just assume he’s lying. So suggests a study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which found 97 percent of kids within that age range are at least casual gamers, including 94 percent of girls and 99 percent of boys. Half of respondents said they had played a video game within the last day. (Associated Press) Sites Promoting Eating Disorders Grow The number of Web sites promoting anorexia and bulimia ballooned 470 percent in 2007, according to Optenet. The security vendor also found that sites with violent content grew by 125 percent, and sites trumpeting racism increased by 70 percent. (USA Today) Study: Internet Good Influence on Kids Sure, the World Wide Web has its share of dark corners and malevolent lurkers, but a recent study found most teens steer clear of troublesome sites on the Internet and spend their time chatting with folks they already know. Moreover, researchers say, the Internet is teaching them valuable lessons. SnapStats TOP-EARNING DEAD CELEBRITIES, 2008 1. Elvis Presley 2. Charles Schulz 3. Heath Ledger 4. Albert Einstein 5. Aaron Spelling $52 million $33 million $20 million $18 million $15 million Of Men and Mice Not everyone loves Mickey Mouse, but Sheikh Muhammed Munajid thinks those walking brooms from Fantasia should’ve taken the rodent out when they had the chance. The Quran teaches that mice are unclean vermin controlled by Satan himself, according to Munajid, so the 9 YouthWorkerJournal.com | March/April 2009 http://www.strongmuseum.org/NTHoF/inductees.html http://www.strongmuseum.org/NTHoF/inductees.html http://www.YouthWorkerJournal.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of YouthWorker Journal - March/April 2009

YouthWorker Journal - March/April 2009 Contents Feedback Youth Culture Update Culture Watch Encountering God Campus Ministry The Urban Take Sight Unseen Worldview Soul Care Managing Your Ministry 10 Minutes in God's Word From IQ to CQ Caring Amidst Crisis Risky Business When Tragedy Gets Personal Deaths in the Family Stopping Suicide Blessed Are They Who Mourn Healing the Healer Resources for Working with Crisis Tools Stirring it Up

YouthWorker Journal - March/April 2009

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