Archive Index: December 2006
Archive: December 2006
For Friends of Common Sense
It's pretty simple. Without you, we wouldn’t exist.
In a very short period of time, you have made us the number one independent source of top-quality information, as well as a widely respected non-partisan voice for families when it comes to improving their kids' media lives.
The Price of Beauty
We talked to the author of Fix, a new work of fiction about teens and plastic surgery. Read on to find out what Leslie Margolis has to say about the myth of the makeover -- and how parents can help their daughters create their own definitions of beauty.
Number One Health Issue: Obesity
What's the top issue facing today's kids? Obesity, according to a poll released recently by The Endocrine Society and Research!America.
The majority of people said that obesity was a public health issue that society had to work together to solve. But who bears most responsibility, according to the respondents?: Parents.
Teaching Kids Label Lingo
As I prepped my media literacy session for 8th graders to be in Unger Educational Media’s new film, “The Math & Reading of What We’re Eating: An Experiment with Food Labels” I decided extruding simple data from FDA food labeling is more challenging than scraping glitter glue off a favorite outfit.
Shaping Youth uses media literacy as a counter-marketing tool all the time, so I have no problem "targeting my market" to gear the film session toward the brands and products that are flying in the faces of these kids. But wow, food labels are dicey.
Most of us aren’t even sure what they MEAN. FDA standards are ever-changing: Lean and Low Sodium have recently been updated, Low Fat, Reduced Fat, Less Fat, Fat Free, Light are all quantifiable regulatory claims…
So which packaging terms are legit and which ones are bogus?
You're The Person of the Year
This just in from Time magazine: You're the Person of the Year.
And so are we. Because on today's Internet, each of us is in control, creating our own content and making our own collaborations.
In Time's announcement, editors say the 2006 story is "about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace.
