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by Susan Vaught   Bloomsbury 2011 Three years after a school incident turns him into a felon, can Del find love and a life outside the graveyard where he works?   Yeah, I said graveyard. Del is seventeen, and digging graves isn't just the only job he can find that doesn't do background checks, but it gives him plenty of time to think about how he got here. With a parole officer checking to

As October marks Bullying Awareness Month, we’ve been hearing about dozens of initiatives that strive to end bullying — particularly cyberbullying — as it constantly affects Millennials. But one of the efforts that stood out to us the most is... Read the rest of this post

Tablets are everywhere these days (but unfortunately HP couldn’t handle all the competition. Despite their huge marketing push with stars like Lea Michele and Russell Brand behind them — literally! — HP discontinued the device after less than... Read the rest of this post

Due to the incredible response to Angus Stevenson's morning post, we've decided to share a little bit more about the brand new Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which is celebrating its 100th birthday. This fully updated 12th edition contains more than 240,000

This isn’t your grandmother’s “Snow White”! (Kristin Stewart is armed to the teeth for an upcoming rendition of the fairy tale, “Snow White & The Huntsmen.” Compare that to Lily Collins’s overly twee... Read the rest of this post

It’s likely that you don’t want to miss recent news stories about social media, technology, and teens:

• A story in the New York Times on sexting titled A Girl’s Nude Photo, and Altered Lives focused on the tale of a middle school girl whose sending of a nude photo to her boyfriend, via her cellphone, had really horrible ramifications. One of the things that really struck me about the story was the quick involvement of law enforcement. Fortunately, the students involved were able to take part in a community service program instead of going to court for the sexting. However, the story points to the need to find methods to educate teens about sexting in order to help guarantee they have the skills and knowledge necessary in order to make smart decisions about this kind of text messaging. The issues related to sexting and teens were discussed in a show that aired yesterday on Boston’s WBUR radio station. During the show danah boyd and Dr. Michael Rich, the Mediatrician, discussed teen behaviors related to sexting and technology. They also discussed the need for laws to catch up with technology and be revised in order to better support teens and adults. The interview/discussion is well worth listening to. (It’s just 25 minutes.)
• A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics was released earlier this week and generated quite a lot media attention. The report titled, The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families, has quite a lot of good information and advice for parents on young people’s use of social media. However, a lot of the headlines generated from the report focus on one aspect of what the pediatricians write about, social media and depression. The press, and some bloggers, has been really hitting hard on the aspects of the report that state that social media can cause depression. However, there is some question about how valid this conclusion actually is. As Larry Magid writes in a post on C|NET today:
  

  Clearly, there are people who use Facebook who are depressed but what isn’t clear is whether Facebook users are any more likely to be depressed than non-Facebook users and, even if that’s the case, whether that’s because Facebook causes depression or because depressed people are more likely to turn to Facebook to help them deal with their depression. I haven’t done the research, but I’m pretty sure that children who visit pediatricians (except for regular checkups) are more likely to be sick than children who don’t visit them. Does that imply that pediatricians cause illness? Of course not. As Grohol pointed out, a correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

  One of the reasons this is so important is that librarians serving teens have to be careful to not believe everything published, which I know is not news, but I sometimes think that when it comes to technology and teens adults tend to be less evaluative than they might otherwise be. Whenever I read a report like the one from the Pediatrics Academy, I think about what

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Check out the original songs (by the cast of “Glee.” Ryan Seacrest got the exclusive debut today on his radio show, and from the sound of it, he’s a fan. New York Magazine, however, not so much) (Billboard) - Surprise! Online... Read the rest of this post

Corona Light goes after the Facebook generation (with a new young adult-targeted social media campaign that lets online fans contribute photos to a giant Times Square billboard the company will be running from Nov. 8 to Dec. 6 — part of... Read the rest of this post

Lately MTV’s reality programming seems to fall into one of two very distinct categories: heavily edited, love triangle- and catch phrase-fueled guilty pleasures (ahem, Snooki and company), and more serious endeavors to mix entertainment with... Read the rest of this post

Unconventional advertising for 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' (To promote this week's opening of the adventure film, Disney rolls out an interactive window display at the 34th street Macy's, as well as purchased ad space on Twitter) (Adweek) (AdAge, reg.... Read the rest of this post

Wes Craven on 'Scream 4′ (and a first look at the teaser poster [pictured here]. Also Bill Condon to direct the final Twilight film "Breaking Dawn." And "iCarly" star Miranda Cosgrove comes to the big-screen) (EW) - Peer pressure ... Read the rest of this post

GameCrush (a social network looks to cash in on lonely gamer guy stereotypes by pairing up paying players with hot chicks. Ick. Plus new research from Flurry suggests the iPhone and the iPod Touch might just be "the most dangerous thing that ever... Read the rest of this post

Earlier this week I watched a screener sent over by MTV for an upcoming episode of "True Life." Part of the channel's ongoing A Thin Line initiative (see my interview with Jason Rzepka for more details), the show took on the issue of "digital... Read the rest of this post

Upfront season at MTV? (an early, but energetic kick-off to the channel's spring lineup at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York offered a glimpse into what lies ahead including "Hard Times" and "If You Really Knew Me," a reality series about a day-long... Read the rest of this post

'Sext 'ed (gets an official website in Canada to raise teen awareness about potential issues. Also alcohol companies in the UK are taken to task for recruiting new, young drinkers with campaigns based on market research data on 15- and... Read the rest of this post

Today's Ypulse Interview is with Jason Rzepka of MTV on the recently launched multi-year digital abuse initiative A Thin Line and the AP/MTV Digital Abuse study that was released to coincide with the launch. Jason made time to answer a few questions... Read the rest of this post

Birds are singing, the sun is shining and I am joyful first thing in the morning without caffeine. Why you ask? Because it is Word of the Year time (or WOTY as we refer to it around the office).  Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year.  This announcement is usually applauded by some and derided by others and the ongoing conversation it sparks is always a lot of fun, so I encourage you to let us know what you think in the comments.

Without further ado, the 2009 Word of the Year is: unfriend.

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

Wondering what other new words were considered for the New Oxford American Dictionary 2009 Word of the Year?  Check out the list below.

Technology

hashtag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets

intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory

paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers

sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy

freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content

funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests

zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs

Ardi – (Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009

birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate

choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother

death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed

teabagger -a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)

Environment

brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations

green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations

ecotown - a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

Novelty Words

deleb – a dead celebrity

tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

Notable Word Clusters for 2009:

'Coming Out in Middle School' (a must read piece in this weekend's New York Times Magazine. Look for our thoughts in tomorrow's Friday Forum. Plus a New Jersey school board works to end a tradition of girl on girl hazing) (New York Times, reg.... Read the rest of this post

The unsinkable 'SpongeBob' (The Atlantic explores the enduring appeal of the decade-old franchise. Plus, the full-length HD trailer for 'Princess and the Frog') (The Atlantic) - Threadless Tees (the crowdsourced t-shirt design site talks about... Read the rest of this post

Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' (How Disney's first black princess finally made it to the big screen. Also Ad Age takes a look at Hasbro's strategy behind toy-inspired blockbusters like "Transformers" and "GI Joe") (Denver Post) ( Ad Age, reg.... Read the rest of this post

You may have noticed that the media has fully embraced "sexting" [a term invented by the media] as the latest horror story about teens and technology. First it was about how the internet is teeming with predators a la "To Catch A Predator," with the... Read the rest of this post

'WhyReef' nurtures virtual sea life (the educational online coral reef world for kids/teens, launched by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in preexisting virtual world Whyville, racked up 40k visits in its first 10 days) (Virtual World... Read the rest of this post

Yesterday as I was driving home from a meeting at Facebook, I got a call from a producer for the Today Show asking if I might be up for an interview about the girls who decided to take a bath in the industrial sink at KFC. Of course I said yes, and... Read the rest of this post