Okay... maybe some of you have already voted off Miley in your own minds. But you're not alone.

That's right... her own fans just voted her as the worst celebrity influence of 2009, joining the ranks of Britney Spears and Kanye West.

Last week AOL's JSYK.com, a website aimed at 9-15 year olds, released the results of their poll where Miley took 42 percent of the votes for worst celebrity influence. Reuters reports:

Miley Cyrus, one of Disney's hottest stars of the past three years with hit records and hit films, has been voted the worst celebrity influence of 2009 by the very people who made her a star, tweens and teens, according to an online poll on Wednesday.

Cyrus, 16, took 42 percent of votes in the poll for AOL's JSYK.com (Just So You Know) website aimed at 9-15 year-olds, pushing Britney Spears and rapper Kanye West into second and third places, respectively, in a section on worst celebrity influences of the year.

I've actually gone to bat for Miley a few times in my blog. She's young... and I did some stupid things in my teenage years. But it's difficult when she keeps returning to her vomit like that Proverbial dog, with antics like those at this year's Teen Choice Awards. Come on Miley... my kids like you!

But I guess not all kids do... 42%... to be specific.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just came out with a fascinating new report today about Social Isolation and New Technology. The gist of the report seems to contend: Yes, technology does lead some people to become more socially isolated, but not as much as some have argued.

For example:

• The average size of American's core discussion networks has declined since 1985; the mean network size has dropped by about one-third or a loss of approximately one confidant.
• Users of social networking services at 26% less likely to use their neighbors as a source of companionship.
• Internet Users are 40% less likely to rely on neighbors for help in caring for themselves or a family member.

And I found this little fact interesting as well...

• Internet users are 38% less likely to rely exclusively on their spouses/partners as discussion confidants. 

(I'll let you decide if that's good or bad.)   :)

I was very curious about this report, because I've done a lot of research on the subject for two of my recent books.

1. In my book, THE NEW BREED, about recruiting and training this "new breed" of 21st Century volunteers, my dad and I shared several studies about the growing trend toward social isolation. We quoted some studies showing that people have lost at least one core confidant. Funny... this new report shares the exact same thing. Apparently some reports inflate this. 

2. In my book about adults connecting with kids that comes out next month (CONNECT), I spent a little bit of time discussing how kids isolate themselves socially, hiding in front of a "screen" of some kind, instead of "face-to-face" communication. I find this Pew Internet report fascinating, because it conveys that technology isn't isolating people as much as we might think. This made me happy with a decision I made in writing my CONNECT book... I opted to not devote a lot of time to mere "virtual" communication (some people seemed to think we should "put all our cards in this basket." I disagreed.) I basically concluded that students were isolating themselves more and more, and that face to face communication was becoming difficult for some kids at first. So I recommended becoming familiar with technology and even using it as a stepping stone, but not as a replacement for face-to-face communication. Here's a snippet:

This increase in social isolation is creating a relational void in the lives of students today. We have an incredible opportunity to meet this need with something real, face-to-face relationships.

Even though teens might be more comfortable with us connecting with them through cell phones and computers, I see these digital mediums only as stepping-stones for youth workers to engage in face-to-face communication. This is not just because of the obvious value of face-to-face conversations, but also because of the increasing dangers emerging with technology. Legislation is changing regarding appropriate digital communication between adult mentors and students. (I’ll touch on this in greater detail in chapter 13 when I talk about the boundaries and precautions we should consider with relational ministry.)

As we make connecting one-on-one a priority in our ministry, we may often utilize technology as a tool to transition toward more face-to-face conversations. In relational ministry, technology should be used as a tool, not a crutch.

(We are offering a great deal on the pre-sale of this book right now on our website, where you can get it from us about a month before anyone else, along with a free ppt training we're giving away).

I encourage you to check out this Pew Internet report. I fully agree with their results.

Many of you have been asking about my newest book, due on the shelves this January. The book is called CONNECT: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation... and I just talked with Zondervan... it looks like I'm going to be able to get copies in your hands in about a month- early December- if you pre-order through our website (we're giving away a free powerpoint to anyone who orders from us as well-- a tool to equip your adult leaders how to connect with your kids).

I'm really excited about this book, more excited than anything I've ever written about. This book is a result of years of interacting with youth workers across the country and observing the same thing again and again-- adults need to learn not only the importance of connecting with students, but how to do it!

I've got some great feedback so far about the book from ministry friends like Dan Kimball, Walt Mueller, Greg Stier, Les Christie, etc. I'll spare you all of their comments about the book right now, for time's sake, and just share one. Here's what Dr. Dave Rahn said about it (Dave is the Director of the MA in Youth Ministry Leadership at Huntington University and also part of Youth for Christ's national office)...

Jonathan,

The Zondervan folks just sent me your manuscript this week with a cover letter asking for an endorsement.  I curled up with it last night and this morning.

Wow.

Really, really good work, Jonathan.  I will give my copy to our national Campus Life director, Dave Ramseyer, when I'm with him next week (only b/c the Z folks will send me a free copy later!).  It may be the most helpful single book on the market to push out for training adults in relational ministry.  I will do far more than endorse this book...I will push it...

Seriously.  This book will help us help our YFC folks get it.  And it will also broaden what we care most about: that loving adults come alongside kids to be used by God for their transformation.  I'll write the endorsement now.  Thanks for using your gifts, experiences and passion so well for the Kingdom.

Dave

Here's his official endorsement.

Connect needs to be in the hands of everyone--paid or unpaid--who works with kids for the cause of Christ. It is so easy to read and so full of practical tips and stories that it succeeds in becoming the kind of rare book that both inspires and instructs, a stand alone coaching resource I urge our YFC family to use with all of our adult volunteers. By drilling deeply into one of youth ministry's most significant pressure points I hope that Jonathan will lead readers to "tap out" and surrender to the challenge of making one-on-one relationships with every type of young person their priority.
 
Dr. Dave Rahn
Youth for Christ/USA Chief Ministry Officer and Huntington University Director of MA in Youth Ministry Leadership

I'll post more comments later.

I just wanted to give you all a chance at getting this book through our pre-order. We're offering a better price than anywhere else, we'll get it to you earlier, and we're throwing in the free ppt training- because that's what we like to do!

Last Tuesday a new song and video was released by Chris Brown and Lil Wayne, a song called I Can Transform Ya.

I blogged about it earlier in the week, predicting that it would move up the charts fast. Unfortunately, I didn't know exactly how accurate my guess would be. Today the video (only 5 days old) is already #5 on iTunes, and rapidly moving to the top 10 in downloaded songs. It's crazy how fast this song is moving up the charts. When I checked iTunes this morning, the video was #7. It has risen 2 spots in just 10 hours!

This song, where Lil Wayne says that he can "transform a good girl to a freak" (my earlier blog about it gave you a glimpse of the lyrics) is the same ol' trash that hip hop has been dishing out for years. It's not "explicit" by the world's standards (no cuss words), it just objectifies women and refers to sex as casually as any other recreational activity.

Sigh.

I'm just sad that I was correct about its rise on the charts.

Keep your eye on it... it will keep rising.

Do you remember "Hold your wee for a Wii?"

In January of 2007, a Sacramento radio station had a contest where several contestants drank as much water as they could without going to the bathroom. The winner would get a brand new Wii- back when the availability of those consoles were rare. I'm sure the radio station never predicted that one of the participants, a 28-year-old mother of three, would die of water intoxication later that day.

I wrote an article about the incident back then, asking youth workers, "Can games get out of hand? Can creativity trump safety?" (I cited a long history of feedback we've received on our website including an article that World Magazine wrote about us) I encouraged youth workers to think about games and their unforeseen consequences. The mentality of "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission" seems a little shortsighted when safety is involved.

The Sacramento Bee ran a front page article today- the first I've seen on the subject since January of 2007. A Sacramento jury just awared the woman's family 16.6 million dollars for her death. Here's a snippet of the article:

A Sacramento jury set an eye-popping standard Thursday on the cost of radio station contests that kill and the resulting loss of a mother's love and a wife's companionship.

The tab for Entercom Sacramento LLC came to $16,577,118 in the water-intoxication death of Jennifer Lea Strange in a contest put on by radio station KDND "The End" (107.9 FM).

Such was the award rendered by a Sacramento Superior Court jury of seven men and five women in the trial to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Strange's survivors. The 28-year-old woman died Jan. 12, 2007, after she participated in KDND's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest.

Something to think about.

Same sex experimentation is 'in.'

Last Monday, NBC's Heroes jumped in the same bandwagon as... well... everyone else with a "same-sex" kiss between Claire and her college room-mate. Secular media critics seem to agree that it's a slumpbusting publicity stunt.

Media producers such as the money behind Heroes are realizing that it's not just sex that sells... but two girls kissing sells even bigger! Threesomes? Even better!

Look at popular songs and music videos of late. Britney's "3" (her song about a threesome) hit #1 two weeks ago. The music video of Black Eyed Peas' #1 hit I Gotta Feeling featured several shots of girl on girl kissing. Cobra Starship's Good Girls Go Bad (also in the top 10 a few weeks ago) ends with a girl on girl kiss. No need to go on- it's everywhere on the music scene.

It's not new to TV either. MTV's Real Cancun not only had a threesome in one of their episodes, but also provided a front page teaser for the download so viewers could watch it again and again. Gossip Girl is trying to create buzz about their upcoming "threesome" in an episode on November 9th. MTV.com interviewed Gossip Girl's Michelle Trachtenberg (sadly, I remember her from watching Ice Princess with my daughters) about the upcoming threesome and she says, "It's worth waiting for." The interview is sad, really. The interviewer asks her, "If you had to be in a threesome with two other characters in the show, who would be your pick?" Michelle replies, "All of them!"  (in 10 days our Youth Culture Window page will be featuring an article about this new trend).

Heroes ratings have been dropping and they needed a boost. What better boost to create buzz in today's world than some girl on girl action. And if you have any doubt about NBC's intentions, then ask yourself, why is it that they released pictures of the kiss and tried to create buzz about it before the episode even aired? News sources talked about the possibility as early as July. In early October geek sites and numerous other news sources released photos of the kiss, referring to it as a "perfect ratings slumpbuster." TV.com's Tim Surette writes:

Let the show's hottest female character make out with her female college roommate. Bam! Genius! And just so we don't forget that the kiss is coming next week, they've released a still photo.

Genius? Really?

Hardly.

I would tend to agree with this perspective from the National Post:

Two weeks ago I suggested that Claire’s kiss with Gretchen was a transparent publicity stunt designed to bring salivating teenage geeks back to the show. At the time I thought, mistakenly, that the kiss was a one-off destined for the regularly emptied dustbin of television history.
 
Instead, it seems that Heroes’ writers have chosen to elongate this college experimentation cliché in order to dangle the possibility of future Hayden Panettiere lesbian love scenes in front of the aforementioned geeks, seemingly unaware that google and PVRs have long since made actually watching the show a requisite for seeing such action.

It’s not that all lesbian storylines are somehow inherently cynical, they’re not; it’s just that in this particular context the same-sex narrative is about as dramatically credible as the recent lesbian kiss in Megan Fox’s movie Jennifer’s Body. The Claire kiss even received a pre-show publicity blitz similar to one for Jennifer's Body centred on the promise of a topless Sapphic scene featuring the Transformers starlette. That scene ended up being an unfulfilled promise (left on the cutting room floor), and the geeks saw right through it, kind of like how we can all see through this sad and vaguely offensive attempt to keep Heroes interesting.

I used to enjoy Heroes. The truth of the matter is, the show lost my interest long ago... and Claire's kiss didn't bring me back.

Nice try!

Chris Brown is back, and he's not alone.

I guess Chris' mom never warned him to be careful who he hangs out with, because after a long period of silence since pleading guilty to assaulting Rihanna, Chris has now joined forces with a guy with a little legal trouble of his own-  Lil Wayne - for a new song and video called, I Can Transform Ya.

Watch the charts, because this one will move up fast!

Today it is the #26 most downloaded song on iTunes and #16 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart (but watch, it will be moving up the Hot 100 very soon!) Kids are downloading this one like mad, and if parents only block songs deemed explicit, then this song will slip under the radar, because it's not explicit... it's not clean either.

Instead of whining about the "rating system" just do a quick Google search for the lyrics. You'll find this:

hehe, i take you to wherever its warmer,
then i gotta rip off your dress like a warm up,
hehe, but Im just getting warmed up...

cos her form puts me in a trance,
i transform smaller and she puts me in her pants,
Swiss on the Beat, Chris move ya feet
and we can transform a good girl to a freak

Nice Chris! See what happens when you let Wayne in on your material?

If you're curious what your kids will be seeing, you can check out the video for yourself on MTV.com in this article about the premiere of this video. I don't see the video on iTunes yet (which, by the way, has quite a few clean videos in the Top 10, including David Crowder's How He Loves at #7, Owl City's Fireflies at #9, and Taylor Swift's Fifteen at #1. Pretty cool. Just don't look at videos 11-20... all but one are pure trash. Funny how the rankings turned out today.)

(ht to Tom B.)