"Technology has changed the way families stay in touch, profoundly influencing not only how often we communicate, but also what we share with each other," writes Miami Herald reporter Ana Veciana-Suarez  in a May 24 article.

"But does more mean better?" she asks.

Some she interviewed said yes, such as Pam Haldeman, a professor of sociology at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. "I didn't always feel this way, but now I think it's great," Haldeman said. "It certainly has increased interaction between family members, and we can reach far and wide to people who would've been lost to us a generation ago. It's a win-win situation."

Veciana-Suarez got a different reaction from Social Technologies futurist Kevin Osborn:

Kevin Osborn, author of several parenting books and a futurist for the research and consulting firm Social Technologies isn't as enthusiastic. While cellphones, webcams and computers allow us to correspond from faraway places and at unusual times, the information exchanged tends to be simplistic.

''Because we communicate more often it doesn't mean it's more meaningful communication,'' he says. ``Technology is great for people separated by long distances, but that same technology is used to avoid communication with people in the same room. Now you have Dad watching TV, Mom on the cellphone, Sister IMing on the computer and Brother playing video games -- all in the same house.''

Read the entire article.

Image: moriza (flickr)

iParenting.com reporter Kelly Burgess recently interviewed Social Technologies' Andy Hines about the study he conducted for MTV on the future of youth happiness. She wrote:

 When asked what they want for their children's futures, parents often say, "I just want my child to be happy." Noble words, but beyond wanting our children to be happy, what do we do to help them find their way to happiness? Happiness is a difficult concept to define.

A study called Future of Youth Happiness: What Makes 12- to 24-Year-Olds Happy? may help both teens and parents define and set goals. The study was commissioned by MTV and the Associated Press and conducted by the research firm Social Technologies. Surveying a total of 1,200 12- to 24-year-olds from a variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds, the goal was to determine if teens are happy, what makes them happy and what they are doing to ensure future happiness.

Andy Hines, director of custom projects for Social Technologies, says they discovered that teens pursue happiness with three goals in mind: the pleasure of the moment, relationships with family and friends and the long-term search for meaning and purpose – in other words, friends, family and faith.

Read the entire article.

A recent article in the New York Times profiled Randy Newsom, an enterprising young minor-league relief pitcher who came up with an innovative scheme to supplement his low income (about $8,000 for five months) as a bush leaguer: Twenty bucks would get you one of 2500 shares worth 0.002% of his career earnings. Newsom had sold 1800 shares before the SEC shut down his website in January. (Newsom had shortsightedly failed to register his website offering with the SEC.) After refunding the money he raised to his investors, Newsom plans to reintroduce the venture in accordance with regulations.

Such an investment--motivated as much by fandom as finance--is an extreme longshot to pay off (with $2 million in career earnings as the break-even point--and 90% of minor leaguers never making it to the majors). As fellow minor-league pitcher Jon Searles, who earned an economics degree from Wharton, notes:

Don’t get me wrong — $50,000 can be everything to a player in the minor leagues. But the risk of them committing 5 percent in perpetuity for a quick $50,000, there’s a break-even point where only players who aren’t characterized as prospects might do it. And rational investors will assess those percentages.

Although Newsom was forced to shut down his operation, I wondered whether this minor league entrepreneur might have unwittingly come up with the solution to the rapidly rising cost of a college education. Next fall, my oldest daughter will be entering college. Given the elite liberal-arts colleges to which she has applied, we anticipate that--without financial aid--the cost of her four years at college will be in the range of $180 to $200 thousand. And we have three other kids!

So, tongue planted firmly in cheek, here's the deal: If my daughter sells shares of her future earnings for a fair price (say, $90 for 0.005%), she could easily raise enough funds to make college much more affordable.

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Image courtesy United States Air ForceWe've written a bit about helicopter parenting. A recent New York Times article suggests a whole new level of this phenomenon:

Brian Aladesuyi, 17, received a new Jeep in exchange for a promise: he would never drive it outside his hometown, Kennesaw, Ga. His father, Kayode Aladesuyi, chief executive of the security firm EarthSearch Communications, used EarthSearch’s Web site to map Kennesaw’s boundaries into the Jeep’s onboard computer, surrounding the entire city with an electronic fence. But when his father took a business trip to Brazil, Brian decided to try his luck, Mr. Aladesuyi said. Brian drove to Marietta, a neighboring town. Seconds after Brian breached the invisible wall, his father received a text message on his mobile phone. Mr. Aladesuyi sent a message commanding the computer to disable the Jeep’s engine as soon as Brian switched it off. When the Jeep would not restart, Brian had to call his father and confess he had broken their agreement. “I don’t think Brian really understood I could do that from Brazil,” Mr. Aladesuyi said.

Parents have now developed intercontinental capabilities in regulating (or interfering in, depending on your perspective) their kids' lives. Is this the beginning of the end of the debauched spring break in Cancun?

(For those of you who don't remember the cold War, "ICBM" means "inter-continental ballistic missile," though a colleague suggests that in this instance it can stand for "inter-continental brat monitoring.")