Pandemic & Boys Eating Disorders, Kids Streaming Wars, Gen Z is The Strongest Generation, Stand Up for Asian Kids, Sorry, Hollywood — Gen Z Loves the Metaverse!

Kid Culture Report [April 2021]

COVID Kid Culture 🦠

“Boys are having the same troubles, but heterosexual boys may talk about body image a little differently. They tend to talk in terms of getting fit, getting lean, or being muscular. Eating disorders, don’t discriminate.” [NYT]

Social Impact 💖

“This is my first year of high school. I’ve been remote all year,” she said. “I’ve been really isolated. So I feel like if everyone worked together and got vaccinated, then we wouldn’t have to wear masks outside. It can start getting back to normal.” [Today Show]

Mental Health 🧠

“Research shows that adolescents have a need to contribute to society, and doing so can safeguard against anxiety and depression.” [Scientific American]

Kids Media 🎥

“Content only resonates with kids if they actually care about it…streaming services generally do not deploy an engagement strategy to reinforce the value of kids content with the actual kids themselves.” [The Drum]

Kid Culture 🤣

“Gen Z is the strongest generation in history. They remember pronouns for breakfast eat Karens for lunch then read racists and homophobes to filth for dinner. They murder schoolwork during a global pandemic then show up for marginalized pops wearing masks after school. I am in awe.” [Josh Weed]

Kids Gaming + Metaverse🎮

Deloitte’s 2021 Digital Media Trends Survey finds “87% of Gen Z said they play video games daily or weekly.” Great news for Epic Games and Roblox, not so much for Hollywood. [Chicago Tribune]

Teaching Gen Z 🏫

Students had to acclimate quickly to remote learning. Now, they are starting to return to schools & may have complicated feelings about it. [Stanford Medicine]

Representation Matters 👦🏾

“Showing Asian Americans in media is not only beneficial for empowering Asian children, but it can also change non-Asian kids misconceptions. If kids are given a chance to see Asian people as human & similar to them, moments of empathy can be ignited.” [KidScreen]

Kids Privacy 🔐

“Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) found Unity Technologies did not know its advertising software development kit was collecting persistent identifiers through two child-targeted applications.” [BBB]

Kids Content 📺

“A WIRED investigation has found dozens of kid-focused videos with disturbing thumbnails that the platform serves up on the Topic pages of popular games.” [WIRED]

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