Monitoring page views and other statistics for my Blog today
it became rapidly clear that a full 33% of the views came from I-phone users. The
rest split rather evenly between windows systems and Mac users including I-Pads. Without going into the boring details what
apparently happened was adolescents and young adults were looking for
information regarding Ryan McCarthy of Northbrook
and his tragic death. While over 1800 views gets your attention as a writer, a more disturbing and perhaps urgent issue occurs when you realize these are adolescent information seekers for the most part.
There was a time when local social service providers had a
phone tree and we would call each other when tragedy struck so we could be well
informed ahead of the grapevine. News
travels fast among the younger crowd and the idea was to try and stay ahead of
it. With the advent of social media, texting,
chat and twitter there is now very little opportunity to get ahead of it.
The need for accurate information is still there however and
the local press currently fills a large void in that regard. Soon though, bloggers such as myself will be
putting out information almost instantaneously and it may become necessary to
ensure the general validity of that information just as quickly, especially it
seems when the subject is adolescent death or severe injury.
Across the Country many local Police Departments and Towns
have created Facebook pages to disseminate correct information in a timely
fashion. Where I live Amber Alerts and
Attempts To Locate are now a regular part of the Police Departments Facebook
page. While many will likely balk at
this information evolution, I believe it has the ability to make a real
difference in the area of contagion as it applies to adolescent suicide. The reason I believe this has to do with today’s
teens and communication.
According to the Centers For Disease Control (CDC, 2012*), Adolescents
(teens) can be grouped according to 5 general groupings;
According to Cheskin Research and its 1999 study of teens
and the Internet, teens are divided into five distinct segments on the basis of
attitude, behavior, and conformity.
Explorer: This
group tends to be very creative, independent, and differ from the norm. This
segment is relatively small (approximately 10%), but they are very influential.
Many teen trends begin within this segment. They are passionate and committed
to the interests and issues around which they build their identities, but their
interests can change rapidly.
Visible: Visible
teens constitute 30% of teens. They are well known and popular because of their
looks, personality, or athletic ability. Visibles tend to spread the trends
they adopt more widely because of their presence and popularity among other
teens.
Status Quo: These
teens represent 38% of the teen population. They display traditional values of
moderation and achievement and seek mainstream acceptance. These teens are well
liked by both their peers and adults. When a trend becomes main stream, they
will adopt it.
Non-Teen: These
teens tend to behave more like adults or young children because of a lack of
social skills, an intense interest in academics, or an indifference to teen
culture and style. These teens (13–15%) become psychologically isolated from
both their peers and adults. Once the parents of Non-Teens encourage their kids
to adopt a trend, it is already out of style.
Isolator: Isolators
are more psychologically isolated from both their peers and adults. These teens
(5–10%) are most commonly associated with societal problems.
All these groups have large appetite for immediate
information and all are hooked into the information stream digitally. It’s the Isolators
that concern me the most when it comes to contagion.
What I’d really like to hear is your idea’s about immediate
communication and what, if anything, should be done to communicate information
on adolescent suicide. Do we need to get
facts out fast? How about information on
getting help? What do you think?
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