I think one of the major adaptations is going to be moving towards user generated prevention. This is beneficial for three reasons: the population is most adept at communicating with each other (i.e., 16 year olds speak “teenager” better than most 40 year olds), there’s an innate prevention activity in developing the message, and these types of media campaigns can be dirt cheap.

There are a couple of agencies that are already doing this. The Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention & Parenting is having a video contest (PDF) regarding general adolescent health. MTV and funny or die recently had a crazy sex advice contest called Say What. The Minnesota AIDS Project/Pride Alive is collecting 10,000 messages, and trying to distribute them to 1,000,000 people. And, of course, Hennepin County and MDH are moving forward on a video contest (it technically ended, but stay tuned for a few announcements).

I think this is the right way to move. We’ve been living in a Web 2.0 world for half a decade, and we’re all getting used to sharing everything we’re thinking and telling other people what we think about what they’re thinking (this would be a good time to encourage you to follow me on twitter…). So, it seems logical that young adults should want to have input into what messages they think are appropriate, and what HIV prevention strategies they think are reasonable.

So, since these contests seem to be a good idea, I want to ensure we’re doing this appropriately… it sometimes feels like these contests are being run by people that aren’t familiar with technology or social media. Submissions should be made online — having to email someone is just annoying. Ideally, a website should post submissions for ranking and comments by other users, as this would fully capitalize on the potential of internet technologies. Campaigns need to be appropriately incentivized; just because YouTube is free, doesn’t mean a $20 gift card is sufficient. Don’t be too restrictive or too quick to censor. The most effective messages may make you squirm:

So despite my few critiques, I’m hopeful this style of health promotion is effective and am excited about what kinds of messages will be generated!

With any study, remember that correlation does not imply causation — just because depressed youth watch more TV doesn’t mean TV causes the depression. This is acknowledged in the news article by a psychologist not associated with the study:

“A warning sign would be a teen who doesn’t seem to enjoy doing anything else. A teen who watches a lot of TV, but is also on the football team or belongs to clubs, they may just be using the TV to relax and enjoy some down time.”

This doesn’t invalidate the study. The psychologist is right: TV usage, combined with other factors, might make for a quick screen for depression. My problem regarding this article lies with the conclusions (”red flags”) noted in the article:

Is your teen interested in socializing with others? Be concerned if he doesn’t want to do anything other than watch TV or get on the computer.

Watch for other signs of depression: changes in sleep habits, significant weight gain or weight loss, irritability, pessimism, indifference.

There’s a significant chunk of the youth population that primarily utilizes the computer to socialize with people. Their parents may truly not understand this, and perceive them to not be “socializing” as they aren’t playing sports or musical instruments. I think one of the biggest differences between this generation and their parent’s generation is the use of technology — the kids that used to be ostracized by their peers can now find friends on the internet. Those friendships are just as valuable and rewarding as the relationships established in “real life.” To downplay the importance of this, and completely write these youth off as being “depressed” is unfortunate. After all, the time I spent on the computer growing up has helped me network, gain skills, and get jobs, while I haven’t touched my clarinet since middle school.

And about those symptoms of depression: find me a teen that isn’t irritable, pessimistic, or indifferent, and I’ll show you a youth who hasn’t hit puberty yet.