Trends in Campus and Ministry Culture

The following excerpts are from the Ivy Jungle Network's "Trends in Student Ministry, Culture and Higher Education"

September 2007

Beloit Freshman List
Beloit College has published its annual list about this year's freshman class. Here are some of the highlights regarding the class of 2011, born in 1989:

• Born the year the Berlin Wall fell.
• Humvees have always been available to the public.
• Have never "rolled down" a car window.
• Have grown up with bottled water
• Nelson Mandela has always been free and a political force in South Africa
• Pete Rose has never played baseball
• Russia has always had a multi-party political system
• The year they were born a Harvard Law Review editor named Barack Obama announced he might some day run for office.
• U2 has never brought to mind a spy plane
• They first met Jack Nicholson as "the Joker"
• Fox has always been a major network
• Time has always worked with Warner
• MTV has never featured music videos
• They are more informed by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert than the newspaper
• The world wide web has been an online tool since they year they were born
• Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture
• They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcom X from Spike Lee
• Class mates include: Michelle Wie; Jordin Sparks; and Bart Simpson
  
  

Young Not Abandoning God

A poll conducted by the Associated Press and MTV indicates that young people who consider themselves religious are happier than those who are not. The survey of 13-24 year olds , indicates that 44% of young people say that religious beliefs are at least very important to them. Only 14% said that it was not important at all. 80% of those who said that spirituality was the most important thing in their lives said they are happy. Only 60% of those who do not consider God important at all indicated happiness. Sociologists say the results confirm the importance of the sense of community found in most religions. (AP August 29,2007)

Spending Power

College students today spend more money than students in any other era. Discretionary spending by this growing demographic is $63 billion, up $10 billion since 2002. Food accounts for the largest chunk of that spending (37%); followed by clothing and shoe purchases. Technology is also very important to these students. Laptops now outnumber desktop computers among all students (63% have a laptop - up from 42% in 2005). Digital cameras, MP3 players and portable game systems are also popular items on campus. (Harris Interactive Trends and Tudes vol. 6. Issue 6 Aug. 2007)

Online World

More than half of college students visit social networking sits (i.e. MySpace; Facebook; etc.) every day. These sites are the preferred mode of communication for more than a quarter of students, whether communicating with friends on campus or staying in touch with friends across the country or around the globe. Online gaming has increased significantly in the last five years from just 2% of students in 2002 to nearly a quarter today. (Harris Interactive Trends and Tudes vol. 6. Issue 6 Aug. 2007)

Playboy Social Networking Hits Campus

The parent company of the infamous magazine has launched a social networking site aimed exclusively at college students. Playboy U resembles the functions of Facebook and signed up several thousand members in its opening weeks. The magazine has continued to lose money and readers over the last number of years. (Chicago Tribune August 23 sec. 1 p. 6)

College Students and Sleep

It may be early in the semester for students to have begun pulling all-nighters, but mid-terms will arrive soon enough. Like generations before them, today's college students will likely load up on caffeine and stay up all night cramming for tests and writing papers. A study by St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY confirms that sleep deprivation causes performance to suffer. In addition to slower recall and more frequent mistakes, a separate study by Stanford University demonstrated that college basketball players who slept 10 hours the night before a game ran faster and made more shots than those who slept six hours or less. (USA Today September 16, 2007)

Txt to Win

Radio stations have discovered text messages as a way to conduct contests and communicate with listeners. Stations have only just begun adopting the practice, but with 76% of mobile phone users texting (over a quarter of them daily), it will soon be common practice across the country. Stations are now developing databases with mobile numbers so they can send announcements and contests directly to their phone carrying listeners. ( Reuters September 16, 2007)

College Students Want Money

According to a study funded by the Pew Charitable Trust, 81% of 18-25 year olds list "getting rich" as either the most important or second most important goal in their lives. Many believe that if they pursue money early in their careers they will later be able to pursue the other things that make them happy and fulfilled. They would do well to heed the words of Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Clinton and current professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy a the University of California Berkley who says, "Any young person who believes they can make loads of money first and then pursue their dreams afterwards is fooling themselves. The pursuit of money as its own end can cause dreams to disappear. (MSNBC September 16 ,2007)