The vast majority of 16- to 17-year-olds (86%) have read books in the past year, and 51% have borrowed books from a library, according to Pew Research. While some of their reading is certainly for school, they're also reading for pleasure. Smarty Pants' research finds that 63% of teens aged 13-14 say it's important to keep up with the latest books, which might partly be because the most popular young adult (YA) novels become next year's blockbuster movies.

You don't have to be a Directioner to have heard of "This Is Us," the 3D movie by the British boy band One Direction. Since its release in the final week of September, the movie raked in more than $60 million worldwide, easily exceeding its $10 million production cost and becoming one of this summer's box office successes.

A colleague forwarded me the following article: "British Vogue educates teenage school girls about 'natural' beauty standards." Fascinating, I thought. It's been a few years since Dove sparked the discussion about natural beauty - from portraying women without makeup in their ads and to the recent Real Beauty Sketches project - and I appreciate new news on this topic.

Living in New York City really forces one to appreciate the concept of personal space, and ironically, makes people want to share less. According to CNN Money, New Yorkers have an average of 1,010 square feet of personal space per person. That's not very roomy and likely leads to oversharing between housemates and friends.

A new study published in the journal "Pediatrics" reports that TV viewing is down significantly in the past decade among 6th through 10th graders (aged 11 to 16). In 2001-02, teens reported watching 3.1 hours of TV per day, slightly less on weekdays and slightly more on weekends. TV viewing has been on a steady decline during the past decade, and by 2009-10, the study finds TV viewing was down to 2.4 hours per day, a nearly 25% drop. Nielsen's numbers agree.

If you've been watching the news lately, you may have noticed the bleak headlines about teen unemployment. "Teen employment hits record lows," one article states. "The lost generation," another article proclaims about today's youth.

I remember the first time I saw the line of Secret's "Mean Stinks" deodorants while running through Target, and I actually stopped in my tracks. What is that? Is it a mistake? Wow, the brand is taking a bold stand against high school/college bullying and that is the manifestation of the campaign on pack. When I returned to my laptop that evening, I became obsessed with Mean Stinks - the booming online community, the blue pinky challenge, celeb endorsements. Brilliant.

My teenage son's summer reading assignment is Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." He will put off reading it until the last minute; I happily re-read it as soon as it appeared in the house.

Another "Back-to-School" season is upon us. Second only to holiday spending, this time of year presents a major sales opportunity for retailers. Unfortunately this back-to-school season has started off lackluster. Last week, stores such as Wal-Mart, Macy's and Kohl's reported less than stellar earnings for their latest quarters. Even more disconcerting is the fact that they issued concerned outlooks about the ever-important back-to-school and holiday seasons.

It's no surprise that auto industry is in trouble, particularly when it comes to teens. Young drivers continue to drive less, buy fewer cars, and make more use of alternate forms of transportation than in years past. In recent years, several automotive brands have tried using ad campaigns and technology integrations to make cars cool again, but the result has been more functional than fun. But automakers and marketers keep trying! Some of their latest attempts to get teens into cars (literally!) are taking advantage of some cultural trends to add an aura of coolness to their campaigns to reach …