Many people have pointed out the rather obvious fact that clicking a Facebook “like” button doesn’t actually do anything to help people. It’s the social media equivalent of those “honk if you like…” bumper stickers that used to be so popular. Honking communicated solidarity, but little else. Facebook like buttons are the same. Clicking one gives us that satisfying feeling that we’ve supported some worthy cause, but without the hassle of doing anything involving real effort.

Rather than just comment on the problem, though, UNICEF has produced a great little video. The point, of course, is not that we need to stop liking things. We just need to realize that liking isn’t enough.

Of course, this raises the rather awkward question of what you should do if you like this video and want other people to see it. Normally, you would click the like button in the sidebar and pass it along to your friends. But can you really “like” this video? I will, but it does seem rather odd.

Here’s an interesting infographic summarizing stats on how teenagers use and perceive social media. Among the more interesting stats:

• 21% say that they wish their parents spent less time on their cell phones and other devices. 

• 43% wish they could unplug sometimes. That makes me think we need to do a better job helping them see that they can.

• 88% of teens using social media say that they have witnessed people being mean or cruel on social networking sites. That means the other 12% just aren’t paying attention.

• I love survey stats. Apparently 55% of teens ignore that kind of cruelty, but 86% sought advice from their parents about it. That means a fairly large number of teens managed to ignore the cruelty and get advice about it at the same time. Impressive.

It won’t be news to any of us that technology plays an increasingly important role in our everyday lives as we consume more information from more sources than ever before. This infographic wants us to consider some of the possible negative ramifications that can come from this kind of constant digital downloading.

Among some of the more interesting statements:

• The average computer user switches programs 36 times an hour, which means we change tasks more than once every two minutes. (Wow, I know multitasking is common. But how do we get anything done?)

• People with access to email changed windows more than twice as often and experienced higher heart rates while working.

• After being cut off from email, it took five days for people to experience normal heart rates.

What are movies teaching our kids about gender, about what it means to be men and women? That’s the question Colin Stokes asks in this recent TED Talks video. Although he raises a number of good points, here are a couple of the more interesting ones.

The Bechdel Test

I’d never heard of the Bechdel Test, but it’s a way of gauging how a movie portrays its female characters. And it’s a pretty simple test.

1. Are there at least two women who actually have lines?
2. Do these women talk to each other at any point in the movie?
3. Is there conversation about something other than the guy that they both like?

So the essence of the test is whether the movie contains “two women who exist and talk to each other about stuff.” That sounds like setting the bar pretty low. But the startling reality is that quite a few movies fail to achieve even this low standard. Either the movie has almost no significant female characters, or it fails to show them interacting with other women on issues unrelated to dating and/or marriage.

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There’s a science for everything.

The Week has produced a helpful compilation of survey results from 2012, providing a rather interesting snapshot of American perspectives on “key” issues.

Among the more interesting results:

• “Given the choice, 21% would rather give up sex than their cellphones.”

• “42% of Americans said the country was heading in the “right direction,” the highest number in almost three years” but “57% think America is on the decline as a civilization” and “31% say the challenges facing the country are so serious that America might not be able to overcome them.

• “We’re increasingly gay-friendly. 53% approve of same-sex marriage, an all-time high; 61% say gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children, and 91% of gays and lesbians report that their communities have become more accepting of their sexuality in recent years.”

• “58% support the legalization of marijuana”

• “12% of Americans also believed the Mayan apocalypse would end the world on Dec. 21 (Ipsos/Reuters). If the apocalypse did occur, 17% of men said they’d like to spend their final moments with Jennifer Aniston, while 23% of women would take comfort in the arms of George Clooney.”

Read the rest of the article for more interesting, and often worrisome, stats about American life.

Here’s a great overview of what happened in social media last year. From the controversy surrounding Kony 2012 to the Facebook IPO and, of course, the election, these were some of the biggest social media topics of 2012.

HT David Murray