The Jr. Topic Search

After a few weeks of trying to pick junior theme topics, I think that I finally have narrowed it down to three general areas: ageism in America, the evolution of privacy in America, and the use of sex in American advertising. I am very interested in all three of these areas, so I am having a lot of trouble deciding which one to go with (the burden of choice).
      The topic of ageism is really a problem of whether or not I will be able to quantify it. I suppose that I could quantify a housing trend, such as if families welcome their grandparents into their homes or if they chose to send them to a retirement home. I might also be able to explore the value of youth in celebrity and in popular culture.
     In terms of privacy and the internet, I was thinking that I could explore the seemingly recent trend of Americans not caring about their personal privacy. This is very closely tied to online networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Mark Zuckerburg, the founder/inventor of Facebook recently said "privacy is dead" in an interview about the changes in privacy settings on his website. In a rebuttal, danah boyd argued that privacy is in fact not dead. I think that this would be a particularly interesting topic because it very directly affects my daily life and is a raging debate in today's world. It would be cool to go back in history and see how Americans protected their privacy back then.
     My final option is the use of sex in advertising. I have actually already written a blog that is similar to this topic, but specifically about the Go Daddy commercials. (See the blog here: http://lizzyinamerica.blogspot.com/2010/02/superbowl-commercials-and-feminism.html) For this topic I can research the evolution of advertisements over the years. One question that this raises is whether this type of advertising is a result of our male-dominated society and culture, or if it is actually just a result of the way the human brain is wired. This subject could also be particularly hard to quantify and find some concrete evidence about.

Writing this all down has actually been surprisingly helpful. I am now leaning towards exploring the evolution of Americans' views of personal privacy.