Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

One in Five U.S. Adolescents Has Hearing Loss

Hearing loss among U.S. adolescents has surged, probably because of the use of devices such as earbuds for listening to music, doctors say.

Researchers surveyed a sample of children ages 12 to 19 in 2005 and 2006 and found that 19.5 percent had some hearing loss, compared with 14.9 percent in a study covering the years 1988 to 1994, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Listening to loud sounds through earbuds -- the tiny electronic speakers that fit into ears, for use with personal music players -- is probably the main reason that more adolescents are losing some of their hearing, said William Slattery, director of clinical studies at the House Ear Institute, a Los Angeles medical practice.

“Once you have hearing loss, there’s a greater risk of that hearing loss progressing as you get older,” Slattery, a clinical professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.

Teens and parents need to be told that hearing loss from noise that occurs early in life isn’t reversible, he said.

Hearing loss may affect teenagers’ social development and education, said Gary Curhan, an author of the study, who is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“In an educational setting, even kids with slight hearing loss do not perform as well as those with normal hearing,” Curhan said.

Source: Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/one-in-five-u-s-adolescents-has-hearing-loss-researchers-find.html

Many Parents Fret Over Time Kids Spend on Phones, Computers

Many American parents are worried that the large amount of time teens spend immersed in electronic media makes it difficult to discuss the dangers of risky behavior such as drug and alcohol use, a new study indicates.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America surveyed more than 1,200 parents and found that more than one-third are concerned about how TV (38 percent), computers (37 percent) and video games (33 percent) hinder parent-child communications.

More than one-quarter of parents are also worried about new forms of media such as cell phone texting (27 percent), and social networking sites such as Facebook (25 percent) and Twitter (19 percent).

"These new findings present a unique opportunity for parents to play a more active role in what their kids are watching, monitor how they are spending their time online and remain aware of the impact all of this media consumption is having on their impressionable teens," Steve Pasierb, president of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, said in an organization news release.

"We know that kids today are bombarded with pro-drug and drinking messages via everything from song lyrics, movies and video games, to social networking sites. Videos of kids abusing cough medicine and common household products to get high are all too accessible online and that's why it's more important than ever for parents to break through the media noise and make their voices heard," he added.

One way for parents to do that is to use electronic devices to connect with their teens to begin and maintain a dialogue about avoiding risky behaviors. While not as good as an in-person conversation, parents can use e-mail, cell phones and texting to begin a dialogue with a reluctant teen, and to reinforce safety messages at times when teen drug use and drinking is more likely, such as after school, on weekends and during unsupervised periods.

Source: Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/641960.html

Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

In surveys from 2006 to 2010 by Donald L. McCabe, a co-founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and a business professor at Rutgers University, about 40 percent of 14,000 undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences in written assignments.

Perhaps more significant, the number who believed that copying from the Web constitutes “serious cheating” is declining — to 29 percent on average in recent surveys from 34 percent earlier in the decade.

Professors used to deal with plagiarism by admonishing students to give credit to others and to follow the style guide for citations, and pretty much left it at that.

But current examples — typical ones, according to writing tutors and officials responsible for discipline at three schools who described the plagiarism — suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.

It is a disconnect that is growing in the Internet age as concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality are under assault in the unbridled exchange of online information, say educators who study plagiarism.

Digital technology makes copying and pasting easy, of course. But that is the least of it. The Internet may also be redefining how students — who came of age with music file-sharing, Wikipedia and Web-linking — understand the concept of authorship and the singularity of any text or image.

“Now we have a whole generation of students who’ve grown up with information that just seems to be hanging out there in cyberspace and doesn’t seem to have an author,” said Teresa Fishman, director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University. “It’s possible to believe this information is just out there for anyone to take.”

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html

Time Spent on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Grows

Social networking is a social phenomenon.

For further proof, just take a gander at new Nielsen research out today. It says Americans spend nearly a quarter of the time they're on the Internet from their PC, or about six hours a month, on social-networking sites and blogs. That's a quantum leap from a year ago, (up 43% over last year) and underscores the growing power of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The new research also reveals U.S. consumers spend the plurality of their time online, or 36% of it, communicating and networking across social networks, blogs, personal e-mail and instant messaging.

The rise of social networks has enhanced consumption of videos, movies and news and sports articles. "Friends and family are endorsing content to others," says Dave Martin, vice president of primary research at Nielsen.

And the face of that audience is getting older: Twice as many Americans over 50 visited social networks than kids under 18, Nielsen says.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-08-02-networking02_ST_N.htm

Most Teens Still Driving While Distracted

Nearly nine in 10 teenage drivers have engaged in distracted-driving behaviors such as texting or talking on a cellphone although most of them know that their actions increase their risk of crashing, a new survey finds.

The survey by Seventeen magazine and auto club AAA highlights the difficulty of the nation's efforts to stop texting while driving, especially among young drivers.

"Teens do continue to drive distracted even when they recognize the dangers," says William Van Tassel, manager of AAA's driver training programs. "Driving is the first real adult responsibility, but let's face it, they're still teens whose brains aren't fully developed."

The online survey of 1,999 teens ages 16-19, conducted in May and made public today, found that 84% were aware that distracted-driving behaviors increase their crash risk; yet 86% have engaged in those behaviors, including texting and talking on cellphones, eating, adjusting radios, driving with four or more passengers and applying makeup.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-08-02-teendrivers02_ST_N.htm

Dark Side of the Internet

Just in case you had any doubts that there is a darker side to the Internet (and I'm not even referring to Internet pornography) consider this current example:

• Eleven-year-old Jessie Leonhardt (aka "Jessi Slaughter" and "kerligirl13") has a computer, unsupervised internet access, and web cam - with her parents' approval.

• Through her online interactions, she started collecting "haters" - people who would post negative comments about her and her posts.

• Jessie responded to the "haters" by recording and uploading a video of herself - in a verbally explicit rant against them (one that might make Mel Gibson proud).

• Given the viral nature of online video, the video was re-posted repeatedly and ended up on a popular "trolling" website. These websites are known for attracting people whose intent is to select individuals and harass them online and offline.

• Internet users began attacking Jessie online with comments, posting her personal information (address, phone number, email, social networking information). Jessie's family was deluged with phone calls, pranks, and threats.

• Jessie posted another video (crying) and her dad jumped in and began yelling into the camera. This video went viral also. Some of the Jessie videos have received over a million views.

• The harassment continued with posts of rumors that her father had given Jessie PCP and that she had committed suicide.

• Jessie was eventually placed in protective police custody.

What can parents learn from this? Jessie's story underscores the importance of proactive parental supervision of their kids' Internet usage.

In an interview with the website MomLogic, Jessie's mother remarked that all of Jessie's friends have computers and web cams and that they video chat with each other. She said that she was unaware that Jessie had been making videos. She said that she can't be in the room with Jessie 24/7.

But, Jessie IS ONLY eleven-years-old, has acquired knowledge and vocabulary that would make many adults blush, and clearly Mom and Dad did not set any sort of appropriate boundaries or consequences for violating their expectations.

The Internet is perhaps the most powerful information and communication tool ever invented. But, it does have a dark side. In my mind, while I understand that even in the best circumstances parenting is difficult, the major cause of this sad story has to do with Mom and Dad's lack of proactive and protective parenting.

Source: Momlogic
Warning: The videos embedded in the Momlogic link below contain explicit language.
http://www.momlogic.com/2010/07/exclusive_interview_mom_defends_11_year_old_youtube_sensation_jessi_slaughter_jessica_leonhardt_dianne_leonhardt.php

Do As I Say, Not As I Text

Providing new insight into the complexities of contemporary parenting, the "LG Text Ed Survey," conducted by TRU Research and sponsored by LG Mobile Phones, found that parents engage in poor texting behaviors, consistently underestimate the misuse of texting by their teens, but believe that texting produces increased communication and better relationships between family members.

The LG Text Ed Survey is a national snapshot of texting behaviors among 13 to 17 year olds and parents of 13 to 17 year olds.

Key Survey Findings

Do as I say, not as I text: Data from the LG Text Ed survey exposed parents participating in the following mobile misuse behavior:
• 28 percent of parents admit to engaging in some form of "sexting" and 43 percent of teens admit to doing the same.
• Almost half of all parents and teens surveyed admit to texting and driving.

The parent-teen gap: Additionally, the LG Text Ed survey revealed that many parents are unaware of teen mobile phone misuse. Of those surveyed:
• 45 percent of teens admit to texting and driving. And only 4 percent of parents believe their teens ever text while driving.
• 41 percent of teens admit to sending, receiving, or forwarding a text that said something sexual, while only 11 percent of parents thought their teens had ever sexted.

Texting = closer families: The LG research also revealed an encouraging fact about life in the digital age. Results showed that the simple act of communicating over teens' preferred medium of communication, texting, facilitated a closer relationship between parent and child. The survey found:
• 90 percent of texting parents felt closer to their teen as a result of the medium.
• 42 percent of parents said that texting increased the frequency of communication between parent and teen.
• 68 percent of all texting parents agree that communicating via text makes them more comfortable when their teen is out.

Source: PRNewswire
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/do-as-i-say-not-as-i-text-98497159.html

Two-Thirds of Kids and Teens Now Mobile

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 66% of US children and teens ages 8 to 18 had a mobile phone as of 2009.

Source: eMarketer
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007780

Good News About Teen Online Behavior

McAfee's just released study, "The Secret Life of Teens" is actually a reassuring portrait of how most young people are exercising reasonable caution in their use of technology. The study, conducted by Harris Interactive, included interviews with almost 1,400 10- to 17-year-olds.

The survey reported that "almost half of youth (46 percent) admit to having given out their personal information to someone they didn't know over the Internet," but when they break it down, the survey reveals that "when they do reveal personal information online, youth are most likely to share their first name (36 percent), age (28 percent), and/or e-mail address (19 percent). Only around 1 in 10 have given out slightly more personal information like a photo of themselves, their school name, last name, cell phone number, or a description of what they look like.

It's also reassuring to read in the study report that "youth draw the line at giving out personally identifiable information such as their parents' names, home address, or school address, and virtually no teens report having given out their Social Security number."

When it comes to cyberbullying, the report also paints a more optimistic picture than we've seen from some other studies. Only 11 percent "admit to ever engaging in some form of cyberbullying behavior. The report goes on to show that the percentage of teens reporting that they have "ever been bullied or harassed online decreased substantially from 15 percent in 2008 to 8 percent in 2010. Far from an increase, that's an impressive 47 percent decline in two years.

Source: cnet news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-20008402-238.html

Texting While Driving More Common Among Adults Than Teens

Adults are guilty of the dangerous activity of texting while driving more often than teenagers, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. The Pew study also revealed that adults are substantially more likely to talk on a cell phone while driving than teenagers.

According to the study half (47 percent) of all adults who text have done it while driving. That compares with 34 percent of teens (aged 16 to 17) who text. The survey revealed that 74 percent of adults that own cell phones have talked while driving, while just over half (52 percent) of teens with phones have talked while behind the wheel.

Source: PCWorld
http://www.pcworld.com/article/199323/texting_while_driving_more_common_among_adults_than_teens.html