Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

New Product Alert for Parents

Schmoop - iPhone applications - send your kids to school online.

Think electronic "Cliff Notes."

Shmoop, an online learning tool designed for high-school students, has unveiled several new categories and a whopping 115 iPhone apps.

The site now features study guides on poetry, bestselling books, civics, and biography. It already offered in-depth information on U.S. history and literature.

The timing on Shmoop's announcement is certainly appropriate. School is about to be back in session. Students will be needing Shmoop's online offerings to help them get through class.

But just how they use Shmoop's features is up for debate.

Shmoop does provide a nice resource for kids who have already read a book for literature class, it also provides a fine resource for kids who decide they don't want to read the book and would rather use Shmoop to learn all about it.

Each book listed on Shmoop's site includes a basic summary, in-depth analysis, themes, and other information that practically every teacher is referencing when they ask students to write essays on those topics. Similar to CliffsNotes, Shmoop can be used as a free alternative to actually reading the book. It's an intrinsic issue with Shmoop that I just don't see the company fixing. It's a necessary cost of doing business for a site like this.

Source: CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10320218-2.html

Teen Mobile Phone Use Increasing

When I read the summary of this new Pew Internet study, I chuckled to myself realizing that despite mobile phones being a cultural icon for teenagers today, it hasn't always been this way. Not many years ago, mobile phones were largely technology used by adults. How quickly things change, yes?

Teenagers have previously lagged behind adults in their ownership of cell phones, but several years of survey data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that those ages 12-17 are closing the gap in cell phone ownership. The Project first began surveying teenagers about their mobile phones in its 2004 Teens and Parents project when a survey showed that 45% of teens had a cell phone. Since that time, mobile phone use has climbed steadily among teens ages 12 to 17 – to 63% in fall of 2006 and then to 71% in early 2008.

In comparison, 77% of all adults (and 88% of parents) had a cell phone or other mobile device at a similar point in 2008. Cell phone ownership among adults has since risen to 85%, based on the results of our most recent tracking survey of adults conducted in April 2009.

Among teens, age is the most important variable in mobile phone ownership. Older teens are much more likely to own phones than younger teens, and the largest increase occurs at age 14, right at the transition between middle and high school. Among 12-13 year olds, 52% had a cell phone in 2008. Mobile phone ownership jumped to 72% at age 14 in that survey, and by the age of 17 more than eight in ten teens (84%) had their own cell phone. 

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/14--Teens-and-Mobile-Phones-Data-Memo.aspx

Technology Eats Into Morning Family Time

Karl and Dorsey Gude of East Lansing, Mich., can remember simpler mornings, not too long ago. They sat together and chatted as they ate breakfast. They read the newspaper and competed only with the television for the attention of their two teenage sons.

That was so last century. Today, Mr. Gude wakes at around 6 a.m. to check his work e-mail and his Facebook and Twitter accounts. The two boys, Cole and Erik, start each morning with text messages, video games and Facebook.

“Things that I thought were unacceptable a few years ago are now commonplace in my house,” Ms. Gude said, “like all four of us starting the day on four computers in four separate rooms.”

Technology has shaken up plenty of life’s routines, but for many people it has completely altered the once predictable rituals at the start of the day.

This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops, sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to more biologically urgent activities.

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10morning.html?_r=1&ref=business

Study: Risk of Crash While Texting Is 23 Times Higher

More new research is being released on the dangers of using cell phones while driving. This new study recommends banning cell phone use by teen drivers.

Newly compiled results from more than six million miles of observed driving suggest that it's the act of taking one's eyes off the road, more than the cognitive distraction of talking or listening on the phone, that's most dangerous.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study included data—all gathered 'naturalistically,' meaning via camera systems and instruments in real-world driving—for dialing a cellphone, talking/listening to a cellphone, and reaching for an object. That data was also gathered for both light-vehicle drivers and truck drivers, where text messaging was included.

According to the findings, dialing was 2.8 times as risky as non-distracted driving, while talking/listening and reaching for an object were 1.3 and 1.4 times as risky, respectively. The real shocker was text messaging; for the truck drivers, texting brought 23.2 times the risk of a crash or near-crash event. The research showed that text messaging brought the driver's eyes away from the road for the longest time of all the tasks; for the trucker, it was the equivalent of covering the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road, the researchers said.

Among the recommendations from the VTTI researchers are that texting should be banned for all drivers; that users migrate to voice-activated hands-free systems to that they don't have to take their eyes off the road; and that all cellphone use should be banned for teen drivers.

Source: TheCarConnection.com
http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1022490_study-risk-of-crash-while-texting-is-23-times-higher

Girl Falls Into Manhole While Texting, Parents Sue

I've already posted on the danger of texting while driving, but now we can add texting while walking to the list of dangers. I'm half-serious. Texting can be very distracting, so caution can rightly be placed on texting while doing anything that requires one's attention, like walking down a city street. Here's the news item...

15 year-old Alexa Longueira was walking along Victory Boulevard in Staten Island when she fell into an open manhole.

Why didn’t she see it? She was too intent on tapping out a text message to notice the gaping gap in the sidewalk and just dropped straight on in. Idiotic, yes, but now Alexa’s parents are trying to blame someone else for their daughter’s stupidity while making a little money into the bargain. They’re suing the city.

Source: Wired
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/girl-falls-into-manhole-while-texting-parents-sue/

Recent Statistics on Cyberbullying, Bullying

New research shines a light on the phenomenon of “cyber bullying,” suggesting that nearly 1 in 10 children are bullied through electronic means such as text messages, and girls are more likely to be victims than boys are.

Other kinds of bullying remain much more common, however. Large numbers of kids continue to harass each other by spreading rumors, turning fellow students into outcasts and intimidating others through words and violence.

The study authors examined a 2005 national survey that asked 7,182 students in grades 6 through 10 about bullying. The study findings appear online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Eight percent said others bullied them through computer pictures and messages; 6 percent received bullying messages through cell phones.

Thirteen percent of students said others physically bullied them — hit, kicked, pushed or shoved them or locked them indoors.

About a third of students said others called them mean names, made fun of them or teased them in a hurtful way; about a third acknowledged doing the bullying themselves. Moreover, 26 percent to 32 percent said others spread rumors about them or ostracized them.

Source: EmaxHealth
http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/50/32049/nearly-1-10-kids-report-cyber-bullying.html

New Survey Confirms 1 in 5 Teens Sext

A recently released survey from Cox Communications in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and John Walsh found that 1 in 5 teens (19%) have been involved in "sexting" — sending, receiving or forwarding sexually suggestive text messages. These findings are consistent with a previous survey released in 2008.

This new survey included helpful information, breaking down the 19% cumulative figure into percentages of teens involved in specific behaviors:

Teens that have sent sexts: 9%
Teens that have received sexts: 17%
Teens that have forwarded sexts to others: 3%

Largely, those teens who sent sexts said the messages were sent to a boyfriend/girlfriend (60%).

Perhaps most disturbing was the number of teens (11%) who sent sexts to someone they did not know.

About 80% of teens who sext are under the age of 18, with the highest age group of sexters (24%) was 17-year-olds.

Of teens surveyed, 74% believe that sexting is wrong.

Of teen sexters, senders are more likely to be girls (65%).

Teens who sext spend more time online per week (31.7 hours) compared to the overall average of teens surveyed (26.8 hours).

Source: Cox Communications
http://www.cox.com/takecharge/safe_teens_2009/media/2009_teen_survey_internet_and_wireless_safety.pdf

For more information on sexting, read my article, "Sexting: A Parent’s Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe".

Survey: Many Teens Use Phones in Class to Text or Cheat

One-fourth of teens' cellphone text messages are sent during class, a new survey finds, despite widespread classroom bans on cellphones at school. The survey of 1,013 teens — 84% of whom have cellphones — also shows that a significant number have stored information on a cellphone to look at during a test or have texted friends about answers. More than half of all students say people at their school have done the same.

Only about half of teens say either of the practices is a "serious offense," suggesting that students may have developed different personal standards about handwritten information vs. material stored on cellphones, says pollster Joel Benenson. "The message about doing those kinds of things on the cellphone may not be reinforced the same way," he says.

The poll found that teens send 440 text messages a week on average — 110 of them during class. That works out to more than three texts per class period. The findings also reveal a split in perception between teens and parents: Only 23% of parents whose children have cellphones think they are using them at school; 65% of students say they do.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-17-cellphones-in-class_N.htm

Kids' Use of Electronic Devices Continues to Rise

Okay, there's nothing earth shattering about this news tidbit, but new research backs up what many assumed was the case, namely that kids' use of electronic devices continues to grow.

According to Kids & Consumer Electronics Volume 5, the most recent report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, this year marks what may be the beginning of a new trend between boys’ and girls’ usage of consumer electronics (CE) devices, especially their usage of cell phones and laptop computers.  According to the report, girls are now more likely than boys to use these specific devices, while kids of all ages and genders are migrating away from using cell phones as a verbal communication device, opting to switch over to “talking” via text messaging and sending photos.

In the past five years, text messaging has skyrocketed among kids, and in 2009, almost half (46 percent) of kids using cells phones are text messaging.

Households with kids ages 4-to-14 own an average of 11 of the CE devices measured, providing kids with more than enough electronic entertainment options, and there’s no sign of this trend reversing anytime soon, as one-third of parents plan to buy a CE device for their child in the coming year. Parents are reporting that younger kids will be getting educational learning toys, while older kids can expect to get cell phones and digital cameras.

Kids’ usage of devices, such as personal digital music players (PDMP), laptops, digital cameras and cell phones is growing at impressive rates, changing the entire landscape of CE devices in the five years that NPD has been publishing reports on kids’ usage of consumer electronics products.  For example, 37 percent of kids use a PDMP this year, while only 6 percent used a PDMP in 2005. 

Source: NPD
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090609a.html

LG Translates Teen Texts For Parents

Are you finding it difficult to translate your teens' text messages? Perhaps you are a n00b to texting? A new website helps parents understand texting language.

Parents who are having trouble understanding what their teens are saying to each other via text messages have a new resource for translation. LG Mobile Phones has set up a new Web site, www.LGDTXTR.com, that gives the meaning of more than 2,000 popular text abbreviations, such as MOS (mom over shoulder), PRW (parents are watching) and RUSOS (are you in trouble).

"Teens are constantly creating new ways to communicate, and while texting is not a new phenomenon, the unique shorthand phrases that have been created as a result are growing daily," stated Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy and marketing for LG Mobile Phones, in a statement. "LG DTXTR (detexter) is a tool to keep everyone -- young and old -- current with the language, and as it grows, it enhances our understanding of what's important to teenagers."

Source: Marketing Daily
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=106827