Ben

Peter, I noticed that you changed your topic. Anyway, your new topic is very interesting. You have a lot of information about this. You also have a lot of statistics about how children use technology. You have done a very nice job on this.

From Brittany

Peter,
You chose a very interesting topic that pertains to practically all of America. I have been pondering this subject for years now, and I think you did a good job researching and coming to your conclusion.
There are some down sides to technology. What about hacking, predators, porn, children not getting enough exercise and not being healthy, illegal downloading and I'm sure there's more. These are things you might want to look into as well. These factors affect adolescents as well.
Good luck!

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, I would like to say a few things.
Technology is not destroying our culture. It's preserving it and allowing interaction with other ones. Technolog is bringing kids together through common causes thanks to MySpace and Facebook petetions. Networking has become a mobile commodity, and now parents can keep safe track of their kids with cell phones. AIM and texting allow teens to plan events and keep healthy where it counts: socially. The benefits of music on the mind and body are rapidly becoming realized, and with iPods kids can relax and hear music on the go. iTunes lets adolescents cheaply and fairly download songs if they'd rather not buy the CD or alternatively file share and download illegally. Laptops in school benefit everyone. Kids can show their parents their grades, researching papers in school using the Internet is now as easy as flipping open a screen. Safer cars and technologies like rear view cameras and GPS's in the vehicle can keep teens safe while going through their inexperienced driving years.

Respose from Kiley

Peter- You've done a really good job. I like your topic, and I think you have been able to find useful and interesting information. I agree that you should probably add your opinions in some more. Other than that, I don't have any suggestions. Great job, and good luck on your presentation.
~Kiley~

Your Blog

I like that you changed your topic, because there is a lot more to expand off of on this new topic. It is a really interesting topic and I like all of the articles you have been using in your blog. What I think there should be more of, though, is more of your opinions on the articles. There looks like there is a lot of information, but there is only a few articles, try to just do some research and put it in your own words. Also, I don't know if you are done with your research, but there should be a conclusion to your thesis at some point. Good job.

Study: Kids' TV, computer habits start early

(CNN) -- Pre-schoolers are likely to spend as much time in front of the television or computer as they are playing outside, three times longer than the time spent reading, according to a new study that looks at the media's pervasiveness even among the very young.

Children aged 6 and under spend an average of two hours a day playing video games, using computers, and watching TV and videos, about the same amount spent on outdoor activities, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports in a study released Tuesday. That amount is about three times the average 49 minutes spent reading or being read to.

"We found out that kids today are growing up absolutely immersed in electronic media in this country, starting at the youngest ages," says Kaiser's Vicky Rideout, lead author of the study. "[At] even just a few months old, they're watching TV, watching videos, using computers, playing video games."

The study found that even the youngest of children are no exception. Nearly two-thirds of kids under 2 spend a couple of hours a day in front of the screen. (The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children under 2 not watch TV at all.)

"We know this is an absolutely critical period for children's development -- for their intellectual development, their social development, their physical development," says Rideout. "But we need to make sure the media that they are using are not only not harming that development, but are actually enhancing it."

TV also affects children's reading abilities. Kids with a screen in their bedroom or who live in "heavy" households -- defined as a home where the TV is on "always" or "most of the time" -- are less likely to be able to read by age 6. The study found 34 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds from "heavy" households could read, while 56 percent of other children that age could.

But the study said despite the influx of media, reading is still a part of young children's lives. Nearly 8 in 10 will read or be read to on a typical day, on average for about 49 minutes, compared to the hours in front of TVs and computers.

Kaiser researchers based their study on a telephone survey of more than 1,000 parents of children ages 6 months through 6 years.

Among the other findings of the Kaiser study:

• More than a third of kids under 6 have a TV in their bedroom.

• About one in four have a VCR or DVD where they sleep.

• A computer is present in 7 percent of the bedrooms.

• On an average day, about a quarter of 4- to 6-year-olds spend more than an hour on a computer.

Researchers say that the findings should raise concerns on the importance of the early years on children's development, and that using TV and videos might displace more interactive and constructive time for learning.

Studies in the past have linked prolonged TV viewing to obesity in children, poor sleep patterns, and later adult violence. And as younger watchers become more prevalent, Kaiser's Rideout says that more research is needed to understand the impact of early TV viewing.

To keep any TV watching to a healthy level, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association say parents should set time limits to how much and what children can watch. They also recommend choosing programs carefully and helping kids find other options, such as learning a sport or musical instrument.

"I would suggest that parents want to probably take a look at how much time their kids are spending with media and how much time their kids are spending in other activities," Rideout says.

"[Parents should] consider if they really want to have a TV in their 3-year-old's bedroom or not ... and think about maybe turning off the TV in the home if nobody's watching it."

CNN medical producer Christy Feig contributed to this report.

____________________________________________________________________________

I think that this is very worrying. The average American life for both men and women has gone down for the fist time in decades. I think that kids habitually sitting in front of computer games and television can be party to blame. These traits are carried on through life, and a when someone takes a job that requires sitting at a desk from nine to five can be very bad for you health. These habits are started at an early age and we aren't doing enough to prevent it.

*VERB: It's what you do!*

pic.

The new Amazon Kindle. Currently sold out.

New Shiny Amazon doesn't replace my old book

Now that people are finally getting their Amazon Kindles in the mail (in addition to other such devices, like the Sony Reader), it's time to reassess whether they should actually want them. Sure, they're the hippest reading devices this side of Teddy Ruxpin, but are we really ready to hurl books out of the window to completely embrace sterile digitalization?

It would be easy to put a hippie spin on the whole situation. Kindle is saving the trees! But I, for one, hate trees. Or rather, I think their sacrifice is for a worthy cause. At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I'm going to say that it's nice to hold a book, bend the pages and smell the darn thing. Books have a great aesthetic quality that the Kindle is never going to match. What's it going to do, show different fonts?

"So what?" naysayers will ask. The Kindle sold out over the holiday season, so people are clearly willing to give up the look and feel of a book in favor of a sleek new doohickey. Not to mention that a 10.3-ounce, 0.7-inch deep unit is a bit easier to lug around than the 200 titles it can hold.

But the Kindle has more flaws than meets the eye.

Just as iTunes has crippled the record industry, if the Kindle and digital books catch on, book stores may be next on the chopping block. Presumably, the consumer stands to benefit in this case, as Kindle provides standardized prices, a huge range of titles that will never sell out and utmost convenience.

Yet economics may still have something to say about Amazon's book-killer. If it catches on, mom-and-pop bookstores are ruined, decreasing competition in general and allowing Amazon to all but monopolize the e-book market. We would soon all bend to the totalitarian regime of electronic books and the Kindle's wireless delivery system; every man, woman and child would become a mindless drone wasting away while new issues of The New York Times roll onto the beautiful 6-inch display.

Still, for now, the product doesn't really have the specifications for prime time. It lacks a color display, which limits the capacity for newspaper and blog reading, supposedly major features that seem as though they can be nothing but underutilized. If there's going to be a digital book-reading device, why exclude almost anything that has illustrations? A "Kindle 2" is probably pretty much inevitable, so why release the lesser version to begin with?

Plus, it costs $400 and each book costs $10. I doubt there's really anyone that needs to have 200 books on call at any given time, so the whole thing doesn't really make a lot of economic sense to begin with, especially since used books are generally far cheaper than $10 anyway. It makes sense for an iPod to be able to store zillions of songs because who knows what they're going to want to listen to moment to moment? But it's a pretty slim demographic that gets halfway through a Toni Morrison novel and suddenly gets the craving to switch over to William Burroughs. And, well, if there are people who belong to that elusive group, they can probably manage to have two books on hand as opposed to an unrealistically expensive electronic device.

But the device has one upside: It makes legitimate self-publishing far more attainable.

Amazon allows anyone to upload writing and charge money for it, eliminating the whole nightmare of publishing companies and agents. While I doubt the latest Damon Beres novel is going to rival Stephen King, this function will, at the very least, challenge book publishers in much the same way that blogs challenge magazines and newspapers. Of course, e-books could exist without the Kindle anyway, but it's a nice idea.

As of now, the Kindle is still sold out on Amazon. It's a tempting idea for a number of reasons, but consumers should look at the big picture. The convenience isn't worth it, and there are a host of problems to consider. In the end, it'd be like replacing movie theaters with YouTube - it just doesn't make sense.


__________________________________
The above was an Opinion article in the Washington Square News (online.) The issue is dated 02/20/08 and was written by Damon Beres.


This is a very enlightened article. The arguments for the Kindle sound just like the original arguments for the iPod. Is this the next iPod? No one can know, but because Amazon is sold out of the Kindle currently, this is a ignorable sign. The demand is clearly there. Will students one day have their school textbooks given to them through the Kindle? My guess is yes, we, they, and everyone after will.

"The Earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."*

I think this quote demonstrates the feeling that society frequently has about new things, that they are going to degenerate society. There is a tendency to see only the bad and not the good (or to forget that the bad can happen other ways; for example, while many video games are violent, children can easily act violently or witness violence in other ways)

On the other hand, I've also seen a techno-mania surrounding new technology-people think that it is the best and only way to do things (Mr. Steele-Maley, anybody?) and despise the printed word.

I think the key is moderation-remember, people used to think telephones and automobiles heralded the end of the world.

*from a 5000 year old stone tablet.

Cameron

I like your new topic. You've found a lot of inforamtion and statistics on all types of technology, and your blog looks good so far. I like how your covering all aspects of technology, and not focusing on only one type. I think that your information is all very interesting, relevant, and important to your thesis question. Your layout looks good, and nice job on siting your sources.
I don't see a conclusion yet, but I'm sure your working on it. Also, I think it would be a good ideas to include your reactions to the information you post. This would make your blog deeper and reflect your own personal opinions aswell. My only suggestions are to post your conlcusion, and include some of your own opinions and reactions. Nice job so far.

violent video games

It has been estimated that 82% of children aged 8 to 18 live in households that have video games and that the average playing session exceeds an hour. Given this large amount of viewing time, these researchers aimed to learn more about the content of video games that were rated as appropriate for teens by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Researchers randomly selected 81 of the 396 teen-rated games on the market in April 2001, and an experienced video-gamer learned the games and played each for an hour. Researchers observed videotapes of play and provided content descriptors for each game (e.g., violence, profanity). The content descriptors assigned by the examiners and the ESRB were then compared.
The percentages of games given specific descriptors by the ESRB versus the researchers were: violence, 95% vs. 98%; blood, 27% vs. 42%; sexual themes, 20% vs. 27%; profanity, 17% vs. 27%; and substance use, 1% vs. 15%. Investigators assigned more content descriptors to 39 games (48%) than had the ESRB. Investigators found that 90% of games overall rewarded or required injuring characters and that 69% rewarded or required killing a character to win; violence averaged 36% of game time in violent games.
Comment: Recently, attention has focused on whether television and movie depictions of violence, smoking, and alcohol use affect teen behavior (Journal Watch Psychiatry Sep 3 2003 and Jul 24 2003). Unlike passive viewing of maiming or homicidal acts in movies or on TV, video games require active participation by child players. A natural next step would be research into the behavioral consequences of interactions involving violence and sex in video games.
— Barbara Geller, MD

Comment to Peter from Chloe

Hey Peter,
I really like how you included the statistics in your blog. I think it really enforces the point you are trying to convey. You hear about technology and teens all the time. But, lately, you have been actually able to see the changes. I notice it in my daily routines, as well as my family's. But, the Internet isn't good. Like you said, people are afraid to post their pictures, there are risks, and many vulnerabilities. I think this is a very interesting topic because it is very psychological. This aspect of human beings has always fascinated me.
I think that you need to include more information about the actual psychology of technology's effects on teens. To me, this seemed like the approach you wanted to take. I think that if you explore a little more and delve deeper into this aspect, the reader, and maybe yourself, will have a better understanding of the answer to your question.
Your blog is coming along really well. Since the last time I looked at it, you've added a lot. Keep it up.
Chloe

Internet Statistics for teens

"Produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, this second groundbreaking national survey of 1,500 youth aged 10 to 17 documented their use of the Internet and experiences while online including unwanted exposure to sexual solicitation, sexual material, and harassment."

"A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC2 found that
Teen Internet Usage and Attitudes about Safety Present Potential Risks but also Opportunities for Education and a Role for Watchful Parents and Guardians
Online Behavior:
Teens have established significant presence on social networking web pages: 61% of 13- to 17-year-olds have a personal profile on a site such as MySpace, Friendster, or Xanga. Half have also posted pictures of themselves online.
Older teens (16-17s) and girls especially use the Internet for social interaction, meeting friends, and networking.
However, many have also been exposed to the Internet’s accompanying potential risks.
71% reported receiving messages online from someone they don’t know.
45% have been asked for personal information by someone they don’t know.
30% have considered meeting someone that they’ve only talked to online
14% have actually met a person face-to-face they they’ve only spoken to over the Internet (9% of 13-15s; 22% of 16-17s).
When teens receive messages online from someone they don’t know, 40% reported that they’ll usually reply and chat with that person.
Only 18% said they’ll tell an adult.
Perceptions of Internet Safety:
20% of teens report that it is safe (i.e. “somewhat” or “very safe”) to share personal information on a public blog or networking site.
As well, 37% of 13- to 17-year-olds said they are “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned” about someone using information they’ve posted online in ways they don’t want.
Families Talking to Teens about Internet Safety Helps Reduce Some Youth Exposure to Potential Threats and Encourages Safer Online Decisions Among Teens:
33% of 13- to- 17-year-olds reported that their parents or guardians know “very little” or “nothing” about what they do on the Internet.
48% of 16-17s said their parents or guardians know “very little” or “nothing”
Fully 22% of those surveyed reported their parents or guardians have never discussed Internet safety with them.
On the other hand, 36% of youth—girls and younger teens most notably—said that their parents or guardians have talked to them “a lot” about online safety, and 70% said their parents or guardians have discussed the subject with them during the past year.
Fewer teens whose families have talked to them “a lot” about online safety have an IM name or pictures of themselves on the Internet, compared to kids whose families have not talked to them at all. More teens who’ve talked to parents or guardians also ignore messages from unfamiliar people, refuse to reply or chat, block unknown senders, and report these occurrences to trusted adults.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the NetSmartz Program: A Study of Maine Public Schools
Click here to view the entire report.
This report is the result of a sanctioned study conducted by the George Washington University to evaluate the effectiveness of the NetSmartz program, an Internet safety educational program from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The study was designed to determine students’ existing Internet behaviors and their conceptions of safe Internet behavior. The data obtained from surveying Maine students between the ages of 9-14 proved that involvement in the NetSmartz program resulted in more responsible online behavior by children. Prior to participation in NetSmartz:
Fifty-four percent were unsure or believed it was safe to meet someone in person after they had been chatting with them for a long time compared to a post-test result of eighty-three percent saying it was not safe to meet someone in person;
Twenty-five percent were unsure or believed it was safe to post their picture on the Internet compared to a post-test result of ninety-six percent saying it was not safe to post their picture on the Internet;
Twenty percent have told people their real name on the Internet compared to a post-test result of ninety-eight percent saying it was not safe to state their real name on the Internet; and
Twenty-five percent were unsure or believed it was safe to put their address on the Internet compared to a post-test result of eighty-eight percent saying it was not safe to put their address on the Internet.
Participation in the NetSmartz program increased the children’s awareness of Internet dangers and allowed them to be more comfortable and confident Internet users. Overall, eighty-one percent of the students surveyed reported that NetSmartz would change their Internet behaviors, and that they feel safe or very safe when using the Internet.

Parents' Internet Monitoring Study
Click here to view the entire report.
A survey commissioned by Cox Communications and NCMEC3 found that
Over half (51%) of parents either do not have or do not know if they have software on their computer(s) that monitors where their teenager(s) go online and with whom they interact.
42% of parents do not review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via Instant Messaging.
Teenagers who Instant Message use chat lingo to communicate and parents don't know the meanings of some of the most commonly used phrases. 57% don't know LOL (Laughing Out Loud), 68% don't know BRB (Be Right Back), and 92% don't know A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location).
95% of parents couldn't identify common chat room lingo that teenagers use to warn people they're chatting with that their parents are watching. Those phrases are POS (Parent Over Shoulder) and P911 (Parent Alert).
Nearly three out of 10 (28%) of parents don't know or are not sure if their teens talk to strangers online.
30% of parents allow their teenagers to use the computer in private areas of the house such as a bedroom or a home office. Parents say they are more vigilant about where their teen(s) go online if the computer is in a public area of the household.
58% of parents surveyed say they review the content of what their teenager(s) read and/or type in chat rooms or via Instant Messaging; 42% do not.

Escaping or Connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships
Click here to view the entire report.
This report used the data from the above-mentioned national sample of Internet users, ages 10 to 17, to explore the characteristics of youth who had formed close relationships with people they first met online4 and found that
Fourteen percent of youth reported close online friendships and 2 percent reported online romances. Girls were slightly more likely than boys to have close online relationships with 16 and 12 percent, respectively.5
Girls aged 14 to 17 were about twice as likely as girls who were 10 to 13 to form close online relationships.6
The two problem characteristics associated with close online relationships were high parent-child conflict and being highly troubled. The girls with high levels of parent-child conflict reported yelling, nagging, and taking away privileges by parents at a higher level than the other girls. The highly troubled girls had levels of depression, victimization, and troubling life events at a higher level than the other girls in the sample. Girls in either of these categories were more than twice as likely as the other girls in the sample to have formed close online relationships.7
Boys who had low communication with their parents, and who also reported that their parents were less likely to know where they were and who they were with than the other boys in the sample were the most strongly associated with close online relationships.8
Girls and boys who reported high levels of Internet use and home Internet access were more likely to report close online relationships.9
Youth with problems were more likely to have formed online romantic relationships, been asked by online friends for face-to-face meetings, and attended face-to-face meetings with people they first met online.10
Youth who communicate well with their friends and family have people to talk with about online encounters; can get advice about behavior they find weird or unnerving; and, therefore, develop a sense of appropriate and inappropriate online behavior. Youth with problems may be less likely to get good advice and feedback.11 "

teens are wired

Kids as young as in middleschool are becoming addicted to their computers. Teens and these children sit at home and communicate online, IM'ing, for hours on end. They text instead of call, email, and post on Facebook or MySpace. This form of interaction among peers in unknown to cause either the traditional bonding or a feeling of loneliness due to isolated communication.

online classes

"Screenagers" are on the Internet more than ever before. One high school senior said "I have been able to access stuff which I would have never encountered if not for the Internet." However there is lots of misinformation on the web, which leads many teachers in schools to force students to cite information that they take from the web. Florida Virtual School offers an online PE class where students log information about their diet, heart rate, etc.

Mrs. Jewitt - accessing databases help

Peter - Hopefully the following will help you - If you can't get in automatically to Marvel, then set up an account with an id and password and then you can get in. To access The World and I, the id is LA and the password is magazine. To access Opposing Viewpoints and Student Resource Center, password is NEWC94346 - Let me know if this helps - Mrs. J.

Freakonomics has a really good chapter about the infrastructure of the drug culture. I'm not sure if the library has a copy, but you could look.

Comment from Erin

Hey Peter, I this topic will be an interesting one to read, but right now there isn't a lot of information on your blog. I don't know a lot about this topic, but it sounds interesting. But, i bet there is a lot you can do with this subject, so look as far into it as you can and don't hold back your opinion! That is basically the whole point of a blog; to shout out and be heard! I really can't wait to read more on this subject, so keep writing.
~Erin

Nice, Peter

This is a unique topic, but it sounds cool. Are you going to focus on one specific drug? Or one country? I am interested to learn more. I think that you should include some more information so that we can learn something about this subject. Good luck with finding information.
~Sara

Colombia cocaine boss killed

Wilber Varela, known as "soap" was killed last Friday. He was the head of the largest cocaine cartel in Colombia. He performed all the steps to manufacture and export the narcotic. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01412375.htm

Ben

This topic sounds very interesting, but so far there is not much information on your blog. If you could find some more info, I would know more about it. Also, if you could put the article you found on the blog, I would know what it was about. Instead I know the topic, but not the whole story. Also if you could expand on why you want to research this topic, it would allow me to know more about it.

Comment

Peter-This topic sounds very interesting, and I would love to know more about it. So far in your blog there is no information about drug lords, all there is is you telling us about an article. What I would do with the article that you have from CNN is copy and paste it into a post. Once you have done this you could express your opinions on the topic. This way we learn about drug lords and what your thoughts are about them. If you do this I believe your blog would let us learn a lot about drug lords.


Michael

good site

here is a site from CNN. It is a news story dated last February that goes in-depth on how the American war on terror and its war on drugs both converge in Afghanistan. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587252,00.html

testing

does this work?