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Proponents say social media spreads information faster than any other media. Opponents say it enables the spread of unreliable information.

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Multitasking has become a common theme in our lives. It's a wonder how we manage it all.

We depend on our smartphones for work, school, our personal and social lives. When was the last time you left home without your phone and kept on going? The internet has become a significant part of our daily lives. So too has social media.

And it is having an impact on today's teens.

Social media usage

Back in 2005, when social media was still in its infancy, only about 5 percent of users in the United States were involved in social media. In 2019, that number grew to about 70 percent.

Pew Research Center surveyed social media usage and popularity among US adults early in 2019. The survey found that while the most-used social platforms for adults are YouTube and Facebook; teens prefer SnapChat and Instagram, while TikTok is reportedly the fastest growing social network among younger users.

Social media use is nearly universal among today's teens. Pew Research Center reports 97 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use at least one of seven major online platforms.

The amount of time spent on social sites is astounding. One report indicates the average teen ages 13 to 18 spends about nine hours on social media each day; tweens ages 8 to 12 are on for about six hours a day.

Like most things, using social media has its positives (the good), its cautionary tales (the bad), and dangers (the ugly) that lurk and impact the lives of many, but especially teens.

Pros: Why is social media good?

Social media and technology offer us greater convenience and connectivity:

staying connected with family and friends worldwide via email, text, FaceTime, etc.

quick access to information and research

banking and bill pay at our fingertips

online learning, job skills, content discovery (YouTube)

involvement in civic engagement (fundraising, social awareness, provides a voice)

great marketing tools

opportunities for remote employment

Social media can be a good thing, but if teens ever feel uncomfortable about something they see or read on social, they should trust their own feelings and talk to someone - a parent, a teacher, or another trusted adult. Bullying, threats and cruelty on social media are all signs that the person doing those things needs help.

Cons: Why is social media bad?

Along with the good comes the bad. With all of its benefits, the nature of social media presents a range of potential issues.

Online vs Reality. Social media itself is not the problem. It is the way people use it in place of actual communication and in-person socializing. "Friends" on social media may not actually be friends, and may even be strangers.

Increased usage. The more time spent on social media can lead to cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, and exposure to content that is not age appropriate.

Social Media is addicting. When you're playing a game or accomplishing a task, you seek to do it as well as you can. Once you succeed, your brain will give you a dose of dopamine and other happiness hormones, making you happy. The same mechanism functions when you post a picture to Instagram or Facebook. Once you see all the notifications for likes and positive comments popping up on your screen, you'll subconsciously register it as a reward. But that's not all, social media is full of mood-modifying experiences.

Fear of Missing Out. FOMO has become a common theme, and often leads to continual checking of social media sites. The idea that you might miss out on something if you're not online can affect your mental health.

Self-image issues. Social media sites provide tools that allow people to earn others' approval for their appearance and the possibility to compare themselves to others. It can be associated with body image concerns. The "selfieholics" and people who spend most of their time posting and scrolling are the ones most vulnerable to this. In fact, most college girls who use Facebook at least five times a day are likely to link their self-worth to their looks. That doesn't mean that the main problem is social media; it only provides a medium for it, which further elevates the problem. It also promotes the same sort of behavior to others.

Social media and bullying

Sadly, there is an ugly side to all that technology offers. While bullying is not a new concept, social media and technology have brought bullying to a new level. It becomes a more constant, ever-present threat -- cyberbullying. The State of Rhode Island anti-bullying laws & regulations define bullying and cyberbullying as follows:

"Bullying" means the use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof directed at a student that:

causes physical or emotional harm to the student or damage to the student's property

places the student in reasonable fear of harm to himself/herself or of damage to his/her property

creates an intimidating, threatening, hostile, or abusive educational environment for the student

infringes on the rights of the student to participate in school activities

materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school

"Cyberbullying" means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which shall include, but not be limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, texting or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages or facsimile communications.

Bullying statistics

Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Unfortunately, intervention is rare, with an adult intervening in only four percent of cases, and a peer in 11 percent. An astonishing 85 percent of all cases of bullying are not addressed.

The following are just some statistics on how common bullying and cyberbullying have become: According to StopBullying.org:

One out of four (25 percent) teens are bullied, while up to 43 percent have been bullied while online.

Nine out of ten LGBTQ students experienced harassment at school and online. Biracial and multiracial youth are more likely to be victimized than youth who identify with a single race. Kids who are obese, gay, or have disabilities are more likely to be bullied than other children.

58 percent have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

5.4 million children stay home on any given day because they fear being bullied.

Social media and suicide

Sadly, the cons of social media can take a toll on young minds. Suicide remains among the leading causes of death of children under age 14. In most cases, young people die from hanging.

Suicide rates among 10- to 14-year-olds have grown more than 50 percent over the last three decades, according to the American Association of Suicidology.

Suicide rates among children between the ages of 10 and 14 are very low, but are creeping up, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

What can parents do?

As parents, there are things we can do to improve our children's lives online and in real life.

Attempt to model the behavior we want to see.

Set boundaries right way when you give your child their first phone. Set parental controls on his or her phone, with access to their passwords. Phones should be charged somewhere other than their room at night, and should be shut off an hour or two before bed.

Have conversations with your children on why some things should be kept private.

Take time to actively engage with your kids face-to-face. This interaction teaches them how to follow social cues, verbal and non-verbal.

Talk to your kids without glancing at your phone.

Find opportunities to have genuine conversations that are not lectures.

Be aware of privacy concerns and cybersecurity issues.

Technology has changed the way we live, work, and socialize. But it can't replace parenting.

For more tips on parenting, visit the Growing section of our Lifespan Living health and wellness blog.

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Consider learning about the pros and cons of social media before logging in to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. from our experts here.

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Social media often gets a bad rep these days, with many feeling that they spend too much time on the platforms. Some find them toxic and full of arguments, whereas others find it creepy to be constantly connected to everybody.

Social media may have negatives, but it is actually good for you for various reasons. Here, we'll list some great examples to show how beneficial social media is today.

Whether you use it personally or professionally, social media makes it easy for you to find instant online discussion about any topic that you're seeking. In the early days of the Internet, forums were the place to go if you were looking for dedicated discussion, but these days options such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook Groups, and more have opened the playing field up.

It's not realistic for you and your friends to have the same interests. In these cases, joining an online community can ensure that you still get the discussion you're seeking.

You can share your knowledge with others or learn from them. Social media is a constantly evolving place amongst dozens of popular platforms, so you can guarantee that a lot of the information you get is relevant and recent. Just be sure to validate the knowledge you've learned wherever you can with multiple sources; you obviously shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet.

Social media facilitates sharing of knowledge on a global scale. This creates opportunities for everybody, no matter where you are in the world, to be educated on the topics you truly care about.

Life happens, and you may find that more and more of your friends move away from your town as you get older. Maybe it's you who has moved. In either case, social media makes it possible to keep in touch with your friends despite the physical distance. This is a positive effect of social media on people, as it allows you to retain friendships you care about.

This concept led to the creation of early social media platforms such as Myspace and Facebook, and it remains one of the most significant benefits of social media. The conversation is easy, and you can even video or audio call with people to lessen that physical distance even more.

Many topics such as mental health, race, sexuality, identity, just to name a few, often contain stigma. Social media can help reduce this stigma by offering real-time viewpoints of people from different backgrounds and situations.

Open dialogue is the best way to learn and accept each other. Social media can often help if the users' attitude reflects open-mindedness and respect when engaging with others' content.

Socially anxious people can have a hard time socializing in real life, finding a lot of group situations overwhelming. If you struggle with this or know somebody that does, you may find that social media can often take away the pressure and make socializing much easier.

There is protection because of the lack of physicality that many people find safe, and anonymity is even easier to achieve if you're very anxious about putting yourself out there. Just be careful not to form a toxic social media addiction. Look to be boosted by it rather than reliant.

You likely have lots of interests and keep up with many different things. In which case, you'll know that not keeping up with the relevant news for your interests can quickly result in feeling out of the loop.

Social media allows you to keep up with news instantly, which is especially true in the case of Twitter or Reddit-they provide users with the most up-to-date information just as much as communicating with other users on the platform.

As knowledge sharing is a social media perk, so is free learning. You can learn so much from other, more experienced people online who are often relevant if you engage with content that has only recently been published.

Constantly learning is an excellent way for you to stay happy and feel more positive about your days, and by curating your feed on the social media platforms, you'll be surprised at how much knowledge you can pick up in just a few days.

Feeling part of a tribe or group of people is something you likely have experienced at various points in your life. Humans are social animals, and you will benefit from feeling part of a community that understands and relates to you.

Social media can be a great way to find a community with a shared experience. You may find that real-life friends that don't share your experience may not be able to relate to you in the way that you'd like. This is especially true if you are in the minority or suffer from a disability. In many cases, online communities can be great for providing you with that camaraderie.

A significant benefit of social media is that you can use it to establish your brand. This allows you to monetize your social media accounts and demonstrate your expertise in a particular subject, promote your profits, and more. While using certain platforms just for personal use is fine, you're missing out by not at least dipping your toe into using social media for professional gain.

Related: How to Grow Your Personal Brand on Social Media

LinkedIn isn't the only place where you can do this; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit are all viable options amongst other platforms. In many cases, this gives your profile a focus, and you will find that by putting more into social media, you get more out of it, which can open the door for multiple opportunities.

Social media doesn't have to be all negative. While there are negative aspects to all social media platforms, you can stick to those that offer you the most value and enrich your life rather than drain it.

If you're looking to give social media a more conscious try, you should have a look at the top social media platforms around and pick the ones that seem the most appealing to you.

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9 Reasons Why Social Media Is Actually Good for You

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Social media is often portrayed in a bad light by the media, but we take so many of its positives for granted these days. Let's take a look.

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Should Chewing Gum Be Banned? Behind the News

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8 Reasons Why Gum Has No Place in the Classroom

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It might seem trivial to many teachers, but there are reasons why we shouldn't permit our students to chew gum in class.

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Myth 1. The Earth's climate has always changed

Over the course of the Earth's 4.5-billion-year history, the climate has changed a lot. This is true. But the rapid warming we're seeing now can't be explained by natural cycles of warming and cooling. The kind of changes that would normally happen over hundreds of thousands of years are happening in decades.

Global temperatures are now at their highest since records began. In fact, 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have all taken place since 2001.

This much faster warming corresponds with levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which have been increasing since the industrial revolution. So, when people talk about climate change today, they mean anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. This is the warming of Earth's average temperature as a result of human activity, such as burning coal, oil and gas to produce energy to fuel our homes and transport and cutting down trees to produce the food we eat.

Myth 2. Plants need carbon dioxide

Plants do need carbon dioxide (CO2) to live. Plants and forests remove and store away huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. But the problem is, there's only so much carbon dioxide they can absorb and this amount is getting less, as more and more forests are cut down across the world, largely to produce our food.

Let's be clear, CO2 itself does not cause problems. It's part of the natural global ecosystem. The problem is the quantity of CO2 that's being produced by us as humans; there hasn't been this level of CO2 in the atmosphere for 800,000 years.

Global warming is causing the Earth's average surface temperature to increase. This is not only making heatwaves and droughts more likely but it's also causing changes to our natural climate systems. These changes are making extreme weather events more likely and more severe. For example, hurricanes and storms are becoming more intense, moving slower and taking longer to die down.

Because of where we are, the UK & Ireland are likely to get more rain and wind as a result of climate change while New York will see more snow.

This is no longer an excuse not to act on climate change and push the burden onto future generations. Last year, the world's leading climate scientists warned we only have 12 years to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5C and avoid climate breakdown.

We're already seeing the devastating effects of climate change on global food supplies, increasing migration, conflict, disease and global instability, and this will only get worse if we don't act now. Man-made climate change is the biggest environmental crisis of our time. It threatens the future of the planet that we depend on for our survival and we're the last generation that can do something about it.

It's a commonly-held belief that renewable energy is expensive, but this simply isn't true! Solar power and onshore wind are the cheapest ways of generating electricity; meaning the energy they produce is cheaper than using nuclear, gas and fossil fuels.

The cost of renewables has fallen faster than anyone could have predicted. And yet the government are still backing dirty fossil fuels. Did you know the UK has the biggest fossil fuel subsidies in the EU? That's right, they spend an eye-watering €12bn (£10.5bn) a year supporting dirty fossil fuels.

Myth 6. Polar bear numbers are increasing

This isn't the case. Climate change is the biggest threat faced by polar bears. The Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as the rest of the world, causing sea ice to melt earlier and form later each year. This makes it more difficult for female polar bears to get onto land in late autumn to build their dens, and more difficult for them to get out onto the sea ice in spring to feed their cubs. Their main source of prey, seals, are also affected by climate change, as they depend on sea ice to raise their young.

This means that in some parts of the Arctic, polar bears are having to survive with less food than they did previously. Polar bear populations are predicted to decline by 30% by the middle of this century.

Myth 7. Renewable energy can only work when it's not cloudy or windy

Industry is developing new techniques for storing electricity and managing demand at peak times meaning that even if the sun isn't shining or it's not blowing a gale, it's still possible to rely on renewable energy sources.

The majority of UK homes get their electricity from the National Grid. When you switch to a clean supplier, they guarantee that for every unit of electricity you take out of the Grid, they'll put the same amount of clean energy back in, helping to clean up our energy supply.

This one isn't a myth, Darwin got the adaptation part right. But let's be clear, some plants and animals will adapt but not all.

To survive, plants, animals and birds confronted with climate change have two options: move or adapt. There are several examples of species that have begun to adapt to climate change already.

But increasingly, it's a different story for many. Given the speed of climate change, it's becoming impossible for many species to adapt quickly enough to keep up with their changing environment. And, as habitats are destroyed by roads, cities and dams, moving becomes increasingly difficult.  For those that can't move or adapt, the future doesn't look so positive.

Myth 9. Getting rid of humans will fix this

This, we firmly believe, is wrong. It's easy to start feeling that we've gone too far already and that the planet won't be able to support the world's growing population.

It's WWF's mission to build a world where people and nature thrive together. The technology and systems we need to move to 100% renewable energy by 2045 and use our planet's resources sustainably are already available. What's now needed is for political and business leaders to take bold and urgent action towards using these solutions to address the climate crisis and restore nature.

Myth 10. China is the only country responsible for climate change

Despite being one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China is currently one of the largest investors in renewables. The increase in investment has been in response to the rapid growth of green business and the need to clean up air pollution in its major cities.

Climate change is a global issue and we all have a responsibility to step up to the climate crisis. Action on it will need serious investment but has the potential to deliver huge benefits for nature and people. We all need to raise our voices and fight for our world!

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Over the course of the Earth's 4.5-billion-year history, the climate has changed a lot. This is true. But the rapid warming we're seeing now can't be explained by natural cycles of warming and cooling. The kind of changes that would normally happen over hundreds of thousands of years are happening in decades.

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Scalloped hammerhead sharks are internationally protected. Photo by NOAA

Sharks have long gripped our fascination and swum in the ocean before dinosaurs roamed the earth. However, such factors as climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change , ocean pollution, overfishing and fin poaching now leave some species of sharks facing extinction in parts of the world.

Why do we need to protect sharks?

Sharks play a crucial role in healthy ocean ecosystems because they are a top predator-they keep prey species populations at a healthy level and prevent algae overgrowth that advances the decline of coral reefs.

Some species of sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they do not populate quickly. Similar to humans, most shark species are long-lived, slow growing and take many years to reach sexual maturity. In addition, sharks give birth to few offspring at a time, have high juvenile mortality and infrequently reproduce.

As a commodity, there is a legal trade in shark products and the legal shark fishing industry provides an honest livelihood for many. Sharks are also vital to local economies through dive tourism, where humans enjoy observing and learning about these gentle giants underwater.

Why is there a shark population decline overseas?

The United States enforces a science-based fishery management approach that prevents overfishing and rebuilds stocks. However, the overfishing and illegal fishing of sharks solely for their fins is depleting some populations overseas. Most heinously, sharks are de-finned alive, known as "shark finning." Once its fin has been cut off, the body is thrown overboard where the shark drowns while bleeding into the water, which attracts more sharks. This practice is prohibited by several international tuna treaties, U.S. federal law and under some U.S. state laws. U.S. fishermen must bring a shark to shore with all its fins naturally attached.

Shark fins are dried and then sold to make shark fin soup, and a single bowl may sell for $100 USD. Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy and is mainly served at special events, and can be found in restaurants around the world. The cartilaginous soup is made from ceratotrichia, a keratin-like substance. These long, thin filaments of protein are most prevalent in the dorsal, pectoral, and lower caudal fins; therefore, those fins are the most desirable and most often seen in the illegal trade.

A bowl of shark fin soup. Photo by Andrew Fung/Wikimedia Commons

International protections

Today, several shark species are internationally protected under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), including thresher, silky, basking, great white, oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and whale sharks; three species of hammerhead sharks (scalloped, great and smooth); and short fin and long fin mako sharks. The most recent additions have been species of pelagic (open ocean) sharks. Many of these protected species have large fins that are traded internationally to meet the market demands for shark fin soup.

What is the Service doing?

As the implementing body for CITES in the U.S., the Service's International Affairs program provides the scientific basis and oversight to ensure that international trade in plants and animals is legal and sustainable. There are currently 183 Parties to CITES, which include 182 member countries and the European Union. The sharks mentioned above are protected under CITES in a level that allows international trade as long as it is not detrimental to the survival of the species and provides that the specimens were obtained legally, without violating any state, federal or other jurisdictional law, including any measure adopted by a regional fisheries management organization.

The Service's Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) is committed to enforcing federal laws and international treaties that protect wildlife. Thanks to laws such as the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act, the OLE has seized approximately 35 tons of CITES-protected shark fins shipped illegally through the United States since 2016.

Working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Service has kept hundreds of illegal shark fins from reaching the shipment's destination. Photo by USFWS

The Service partners with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other state and federal entities to tackle the unlawful shark trade. Interagency cooperation is essential to uncovering unpermitted, falsely labeled and concealed shipments.

CITES-protected shark fins have been found shipped illegally through air cargo, sea cargo, personal baggage and express freight. Through enhanced targeting, OLE's wildlife inspectors and special agents have made large in-transit seizures across our country. Examples of shipments and shark species include:

In response to the increase of wildlife trafficking activity, OLE initiated an interdiction team that that is composed of senior wildlife inspectors whose focus is to combat wildlife trafficking by exposing criminal pathways, generate intelligence on wildlife trafficking and coordinate national inspection efforts. The Wildlife Inspection Interdiction Team is designed to be efficient, cohesive, flexible, effective, and results driven. A recent success was Operation Hidden Mitten.

"Not on our watch," said Regional Supervisor Wildlife Inspector Eva Lara. "The OLE is focused and committed to interdict illegal shark fins from transiting through the United States. Across our nation, our wildlife inspectors are trained professionals who know what wildlife species is legal or illegal. We all work hard to conserve wildlife species that are endangered and disrupt the black-market trade."

Conservation celebrations such as "Shark Week" provide the learning foundation to discover reasons to love sharks and not fear them. They are incredibly important to the health of our planet and the Service and our partners will continue in its efforts to ensure sharks remain on the planet so future generations may benefit from them.
By John Goldman, Wildlife Inspector, Office of Law Enforcement

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Sharks Should Be Respected, Not Feared | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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Sharks have long gripped our fascination and swum in the ocean before dinosaurs roamed the earth. However, such factors as climate change climate change Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns.

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Newsela | These dogs have a nose for helping rangers in Kenya catch poachers

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Rangers had a hard time protecting gazelles, giraffes and other wild animals in Kenya from poachers. Now it is easier, thanks to well-trained bloodhounds who can sniff out trouble.

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Is Hunting Moral? | The Brink | Boston University

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Boston University is a leading private research institution with two primary campuses in the heart of Boston and programs around the world.

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Legitimate arguments abound for and against hunting for the control of the population of deer and other "nuisance" wildlife; or for sustenance for people who kill animals so they can eat them. For many people, the issue is complex, particularly for those who are (and intend to remain) meat-eaters. After reading the arguments pro and con, you may find yourself leaning strongly to one side - or you may find that you're still on the fence.

What Is Meant by 'Hunting?'

Most people who argue in favor of hunting are not arguing in favor of trophy hunting, the practice of killing an animal simply to show off its head and pelt. Trophy hunting is, in fact, abhorred by the majority of the public with a recent survey showing 69% of Americans are against it. Often, the animal being hunted is a rare or endangered animal, but even trophy hunting for wolves and bears is unpalatable to many people.

The killing of wild animals for food is a different story. Though it was, at one time, a way of life and necessary for survival, today, hunting is a controversial topic because it is frequently regarded as a recreational activity. Many people are concerned about safety issues, and society's attitudes towards animals are changing. Some hunters oppose certain practices they consider unethical, such as baiting, canned hunting (in fenced areas), and hunting of stocked animals.

At the heart of the non-trophy hunting debate in the United States is one species: white-tailed deer. In many areas in the U.S., white-tailed deer flourish because of the lack of natural predators and the abundance of deer-friendly habitat. As pockets of green space shrink and disappear in our suburbs, the species has become the center of the debate over hunting, and many who consider themselves neither hunters nor animal rights activists find themselves drawn into the debate. The debate centers on practical and ethical issues including deer management, human/deer conflicts, non-lethal solutions, and safety.

Arguments in Favor of Hunting

Hunting proponents argue that hunting is safe, effective, necessary, and inexpensive to taxpayers.

The injury rate for hunting is lower than that of some other forms of physical recreation, such as football and bicycling.

Proponents argue that hunting is an effective form of deer management because it will remove a number of individual deer from a population, preventing those individuals from reproducing.

Since natural deer predators have been eliminated in many areas, hunters argue that hunting is necessary to perform the function of wolves or cougars in keeping the deer population in check.

Hunting proponents also argue that reducing the deer population will reduce human/deer conflicts, such as car/deer collisions, Lyme disease, and landscaping damage.

Compared to sharpshooters and immunocontraception, hunting is inexpensive to taxpayers because hunters will kill the deer at no cost. Also, hunting permits are sold by state wildlife management agencies, which are partially or fully supported by the sales of permits.

Hunters argue that killing the deer is better than letting them starve to death.

Hunters argue that hunting is a tradition, a ritual or a bonding experience.

Regarding ethics, hunting proponents argue that killing a deer for food cannot be worse than killing a cow or a chicken. Furthermore, unlike the cow or the chicken, the deer lived a free and wild life before being killed and had a chance to escape.

Hunters also argue that killing a number of deer benefits the ecosystem as a whole.

Arguments Against Hunting

Hunting opponents argue that hunting is unsafe, ineffective, unnecessary, and unfair to taxpayers.

Opponents point out that compared to some other forms of recreation, hunting injuries are far more likely to be fatalities. Based on data compiled by the International Hunter Education Association U.S.A., hundreds of people have died in hunting accidents in the US over the past decade.

Opponents also argue that hunting is ineffective for solving human/deer conflicts. Studies show that car/deer collisions increase during hunting season because hunters frighten the deer out of the woods and onto roads.

Contrary to popular belief, hunting is not the only way to address Lyme disease. The ticks humans encounter on grassy areas are often spread by mice, not deer. Additionally, hunters who dress deer or squirrels have a higher risk of tick bites.

And as long as suburban landscaping includes deer-preferred plants such as tulips and rhododendrons, that landscaping will attract hungry deer, no matter how many deer there are.

It may also be the case that hunting to reduce the number of deer is less effective than contraception. Hunting is ineffective because state wildlife management agencies intentionally keep the deer population high, for hunters.

Lands managed for hunting are sometimes purchased and maintained with tax dollars, even though about 90% of Americans do not hunt.

Hunters out for trophies, such as elk and deer with large racks, are killing the strongest and healthiest of the species, not the weak and starving they claim to be putting out of their misery. Killing the stronger members of the species leaves a permanent consequence for the species as a whole.

Resolution

The hunting debate may never be resolved. The two sides will continue to debate safety, effectiveness, and cost, but will probably never agree on the ethics of killing wild animals for food or recreation.

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The arguments for and against hunting are complicated. This page explains wildlife management, ethics, recreation, and human/deer conflicts.

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Almost every day there are reports of cyberbullying in the news. Combine this with the fact that victims of cyberbullying often suffer significant consequences, and it is not surprising that most parents equate social media with something that is bad for kids.

And while it is important for parents to instill healthy habits surrounding social media use-including limiting and monitoring time online-it is also important to recognize that social media is not a bad thing. It only becomes a bad thing when people misuse it for bullying, public shaming, and rumor spreading. In fact, research shows there are numerous benefits to social media use.

Benefits of Social Media for Youth

While the overuse of electronics and social media can certainly be a problem, there are also numerous potential benefits of social media for youth, including the following:

Strengthening friendships

Motivating kids to do good

Reducing feelings of isolation

Becoming a source of support

Building a platform

Encouraging personal expression

Accessing information

Social Media Can Strengthen Friendships

There is no doubt that friendships are a key component of teen life. When kids have healthy friendships, they not only feel accepted for who they are, but they also feel more empowered and connected to the world around them. Friends also can speak truth into their lives and encourage them to explore their dreams.

What's more, research has shown that having at least one solid friendship can go a long way in preventing bullying. In fact, bullies often target teens that are alone or isolated. But teens that have a core group of friends often have a built-in layer of protection from bullying.

More than half of teens believe that social media helps their friendships.

According to a survey by Common Sense Media, 52% of teens felt that social media improved their friendships and only 4% felt it hurt them. Additionally, the study found that nearly 30% of social media users believe that social networking makes them feel more confident and outgoing.

Social Media Is a Vehicle for Doing Good

Whether teens are developing fundraisers or supporting an important cause, social media can help them make an impact in their communities. Some social movements have started when teens leveraged social media to build awareness for an issue.

Whether they make YouTube videos or develop Twitter campaigns, teens have more impact on the world around them because of social media. Moreover, their voices are being heard more frequently.

Social media also exposes kids to important issues all over the world, not just those in their communities. As a result, they realize that social media is a way for them to help and support people even from far away. They can instantaneously make an impact on things like hunger in Africa, preserving the rain forest, or providing educational tools for kids without resources.

Social Media Reduces Feelings of Isolation

While social media can make adults feel lonelier, researchers are finding the opposite may be true for teens. One study found that even though teens have fewer friends than teens did a decade ago, they still report feeling less lonely than their counterparts. They also report feeling less isolated. Researchers suggest that the difference is social media and technology.

As teens find their niche, they are becoming more individualistic and more extroverted and have higher self-esteem. This increased individuality makes teens more secure in existing friendships and reduces feelings of loneliness overall. This is especially true if those friendships are healthy.

This research also suggests that teens are developing stronger social skills due to social media use. As technology becomes a bigger part of everyday life, solid online communication skills are important. Through social media, teens learn how to navigate social networking sites and other methods of online communication. This makes them better communicators in an increasingly digital world.

Social Media Is a Source of Authentic Support

Years ago, if teens were interested in a quirky subject or were grappling with who they were as a person, they often felt marginalized and alone. Today, teens can connect with others that share similar interests, desires, and concerns. This connection helps them feel validated and secure in who they are.

Another way teens are finding support is through online communities. For instance, kids struggling with issues like drug addiction and eating disorders now can find help and support online without ever having to leave their homes. This is especially helpful for teens in small communities or rural areas where resources may be limited.

Teens experiencing suicide ideation can even get immediate access to quality online support. One example of online support occurred when a Reddit Minecraft community talked a teen out of suicide. Aside from posting positive comments and messages, more than 50 of the users used voice conferencing to persuade the teen not to go through with it. This is a perfect example of how social media and technology can benefit teens today.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

Social Media Can Build a Platform

Your teen can use social media to begin developing an online presence that can attract the attention of colleges and future employers. For instance, some teens make YouTube videos or write blog posts on topics they are passionate about.

A young teen who has a passion for reading and writing might publish book reviews or film videos with their thoughts, ideas, and comments. As their work gains traction online, they may even develop a following which could include authors, literary agents, and publishers.

Then, when this teen applies for college, they can reference their social media accounts on college applications. This work demonstrates their creativity and maturity, but also shows that they are a self-starter.

Building a platform on social media can open a lot of doors for teens and help them build a positive online reputation. It also can expose them to college scholarships, college networks, and even a future career. And it can change their perspective on social media. It's no longer just a place to post silly pictures or observe digital drama. It becomes a tool they can use to share their passions and eventually find a career path.​

Social Media Allows for Personal Expression

Digital technology is the perfect tool for channeling creativity and personal expression. Whether kids enjoy singing, writing, or acting, they can share these talents with the world around them. Kids who enjoy fashion, make-up trends, or craft projects also can express themselves online. Providing this avenue of self-expression is important for teens.

Research shows that there is a direct connection between self-expression and self-confidence. When kids are given avenues for being authentic and true to themselves, they become content with who they are and happier overall.

By contrast, when they do not have many opportunities to express themselves or they do not know people with the same passions or interests, they begin to wonder if there is something wrong with them. They also question why they are not like everyone else.

Social Media Is a Tool for Gathering Information

Social media has become a source of information and news for many teens. Once they begin social networking, they can follow just about anyone with a social media account. From authors and athletes to celebrities, chefs, nonprofit organizations, and magazines, they are connected to all sorts of information.

Teens also can gather information about issues that impact them or their friends. For instance, if they are concerned a friend might have an eating disorder or a drug addiction, they can gather information about it. Or, if they want to learn more about a presidential election, climate change, or even find new ways to eat healthily, they can do so on their social media accounts.

A Word From Verywell

Overall, social media does not have to be scary. Even though it can be exploited by kids who bully others, instilling good digital etiquette and maintaining an open dialogue about online safety can go a long way in keeping kids safe online.

As a parent, make sure you are nurturing the positive aspects of social media as well as discussing the dangers. By doing so, you will help your kids develop social media savvy, a skill that will ultimately help them in the years to come.

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Why Social Media Is More Than a Vehicle for Cyberbullying With Teens

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Parents often assume social media is a bad thing. But there are some surprising benefits to its use among teenagers. Here's what you need to know.

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Brain Power

Gum chewing in the classroom is becoming more popular for its ability to reduce stress, improve alertness, relieve anxiety and increase memory.

Antiquity

Did you know that people have been chewing gum for over 5000 years? It's true however, the first type of gum made from tree resin was unfortunately not very tasty. In 1848 John Curtis invented and sold the first packaged gum which he called, "The State of the Main Pure Spruce". In 1893 William Wrigley who sold soap and scouring products at the time saw the potential in chewing gum and introduced Wrigley Spearmint gum to the world.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

Studies have been done to prove that gum chewing in the classroom has had many positive effects on students. Let's take a look at the findings.

The L.A. Times reports a study done at Baylor College of Medicine in 2009. Sponsored by the Wrigley Science Institute, the findings are conclusive to the positive effects of gum chewing in the classroom. One hundred and eight students ages 13-16 were assigned to either chew gum during math class, while doing math homework and during tests or to refrain from chewing gum during the same activities. After 14 weeks, the group of students who chewed gum saw a 3% increase in standardized math test scores and received a significantly better final math grade compared to the students who did not chew gum. The study also concluded that the students who chewed gum required fewer breaks, kept a longer attention span and sat quieter for a longer period of time than those who did not chew gum.

Cardiff University's study in 2010 proved that chewing gum provided greater alertness, better heart rate, improved reaction times and higher attention span in students.

Dr. Kenneth Allen a professor at NYU's College of dentistry proved that chewing gum helps to release insulin into the bloodstream which affects how well your memory works.

In 2009 a study at Louisiana State University showed that by chewing sugar-free gum people were less likely to snack. The study had 115 people chew gum for 3 hours in a day. The same 115 people were asked not to chew gum the next day. People were offered sweet snacks on both days. People took far fewer snacks on the day that they chewed gum. It has also been shown in other studies that people will reduce their snack intake by 65 calories if they chewed gum that day.

Interesting Gum Facts

65% of athletes chew gum to relieve stress before or during a game.

Metabolism increases by 20% when chewing gum (medical news today.com).

Chewing gum can improve memory by 40%.

Distractions

Some drawbacks of chewing gum in the classroom include distracting other students, bubble blowing, loud chewing and or smacking of the gum while chewing. Teachers also find ABC gum under tables or chairs. Besides being gross, it can also become a hygiene problem.

Conclusion

The positive effects of chewing gum in the classroom seem to outweigh the negative. More schools should allow their students to chew gum during specific activities at school. It seems that chewing gum can increase test performance, alertness, and overall brain power.

Last Updated:
By: Julie Wenckowski

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Gum Chewing In School Is Good For The Brain

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Gum chewing in the classroom is becoming more popular for its ability to reduce stress, improve alertness, relieve anxiety and increase memory. Did you know that people have been chewing gum for over 5000 years? It's true however, the first type of gum made from tree resin was unfortunately not very tasty.

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Gum has not been allowed in school for an extremely long time. Today some school districts prohibit gum chewing altogether, others leave it up to the discretion of individual teachers. If school does not have a policy against gum chewing, then chewing depends of the teachers.

Teachers have differing views about whether students should be allowed to chew gum in school. Some believe that gum chewing is the nastiest habit in the world, it can impede the learning process, and gum chewing can be noisy and distracting to other students. They contend that dried gum always finish under tables, or on flours. Teachers can respond to gum chewers in a way that is minimally disruptive to the class, but not all teachers are so tolerant. Most of the teachers' time is spent on discipline issues, which includes gum chewing. Teachers think it is a waste of theirs' valuable time and gum does not belong in school.

Others teachers make their own rules. They allow gum chewing as long as it doesn't interfere with their ability to teach or students' ability to concentrate. If a student sticks gum under his desk, they make him remove it. That is "no noise" and "no mess" policy.

Today it is not uncommon thinking that gum chewing in class isn't a big deal. But many people want to chew gum at school. They the undersigned believe that gum should be allowed in school. There were so many petitions for "Allow Chewing Gum In School". They contend that gum helps in many ways and that privilege also should not be taken away from students.

Preliminary research suggests that regular chewing can help you remember names, make you thinner, whiten teeth, etc. Teachers may outlaw chewing gum in class, but chewing gum in class makes kids smarter. How could that be? Chewing causes our hearts to pump more blood to our brain than it usually does. More blood carries noggin-nourishing oxygen and that will help brain function better. It also increases the glucose level, making the student more alert. The rhythmic chewing also increases attention. Mental tasks are done 20% more effectively while chewing gum and that's why it makes students "smarter". Chewing should be allowed especially during big tests. Kids who chew gum during tests do 26% to 36% better. Chewing gum soothes students' minds, so they can learn more in school.

When gum is brought to school it helps clean your teeth after your lunch time. Gum can also make their jaws stronger. Some types of gum can make teeth stronger.

One line of research suggests that chewing gum can lead to better academic performance. Teachers anecdotally found that students who chewed gum required fewer breaks, paid better attention and stayed quiet longer than those who did not.

Chewing gum makes memory better, but what about the mess under tables and chairs? Maybe, if students didn't have to hide gum chewing they would dispose of it properly.

That all could be reasons to look at the positive things about having gum at school.

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Gum has not been allowed in school for an extremely long time. Today some school districts prohibit gum chewing altogether, others leave it up to the discretion of individual teachers. If school does not have a policy against gum chewing, then chewing depends of the teachers.

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Children discuss whether homework should be banned live on 'GMA'

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What's more important than getting good grades? Many students will say that nothing is better than good academic marks. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, good grades are a prize. Secondly, it is the symbol that you have accomplished something. Lastly, it is essential because they can indicate that you have earned the respect of your teacher.

There must be a connection between homework and higher accomplishments in Maths, Science, and English. In the United Kingdom, the Department of Education thinks that doing homework brings many benefits. If a student understands the value of homework, then homework can help increase productivity and motivate you.

This blog will help you understand why homework is good and discuss all its benefits. But let's first know what homework is?

What is Homework?

Homework is defined as tasks students assign as an extension or elaboration of a classroom work that students do outside of class, either at home or in the library. In other words, it is the school work that a student is required to do at home.

Homework serves various educational needs such as an intellectual discipline, reinforces work done in school, establishes study habits, helps you learn time management, and many more. Below are the ten benefits of why homework is suitable for students.

10 Beneficial Reasons Why Homework Is Good for Students

Homework is an integral part of your life because it develops core skills in young children that will serve them throughout school and their lives. According to a study, if you do homework regularly, it is considered an investment in your child's future. Some vital life skills like improved grades, time management, discipline, using some resources, and improving communication can help your children succeed in their careers.

By encouraging regular homework and supporting students with their assignments, you can expect to see the following benefits why homework is good:

1. Increase Memory Power.

2. Enhances Concentration.

3. Homework Strengthens Problem-Solving.

4. Helps in Developing Analytical Skills.

5. Discipline Skills.

6. Develops Time Management.

7. Better Understanding of Study.

8. Develop Better Future.

9. Homework Helps Students Get Better Grades.

10. Better Preparation for Exams.

Increase Memory Power

Homework is a great tool to practice something. The students use it to remember what they have learned in school. When students revise the same lesson taught in school at home, it will help them remember better.

If you revise or do your homework repetitively, this will help you with long-term memory. Homework can be used to improve a student's memory power. This is the first reason why homework is good.

Enhances Concentration.

Students who spend more time on their homework without any distractions can focus better on what they are doing. Once you can concentrate better, it will also help you in exams. This is the second reason why homework is good.

Homework Strengthens Problem-Solving.

Assignments are given as homework to help students solve problems on their own instead of asking for help from others which is very embarrassing. After solving many problems, students learn how to manage their time and find solutions to any problem on their own that they only encounter while working on homework. This is the third reason why homework is good.

Develops Time Management.

As we mentioned earlier, students who spend time on their homework assignments have a better understanding of time management. After you better understand time management, getting better marks in exams is straightforward. As a result, homework plays a crucial role in developing time management skills. This is the fourth reason why homework is good.

Homework Helps Students Get Better Grades.

The main aim of education is to receive better academic marks, which will further help you get the job of your dreams. Higher academic marks can open up several opportunities in the future. Many teachers use homework as a tool for students who are not that good at studying. Teachers often give relevant homework to the students to add to the future exam. As a result, if you revise your homework before an exam, getting better marks is high. This is the fifth reason why homework is good.

Develop Better Future.

As we mentioned above, if students do well in their homework assignments, it will automatically boost their grades. If a student can do well in their homework, it will reflect that they are capable of handling challenging tasks given to them in the future. As a result, if you have better grades in school or university, the chances of getting the highest paying job are much higher. This is the sixth reason why homework is good.

Discipline Skills.

Students who do their homework without any complaints are likely to develop discipline. Discipline is an important life skill that will help you in school and help you further in the future. This is the seventh reason why homework is good.

Discipline will help you when you have to work for someone else because discipline is first noticed. This is the most valuable quality employers would look for while choosing between candidates.

Better Understanding of Study.

When students revise the lessons again and again that they have learned in school at home, it helps them understand the subject better. If a student practices the same topic twice or more, then it is easier for the student to get an idea about the relevant topic. This is the eighth reason why homework is good.

Better Preparation for Exams.

Studying for the exams can be a difficult task for the students. But if they revise the lessons that they have learned in school at home, it is easier for the students to learn and memorize the subject better. As a result, it will give you more confidence for the exam. This is the ninth reason why homework is good.

Read our other blog to learn about the different facts about homework.

Helps in Developing Analytical Skills.

When students are given homework that requires them to analyze information, it will help develop their analytical skills. It is the most valuable quality that students can possess. In other words, homework helps the students develop the analytical skills necessary for solving problems in the future. This is the last reason why homework is good.

Bonus Tips For Homework For Parents

Make sure that your child has a quiet place to do homework if your children are doing homework in front of the television or in an area with other distractions. Then make sure to either turn off the tv or tell the kid to move somewhere with no distraction.

Always be optimistic about the homework, and tell your child how vital homework assignment is. Express a positive attitude regarding the task.

Establish a set timetable for each day for your children. Help your child to maintain time. Don't let your child leave homework until it's done.

Somehow, if your children ask for help, provide guidance, not answers.

When the teacher says that you (parents) play an important role in homework, please cooperate with the teacher. Follow the directions that the teacher gives.

Too much parent involvement is bad. If homework is meant to be done alone, please stay away from your children.

1. Let your child take a short break.

2. If your child is getting better marks due to homework, reward them for those things they like. If they get better academic marks, then you can celebrate that success with a small event.

What is the importance of homework to school students?

Improves students' knowledge

Homework is a type of practice that needs to be done to achieve better results. If students get homework regularly, they become intelligent and answer questions effectively.

Have a chance to explore

To complete the homework, students must solve the problems by researching them. Students have to search for an answer from different sources. Students get to explore new things while working from home in this process.

Make you Responsible

Apart from increasing study skills, homework helps build a sense of responsibility in the students. It means students take responsibility for their work to ensure it is complete and submitted before the last date.

Brings Families Together

When students have homework, they usually ask their parents to help with the assignment. As a result, this allows the student to understand the work better. Asking for help from your parents or siblings will bring the family together.

Conclusion: Why Homework is Good

This blog provides you with ten reasons why homework is good.

Homework has many benefits for students. If they can complete all their homework seriously, it would help them improve their academic marks.

They can also prepare better for exams by studying the homework at home with the help of their parents. Overall, homework is an integral part of a student's education, and it should not be taken lightly.

Also, Read: Is Homework Good or Bad

Frequently Asked Questions

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10 Proven Reasons Why Homework Is Good For Students

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What's more important than getting good grades? Many students will say that nothing is better than good academic marks. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, good grades are a prize. Secondly, it is the symbol that you have accomplished something.

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Resources for English Language Learners and Teachers | Pearson English

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School uniforms have a history stretching back to the sixteenth century. And for almost as long as the concept of school uniforms has existed, so has debate around them. Even in recent years, schools have been featured in news stories for introducing or abolishing school uniforms. Almost everyone has personal experience of either wearing a uniform or not during their school days. It's certainly a topic that generates strong opinions.

So, what are the advantages of having students in uniform? Are there any negative impacts on students or parents? Let's take a look at both sides of the debate.

School uniform is a source of collective pride

The proponents of school uniforms believe that a uniform is essential in creating a sense of school identity and community among students. Among the wider community, uniformed pupils contribute positively to a school's reputation. The argument goes that they give an impression of academic rigour and discipline.

Another benefit of uniform-wearing is school safety. When all students are in uniform, it is easy to quickly identify anyone who shouldn't be present in the school building.

Also, when students are out in the community, it makes it easier to deal with anti-social behaviour. Members of the public can quickly identify the school that the students are from, based on what they're wearing.

A UK study found that almost 9 in 10 teachers believe that school uniforms reduce bullying. At the same time, 7 in 10 schoolchildren believe that wearing a uniform helps them to fit in.

The same study found that two thirds of parents said that uniforms made their lives easier, saying uniforms help to create a level playing field. This might be because school uniforms can "poverty-proof" schools. They insulate students and their families from the financial pressure of wearing the latest trends or expensive labels.

Even where money isn't a concern, getting up every morning knowing what to wear makes things more simple for parents and students alike. It reduces anxieties around clothing choices for children and teenagers.

Headteacher Emma Hattersly, writing in the Guardian, observed that uniforms are freeing, especially for teenage girls. "It shields students from the mounting social pressures to worry too much about one's appearance."

In a world of fast fashion and social media selfies, a school uniform serves a practical purpose: it's a refuge from the expectation to keep up with your peers.

Uniform does more harm than good

However, school uniforms do have detractors - and they make some powerful arguments. Some teachers feel that where uniforms are mandatory, they spend too much valuable teaching time addressing issues of non-compliance.

In some cases, students are sent home for wearing the wrong shoes or jacket, missing out on important time in class. A 2020 report from the Children's Society found that over half a million children in the UK had been sent home for wearing incorrect uniforms.

Many schools differentiate their uniforms based on gender. Usually, the rule is trousers for boys and skirts for girls. This type of gender-based differentiation seems unnecessarily restrictive, and ignores the experience of trans or non-binary children.

In the Journal of Gender Studies, academic Alison Happel makes the point that school uniforms, in particular skirts, restrict movement and enforce gender expectations for girls.

"Wearers must negotiate how they sit, how they play, and how quickly they move. Skirt-wearing, consciously and unconsciously, imposes considerations of modesty and immodesty, in ways that trousers do not."

However, with boys wearing skirts to school during a heatwave, and prominent uniform retailers no longer categorising uniforms by gende r, it seems that the binary approach to uniform might be fading away.

That being said, the traditional school uniform is a shirt, tie and blazer. These items of clothing inhibit free movement and certainly don't promote things like cycling to school, running around in the playground, climbing trees and playing physical games.

When children can wear their own clothes to school, it's an opportunity to express their individuality. Choice of clothing celebrates diversity and individuality. On top of this, children can practise making responsible and appropriate clothing choices.

What does the research say?

American academic Dr David Brunsma has conducted one of the largest studies into the social and behavioural impact of school uniforms. His research took place over eight years in the United States.

The study balanced the students on the basis of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. The conclusion? Uniforms have no demonstrable positive effect on academic performance, discipline or attendance.

A more recent study found that students in uniform displayed better listening skills, and lower teacher waiting time. Nevertheless, another study found that the research on whether uniforms lead to better educational outcomes is inconclusive. So, there doesn't seem to be a straightforward answer on whether school uniforms make a positive difference or not.

However, there is a middle ground. Some schools don't require uniforms. Instead, they make branded sweatshirts and polo shirts available to purchase should students wish to do so.

For example, Anthony Gell school in England has a more relaxed dress code. Students have to select appropriate clothing for school, which won't cause offence. Ultimately, many of them choose to wear the school's branded clothing.

What do you think?

Is uniform compulsory in your school? Do you have experience of teaching in a school which doesn't require uniform? What is your personal experience like?

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The big debate: should school uniforms be banned?

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School uniforms have a history stretching back to the 16th century. And for almost as long as the concept of school uniforms has existed, so has debate around them. So, what are the advantages of having students in uniform? Are there any negative impacts on students or parents?

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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The debate over whether students should wear school uniforms has been going on for more than a decade. Some people argue that uniforms have a positive impact on the school environment by promoting inclusivity, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Others fear that school uniforms prevent kids from expressing themselves through their clothing choices.

The research on school uniforms is often mixed. While some schools have found uniforms to be beneficial, other research has found that they have little effect. Some studies have even reached the conclusion that requiring school uniforms can be harmful for students.

Let's take a closer look at some of the potential benefits, as well as the challenges, of requiring students to wear uniforms.

Student Safety

Some people think that school uniforms can help make schools safer for kids. When Long Beach, CA, required all students in grades K-8 to wear uniforms, reports of assault and battery decreased by 34%.

Additionally, assault with a deadly weapon decreased by 50%, fighting incidents declined 51%, and sex offenses dropped by 74%. Possession of weapons dropped by 52%, possession of drugs went down 69%, and vandalism was lowered by 18%.

The Sparks Middle School in Nevada reported a decrease in gang activity after instituting a uniform policy. They also reported a drop in fights, graffiti, property damage, and battery. Overall, there was a 63% drop in police reports.

Other proponents of school uniforms report that it prevents students from concealing weapons under clothing. And some also believe intruders would be recognized faster, making the students and staff safer in the event someone from the community tries to enter the school.

Not all studies have found that uniforms reduce discipline issues, however. In fact, a peer-reviewed study found that school uniforms increased the average number of assaults by about 14 per year in the most violent schools. The Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Education Evaluation and Management found that fights in middle schools nearly doubled within one year of making uniforms mandatory.

Focus on Education

For many students, clothing can be a major source of stress. Not having certain brand name clothing or not wearing fashionable items could lead to feelings of insecurity.

Some people feel students are better able to concentrate on school when they all wear the same clothing. Researchers in Australia noted that students who wear uniforms had improved discipline and academic performance.﻿﻿

Not all studies have found that uniforms improve grades, however. In fact, at least one study found that school uniforms had a negative effect on achievement.﻿﻿﻿﻿

Attendance Rates

Kids may show up to school more often when they're wearing uniforms. A study by researchers at the University of Houston found that the average attendance rate for girls in middle and high school increased by 0.3 to 0.4 percent after school uniforms became mandatory.﻿﻿﻿﻿ A study by Youngstown State University also found that attendance rates increased and suspensions decreased once students began wearing uniforms.﻿﻿﻿﻿

Students may also be more likely to show up to school on time when they have to wear uniforms. If they don't have to spend time choosing what to wear every morning, students are able to get out the door more quickly. This means fewer late arrivals.

Discipline Issues

Proponents of uniforms report that it can improve behavior in students. One school that found this to be true is the John Adams Middle School in Albuquerque, NM. When they mandated school uniforms, discipline referrals dropped from 1,565 in the first semester of the previous year to 405.﻿﻿﻿

An Australian study also concluded that students wearing uniforms were more disciplined and they listened significantly better. Classes were also more likely to start on time.﻿﻿﻿﻿

Not all studies have found this, however. Some research has found that disciplinary issues and bullying didn't decrease after instituting a mandatory uniform policy.

Dress Code Enforcement

Many school officials spend a lot of time policing dress codes. Enforcing policies can require a lot of resources as teachers may send kids to the office, and administrators have to determine whether clothing is too baggy, inappropriate, or revealing.

Kids who violate dress codes may spend a lot of time in the office awaiting consequences, or they may receive suspensions for repeated violations. School uniforms can keep kids in the classroom more and prevent staff from wasting time trying to enforce policies.

Cost for Families

Parents may spend less money on school clothes when kids wear uniforms. There is less pressure to buy expensive name-brand clothing, and school uniforms might be more affordable.

Opponents of school uniforms, however, say that requiring parents to buy specific articles of clothing goes against the idea that students should be given free education. When public schools force parents to buy uniforms, this could be placing a hardship on some families.

Impact on Self-Esteem

Proponents of uniforms report that they have a positive impact on student self-esteem.﻿﻿ Wearing the same clothing as everyone else means that students don't have to worry about whether their clothing choices will be acceptable to their peers.

But opponents argue that uniforms may have a negative impact on some students' body image. Research conducted at Arizona State University found that students without uniform policies actually reported higher self-perception scores than students with uniform policies.﻿﻿﻿

When all students wear the same clothing, they may be more likely to compare themselves to their peers as clothing fits differently on everyone's body.

The Problem With Uniform Research

Although there are many studies that examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of uniforms, many of them revealed correlation, rather than causation. Just because grades went up or behavioral problems went down, there's no way of knowing that the reason for the change was due to uniform policy. There are many other factors that may have influenced these issues.

A Word From Verywell

Before any school adopts a uniform policy, it may be wise to review the literature. While there certainly may be a lot of benefits to making uniforms mandatory, there are also some potential drawbacks and challenges you might face. Parents, teachers, and administrators may want to weigh the pros and cons before instituting any type of clothing policy for students.

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The Pros and Cons of School Uniforms for Students

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The debate over whether students should wear school uniforms has been going on for more than a decade. Here are some of the potential benefits and challenges of uniforms.

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Some schools have a policy stating that students must wear uniforms to class. Normally associated with private schools, uniforms have become more common in public schools, too. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, uniforms are required at about…

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In July 2017, families in Marion County, Florida, got some surprising news about the school year ahead. "Traditional homework as we know it will disappear, at least for elementary students," school superintendent Heidi Maier said in a voice message to parents. "Instead of working on classroom assignments at home, we want students reading," she said.

More than 20,000 students attend the county's 31 elementary schools. Dara Mehr, a fifth grader, is one of them. Last year, Dara had two or three hours of homework a night. "I would have 12 math questions and six or seven pages of work to do for reading," she told TIME for Kids.

Now Dara's only homework is to read for 30 minutes. She enjoys having more time for activities like painting and playing video games. But her mom, Kayla Mehr, misses last year's assignments. "The kids knew that once they finished those worksheets, they were done," she says, referring to Dara and her sister, Neveah, a second grader. "Sometimes, getting them to sit down and read for 30 minutes is a challenge."

Around the country, in states from Florida to Vermont to California, elementary schools are experimenting with a no-homework policy. Superintendent Maier and other school leaders say the new policy is based on research. Studies have shown that homework does not grades or test scores in elementary school.

Paula Fass is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of The End of American Childhood. She points out that disagreement over the value of homework is not new. "There's been over homework ever since schooling became a requirement," she says.

Support for homework has gone up and down through the years (see "Homework History"). "In the 1900s, a lot of parents thought that homework just occupied children's time [when] they could be doing chores," says Fass. More than a century later, many still question the role that homework should have in kids' lives.

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Finding a Balance

Harris Cooper is a professor at Duke University and the author of The Battle over Homework. He has analyzed more than 50 studies on homework. In his view, homework has a positive effect on achievement. "The effect gets larger as kids move through the grades. But even in the early grades, homework has a positive effect on simple skills." Examples include spelling and math facts.

The National Education Association and the National PTA suggest that students get 10 minutes of homework per grade, starting in first grade. Cooper supports this , known as the "10-minutes rule."

But he warns that homework can have a negative impact as well. "If there's too much of it or if it's too difficult, it can lead to frustration and to kids voicing concern about their abilities," he says. "And that's not a good thing."

Last year, Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke, Massachusetts, made headlines for eliminating homework. Jackie Glasheen, the principal at the time, told ABC News that she wanted kids to have more quality time with family. "We want them to engage with their families, talk about their school days, and go to bed," she said.

But this year, the school has a new principal, Isamar Vargas. Students in kindergarten through eighth grade have homework once again. But they receive only one assignment per day.

Vargas explained that the school takes a balanced approach. "We want to build responsibility and structure," she says. "But we don't want to take away the important time that children have with their families or practicing sports."

Kelly Elementary won't be the only school to experiment with its policies. "One thing you can know is that this is part of a long history of conflict over homework," says Fass, the Berkeley professor. "And that can be expected to continue."

Homework History

Attitudes toward homework have changed throughout U.S. history.

In the coming years, do you think support for homework will rise or fall?

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Early 1900s: A number of school districts pass anti-homework . The goal? To cut down on students' having to memorize information, known as rote learning.

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1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first satellite. The space race is on. Homework for math and science increases.

1966: The National Education Association suggests no homework in early grades and "limited amounts" in upper elementary.

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1983: President Ronald Reagan's Education Department releases a report on problems with schools. It creates pressure to get tough.

1990s: Global competition is on the rise. Support for homework in the U.S. is strong. Elementary students receive more homework than they had in the past.
Assessment: Click for a printable quiz. Teacher subscribers can find the answer key in this week's Teacher's Guide.

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In July 2017, families in Marion County, Florida, got some surprising news about the school year ahead. "Traditional homework as we know it will disappear, at least for elementary students," school superintendent Heidi Maier said in a voice message to...

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History of School Uniforms
Traditionally favored by private and parochial institutions, school uniforms are being adopted by US public schools in increasing numbers. According to a 2020 report, the percentage of public schools that required school uniforms jumped from 12% in the 1999-2000 school year to 20% in the 2017-18 school year. School uniforms were most frequently required by elementary schools (23%), followed by middle (18%), and high schools (10%).

The first recorded use of standardized dress in education may have been in England in 1222, when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the " cappa clausa." The origin of the modern school uniform can be traced to 16th Century England, when the impoverished "charity children" attending the Christ's Hospital boarding school wore blue cloaks reminiscent of the cassocks worn by clergy, along with yellow stockings. As of Sep. 2014, students at Christ's Hospital were still wearing the same uniform, and according to the school it is the oldest school uniform still in use. When Christ's Hospital surveyed its students in 2011, 95% voted to keep the traditional uniforms. Read more history...

Pro & Con Arguments

Pro 1

School uniforms deter crime and increase student safety.

In Long Beach, California, after two years of a district-wide K-8 mandatory uniform policy, reports of assault and battery in the district's schools decreased by 34%, assault with a deadly weapon dropped by 50%, fighting incidents went down by 51%, sex offenses were cut by 74%, robbery dropped by 65%, possession of weapons (or weapon "look-alikes") decreased by 52%, possession of drugs went down by 69%, and vandalism was lowered by 18%.

And, school uniforms prevent the display of gang colors and insignia, reducing gang activity and pressure to join on school property. The U.S. Department of Education's Manual on School Uniforms stated that uniform policies can "prevent gang members from wearing gang colors and insignia at school" in order to "encourage a safe environment." Educators in the Long Beach Unified School District have speculated that the sharp reduction in crime following the introduction of school uniforms was a result of gang conflicts being curbed. Osceola County, Florida School Board member Jay Wheeler reports that the county's schools had a 46% drop in gang activity after their first full school year with a mandatory K-12 uniform policy. Wheeler explains that "clothing is integral to gang culture... Imagine a U.S. Armed Forces recruiter out of uniform trying to recruit new soldiers; the success rate goes down. The same applies to gang recruitment." [35] [37] [67]
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Pro 2

School uniforms keep students focused on their education, not their clothes.

Wearing uniforms also enhances school pride, unity, and community spirit, which can boost interest in education. A study of over 1,000 Texas middle school students found that students in uniform "reported significantly more positive perceptions of belonging in their school community than reported by students in the standard dress group." Christopher P. Clouet, former Superintendent of the New London Public Schools in Connecticut, stated that "the wearing of uniforms contributes to school pride." Arnold Goldstein, PhD, head of the Center for Research on Aggression at Syracuse University, points out that uniforms help troubled students feel they have the support of a community: "There is a sense of belonging." Further, "teachers perceived an increase in the level of respect, caring, and trust... throughout the school" and "students are made to feel 'important' and as if they are a part of a team by wearing a uniform," according to a peer-reviewed study.

Plus, school uniforms can improve attendance and discipline. A study by researchers at the University of Houston found that the average absence rate for girls in middle and high school decreased by 7% after the introduction of uniforms, and behavioral problems lessened in severity. School uniforms make getting ready for school easier, which can improve punctuality.
When uniforms are mandatory, parents and students do not spend time choosing appropriate outfits for the school day. According to a national survey, over 90% of US school leaders believe school uniform or formal dress code policies "eliminate wardrobe battles with kids," make it "easier to get kids ready in the morning," and create a "time saving in the morning." Tracey Marinelli, Superintendent of the Lyndhurst School District in New Jersey, credits the district's uniform policy for reducing the number of students running late. Lyndhurst student Mike Morreale agrees, stating that "it's so much easier to dress than having to search for clothes and find out that something doesn't match." A Youngstown State University study of secondary schools in Ohio's eight largest school districts found that school uniform policies improve rates of attendance, graduation, and suspension.
Read More

Pro 3

Students' legal right to free expression remains intact with mandatory school uniforms.

Besides, students can still express their individuality in school uniforms by introducing variations and adding accessories. Junior high school student Amelia Jimenez wrote in her op-ed for the Pennsylvania Patriot-News that "contrary to popular belief, uniforms do not stop students from being themselves. Uniforms do not silence voices. Students can wear a variety of expressive items, such as buttons or jewlery." Students can inject their personal style into their daily look with hairstyles, nail polish, and colorful accessories such as bags, scarfs, and fun socks. 54% of eighth-graders said they could still express their individuality while wearing school uniforms.

Further, students dressed in uniform are better perceived by teachers and peers. A 1994 peer-reviewed study found that students in uniform were perceived by teachers and fellow students as being more academically proficient than students in regular clothes. The study also found that students in uniform were perceived by peers and teachers as having higher academic potential, and perceived by peers as being better behaved. Students need to learn a balance between free expression and working within the confines of expectations.
Read More

Con 1

School uniforms do not stop bullying and can actually increase violent attacks.

Further, a peer-reviewed study found that "school uniforms increased the average number of assaults by about 14 [per year] in the most violent schools." A Texas Southern University study found that school discipline incidents rose by about 12% after the introduction of uniforms. And, according to the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Office of Education Evaluation and Management, fights in middle schools nearly doubled within one year of introducing mandatory uniforms.
Read More

Con 2

School uniforms do not improve attendance, academic preparedness, or exam results.

The problems arise because focusing on uniforms takes attention away from finding genuine solutions to problems in education. Spending time and effort implementing uniform policies detracts from more effective efforts to reduce crime in schools and boost student performance. More substantive improvements to public education could be achieved with smaller class sizes, tightened security, increased parental involvement, improved facilities, and other measures. Tom Houlihan, former Superintendent of Schools in Oxford, North Carolina, stated that school uniforms "are a distraction from focusing on systematic and fundamental transformation to improve our schools."

That uniform policies are a distraction is most evident when we realize that the push for school uniforms is driven by commercial interests rather than educational ones. Americans spend around $1 billion on school uniforms every year. Retailer J.C. Penney Co. says school uniforms are "a huge, important business for us." In one year alone, uniform company Lands' End spent $3 million on marketing efforts directed at public schools and districts. Multiple studies used to promote the effectiveness of uniforms were partly funded by Lands' End, and at least one of those studies is "so wholly flawed as to render itself useless," according to David L. Brunsma. Reuters reported that retailers were "sensing their opportunity... stepping up competition in the uniform aisles and online. Walmart has set up 'uniform shops' or temporary boutiques within some stores."

The commercialization of school uniforms in public schools also undermines the promise of a free education by imposing an extra expense on families. Parents already pay taxes, and they still need to buy regular clothes for their children to wear when they're out of school and for dress-down days. The Children's Commission on Poverty (UK) found that over "95% of parents on low incomes reported difficulties in meeting school-related costs," including uniforms, despite their children attending tuition-free schools. Anderson, Indiana, parents Laura and Scott Bell argued against their children's school uniform policy, saying the $641 for their children's uniforms broke the guarantee of a free public education. In York County, Pennsylvania, a local NBC affiliate reported that some children were missing class because their families couldn't afford to purchase the required uniforms. And, all of that is before the uniform policies themselves are examined. Most operate like dress codes and are classist, racist, and sexist.
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Con 3

School uniforms restrict students' freedom of expression.

Uniforms take away the ability to use clothing as means of expressing support for social causes. Students at Friendly High School in Prince George's County, MD, were not allowed to wear pink shirts to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and 75 students received suspensions for breaking the school's uniform restrictions. Removing these choices can delay the transition into adulthood. Adults make their own clothing choices and have the freedom to express themselves through their appearance. Denying children and teenagers the opportunity to make those choices may make them ill-prepared for the adult world. Adolescents see clothing choices as a means of identification, and seeking an identity is one of the critical stages of adolescence, according to the late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson.

When students have to wear the same outfits, rather than being allowed to select clothes that suit their body types, they can suffer embarrassment at school. Child and teen development specialist Robyn Silverman says that students, especially girls, tend to compare how each other looks in their uniforms: "As a body image expert, I hear from students all the time that they feel it allows for a lot of comparison... So if you have a body that's a plus-size body, a curvier body, a very tall body, a very short body, those girls often feel that they don't look their best." A study by researchers at Arizona State University found that "students from schools without uniforms reported higher self-perception scores than students from schools with uniform policies." Some students also find uniforms less comfortable than their regular clothes, which may not be conducive to learning.
Read More

Did You Know?

1. The first school district in the United States to require all K-8 students to wear uniforms was Long Beach, CA, in Jan. 1994.

2. Americans spend around $1 billion per year on school uniforms.

3. Students at Eton, one of England's most prestigious schools, were required to wear black top hats and tails on and off campus until 1972.

4. US schools with a minority student population of 50% or more are four times as likely to require uniforms than schools with a minority population of 20-49%, and 24 times more likely than schools with minority populations of 5%-19%.

5. A government agency in Sweden declared that mandatory school uniforms were a human rights violation, stating that students should decide their dress and appearance as "a matter of the individual's freedom and integrity."

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School Uniforms Pros and Cons - 13 Arguments For and Against

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Proponents say uniforms may increase student safety. Opponents say uniforms restrict expression. Explore both sides of the debate.

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© Monkey Business Images/Dreamstime.com
To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, and discussion questions about whether students should have to wear school uniforms, go to ProCon.org.
Traditionally favored by private and parochial institutions, school uniforms are being adopted by US public schools in increasing numbers. According to a 2020 report, the percentage of public schools that required school uniforms jumped from 12% in the 1999-2000 school year to 20% in the 2017-18 school year. School uniforms were most frequently required by elementary schools (23%), followed by middle (18%), and high schools (10%).

The first recorded use of standardized dress in education may have been in England in 1222, when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the "cappa clausa." The origin of the modern school uniform can be traced to 16th Century England, when the impoverished "charity children" attending the Christ's Hospital boarding school wore blue cloaks reminiscent of the cassocks worn by clergy, along with yellow stockings. As of Sep. 2014, students at Christ's Hospital were still wearing the same uniform, and according to the school it is the oldest school uniform still in use. When Christ's Hospital surveyed its students in 2011, 95% voted to keep the traditional uniforms.

School uniforms in the United States followed the traditional use of uniforms established in England and were generally limited to private and parochial schools. One exception was found in government-run boarding schools for Native American children, first established in the late 1800s, where the children, who had been removed from their families, were dressed in military-style uniforms.

According to figures released in 2018 by the National Center for Education Statistics, the total number of public schools nationwide requiring students to wear school uniforms increased from 12% during the 1999-2000 school year to 21% during the 2015-2016 school year. In 2015-2016, 25% of public primary schools enforced a uniform policy, as did 20% of public middle schools and 12% of public high schools. A higher proportion of schools located in cities had mandatory uniforms in 2015-2016 than schools in suburban, town, and rural areas. Mandatory uniforms were far more prevalent in "high-poverty" schools (in which 76% of students were eligible for reduced-cost or free lunch programs) than in "low-poverty" schools.

Among the US cities with the highest use of school uniforms in public schools are Philadelphia (100% of schools), New Orleans (95%), Cleveland (85%), Chicago (80%), Boston (65%), and Miami (60%). The number of schools with "strict dress codes" has also increased, from 47% in 2000 to 57% in 2010.

School uniforms may deter crime and increase student safety.

School uniforms keep students focused on their education, not their clothes.

School uniforms create a level playing field among students, reducing peer pressure and bullying.

Wearing uniforms enhances school pride, unity, and community spirit.

School uniforms may improve attendance and discipline.

Uniform policies save valuable class time because they are easier to enforce than a standard dress code.

School uniforms prevent the display of gang colors and insignia.

School uniforms make getting ready for school easier, which can improve punctuality.

School uniforms can save parents money.

Most parents and educators support mandatory school uniforms.

Students' legal right to free expression remains intact even with mandatory school uniforms.

Students dressed in uniform are better perceived by teachers and peers.

Students can express their individuality in school uniforms by introducing variations and adding accessories.

School uniforms restrict students' freedom of expression.

School uniforms promote conformity over individuality.

School uniforms do not stop bullying and may increase violent attacks.

School uniforms do not improve attendance, academic preparedness, or exam results.

The key findings used to tout the benefits of uniforms are questionable.

School uniforms emphasize the socio-economic divisions they are supposed to eliminate.

Students oppose school uniforms.

Uniforms may have a detrimental effect on students' self-image.

Focusing on uniforms takes attention away from finding genuine solutions to problems in education.

The push for school uniforms is driven by commercial interests rather than educational ones.

Parents should be free to choose their children's clothes without government interference.

School uniforms in public schools undermine the promise of a free education by imposing an extra expense on families.

School uniforms may delay the transition into adulthood.

This article was published on May 3, 2021, at Britannica's ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source.

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Some say that school uniforms make schools safer for students, create a level playing field that reduces socioeconomic disparities, and encourage children to focus on their studies rather than their clothes, while others say school uniforms infringe upon students' right to express their individuality, have no positive effect on behavior and academic achievement, and emphasize the socioeconomic disparities they are intended to disguise.

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It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.

What Research Says about Homework

According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it's important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a "10 minute rule": students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.

But his analysis didn't prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply showed a correlation. This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework's effect on kids.
Further reading: Get Homework Done and Turned In
Some researchers say that the question isn't whether kids should have homework. It's more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students' needs. For example, some middle school teachers have found success with online math homework that's adapted to each student's level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their math and science test scores went down.

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. These researchers theorize that homework doesn't result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study's authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."

So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it's hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.

Problems with Homework

In an article in Education Week Teacher, teacher Samantha Hulsman said she's frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she's facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it's what we've always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it's more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.

Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in Psychology Today that battles over homework rarely result in a child's improvement in school. Children who don't do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It's doable, but painful."

Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices-not just the student's, but those belonging to all family members.

One of the best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn, says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines-put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children's curiosity that we have yet invented."

Homework Bans

Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida, decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students. Instead, kids read nightly for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper's research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.

Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The homework policy has four parts: read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night's sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.

But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there's no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn't be counted as part of a student's grade.
Further reading: Balancing Extracurriculars with Homework in High School
So Should Students Have Homework?

Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it's possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.

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Some argue that homework should become a thing of the past. Others think it's an important tool for learning. So, should students have homework?

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The debate over how much schoolwork students should be doing at home has flared again, with one side saying it's too much, the other side saying in our competitive world, it's just not enough.

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It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework.

This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read. Every day for 30 minutes, more if they had time or the inclination, with parents or on their own.

"I knew this would be a big shift for my community," she says. But she also strongly believed it was a necessary one. Twenty-first-century learners, especially those in elementary school, need to think critically and understand their own learning - not spend night after night doing rote homework drills.

Brant's move may not be common, but she isn't alone in her questioning. The value of doing schoolwork at home has gone in and out of fashion in the United States among educators, policymakers, the media, and, more recently, parents. As far back as the late 1800s, with the rise of the Progressive Era, doctors such as Joseph Mayer Rice began pushing for a limit on what he called "mechanical homework," saying it caused childhood nervous conditions and eyestrain. Around that time, the then-influential Ladies Home Journal began publishing a series of anti-homework articles, stating that five hours of brain work a day was "the most we should ask of our children," and that homework was an intrusion on family life. In response, states like California passed laws abolishing homework for students under a certain age.

But, as is often the case with education, the tide eventually turned. After the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, a space race emerged, and, writes Brian Gill in the journal Theory Into Practice, "The homework problem was reconceived as part of a national crisis; the U.S. was losing the Cold War because Russian children were smarter." Many earlier laws limiting homework were abolished, and the longterm trend toward less homework came to an end.

The debate re-emerged a decade later when parents of the late '60s and '70s argued that children should be free to play and explore - similar anti-homework wellness arguments echoed nearly a century earlier. By the early-1980s, however, the pendulum swung again with the publication of A Nation at Risk, which blamed poor education for a "rising tide of mediocrity." Students needed to work harder, the report said, and one way to do this was more homework.

For the most part, this pro-homework sentiment is still going strong today, in part because of mandatory testing and continued economic concerns about the nation's competitiveness. Many believe that today's students are falling behind their peers in places like Korea and Finland and are paying more attention to Angry Birds than to ancient Babylonia.

But there are also a growing number of Stephanie Brants out there, educators and parents who believe that students are stressed and missing out on valuable family time. Students, they say, particularly younger students who have seen a rise in the amount of take-home work and already put in a six- to nine-hour "work" day, need less, not more homework.

Who is right? Are students not working hard enough or is homework not working for them? Here's where the story gets a little tricky: It depends on whom you ask and what research you're looking at. As Cathy Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework, points out, "Homework has generated enough research so that a study can be found to support almost any position, as long as conflicting studies are ignored." Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth and a strong believer in eliminating all homework, writes that, "The fact that there isn't anything close to unanimity among experts belies the widespread assumption that homework helps." At best, he says, homework shows only an association, not a causal relationship, with academic achievement. In other words, it's hard to tease out how homework is really affecting test scores and grades. Did one teacher give better homework than another? Was one teacher more effective in the classroom? Do certain students test better or just try harder?

"It is difficult to separate where the effect of classroom teaching ends," Vatterott writes, "and the effect of homework begins."

Putting research aside, however, much of the current debate over homework is focused less on how homework affects academic achievement and more on time. Parents in particular have been saying that the amount of time children spend in school, especially with afterschool programs, combined with the amount of homework given - as early as kindergarten - is leaving students with little time to run around, eat dinner with their families, or even get enough sleep.

Certainly, for some parents, homework is a way to stay connected to their children's learning. But for others, homework creates a tug-of-war between parents and children, says Liz Goodenough, M.A.T.'71, creator of a documentary called Where Do the Children Play?

"Ideally homework should be about taking something home, spending a few curious and interesting moments in which children might engage with parents, and then getting that project back to school - an organizational triumph," she says. "A nag-free activity could engage family time: Ask a parent about his or her own childhood. Interview siblings."

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Instead, as the authors of The Case Against Homework write, "Homework overload is turning many of us into the types of parents we never wanted to be: nags, bribers, and taskmasters."

Leslie Butchko saw it happen a few years ago when her son started sixth grade in the Santa Monica-Malibu (Calif.) United School District. She remembers him getting two to four hours of homework a night, plus weekend and vacation projects. He was overwhelmed and struggled to finish assignments, especially on nights when he also had an extracurricular activity.

"Ultimately, we felt compelled to have Bobby quit karate - he's a black belt - to allow more time for homework," she says. And then, with all of their attention focused on Bobby's homework, she and her husband started sending their youngest to his room so that Bobby could focus. "One day, my younger son gave us 15-minute coupons as a present for us to use to send him to play in the back room. ... It was then that we realized there had to be something wrong with the amount of homework we were facing."

Butchko joined forces with another mother who was having similar struggles and ultimately helped get the homework policy in her district changed, limiting homework on weekends and holidays, setting time guidelines for daily homework, and broadening the definition of homework to include projects and studying for tests. As she told the school board at one meeting when the policy was first being discussed, "In closing, I just want to say that I had more free time at Harvard Law School than my son has in middle school, and that is not in the best interests of our children."

One barrier that Butchko had to overcome initially was convincing many teachers and parents that more homework doesn't necessarily equal rigor.

"Most of the parents that were against the homework policy felt that students need a large quantity of homework to prepare them for the rigorous AP classes in high school and to get them into Harvard," she says.

Stephanie Conklin, Ed.M.'06, sees this at Another Course to College, the Boston pilot school where she teaches math. "When a student is not completing [his or her] homework, parents usually are frustrated by this and agree with me that homework is an important part of their child's learning," she says.

As Timothy Jarman, Ed.M.'10, a ninth-grade English teacher at Eugene Ashley High School in Wilmington, N.C., says, "Parents think it is strange when their children are not assigned a substantial amount of homework."

That's because, writes Vatterott, in her chapter, "The Cult(ure) of Homework," the concept of homework "has become so engrained in U.S. culture that the word homework is part of the common vernacular."

These days, nightly homework is a given in American schools, writes Kohn.

"Homework isn't limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Most teachers and administrators aren't saying, 'It may be useful to do this particular project at home,'" he writes. "Rather, the point of departure seems to be, 'We've decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). ... This commitment to the idea of homework in the abstract is accepted by the overwhelming majority of schools - public and private, elementary and secondary."

Brant had to confront this when she cut homework at Gaithersburg Elementary.

"A lot of my parents have this idea that homework is part of life. This is what I had to do when I was young," she says, and so, too, will our kids. "So I had to shift their thinking." She did this slowly, first by asking her teachers last year to really think about what they were sending home. And this year, in addition to forming a parent advisory group around the issue, she also holds events to answer questions.

Still, not everyone is convinced that homework as a given is a bad thing. "Any pursuit of excellence, be it in sports, the arts, or academics, requires hard work. That our culture finds it okay for kids to spend hours a day in a sport but not equal time on academics is part of the problem," wrote one pro-homework parent on the blog for the documentary Race to Nowhere, which looks at the stress American students are under. "Homework has always been an issue for parents and children. It is now and it was 20 years ago. I think when people decide to have children that it is their responsibility to educate them," wrote another.

And part of educating them, some believe, is helping them develop skills they will eventually need in adulthood. "Homework can help students develop study skills that will be of value even after they leave school," reads a publication on the U.S. Department of Education website called Homework Tips for Parents. "It can teach them that learning takes place anywhere, not just in the classroom. ... It can foster positive character traits such as independence and responsibility. Homework can teach children how to manage time."

Annie Brown, Ed.M.'01, feels this is particularly critical at less affluent schools like the ones she has worked at in Boston, Cambridge, Mass., and Los Angeles as a literacy coach.

"It feels important that my students do homework because they will ultimately be competing for college placement and jobs with students who have done homework and have developed a work ethic," she says. "Also it will get them ready for independently taking responsibility for their learning, which will need to happen for them to go to college."

The problem with this thinking, writes Vatterott, is that homework becomes a way to practice being a worker.

"Which begs the question," she writes. "Is our job as educators to produce learners or workers?"

Slate magazine editor Emily Bazelon, in a piece about homework, says this makes no sense for younger kids.

"Why should we think that practicing homework in first grade will make you better at doing it in middle school?" she writes. "Doesn't the opposite seem equally plausible: that it's counterproductive to ask children to sit down and work at night before they're developmentally ready because you'll just make them tired and cross?"

Kohn writes in the American School Board Journal that this "premature exposure" to practices like homework (and sit-and-listen lessons and tests) "are clearly a bad match for younger children and of questionable value at any age." He calls it BGUTI: Better Get Used to It. "The logic here is that we have to prepare you for the bad things that are going to be done to you later ... by doing them to you now."

According to a recent University of Michigan study, daily homework for six- to eight-year-olds increased on average from about 8 minutes in 1981 to 22 minutes in 2003. A review of research by Duke University Professor Harris Cooper found that for elementary school students, "the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement ... hovered around zero."

So should homework be eliminated? Of course not, say many Ed School graduates who are teaching. Not only would students not have time for essays and long projects, but also teachers would not be able to get all students to grade level or to cover critical material, says Brett Pangburn, Ed.M.'06, a sixth-grade English teacher at Excel Academy Charter School in Boston. Still, he says, homework has to be relevant.

"Kids need to practice the skills being taught in class, especially where, like the kids I teach at Excel, they are behind and need to catch up," he says. "Our results at Excel have demonstrated that kids can catch up and view themselves as in control of their academic futures, but this requires hard work, and homework is a part of it."

Ed School Professor Howard Gardner basically agrees.

"America and Americans lurch between too little homework in many of our schools to an excess of homework in our most competitive environments - Li'l Abner vs. Tiger Mother," he says. "Neither approach makes sense. Homework should build on what happens in class, consolidating skills and helping students to answer new questions."

So how can schools come to a happy medium, a way that allows teachers to cover everything they need while not overwhelming students? Conklin says she often gives online math assignments that act as labs and students have two or three days to complete them, including some in-class time. Students at Pangburn's school have a 50-minute silent period during regular school hours where homework can be started, and where teachers pull individual or small groups of students aside for tutoring, often on that night's homework. Afterschool homework clubs can help.

Some schools and districts have adapted time limits rather than nix homework completely, with the 10-minute per grade rule being the standard - 10 minutes a night for first-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, and so on. (This remedy, however, is often met with mixed results since not all students work at the same pace.) Other schools offer an extended day that allows teachers to cover more material in school, in turn requiring fewer take-home assignments. And for others, like Stephanie Brant's elementary school in Maryland, more reading with a few targeted project assignments has been the answer.

"The routine of reading is so much more important than the routine of homework," she says. "Let's have kids reflect. You can still have the routine and you can still have your workspace, but now it's for reading. I often say to parents, if we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man or woman on Mars and that person is now a second-grader. We don't know what skills that person will need. At the end of the day, we have to feel confident that we're giving them something they can use on Mars."
Read a January 2014 update.

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Are You Down With or Done With Homework?

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caption id="attachment_5366" align="alignleft" width="319" caption="Illustration by Jessica Esch"] [/caption] It was a move that doesn't happen very often in American public schools: The principal got rid of homework. This past September, Stephanie Brant, principal of Gaithersburg Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Md., decided that instead of teachers sending kids home with math worksheets and spelling flash cards, students would instead go home and read.

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I Can’t Stop Buying My Kids Expensive Sneakers. What Is Wrong With Me?

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This need to keep up with the Junior Joneses is blowing a hole in my budget.

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OVERFLOWING GARBAGE BINS: 5 IMPACTS ON HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT 

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OVERFLOWING GARBAGE BINS: 5 IMPACTS ON HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT 

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Cities around the world are facing great challenges due to increasing urbanization, and one of the major challenges is the rising amount of generated waste and littering due to high demand for food products and other essentials. Public waste bins are filling up faster than ever and inevitably many of the bins end up overflowing before collected, causing not only cluttered streets and bad odors but also negative health and environmental impacts.

While in most developed countries the waste collection processes are efficient enough to prevent major disasters from happening, in some cities the careless attitudes of local bodies towards maintaining cleanliness have caused deadly results. One of the cities with major waste problems has been Naples, where the mafia is accused of dumping toxic waste around the city and thereby causing high rates of cancer, allergies and birth defects. Another good example of a city suffering from unhygienic conditions was Surat in India, where a pneumonic plague epidemic broke out in 1994, causing 52 deaths.

Although not as deadly risky as dumping tons of toxic waste around the city borders, overflowing waste containers are still a great nuisance and a risk to our health and environment. If you are a business owner, overflowing bins pose an ever greater danger. In this article, we present five outcomes of overflowing garbage bins and suggest how modern technology could ease the problems by increasing the efficiency of waste collections and informing the waste handlers before the bins overflow.

1. Bacteria, insects and vermin thrive from garbage

Overflowing waste bins are an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, insects and vermin. The flies that visit the garbage are also the same flies that roam around your lunch buffet and drop their offsprings on your plate. By doing so, they increase the risk of you contracting with salmonella, which causes typhoid fever, food poisoning, enteric fever, gastroenteritis, and other major illnesses. Besides flies, other animals that thrive from the garbage in and around the containers include rats, foxes and stray dogs.

2. Overflowing waste causes air pollution and respiratory diseases

One of the outcomes of overflowing garbage is air pollution, which causes various respiratory diseases and other adverse health effects as contaminants are absorbed from lungs into other parts of the body. The toxic substances in air contaminated by waste include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. In everyday life we identify the polluted air especially through bad odors, which are usually caused by decomposing and liquid waste items.

3. Garbage contaminates surface waters, which affects all ecosystems

Garbage and liquid waste that end up in water bodies negatively change the chemical composition of the water. Technically, this type of pollution is called water pollution. It affects all ecosystems existing in the water, including fish and other animals that drink the polluted water. Hazardous household waste items such as batteries, computer equipment and leftover paints can be particularly dangerous for surface waters.

4. Direct handling of overflowing waste exposes for health risks

For waste collection staff the risks of picking up and handling overflowing garbage include infections, chronic diseases and accidents. Direct contact with waste can result in skin and blood infections through infected wounds, various illnesses resulting from the bites of animals feeding on the waste, and intestinal infections transmitted by flies feeding on the waste. Picking up overflowing garbage is also risky due to sharp objects, needles and potentially hazardous waste.

5. Inefficient waste control is bad for municipal wellbeing

Besides causing all sorts of health and environmental issues, overflowing garbage is a public nuisance and eyesore. Everyone wants to live and visit places that are fresh, clean and healthy. A smelly city with poor sanitation and trash all over the place does not attract people or tourists, let alone investments. Cities keep losing money, and they also miss out on the revenue and job opportunities coming from proper waste control and recycling.

How to prevent waste bins from overflowing?

Although cities could try to prevent the overflowing of their bins simply by installing larger bins or assigning more staff members on collection services, there are also smarter ways to solve the problem.

In high traffic areas such as busy shopping streets, transit stations, and sports stadiums, one of the best ways to eliminate unsightly garbage overflow is to install smart solar-powered trash compactor bins, which can hold up to 8 times more waste than traditional bins thanks to their compaction function. These bins are powered entirely by their solar panels and the bins even inform the waste collection managers in real-time before becoming full, allowing the staff members to take data-driven actions ahead of time.

In lower traffic and remote locations, one of the best ways to prevent bin overflowing is to install a smart fill-level sensor in each bin and utilize a monitoring platform to plan the collections ahead of time. As a result, the containers get collected in time and collection companies increase their efficiency, ultimately reducing operational costs by up to 50 percent. To read

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Overflowing garbage bins: 5 impacts on health and environment, and how to prevent

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Overflowing waste bins are a great nuisance and a risk for our health and environment. See the risks and learn how to prevent.

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HOW YOUR DIET CONTRIBUTES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

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HOW YOUR DIET CONTRIBUTES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

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Quiz: How Does Your Diet Contribute to Climate Change? (Published 2019)

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Food choices come with climate consequences. See how your diet compares with those of other Americans.

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TEENAGER DREAM TO CLEAN THE OCEANS COMES TRUE

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TEENAGER DREAM TO CLEAN THE OCEANS COMES TRUE

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For someone who gets violently seasick, Boyan Slat spends a lot of time thinking about the ocean. The Dutch inventor has designed the world's first ocean plastic cleanup system but admits he won't be on the ship with it when it launches out of San Francisco on Saturday. "I am not a man of the sea," he says.

After five and a half years of hard work, the 23-year-old Slat will watch from dry land as System 001 - a floating barrier nearly 2,000ft long - snakes its way out under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific. Its destination is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gyre of plastic waste twice the size of Texas held in position by ocean currents between California and Hawaii.

If all goes to plan, Slat says, an array of 60 systems could reduce the amount of plastic there by half by 2025. "I hope that this will be a turning point for the plastic pollution problem," Slat tells TIME in a phone interview a few days before the launch, in between final preparations. "For sixty years it has only gotten worse and worse. Now hopefully we're turning the tide."

The eradication of the garbage patch, and more broadly the salvation of our oceans, has been Slat's single-minded goal ever since he was 16 years old, when a diving trip to Greece yielded more plastic bag sightings than fish. Struck by the idea for a floating barrier that could collect plastic using the power of ocean currents alone, he founded his company, The Ocean Cleanup, aged just 18.

Boyan Slat, CEO of The Ocean Cleanup The Ocean Cleanup

The idea grabbed imaginations around the world. In 2015, an early prototype of System 001 was featured on TIME's list of the best inventions of 2015. The project has come a long way since then, Slat says. "It takes a trained eye to see the similarities."

What was originally envisaged as a large rigid barrier arranged around a central tank for collecting plastic, is today an unmanned, modular system that moves with the currents, naturally gravitating to areas of higher concentration. From the air it looks like a pipeline sitting on the surface of the sea, but beneath the waves lies a 10ft deep 'skirt,' which traps plastic accumulated by the current.

Because the system is solid rather than a net, Slat says sea life will be protected from becoming ensnared. The hope is that plastic will accumulate as if on a seashore, ready to be collected by boats and taken for recycling.

It's an ambitious plan, and one that has received millions of dollars of funding thanks to fast-shifting public opinion on plastic. In December 2017, 193 countries signed a U.N. resolution to eliminate ocean plastic pollution, and big corporations like McDonald's are moving to remove single-use plastics from their stores. (Some say not fast enough.) The U.N. says over 8 million tons of plastic still enter the oceans each year - the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic every minute.

But reducing our addiction to plastic is just one half of the equation, Slat says. "These garbage patches won't go away by themselves. Even if we were to close the tap today the plastic would still be there in 100 years."

System 001 floating in the San Francisco Bay before its launch The Ocean Cleanup

Slat sees his mission as a race against time. Plastic gradually breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics which can eventually enter the food chain. Currently, however, just 8% of the plastic mass in the Pacific garbage patch is microplastics, according to research carried out by The Ocean Cleanup published in the journal Scientific Reports. "But of course what's going to happen over the next few decades is that all the other 92% of plastic will be turned into microplastics as well," Slat says. "So the sooner we get it out, the better."

A thorny question remains in what will happen to the plastic that is brought back to shore from The Ocean Cleanup's systems. Slat says he wants to turn it into branded merchandise, but acknowledges that all depends on the quality of the plastic, which remains a mystery. In any case, most of the plastic in the oceans is single-use, Slat argues. "By not making it into anything single-use, you can already reduce the chances of it ending up back in the oceans by 99%," he says.

But it's possible that lots of the waste returned to land will have to be carted off to third-party recycling plants and eventually recycled into more single-use plastics that might one day return to the oceans. The task ahead isn't so much Herculean as Sisyphean.

Nevertheless, Slat isn't dissuaded easily. "Big problems require big solutions," he says. "If anyone has any better ideas, we'd love to know."

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This Dutch Teen Dreamed of Cleaning Up the Ocean. Now, It's Happening

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For someone who gets violently seasick, Boyan Slat spends a lot of time thinking about the ocean.

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No roads lead to Kuujjuaq. You can only get to this village, high in the Canadian Arctic, by boat or plane. The trees here are stunted and small, but the bears grow big. The 500 kids who live in Kuujjuaq (pronounced KOO-joo-ak) have unusual chores: they help their parents catch fish and hunt caribou to eat. This place might seem far away from the big problems of big cities, like water pollution and air pollution. But even here, people can't escape those problems. Pretty little Kuujjuaq, with its blue skies and crystal clear waters, also has an invisible pollution problem that rivals any city.

Toxic chemicals have a surprising way of finding their way up here to the Arctic. They are gushed out of factories and cities thousands of miles away, and they travel to the Arctic like birds flying north for the summer. The birds go back home, but the chemicals stay.

Everyone in Kuujjuaq has the chemicals in their bodies. No one knows their full effects, but they may hurt children in a slow and silent way. They could cause babies to get sick a little more often. And they might even cause kids to do worse in school.

No one would have dreamed that people in such a clean and beautiful place could be hurt by pollution from thousands of miles away. Then, in 1989, some scientists made a discovery.
POPs around the world
Eric Dewailly, a doctor at Laval University in Québec, Canada, was studying chemicals called persistent organic pollutants, or POPs. These are chemicals that can hang around for a long time in people's bodies or in the environment.

Dewailly and his team tested people in the cities of southern Québec (near the border with the United States) to see how much of these chemicals were in their bodies. Dewailly's team wanted to compare this group with people in the Arctic. They reasoned that people in the Arctic lived far from pollution, and so would probably have lower levels of POPs in their bodies.

So the scientists went up to Nunavik, the remote, northern part of Québec which includes Kuujjuaq and 13 other native Inuit villages. When they tested people in Nunavik they were surprised. People there had five to ten times as much of these chemicals in their bodies as people living in polluted cities. Some of the chemicals came from as far away as Russia!

Scientists now understand why this happens. The POPs include hundreds of different chemicals. Some are used in electronic gadgets like TVs, or in the lights and electrical wiring of buildings. Some are used in paints or for making windows waterproof. Others are sprayed onto crops as pesticides. But POPs have one thing in common: They like to evaporate. Just as a puddle of water dries on a hot summer sidewalk, POPs turn slowly into vapor and drift into the air. Winds can carry them thousands of miles.

POPs travel in the air until they reach a cold place. Have you noticed that on a hot day, a glass of lemonade with ice cubes in it collects little drops of water on the outside? This is because water vapor, which is a gas in the air, "condenses" onto the cold glass and forms those droplets-the opposite of evaporating or drying. The same thing happens with POPs, says Knut Breivik, an environmental chemist at the Norwegian Institute of Air Research in the city of Kjeller.

"Things tend to evaporate in warmer regions and condense when it gets colder," says Breivik. So when winds carry POPs into the Arctic or Antarctic parts of the world, cold temperatures cause them to condense onto plants or rocks or snow or oceans. And then they stay where they landed and build up over time.
10 million tons
Over the years, more than 10 million tons of POPs have probably floated through the skies to the Arctic. If those chemicals were piled on an area the size of a football field, the pile would rise 700 meters in the air-higher than the tallest building on Earth.

Since the chemicals are spread over the entire Arctic instead of a football field, there's actually only a small amount in any one place. A swimming pool filled with Arctic Ocean water might contain only a single tiny raindrop of POPs. But these chemicals have a nasty habit of collecting inside animals and people, so even a little bit in the environment can end up causing problems.

POPs tend to stick to the oils and fats in living things, so tiny ocean animals like plankton soak them up, just like a shirt soaks up a drop of spaghetti sauce. Those plankton are eaten by larger animals, which in turn are eaten by even larger animals.

Every time one animal eats another, more POPs enter the larger animal's body. Animals can't digest POPs. They take them in the front, but never poop or pee them out the back end. So the POPs collect and collect. The biggest animals, like sea birds, seals, and whales, have the most POPs in their bodies. And these animals are eaten by native Inuit people, who have lived and hunted in Nunavik and other parts of the Arctic for thousands of years.
Two teaspoons
By the time a boy growing up in Kuujjuaq turns five years old, he may have collected one or two little rain drops' worth of POP chemicals in his body. That doesn't sound like much-but it's thousands of times more concentrated than these chemicals are in sea water. In fact, that little boy has as much of these chemicals in his 20-kilogram body as there would be in two and a half million kilograms of sea water-in other words, enough sea water to fill an Olympic swimming pool! Scientists are trying to understand how the chemicals affect kids.

Kids in Kuujjuaq play and joke around.

André Perron/Wikimedia Commons

Dewailly's team has made many trips back to Nunavik to study the problem of POPs. In 1992 and 2004, they sailed in a ship to all 14 villages along the coast of Nunavik, including Kuujjuaq. The ship stopped at each village, and doctors took blood samples and examined people. They measured POPs in hundreds of newborn babies. Blood samples were taken again when the babies turned one year old. And these babies were studied for years as they grew, to find out how the POPs in their bodies affected them over time.

These studies have shown that POP chemicals affect the health of children in small but worrying ways. For one thing, these chemicals can weaken children's immune systems, says Pierre Ayotte, a toxicologist who works with Dewailly at Laval University. "Then you're less able to fight disease," he says. Babies with the most POPs in their bodies had more ear infections and more infections in their lungs-not minor infections like colds or flu, but serious ones that affect breathing and can sometimes send you to the hospital.
Long division
These chemicals might even affect how well kids do in school. When the babies were 1 year old, the Laval University scientists gave them some tests. They tested how well the babies used their hands. They also tested how well the babies paid attention and learned when they were shown new toys. All of these tests were videotaped, and scientists carefully studied the videos afterward. What they saw surprised them.

Babies with high POPs levels weren't quite as coordinated with their hands as other babies. They also didn't pay attention quite as well when they were being shown new toys-they often stared away at other things. And during several hours of tests, these babies became upset and cried more often.

These were small differences. You wouldn't notice them unless you watched the babies closely. But when the same babies were tested again at the age of 5, the ones with high POPs still did a little worse.

"At later ages you're still at a disadvantage," says Gina Muckle, a psychologist on the Laval University team that traveled to Nunavik to test the children. Muckle thinks that even small changes can affect how children do in school as they get older. They could affect how a child responds when taught something hard, like long division-whether they meet the challenge with a positive attitude, or get upset and discouraged. Or they could affect how a child responds to the stress of going to a new school-how well they make new friends, and whether they still do well in class during those awkward times. Little differences, over the years, could add up. "Those effects," says Muckle, "are likely to be a real disadvantage overall during the life of the person."
Still trickling
No one was happy to learn that POP chemicals were hurting people in the Arctic. But finding out about the problem gave the Inuit a chance to do something about it. In the 1990s, the United Nations held a meeting, called the Stockholm Convention, to discuss banning many POP chemicals. The Inuit sent people to the United Nations to tell how POPs had affected them. Since 1998, 140 countries have agreed to stop making many POP chemicals. As a result, levels of POPs in the Arctic are falling.

But it will take a long time for the problem to go away. For one thing, buildings around the world still contain many tons of POPs in their paint and wiring. Every day, a little bit of those chemicals turns into vapor and drifts outside. Eventually, it reaches the Arctic.

Researcher Sébastien Roy tests the quality of a lake's water during the 2004 Nunavik Health Survey.

Isabelle Dubois/NRBHSS

Soil also contains huge amounts of POP chemicals-and the hot blast of a forest fire can send them into the air, just as a hot blow drier causes water to evaporate from your hair. Breivik found that major fires in 2004 and 2006 caused large amounts of POPs to go into the air and reach the Arctic. Many of these chemicals last for 100 years or longer.
Likely suspects
The other problem is that while hundreds of POP chemicals are known, there are probably others that scientists still don't know about. "There are new compounds that are ending up in remote areas," says Frank Wania, an environmental chemist at the University of Toronto in Scarborough.

Many POPs contain the element chlorine. But in the last few years, scientists like Wania have been surprised to find that two families of manmade chemicals, which contain the elements fluorine or bromine, have found their way into the Arctic. "We failed to recognize [them] until they were already accumulating in the Arctic," says Wania-meaning that large amounts of them were turning up in seals, birds and people. By the time the chemicals were discovered and banned, the damage was done.

Scientists want to get ahead of the problem. Wania has surveyed 100,000 industrial chemicals. He was looking for chemicals-you could call them "hoppers," "fliers" and "swimmers"-which might reach the Arctic. Out of those chemicals, he found 120 likely suspects that he plans to look at more closely.

All of this might seem like a lot of effort. But many scientists think it's the right thing to do. It comes down to one question, says Muckle-whether we want children to be able to grow and learn to their full potential. "The environmental contaminants are certainly an issue," she says. "As a society we need to take that into account."

Douglas Fox is a freelance journalist who writes about life, earth and Antarctic sciences.

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No roads lead to Kuujjuaq. You can only get to this village, high in the Canadian Arctic, by boat or plane. The trees here are stunted and small, but the

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Artist Dianna Cohen shares some tough truths about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives -- and some thoughts on how to free ourselves from the plastic gyre.

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Kids versus Fossil Fuels: A Chat with a Teenage Activist

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Scientific American spoke with Kelsey Juliana, one of the 21 kids who are suing the U.S. government over climate change

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EATING MEAT HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PLANET

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EATING MEAT HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PLANET

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Eating meat has ‘dire’ consequences for the planet, says report

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To feed a growing global population and curtail climate change, scientists say we need to radically change our food systems.

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Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can't tell the difference between plastic and food.

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How Does Garbage Affect the Environment?

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Garbage causes damage to local ecosystems, and it is a threat to plant and animal life. Garbage is also a source of food for many animals. A significant amount of garbage is dumped into the oceans.

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JUST A FEW SPECIES MAKE UP MOST OF THE EARTH'S FOOD SUPPLY

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JUST A FEW SPECIES MAKE UP MOST OF THE EARTH'S FOOD SUPPLY

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Grocery stores may seem like a cornucopia, offering every imaginable fruit, veggie, cereal and meat. But a new report suggests that our food comes from just a few crops and types of livestock. And that could spell trouble if climate change drives any of these species to extinction.

"While wild elephants and rhinos thoroughly deserve our support, we should also be raising the alarm for our disappearing agrobiodiversity," Ann Tutwiler, director general of Biodiversity International, the organization who published the report, writes for the . "After all, if there is one thing we cannot allow to become extinct, it is the species that provide the food that sustains the 7 billion people on our planet."

The organization aggregated data from dozens of previous studies and reports on agricultural diversity from around the world. The results suggest that three-quarters of Earth's food supply draws on just 12 crops and five livestock species.

"Overreliance on too few varieties and species is leaving the food system unnecessarily exposed to shocks and stresses, as well as neglecting a high-impact solution to major health, environmental and food security challenges," the organization says in a statement. For example, the reliance of Irish farmers on a single species of potato for nearly all of their food in the 19th century allowed the Irish potato famine to devastate the country, reports Damian Carrington for the .

The effects can already be seen in some places, Tutwiler writes, such as in Tanzania, where yields of coffee have been cut in half since 1960 by droughts and temperature changes. Cacao and tea crops that power the economies of many developing nations are on the verge being decimated by a warming Earth.

"These crops are the tip of the iceberg," Tutwiler writes, noting that 940 species cultivated by humans are under threat.

Diversification of our food could also have other benefits. By growing a greater number of crops, farms could incorporate practices such as crop rotation that helps maintain higher levels of soil nutrients and reduce the need for added fertilizers, reports Stuart Braun for Deutsche Welle. Also, incorporating more native crops could produce larger yields, thus helping to alleviate food insecurity, writes Carrington.

One of the biggest offenders of monoculture is the growth of cereals and soy to feed the ever-growing livestock industry. This large-scale production of meat takes a heavy toll on the environment, according to Braun, driving emissions release and climate change. By reducing reliance on meat, societies could both reduce emissions and support diversification of food sources.

The new report seeks to raise awareness of the importance of such diversification. "Agrobiodiversity is a precious resource that we are losing, and yet it can also help solve or mitigate many challenges the world is facing," Tutwiler writes. "It has a critical yet overlooked role in helping us improve global nutrition, reduce our impact on the environment and adapt to climate change."

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Just a Few Species Make Up Most of Earth's Food Supply. And That's a Problem

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The looming threat of extinction from climate change makes the lack of diversity in the world's food supplies a dangerous prospect

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We are what we eat, and what we eat has a profound impact on the planet.

When people think about food and sustainability, they typically focus on how the food is produced. Is it, for example, locally sourced, GMO-free, pasture-fed, organic or certified? Just as important, however, is the question of what is eaten.

What we eat is rapidly changing around the globe, as people converge toward diets high in calories, protein and animal-based foods. A new WRI paper, Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future, explores these changes and the challenges they pose for food security and a sustainable future. It shows that just small shifts in the choices consumers make can have a huge impact in reducing agriculture's resource use and mitigating environmental problems-the average American, for example, could cut their diet's environmental footprint in half just by eating less meat and dairy. To help shift people to more sustainable diets at a large scale, the paper introduces the Shift Wheel, which harnesses marketing and behavior change strategies already used by the food industry to influence consumer purchasing.

Here's what you need to know in 12 charts:

We need to close a big food gap.

The world needs to close a 70 percent "food gap" between the crop calories available in 2006 and the expected calorie demand in 2050. This gap stems primarily from population growth and changing diets. Global population is projected to grow to nearly 10 billion by 2050, with two-thirds of people living in urban areas.

Global diets are shifting toward overconsumption.

As nations urbanize and incomes rise, their citizens diversify their diets and consume more calories and more animal-based foods such as beef, dairy, pork, chicken, eggs and fish. Demand for animal-based food is expected to rise by 80 percent between 2006 and 2050, with beef specifically increasing by 95 percent. Some of this growth in demand will support health and welfare gains, but much of it will be driven by overconsumption of food.

All regions already consume more protein than average dietary requirements-with highest consumption in wealthy regions.

Global average per person protein consumption exceeded dietary requirements in all regions in 2009, with each person consuming on average about 68 grams per day- one-third higher than the average daily adult requirement. In wealthy countries, protein consumption was higher still. For example, the average American man eats nearly 100 grams of protein per day, almost double the amount of protein he needs (56 g).

In fact, the gap between the average American's daily protein needs and amount they're already getting from plant sources is less than the equivalent of one chicken breast (4 oz, 35 g of protein).

Animal-based foods are generally more resource-intensive and environmentally impactful to produce than plant-based foods.

Beef production requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of edible protein than common plant-based protein sources such as beans, peas and lentils. Chicken and pork are more resource-efficient than beef, but still require three times more land and emit three times more greenhouse gas emissions than beans. When it comes to resource use and environmental impacts, the type of food eaten matters as much, if not more, than how that food is produced.

The biggest beef is with beef.

Beef is extremely inefficient to produce, as cattle consume a huge amount of calories and protein in order to produce a relatively small amount of calories and protein for human consumption (sheep and goat are similarly inefficient converters of feed to food, but are eaten on a much smaller scale globally). As a result, beef production requires large quantities of land and water per unit of protein or calorie consumed.

One-quarter of the earth's land (excluding Antarctica) is used as pastureland, and beef accounts for one-third of the global water footprint of farm animal production. Beef also has a disproportionate impact on climate change. Ruminants, of which cattle are the most common, accounted for nearly half of all agricultural production-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2010. If cattle were able to form their own nation, they would rank third behind China and the United States among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.

You don't have to become a vegetarian or vegan to make a difference.

The average American could cut their diet-related environmental impacts by nearly one half just by eating less meat and dairy. Working with the French agricultural research institutions CIRAD and INRA, we modelled the effects of several diet scenarios. When applied to the average American diet in 2009, the ambitious animal protein reduction scenario (which cut people's meat/dairy/fish/egg consumption in half) reduced per person land use and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by nearly one-half-or almost as much as the vegetarian scenario (which eliminated meat and fish, but increased dairy consumption relative to the average American). The beef reduction scenarios reduced per person land use and greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent (replacing one-third of beef consumption with other meats or legumes) to 35 percent (reducing beef consumption by 70 percent, down to the world average level).

Small shifts in diet choices can make a huge impact globally.

When applied globally to populations overconsuming protein or who are high consumers of beef, the ambitious animal protein reduction and beef reduction scenarios could spare between 310 and 640 million hectares (766 million to 1.6 billion acres) of agricultural land, respectively. For the ambitious animal protein reduction scenario, the land spared is roughly two times the size of India. This is more than the entire area of land converted to agricultural use over the past 50 years. The corresponding avoided land use change-related greenhouse gas emissions was 168 billion tons of CO2 equivalent-more than three times total global emissions in 2009! As a result, reducing consumption of animal-based foods among the world's wealthier populations could free up significant amounts of land-possibly enabling the world to feed 10 billion people by 2050 without agriculture further expanding into forests.

How consumers can shift their own diets.

To make sustainable diet choices easier for consumers, WRI introduces a new protein scorecard ranking foods from lowest (plant-based foods) to highest impact (beef), based on associated greenhouse gas emissions per gram of protein. Encouragingly, some of the lowest-impact foods are also the cheapest to buy.

Shifting billions of people's diets requires larger, systemic changes.

Efforts to shift diets in the past have largely depended on information and education, including calling for people to become vegetarian or vegan. These efforts haven't reached scale because they don't work in step with how people purchase and consume food. Instead, we need to engage leaders in the food sector to experiment with new approaches that increase the share of plant-based protein in consumer choices.

WRI and partners reviewed more than a dozen successful consumption shifts that have already occurred and created a "Shift Wheel." The Shift Wheel comprises four complementary strategies: minimize disruption, sell a compelling benefit, maximize awareness and evolve social norms. As a next step, WRI will partner with the food service industry to test the Shift Wheel and scale successes.

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Sustainable Diets: What You Need to Know in 12 Charts

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When people think about food and sustainability, they typically focus on how the food is produced-is it locally sourced, pasture-fed or organic? New WRI research shows that the question of *what* is eaten is just as important.

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Julia Rosen and Yuliya Parshina-KottasApril 18, 2021

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A Climate Change Guide for Kids (Published 2021)

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The future could be bad, or it could be better. You can help decide.

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UNDERSTAND THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IN 8 MINUTES

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UNDERSTAND THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IN 8 MINUTES

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Understand the Immigration System in 8 Minutes

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Growth, Cities, and Immigration: Crash Course US History #25

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Through the eyes of a child immigrant | Erik Gomez | TEDxPSU

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT

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Teixeira says one distinction between an immigrant and a migrant can be seen in these visas, specifically in that immigrant visas are "related to lawful permanent-resident status."

Another distinction between the terms "migrant" and "immigrant" could be between the "outward-bound vs. inward-bound" viewpoint of the specific terms, he says. "The term 'migrant' focuses on the act of leaving one's country. The term 'immigrant' focuses on the act of settling in the receiving country," Teixeira says.
Can they be used interchangeably?
Conversationally and in the news, many people use the terms interchangeably. But can they be used interchangeably and mean the same thing?

While Teixeira says the terms can be used interchangeably casually, he says that "notable anti-immigration publications, especially in Europe, focus on using the term 'migrant' in a way that furthers their anti-immigrant viewpoint."

Using "migrant" in this way has led to the term carrying a "sinister, despective connotation," Teixeira says. "The term seems to be used, in such contexts, to undermine the permanence of the individual's life in the receiving country, and to play down any claim of, for instance, asylum, as there is increasingly an implication that 'migrants' tend to be economic migrants - and therefore only moving for work opportunities."

Teixeira tells Teen Vogue that this tactic is used to advance the idea that a migrant is a "temporary outsider" who is in the "receiving country to take and take without giving back." This rhetoric provides a way for people within a receiving country to "exclude noncitizens from being accepted as part of their local community."

For these reasons, Teixeira says he typically avoids using the term "migrant." He also notes that immigration law typically considers those people who are not on permanent-resident visas immigrants, even if they are here for seasonal work and plan on returning to their home country after they complete the seasonal work.

Teixeira says immigration lawyers in the U.S. typically focus on whether a person has "lawful permanent-resident status" as opposed to asking if they are an immigrant. He also states that immigration lawyers in the U.S. normally don't use the term "migrant" in an effort to avoid the "negative tone the term 'migrant' now carries."
Can a migrant be an immigrant?

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The Difference Between "Migrant" and "Immigrant"

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The ongoing highlight of immigration issues has led to confusion about the definition of "immigrant" and that of "migrant," as both terms have been in the news quite a bit.

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U.S. Immigration Timeline: Definition & Reform - HISTORY

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A timeline of U.S. immigration shows how, from the 1600s to today, the United States became a nation of people from hundreds of cultures, languages and beliefs.

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A detailed look at immigration legislation from the Colonial Period to the present

The Immigration Act of 1907 broadens the categories of people banned from immigrating to the U.S. The list excludes "imbeciles," "feeble-minded" people, those with physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from working, tuberculosis victims, children who enter the U.S. without parents, and those who committed crimes of "moral turpitude."

The "Gentleman's Agreement" between the U.S. and Japan ends the immigration of Japanese workers.

Congress passes the Expatriation Act of 1907 that says women must adopt the citizenship of their husbands. Therefore, women who marry foreigners lose their U.S. citizenship unless their husbands become citizens.

The Alien Registration Act (Smith Act) requires that all immigrants age 14 and up register with the government and be fingerprinted. The act also bans individuals considered "subversives" from immigrating.

News breaks about inhumane detention centers along the US-Mexico border; there are numerous stories of unsanitary conditions, violence, and the separation of children from their families. Protests break out across the country and around the globe, and many call for the dissolution of ICE, the immigration organization seen as most responsible for the detentions. As of summer 2020, the detention centers remain a matter of public debate.

A detailed look at immigration legislation from the Colonial Period to the present

The Immigration Act of 1907 broadens the categories of people banned from immigrating to the U.S. The list excludes "imbeciles," "feeble-minded" people, those with physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from working, tuberculosis victims, children who enter the U.S. without parents, and those who committed crimes of "moral turpitude."

The "Gentleman's Agreement" between the U.S. and Japan ends the immigration of Japanese workers.

Congress passes the Expatriation Act of 1907 that says women must adopt the citizenship of their husbands. Therefore, women who marry foreigners lose their U.S. citizenship unless their husbands become citizens.

The Alien Registration Act (Smith Act) requires that all immigrants age 14 and up register with the government and be fingerprinted. The act also bans individuals considered "subversives" from immigrating.

News breaks about inhumane detention centers along the US-Mexico border; there are numerous stories of unsanitary conditions, violence, and the separation of children from their families. Protests break out across the country and around the globe, and many call for the dissolution of ICE, the immigration organization seen as most responsible for the detentions. As of summer 2020, the detention centers remain a matter of public debate.

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History and timeline of immigration laws passed in the U.S. from the colonial period to the present

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TEENS WOULD RATHER TEXT THAN TALK TO YOU

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TEENS WOULD RATHER TEXT THAN TALK TO YOU

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Most American teenagers are constantly using social media, and half admit that it distracts them from looking up and talking to people right in front of them, a new survey shows.

More teens now say they prefer texting to talking to other people in person, and they admit smartphone apps are waking them up at night and distracting them from homework, the survey by Common Sense Media shows.

No surprises there to anyone who knows a teenager, but the survey also shows that teens are very much aware of the pitfalls of social media use. They suspect that social media companies are trying to manipulate them, and they deny that their constant use of Instagram, Snapchat and other apps is making them lonely.

"Social media has transformed adolescence and the lives of millions and millions of teens," said Jim Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media, which conducts research into media use.

"Teens have even told us in this landmark report that they are distracted from their friends, from their homework and from sleep," Steyer told NBC News. "A lot of teens feel addicted to social media."

Common Sense interviewed more than 1,100 teens aged 13 to 17 for about three weeks this spring and found some surprises. Teenagers are not mindless slaves to their smartphones, the survey found.

"Teens are often depicted as being heedless of the consequences of spending so much time on their smartphones," the report reads.

"In reality, our survey reveals that teens are fully aware of the power of devices to distract them from key priorities, such as homework, sleep and time with friends and family."

More than half - 57 percent - said social media distracts them from doing homework and 54 percent admitted that they sometimes ignored people they were with to pay attention to social media. And 29 percent said a text or other notification had woken them up at night.

"A large proportion of all teens (44 percent) say they get frustrated with their friends for being on their phones so much when they're hanging out together," the report reads.

There's no doubt that mobile devices dominate the lives of young people. More than 80 percent of the teenagers surveyed said they used social media.

That's no more than in 2012, but now, 70 percent say they're using social media multiple times a day, compared with just a third of them in 2012, the survey found.

Apps often drive this. One example is the Snapchat "streak," in which users must send at least one message every single day to certain friends and acquaintances.

And while the teens don't necessarily fight back by refusing to be drawn in, they are at least aware of what's happening, the report showed.

"Nearly three out of four teens (72 percent) believe that tech companies manipulate users to spend more time on their devices," the report reads.

"We find it very encouraging that teens are very aware that social media companies like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are manipulating them. That means that they're increasingly aware that those companies don't necessarily have their best interests at heart," Steyer said.

But teenagers like the technology. The proportion of teens who say their favorite way to communicate with their friends in person dropped from 49 percent in 2012 to 32 percent in 2018.

It's not all negative. A quarter of the teens surveyed said these apps make them feel less lonely, and only 3 percent said using them makes them feel more isolated.

"A major difference since we did this study five years ago is that teens prefer texting to talking," Steyer said. "They literally would rather text than talk to someone face to face or on the phone. As a parent, I don't like that."

Parents can and should limit time spent on mobile devices and using social media, Steyer said.

"We have to get our teens off of devices, away from social media and platforms," he said, "away from just staring at phone screens and out in the beautiful outdoors."

"This is not going to go away. The genie is out of the bottle. This is reality going forward in our kids' lives, but we can provide them guidance and judgment as to how best to use social media in a positive way."

The survey also puts to rest any lingering doubts that Facebook is for old people only. Just 15 percent of the teens surveyed said it was their first choice in social media.

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Teens would rather text than talk to you, survey finds

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More teens are distracted by social media, using smartphone apps like Snapchat and Instagram constantly, a new survey by Common Sense Media shows.

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WHAT'S THE AVERAGE AGE WHEN KIDS GET A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT?

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WHAT'S THE AVERAGE AGE WHEN KIDS GET A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT?

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What's the average age when kids get a social media account? | CNN

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About 56% of US youth have their own social media accounts, according to Common Sense Media. The average age when signing up for an account was 12.6 years.

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Why I Use Snapchat: It’s Fast, Ugly and Ephemeral

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Adults often wonder why children use Snapchat. The answer is partly because the service is intended to be incredibly quick and really ugly.

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I USE TO THINK SOCIAL MEDIA WAS A FORCE FOR GOOD. NOW THE EVIDENCE SAYS I WAS WRONG.

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I USE TO THINK SOCIAL MEDIA WAS A FORCE FOR GOOD. NOW THE EVIDENCE SAYS I WAS WRONG.

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I used to think social media was a force for good. Now the evidence says I was wrong | Matt Haig

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More and more, it’s clear these platforms create divisions, exploit our insecurities and risk our health, says novelist Matt Haig

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I attended an interview with Nancy Jo Sales about her book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, at the 2016 Woodstock Writers' Festiva l. Her research, based on conversations with over 200 teen girls from across the country representing all different demographics, painted a very disturbing picture of the world our teenage girls are living in:

Over 70% of teens have smart phones which means they have access to the internet which in turn means they have easy access to pornography.

Most teens are on their phones all the time - in school, in bed at night, when they go to the bathroom, while you are trying to talk to them, and while they are trying to do their homework.

They are in instant access with each other all the time - living in a perpetual state of staccato interruptions.

There are virtually no enforceable societal or parental controls short of depriving a child of a phone which then subjects them to rejection from their real and virtual friends.

The popularity contests of childhood are on-line now and revolve around how many "likes" you get. A low number of "likes" typically translates into low social status, and possible shaming and bullying. A high number of "likes" translates to popularity and the pressure to sustain your status.

During the Q&A, an articulate 13-year-old girl confidently shared her point of view. She thought parents are out of touch when it comes to their concerns about the over-sexualization of teens. She said she feels empowered that she can send nude pictures of herself on the internet and saw that as an expression of her agency over her own body. She likened parents worrying about their kids sending nude selfies to parents "in the 80's" who were afraid of their kids listening to rock n roll - they just don't understand.

As this young girl spoke with such certainty of her point of view, my heart hurt and was saddened and I was scared for her and this generation. As you will see, I hold a very strong opinion myself on the matter. But, what I would really like to come of this is not to make each other wrong, but rather to find a way to truly hear each other's concerns and evolve a cooperative response to this situation.

Here are my specific concerns:

With an under-developed prefrontal cortex, a teenager's decision-making is less likely to successfully weigh outcomes, form judgments and control impulses and emotions. At the same time, they have a fairly well-developed nucleus accumbens (the area of the brain that seeks pleasure and reward). Throw in hormones and we have the perfect recipe for immediate gratification, thrill seeking, and impulse behaviors far outweighing careful consideration of potential consequences. As a result, teens are more susceptible to becoming addicted to nicotine, drugs, and cellphone use and engaging in rebellious and risky behaviors.

The vulnerability of teens is intensified by the fact that as they move through the rite of passage that is their teenage years, the approval of their friends is increasing and eclipsing the value to them of parental approval.

A confluence of the following forces has created an artificial secret world that is consuming
the time and mental focus of teens and subjecting them to risky, competitive behaviors:
--the popularity of social media among teens
--the normalization of Smart phone usage
--the easy exposure to pornography
--the influence of the Kardashian concept of female beauty<
-- the trend to up the ante and push the boundaries of sex and violence in visual media.

What is being forfeited in this situation? Research shows teens are extremely deficient in face-to-face communication skills. What else are they missing out on in terms of personal growth and development, social skills, and academic discipline and learning? What about their stress levels?

This is a gold mine for the technology and pornography industries who financially benefit - every click equals more money for them. Teen girls have come to believe it is normal and desirable to sex up their look. They don't know any other way to be that gives them access to so much social currency among their friends. Kids are addicted to accumulating "likes" and the more sexualized their visual content, the more "likes" they get. If that's not child pornography, I don't know what is!

I worry about the peer pressure for girls to post nude photos and for boys to accumulate as many as possible. Have nude selfies become the baseball cards of this generation?

Posting provocative selfies is not a demonstration of a teen girl's agency over her own body. Flirting with the forbidden might be thrilling, but it is far from a reflection of her power and love of her body. Putting herself on public display simply screams, "Look, everyone I'm sexy!" The reality is these girls are subjecting themselves and each other to body shaming - a game of who looks better than whom and who is being most provocative. They are also providing free pictures for porn sites. And guess what subject matter is most popular there? Teenage girls!

When a girl gets a request from a boy for a nude photo, she might think it's because he likes her. Sadly, her nude photo will probably just give some boy bragging rights for putting another notch on his belt. Stimulating each other's raging hormones is not empowering, it is a dangerous game. Off-line, it often escalates to heartless sexual acts that cheapen their self identity and the potential beauty of sexual expression.

With the amplification of a sexualized sense of self coupled with the external search for validation, what chance do these children have of learning how to deeply connect with themselves and others and to develop the life coping skills they will need as whole people? I wish these kids could know that they are so much more than what is portrayed in a nude photo on the internet. I wish they could be as motivated to deeply know themselves as they are to gathering superficial "likes" online.

Where do we go from here? How can we, as a society, help these children? I welcome your thoughts on this.

If you would like to know more about me, and my work please visit my website or email me at judithjohnson@hvc.rr.com

If you would like to suggest a topic for a future blog or ask me to address a particular situation or issue, please email me at judithjohnson@hvc.rr.com

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If this generation is going to be named after anything, the iPhone just might be it: according to a fall 2015 marketing survey, two out of three US teens owned an iPhone, about as complete a market saturation as possible for a product. The complete dominance of the smartphone among teens has had ripple effects across every area of their lives, from their social interactions to their mental health

Jean M. Twenge

Teenagers and young adults - ages 16 to 24 - are the most intense users of social media. Benefits of social media use include enhancing friendships and decreasing loneliness. But there is also evidence that overuse has a negative impact on self-esteem and satisfaction with their lives. And this social media use is also linked to an increase in mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and suicidality.

Nearly 90% of 16-24 year olds use the internet for social networking¹

Social media's popularity among adolescents isn't surprising, since it has been shown to affect the reward centers that are so active in teen brains.

An imaging study has shown that these regions are activated when participants viewed images with a lot of "Likes".

The response is strongest when Likes are on images posted by participant

When viewing photographs of risky behaviors ostensibly taken and posted by peers, activation in the cognitive control network decreased²

Increased time on social media has had dramatic effects on teen behavior, including fewer risky social activities and more mental health symptoms. "Displacement" may account for these effects. If social media replaces negative activities or isolation, it can be positive. If it replaces face-to-face interaction or exercise, it can be negative. ³

The good:

12th-graders in 2015 were going out less often than 8th-graders did in 2009.

Drinking, illicit drug use, and car accidents are down.

Ninth-graders now are 40% less sexually active and the teen birth rate is down 67 percent since 1991.

Less than an hour of gaming a day may have positive mental health effects.⁴

The bad:

Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56% more likely to report being unhappy than those who spend less time.

Heavy users of social media increase their risk of depression by 27 percent.⁵

YouTube is widely viewed by teens as a positive force, but teens report Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram increase feelings of anxiety.⁶

Girls are disproportionately affected by the negative aspects of social media.

More than twice as many girls as boys said they had been cyberbullied in the last year (22% vs. 10%).⁷
More than twice as many girls as boys report being cyberbullied

Boys' depression increased by 21% between 2012 and 2015, and girls' increased by 50%.⁸

There may be a hidden casualty of the constant social media onslaught: sleep.

Teens who spent three or more hours a day on electronic devices were 28% more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep, and teens who visited social media sites every day were 19% more likely not to get adequate sleep.⁹

Lack of sleep can negatively affect teens' mood, ability to think, to react, to regulate their emotions, to learn and to get along with adults. It's a vicious cycle-lack of sleep affects mood, and depression can lead to lack of sleep. And multiple studies have found that severe sleep debt is linked to suicidal ideation.

Teens who don't sleep enough are more than twice as likely to report higher levels of depressive symptoms (31% vs 12%).

Teens who sleep less than seven hours a night are also 68% more likely to have at least one risk factor for suicide.¹⁰

[1] Lenhart, A. (2015). Teens, Social Media Technology Overview. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

[2] Sherman, L. E., Payton, A. A., Hernandez, L. M., Greenfield, P. M., & Dapretto, M. (2016). The power of the "like" in adolescence. Psychological Science, 27(7), 1027-1035. http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616645673

[3] Szwedo, D. E., Mikami, A. Y., & Allen, J. P. (2012). Social Networking Site Use Predicts Changes in Young Adults' Psychological Adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(3), 453-466. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00788.x

[4] Przybylski, A.K. (2014). Electronic gaming and psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence and Pediatrics, 134 (3). doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-4021

[5] Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy- and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what this means for the rest of us).

[6] Royal Society for Public Health (2017). Status of Mind: Social media and young people's mental health. Retrieved from https://www.rsph.org.uk/asset/AAFB7DC1-35CE-4097-B26321C1667B5333.2D2662B7-A714-4ACB-A94A63BA544A8267/

[7] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2015. Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data. Available at: cdc.gov/yrbs.

[8] Twenge (2017).

[10] Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Miech, R. A., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2016). Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2015: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.

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Smartphones and Social Media - Child Mind Institute

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Teenagers and young adults - ages 16 to 24 - are the most intense users of social media. Benefits of social media use include enhancing friendships and decreasing loneliness. But there is also evidence that overuse has a negative impact on self-esteem and satisfaction with their lives.

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Social media can help teens connect with friends and family. Sometimes, however, it may leave them feeling depressed or isolated.

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WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT SMART FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS

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WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT SMART FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS

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Key points

A tween's underdeveloped frontal cortex can't manage the distraction nor the temptations that come with social media use.

The average teen spends nine hours a day connected to social media.

Spending more non-tech time together can help slow down kids' social media usage.

This guest post is by Melanie Hempe, BSN, founder of ScreenStrong.
I really love middle school kids. I have two of them! If you have been through middle-school parenting, you may have noticed what I see: Strange things seem to happen to a tween's brain the first day they walk into middle school.

One might sum up their main goals in life this way:

To be funny at all costs. (Hence, the silly bathroom jokes, talking at inappropriate times in class, and the "anything it takes to be popular" attitude.)

To focus on self - their clothes, their nose, their body, and their hair.

To try new things. They are playing "dress up" with their identity, trying on things to see what fits. They are impulsive and scattered, they are up and they are down, and it even seems that they have regressed in their development on their quest for independence.

As the parent, you are changing, too, as you enter the stage of parenting when you quickly depart from the naïve platform of "My child would never..." to the realization that, "I'm sure my child did that. I'm sorry, and please excuse his behavior, he is going through a phase."

Your list of daily parenting instruction may include statements like:

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"

"How many times do I have to tell you not the use that word?"

"Stop flipping that bottle!"

"Stop burping the ABCs!"

"You're acting like a 2-year-old."

"What were you thinking?"

Then it happens: Maybe because we are exhausted from their constant begging for a phone, or because we think that all their friends have one, or because we want to upgrade ours to the latest model...we cave. We act on impulse. Our brain seems to regress like theirs, and we give them our old smartphone.

And with that one little decision comes the world of social media access-something we haven't thought about and something none of us is prepared for. Because the midbrain is reorganizing itself and risk-taking is high and impulse control is low, I can't imagine a worse time in a child's life to have access to social media than middle school. Here are just a few reasons why:

1. Social media was not designed for them. A tween's underdeveloped frontal cortex can't manage the distraction nor the temptations that come with social media use. While you start teaching responsible use of tech now, know that you will not be able to teach the maturity that social media requires. Like trying to make clothes fit that are way too big, they will use social media inappropriately until they are older and it fits them better.

2. Social media is an entertainment technology. It does not make your child smarter or more prepared for real life or a future job; nor is it necessary for healthy social development. It is pure entertainment attached to a marketing platform extracting bits and pieces of personal information and preferences from your child every time they use it, not to mention hours of their time and attention.

3. A tween's "more is better" mentality is a dangerous match for social media. Do they really have 1,456 friends? Do they really need to be on it nine hours a day? Social media allows (and encourages) them to overdo their friend connections like they tend to overdo other things in their lives.

4. Social media is an addictive form of screen entertainment. And, like video game addiction, early use can set up future addiction patterns and habits.

5. Social media replaces learning the hard social "work" of dealing face-to-face with peers, a skill that they will need to practice to be successful in real life.

6. Social media can cause teens to lose connection with family and instead view "friends" as their foundation. Since the cognitive brain is still being formed, the need for your teen to be attached to your family is just as important now as when they were younger. Make sure that attachment is strong. While they need attachments to their friends, they need healthy family attachment more.

7. Social media use represents lost potential for teens. While one can argue that there are certain benefits of social media for teens, the costs are very high during the teen years when their brain development is operating at peak performance for learning new things. It is easy for teens to waste too much of their time and too much of their brain in a digital world. We know from many studies that it is nearly impossible for them to balance it all.

How Can Kids Slow Down?

First, we need to slow down and rethink what we are allowing our kids to do. We need to understand the world of social media and how teens use it differently from adults. Here are a few tips that work well for many parents.

1. Delay access. The longer parents delay access, the more time a child will have to mature so that he or she can use technology more wisely as a young adult. Delaying access also places a greater importance on developing personal authentic relationships first.

2. Follow their accounts. Social media privacy is a lie: Nothing is private in the digital world, and so it should not be private to parents. Make sure privacy settings are in place but know that those settings can give you a false sense of security. Encourage your teen to have private conversations in person or via a verbal phone call instead if they don't want you to read it on social media.

3. Create family accounts. Create family accounts instead of individual teen accounts. This allows kids to keep up with friends in a safer social media environment.

4. Allow social media only on large screens. Allow your teens to only use their social media accounts on home computers or laptops in plain view, this way they will use it less. When it is used on a small private phone screen they can put in their pocket there are more potential problems with reckless use. The more secret the access, the more potential for bad choices.

5. Keep a sharp eye on the clock; they will not. Do you know how much time your child spends on social media a day? Be aware of this, and reduce the amount of time your child is on social media across all platforms. The average teen spends nine hours a day connected to social media. Instead, set one time each day for three days a week for your child to check their social media. Do they benefit from more time than that?

6. Plan face-to-face time with their friends. Remember that they don't need 842 friends; four-to-six close friends are enough for healthy social development. Help them learn how to plan real, in-person, social get-togethers such as a leave-phones-at-the-door party, a home movie night, bowling, board games, cooking pizza, or hosting a bonfire. They crave these social gatherings so encourage them to invite friends over and help them (as needed) to organize the event.

7. Spend more real non-tech time together. Teens who are strongly attached to their parents and family show more overall happiness and success in life. They still need us now more than ever. It is easy to detach from them: Teens can be annoying! But attaching to family allows them to detach from the social media drama. Your child needs to feel like they can come home and leave the drama of their social world behind for a few hours. They want you to help them say no to social media and yes to more time with the family. They are craving those moments to disconnect, so make plans and encourage this at home.

Don't give that smartphone all the power in your home; help tweens choose healthier forms of entertainment. They have the rest of their life to be entertained by social media, but only a limited time with you. Go to ScreenStrong.com to learn more.

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Why Social Media Is Not Smart for Middle School Kids

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Tweens' brains are simply too immature to use social media appropriately.

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How parents can help their kids navigate the pressures of their digital lives - without pulling the plug on the positives

As adults witness the rising tides of teenaged anxiety, it's tough not to notice a common thread that runs through the epidemic - something that past generations never dealt with. Clutched in the hand of nearly every teen is a smartphone, buzzing and beeping and blinking with social media notifications.

Parents, all too often, just want to grab their teen's phone and stuff it in a drawer. But is social media and the omnipresence of digital interactions really the cause of all this anxiety?

The short answer is: It's complicated.

Recent studies have noted a significant uptick in depression and suicidal thoughts over the past several years for teens, especially those who spend multiple hours a day using screens, and especially girls. But many of the pressures teenagers feel from social media are actually consistent with developmentally normal concerns around social standing and self-expression. Social media can certainly exacerbate these anxieties, but for parents to truly help their children cope, they should avoid making a blanket condemnation. Instead, parents should tailor their approach to the individual, learning where a particular child's stressors lie and how that child can best gain control of this alluring, powerful way to connect with peers.

Many of the pressures teenagers feel from social media are actually consistent with developmentally normal concerns around social standing and self-expression.

A Link Between Social Media and Mental Health Concerns

Many experts have described a rise in sleeplessness, loneliness, worry, and dependence among teenagers - a rise that coincides with the release of the first iPhone 10 years ago. One study found that 48 percent of teens who spend five hours per day on an electronic device have at least one suicide risk factor, compared to 33 percent of teens who spend two hours a day on an electronic device. We've all heard anecdotes, too, of teens being reduced to tears from the constant communication and comparisons that social media invites.

Through likes and follows, teens are "getting actual data on how much people like them and their appearance," says Lindsey Giller, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute who specializes in youth and young adults with mood disorders. "And you're not having any break from that technology." She's seen teens with anxiety, poor self-esteem, insecurity, and sadness attributed, at least in part, to constant social media use.

Teenage Challenges and Stressors, Exacerbated

But the connection between anxiety and social media might not be simple, or purely negative. Correlation does not equal causation; it may be that depression and anxiety lead to more social media use, for example, rather than the other way around. There could also be an unknown third variable - for instance, academic pressures or economic concerns - connecting them, or teens could simply be more likely to admit to mental health concerns now than they were in previous generations.

It's also important to remember that teens experience social media in a wide range of ways. The ability to raise awareness, connect with people across the world, and share moments of beauty can be empowering and uplifting for some. And many teens understand that the images they see are curated snapshots, not real-life indicators, and are less likely to let those posts make them feel insecure about their own lives.

Above all, says researcher Emily Weinstein, who studies teens and their social media habits, parents need to keep in mind that it's probably not just social media that's making their teens anxious - it's the normal social stressors that these platforms facilitate, albeit at a different size and scale.

In the same way that different teenagers need different types of social support from their parents, they need different types of digital support, as well. If your teen seems irritable or overwhelmed by social media, pay attention to what specifically is causing those feelings.

"So many of the behaviors we're talking about have pre-digital corollaries," says Weinstein, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "They're the same sort of developmental challenges that adolescents have grappled with for decades, though now they're taking place in different spaces that can certainly amplify them and shift their quality, quantity, and scale.

"But the idea of wanting to fit in, the critical importance of peer relationships, and the process of figuring out which version of yourself you want to be and how you want to express that identity to others - those features of adolescence are not new."

What's Triggering about Social Media?

Youth and technology expert Amanda Lenhart's 2015 Pew study of teens, technology, and friendships reveals a range of social media-induced stressors:

Seeing people posting about events to which you haven't been invited

Feeling pressure to post positive and attractive content about yourself

Feeling pressure to get comments and likes on your posts

Having someone post things about you that you cannot change or control

In analyses of thousands of adolescents' reactions to digital stressors, Weinstein and her colleagues have found even more challenges:

Feeling replaceable: If you don't respond to a best friend's picture quickly or effusively enough, will she find a better friend?

Too much communication: A boyfriend or girlfriend wants you to be texting far more often than you're comfortable with.

Digital "FOMO": If you're not up-to-date on the latest social media posts, will it prevent you from feeling like you can participate in real-life conversations at school the next day?

Attachment to actual devices: If your phone is out of reach, will your privacy be invaded? Will you miss a message from a friend when he needs you?

For Parents, Strategies on Mitigating Anxiety - Without Overreacting

With so many different stressors, a key piece of advice for parents is to individualize your approach. In the same way that different teenagers need different types of social support from their parents, they need different types of digital support, as well. Weinstein suggests that if your teen seems irritable or overwhelmed by social media, pay attention to what specifically is causing those feelings.

Giller agrees. "Really check in with your teen about what's going on," she says. Parents can and should help support and problem-solve with their teen, but they should also offer validation about how difficult these situations can be.

Don't just take your teen's phone away if you suspect drama. In most situations, it's best to work with your teen around social media expectations.

Relatedly, don't just take your teen's phone away if you suspect drama. Doing so won't get to the heart of the social issue at play - and it could potentially make your teen more upset by separating her from her friends and other aspects of digital media she enjoys.

However, as a family, you can also set screen-free times - whether it's every evening after 9 p.m., on the car ride to school, an occasional screen-free weekend, or longer stretches over vacations and camps. "Many teens say they appreciate" these chances, says education writer Anya Kamenetz, whose upcoming book The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life explores these issues in-depth.

A significant part of your teen's phone habits may be related to her parents, too. " Be good role models in your own use of tech," advises Kamenetz. That means being mindful of your own distracted habit of reaching for your cell, but it also means rejecting the isolation that screen time can generate. Make digital media an opportunity for real-life social opportunities, she says. Share some media activities with your teenager - playing games, watching YouTube clips, or reading up on mutual interests together.

And in most situations, it's best to work with your teen to set social media expectations. "You want to build consensus and get their buy-in," says Kamenetz. Constant surveillance or control won't build trust. Make it an open, mutual discussion.

You want to get teens to put their devices down on their own, says Weinstein, "so that you're helping them build their ability to manage their interactions with and through technology." And that's increasingly looking like a key life skill that we'll all need to develop, now and into the future.

Illustration: Wilhelmina Peragine
We're in a moment where anxiety is running rampant, spreading like an epidemic among adolescents. What can we do? In a series of pieces, we look at how to help teenagers face their fears, build resilience, and grapple with the pressure to achieve - on the road to college and beyond. Read more at What Do Anxious Teens Need?

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How parents can help their kids navigate the pressures of their digital lives - without pulling the plug on the positives As adults witness the rising tides of teenaged anxiety, it's tough not to notice a common thread that runs through the epidemic - something that past generations never dealt with.

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IS MY TEEN REALLY ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA?

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IS MY TEEN REALLY ADDICTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA?

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There isn't a part of adolescence that isn't affected by social media and gaming these days-so what are parents to do before it's too late?
" ADHD study links teens' symptoms with digital media use" was the headline on CNN last week.

I, for one, was not surprised. Like any addictive behavior, there is always bound to be a correlation between that and mental health issues. Cause and effect; effect and cause. Between the brain connection to a behavior or substance and the brain to itself.

As humans, we are wired to adapt, and as teens currently "in development," the brain is actually growing and adapting in response to behaviors and outside stimuli in real-time.
Nothing New
It was supposed to be the end of civilization-everyone was nose-deep in a newspaper or book, and riding the train or sitting in a cafe became more about me-time than interacting with your fellow neighbor. Sound familiar?

This was one of the legitimate fears from the 19th and 20th century (as far back as 1860): that as people become more reliant on literary and technological devices, they will be more stressed out as well as ignore each other on the trolleys, buses, and trains. The fear was that we would become less social because of reading-or because of the telegraph, phonograph, radio, 8-Track, cassette tape, computer, or... you get the point.

This means that we have a new type of person in society: one who gets daily satisfaction solely from online successes. This new aspect of real-life society is targeted and cultivated by our teenagers.
How Can Parents Tell?
The telltale signs of addiction to the internet and social media are within the range of compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorders. The earlier that the brain rewards itself for social and "personal best" achievements on computers and apps, the longer we will depend upon devices to get those rewards. There is a mental and emotional release when getting a top score or achieving likes and shares beyond normal.

But today's "device in hand" society seems a bit more insidious and harmful, especially for your teen, who is learning behaviors that may guide them for life.
It Starts Younger Than You Think
If your child grew up in the 2000s, chances are that they didn't grow up watching you on your smartphone all the time. Your parents probably put you in front of the television or VCR too much during your formative years, but today is a bit different.

The mass purchasing of smartphone and MP3 devices has been popular for not even 20 years, meaning that our fears and even our medical advice on how young children should see the screen has changed with the times. At some point, even the least among us, age 3 to 93, has had a device or was being put in front of one while the family ate out.

And then, all of a sudden, every parent bought a tablet or smartphone for junior, because the more you see a product, and the more acceptable it becomes (and cheaper), the better you feel as a parent in letting it happen to your family.

Suffice it to say, if your kids are under 20, then they have grown up seeing you and everyone in society holding, reading, and constantly posting on their devices.
Yes, Your Teen Likely Has a Secret Account
From birth, we learn to be secretive, to lie, or to create narratives that justify behavior that might be thought unacceptable. When it comes to online activity, parents can't monitor their kids all the time, especially at school or when they're with friends. Even monitoring apps and device-time parental controls can fail, or parents don't use them properly.

So if you suspect that your teen, tween, or pre-teen is using a secret phone or account, take the time to address what you feel is behavior worthy of losing your trust or harming them. Or level with them about what they're actually doing online that would cause them to be secretive.

There are plenty of people, games, and apps that will target your child in harmful ways, so if there is secrecy surrounding their online usage, then you have to be in control of how much time they spend and what apps and sites they visit.
Yes, Teens Are Spending Too Much Time Online
For a relatively new invention, the smartphone has taken over our lives. This means that your child, once "plugged in," will begin to think about their accounts and games all the time. The internet is like anything in life in this: Once a person is invested, they will allow it certain control over their thinking.

Staying online past bedtime, interacting with their smartphone as soon as they wake up, and using their smartphone at least once an hour are all signs that the device has become an indispensable way of life for the teen.

Assume the best of your child, but limit their time as best and as much as you can. Remind them that they can't really experience life through that device-they have to "look up" more from their hand or lap.
Yes, Teens Are Distracted at Home, School, and Work
If your child's grades have dipped, or they seem despondent at home, and you suspect it's because of the behavior and fallout from too much device time, you have your "yes."

Social apps aren't just one or two sites anymore. All of the internet is social. From comment boxes to chatting on the newest site or messenger, we are all forever connected on almost every site, whether it's meant to be social in nature or not. And companies are creating plenty of "kid chat" and kid-friendly internet platforms to share the wealth.

This translates to and has taken over all of our familiar social environments and levels of parenting -from kids checking their phones during halftime to them jumping to the screen every time there is a buzz, ring, ding, or pop.

BBQs, Sunday drives, school functions, family dinner-every place is now a hub for spending those non-WiFi data minutes, even though we really are invested (somewhat) in the real-life social scene.
Yes, Teens Know Way More Than Adults About the Whole Social Media Thing
Whether it's the newest post-Facebook, post-Twitter, advanced-Instagram app that you won't know about until it's not cool anymore, your kid is hipper than you at knowing exactly what the device is selling or offering at "freemium" (apps that start free and then offer in-app purchases).

They are also the first generation to grow up with smartphones and the stress and anxiety that come with them. Never in human history have we acclimated to a device this quickly and widely, except maybe the pencil. And it is because of the new social norm of being device-ready citizens that we have normalized new behavior, which your kids will emulate whether or not you do.
Yes, Have an Intervention for Your Teen If You Need To
The bottom line is that your child may become addicted to social media apps, video games, or online presence. The earlier you intervene, the better.

If your pre-teen is talking about pressures and topics that you think might be wrong for their age group, set limits, and be honest about what they're actually doing online. If your teenager is showing signs of fatigue from late-night gaming or posting and texting, then limit or suspend online activity until they understand how serious you are about their mental health and addictive characteristics.

Like all parenting and stages of teenage development, there is a learning and a social curve, as well as the reality that whatever we do, we are creating our own path with our children. We do this all at the same time and continuously as we age.

So, like anything, we need to be open and honest with our children about our fears and the reality of online life. Because if we don't, we are ignoring what is often the biggest part of their life-that is, life online.

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Is My Teen Really Addicted to Social Media?

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Teen gaming and social media addiction is no longer virtual.

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SPORTS: THE BENEFITS OF COMPETITIVE ATHLETIC SPORTS PARTICIPATION IN TODAY'S SPORTS CLIMATE 

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SPORTS: THE BENEFITS OF COMPETITIVE ATHLETIC SPORTS PARTICIPATION IN TODAY'S SPORTS CLIMATE 

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Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
According to the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS) there were over 40 million boys and girls participating in organized sports in 2008. Considering the continual growth of youth sports participation each year, it would certainly be of benefit to highlight the positives behind these numbers. This becomes especially important with the seemingly heavy media concentration on the opposing side of the fence, where the negative tends to make a better news story.

As a current physical educator, former coach, national champion and parent of two Division I athletes, the positive aspects of athletic sports participation is a focus of deep meaning to me. Yes, there is always the possibility, maybe even probability, of too much too soon and a misplaced emphasis on the "wrong" things like winning at all costs. However, these risks do not negate all the positives that can and do occur. And when athletes are exposed to the proper environment, and put forth proper amounts of effort and make good choices, you would be hard pressed to find anything that gives them the opportunity for holistic benefits that participating in competitive sports does.

These benefits, at least from my perspective, fall into all 3 of the following categories:

I. Physical

As a physical educator it is impossible to cover the benefits gained from sports participation without mentioning the fitness improvements achieved through training for and participating in athletic activities. In a society where obesity has become a major health issue the physical fitness advantages simply cannot be denied.

II. Mental/Conceptual

It is the mental and conceptual area that many use to support the importance of participation in competitive sports, something I wholeheartedly agree with. It is also the same area that some point to when behavior exhibited by some athletes does not seem to support what we believe they should be learning. As with anything, however, one can only get out of something what one puts in.

Additionally, with good coaches and good programs a positive code of ethical standards (PCES) is of major focus. It is something they most certainly support and work toward instilling in athletes under their direction.

When these two things come together, putting in high levels of effort and solid programs/coaches that encourage PCES, amazing things can happen. These amazing things all center on the abstract concepts revered by those without them and necessary for anyone wanting to become successful in sports, and, for that matter, in life. They include:

a. The CDSPH Principle:

A "coined" term from my book Becoming a True Champion (seeking publication), it covers the essentials of commitment, discipline, sacrifice, priorities, and heart, all of which are necessary for success in competitive athletics.

b. Goals:

Creating and setting goals is an integral part of being an athlete. They give direction and represent a place in the future where one wants to be. Without them one is just going through the motions.

c. Desire & Inner Will:

These attributes are essential in accomplishing the goals one sets. They become most evident when athletes are put in tough situations that require the actions of perseverance and determination. How bad one wants to accomplish one's goals will be directly proportional to the amount of desire they have to accomplish them.

d. Perseverance & Determination:

Competitive athletes are consistently involved in situations where they are challenged. This not only occurs on the competitive field of play but in the practice gym as well. When this happens, their level of perseverance and determination will be tested. The hope here is that they become stronger within over time.

e. Coping Skills:

No matter how good an athlete becomes there will always be times when they "fail." It is what one does after a failure, how they cope, that will determine future positive outcomes. Personally, I believe that a competitive athlete will learn more from their failures then they do from their successes, at least if they push forward using the positive coping skills that should come out of this process.

f. Character & Integrity:

These two attributes have long been associated with competitive sports, however, this has come under scrutiny in recent times. It is not that good character and integrity are automatically developed by participating in sports but rather are revealed through circumstances that normally arise in the competitive arena.

The hope is that through making the "right" choices the athlete develops a solid code of ethical standards they learn to follow, thus, supporting and developing strong character and integrity within.

g. Mindset for Success:

This particular attribute encompasses a host of different concepts. As a competitive athlete one will need to:

1. Develop good time management skills

2. Create strategies for improving their skill set

3. Build a strong sense of focus and concentration

4. Develop internal skills for handling pressure

5. Learn how to take calculated risks, and when not to

6. Take responsibility for one's success or failure.

The category of mental/conceptual components are not meant to be complete or comprehensive but rather a list of many of the positive intrinsic (internal) benefits athletes can receive when the right environment is offered and the right choices are made.

They are certainly not automatic by any stretch of imagination just because one is an athlete and plays sports. It is, simply, the nature of competitive sports which gives athletes the opportunity to choose to develop strength in any or all of these areas.

III. Social

There are some definite and, most assuredly, positive social benefits to sports participation that are easily overlooked by many. This holds true for all athletes whether they compete in individual and/or team sports and activities. These benefits center on concepts such as

a. Cooperation:

Gaining a solid understanding of group dynamics and its role in the success and/or failure of a team is a common experience to all sports participants. Learning how to cooperate in a manner that is best for all and that enhances ones chances of accomplishment is of great value that goes way beyond the athletic field.

b. Teamwork:

Working toward a common goal is an integral part of the sports experience for athletes. It is through this experience that some grow into leaders and others into strong supporters, both of which a team will need to be successful. Finding their role on a team is a similar experience to finding ones niche in life, a definite life experience for participants.

c. Friendships:

Participating in sports gives athletes the ability to develop tight and lasting friendships with others who have common interests. This is a valuable experience that usually leaves them with lasting life long memories.

When one takes a good look at the variety of benefits available to those who participate competitively in sports, one cannot help but see how comprehensive they are in the development of a well rounded individual. The application to attributes in one's life outside of sports is something few can argue with.

I know of nowhere else that a person has the opportunity to gain so much, both on the inside and out, all from one place.

Originally published by Kirk Mango on ParentHOOD: Expert Advice For Sports Parents at .com

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The Benefits of Competitive Athletic Sports Participation

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Jim McIsaac/Getty Images According to the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS) there were over 40 million boys and girls participating in organized sports in 2008. Considering the continual growth of youth sports participation each year, it would certainly be of benefit to highlight the positives behind these numbers.

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IS IT WRONG TO LET CHILDREN DO EXTREME SPORTS?

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IS IT WRONG TO LET CHILDREN DO EXTREME SPORTS?

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Is It Wrong to Let Children Do Extreme Sports? (Published 2015)

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Even as Americans have grown more fixated on childhood safety, kids are participating in risky pastimes in ever greater numbers.

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LISTENING TO WISDOM FROM A 10-YEAR-OLD SON ABOUT HIS HEAD INJURY

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LISTENING TO WISDOM FROM A 10-YEAR-OLD SON ABOUT HIS HEAD INJURY

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Scrimping and saving tend to become art forms during bleak economic times. But many cost-conscious consumers cling to a short list of must-haves that are worth purchasing no matter the price - or the day's final numbers on Wall Street.

High-quality shoes should make the cut every recession.

That doesn't mean you need to drop $900 on a pair of Esquivels. (Although you better believe those hand-crafted beauties are going to outshine and outlast the $20 bargain basement pair at the nearby shoe emporium.)

But opening your wallet once to purchase a great pair of shoes can save you from having to go back to the well - sometimes just months later - to replace poorly made products. This is almost always about function over fashion, although with shoes, like most things, you often get what you pay for when it comes to aesthetics. (See also: 5 Ways to Get Discounted Designer Shoes Without Using eBay)

Here's a few more incentives to never skim on footwear.

Comfort

Cheaply-made shoes just aren't comfortable. Much of the cost of shoes goes to material, and much of that material is between the ground and the person wearing the shoe. If you wear your shoes day in and day out (which you can do with a quality pair), make sure that you buy a well-made, high-quality shoe. Your feet will thank you.

Durability

In the long run, wearing a well-crafted shoe each day for several years is much less expensive than wearing a series of cheaper shoes for less time. Sure, the upfront cost is slightly more, but you'll wear a better quality shoe for substantially longer than a poor quality shoe, and you'll get more wear from them simply because you'll want to put them on. When you shop, look for a classic design that will be in style for years - your shoes may very well last that long.

Style

Speaking of fashion, more expensive shoes tend to come in classic styles that will be in fashion for years to come. Sure, there are always those trendy outliers, but overall, the shape, colors, and style of a higher quality shoe will endure for years, giving you plenty of use. In contrast, lower quality shoes are generally designed for short-term use and are geared toward the trend of the moment, rendering them quickly unstylish when the trend passes.

You should certainly hunt for a deal whenever possible, but don't be surprised if one is hard to come by. There just aren't a lot of Ferragamo coupons in the Sunday advertisements.

Like this article? Pin it!

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Scrimping and saving tend to become art forms during bleak economic times. But many cost-conscious consumers cling to a short list of must-haves that are worth purchasing no matter the price - or the day's final numbers on Wall Street. High-quality shoes should make the cut every recession.

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CHEAP VS. EXPENSIVE SHOES: DOES IT MATTER?

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CHEAP VS. EXPENSIVE SHOES: DOES IT MATTER?

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Time and again, runners are warned about the perils of cheap running shoes - the oft-repeated justification for a pricey pair of footwear is that running shoes are an investment - and don't we want to invest in the very best?

But when the average price of a pair of running shoes in a specialty running store in $114, that investment can sometimes sting. Do you really get what you pay for? Yes and no, says RunRepeat founder and statistician Jens Jakob Andersen.

Though all-purpose athletic shoes are often sold at lower price points than shoes designed specifically for running, they're also not designed to withstand the rigors of running; treads wear down faster, and uppers disintegrate earlier. That alone makes a compelling case for investing in a dedicated running shoe, which usually costs more than their all-purpose counterparts.

"While any shoe can be used for any activity, it's important to note that running shoes are crafted to function more resiliently than regular sporty kicks," says Andersen. "The reason why specialty running shoes get more appreciation than regular footwear is that they have the features, the materials, and the construction to go with their price tags."

Shoes specific to running have a precise construction, designed to hold the foot, encourage forward motion, and maintain comfort. Andersen notes that running shoe technology is continually evolving, fueled by a distinct body of research that looks to create faster, healthier, and happier runners. All-purpose athletic shoes, on the other hand, haven't changed much over the years: "General athletic shoes tend to reuse the same materials, the same assets, and the same blueprints. Their manufacturers hardly innovate; in some cases, they even imitate."

But innovation comes at a cost - the more expensive a running shoe is, the more likely the design is a result of a lot of people doing a lot of research. Still, that doesn't mean that pricier running shoes are always better. In fact, Andersen's study of 391 shoe styles from 24 running shoe brands found that the higher the list price of a running shoe, the lower ratings from customers.

"Brands have strong incentives to promote high-priced running shoes, but our study very clearly outlines that runners buying more expensive running shoes are less satisfied than runners buying mid-range or cheap running shoes."

In other words, new technology is nice, but many runners prefer to stick with what they already know works for them. Because tried-and-true shoe styles from established brands sell well, more of them are produced, thereby driving down the cost.

At the end of the day, however, it comes down to individual preference. Some are willing to pay a higher price for a particular feature, be it energy-returning foam or an eye-catching design. Others swear by a shoe's capacity for injury prevention or faster splits, making a high-priced shoe well worth the cost. Shoes are as individual as the runner wearing them - a new runner (or one in search of their sole mate) should on a variety of styles at a variety of price points, rather than simply assuming more money automatically equals a better shoe.

"Many people buy running shoes for their efficacy during their intended activity. On the other hand, there are those who purchase kicks just because they look cool," says Andersen. "It all boils down to the wearer's level of comfort regarding quality, design, price, construction, and features. The cost won't become a sheet of discouragement if the potential buyer believes that what they have chosen is for them."

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Cheap Vs. Expensive Shoes: Does It Matter?

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Time and again, runners are warned about the perils of cheap running shoes - the oft-repeated justification for a pricey pair of footwear is that running shoes are an investment - and don't we want to invest in the very best?

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MEET THE NEW TEEN SNEAKERHEADS FLIPPING SHOES FOR CASH, FAST

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MEET THE NEW TEEN SNEAKERHEADS FLIPPING SHOES FOR CASH, FAST

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Brant Steinberg is a force to be reckoned with in the "shoe biz," as he calls it. Last weekend, the 13-year-old hitched a ride with a friend's older brother to the SoleXchange sneaker convention in Rockville Centre, Long Island, and rented an $80 vendors' table with some friends. He was there to sell his prized possession - a pair of Nike "Paranorman" Foamposites, inspired by the cartoon movie for kids.

"I'm selling the most popular shoe in the game," boasts Steinberg, who is not much over five feet tall but already wears an adult shoe size. With acid-green flames and a glow-in-the-dark sole, the Paranormans would look great if you wanted to play basketball during a nuclear apocalypse. "Yo!" he called to a friend. "I'm going to be featured in a magazine!"

It's easy to laugh at Steinberg's swagger until you find out the market price of a pair of Paranorman Foamposites is currently more than $1,500. Last year, a space-themed version of the shoe, dubbed the "Galaxy" Foamposite, fetched bids of over $2500 on eBay in the days after it sold out in retail stores, where it was originally priced at $220.

On this damp Sunday, Steinberg was far from the only kid hawking shoes at prices that would take some saving up. Fueled by testosterone and a few lone moms handing out bagels and Capri Suns, attendees stormed a Best Western ballroom, dragging around trashbags full of shoes as dubstep blared from a D.J. booth. Wallets stuffed with fat rolls of $20 bills were taken out; shoes were swapped. It was Rick Ross-style hustling, only the PG-13 version.

"Everybody tells me 'you would make it on the street,'" says one 15-year-old, who in addition to selling sneakers was offering watches, sunglasses, and electronic cigarettes in blueberry, vanilla, and other flavors ($15 a pop). "It's better money than selling weed," he explained as a younger kid forked over cash for one of the smokes.

At the SoleXchange, held every few months in different locations around New York City and the suburbs, vendor booths like the one Steinberg and his friends rented allow for an unlimited sale of shoes and other items "applicable to the lifestyle," like jewelry and T-shirts, according to Joe Diorio, 33, the event's organizer. (Cigarettes, Diorio says, are strictly against the rules.) A regular ticket, meanwhile, costs just $15 and allows its holder to sell or trade up to four pairs of sneakers.

It's a good deal, considering. Back at Steinberg's table, 13-year-old Josh Gabbay showed me his Galaxy Foamposites, bedecked with stars and space gas.Last week, he purchased the shoes from someone he met on Facebook for the "cheap" price of $900. "You save birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah money," he explains. "Then you trade a few less expensive sneakers until you can buy something like this." One way to do it is to trade a shoe for another worth a little bit more, à la the blogger who traded his way from a paperclip to a house. Another is to camp out outside of a store for days before a hot pair is released and then flip them while demand is high.

The main thing fueling this secondary market - for middle- and high-schoolers, at least - is Facebook. Over the past two years, new groups allowing anyone to post shoes they're selling has transformed a community of collectors into a market of entrepreneurs. The Facebook groups have also helped shift the median age of a "sneakerhead" from post-college to under 18, according to veteran bloggers and store owners, by making trading more accessible and fun, like a Farmville of sorts for the amateur fashion set.

Conventions like SoleXchange, meanwhile, feed into this system by providing safe environments for kids to meet up with people they encounter online, according to Diorio, who employs someone to verify the authenticity and quality of shoes at his shows. While swap meets for sneaker collectors have always gone on unofficially, the conventions in the past three years have become more frequent and lavish, featuring raffles, performances from rappers, X-Box competitions, and high-profile sponsors like Vitamin Water. Over 500 people attended SoleXchange in Long Island; at the previous location in Soho in late January, it was 1,200. "When I was their age, I was making 100 dollars a week delivering groceries," says Diorio, who quit his job at Bob's Discount Furniture in 2011 to work on the events full-time. "These kids are making $500, $1,000, $1,500 sometimes at every show."

But while dozens of teenagers were flashing fans of $20 bills, none would give straight answers on how much they actually earned from the shoe biz. Most seemed satisfied by the simple fact that they were profiting at all from their hobby. "I've never had to take anything out of the bank," says Tyler Davis, who booked the venue for this event, recruited sponsors, promoted it via social media, and served as host.

He's 15.

With the money flowing, lots of kids are dreaming about a career in sneakers. Or they hope to become Taylor Lally, the 22-year-old owner of SneakerSpy, an online retailer that employs ten people and was the largest vendor at SoleXchange. Lally has scouts all over the world locating rare sneakers, dates an Adidas model, and personally owns 600 pairs of Reeboks which he keeps in two storage units. "One day I'm going to sell them all and move to Tahiti and surf for the rest of my life," he insists. "I'm aiming for before 30." Still, as sneaker-collecting has become both mainstream and younger in the past few years, others are less sure of their long-term profits. "Do you remember Beanie Babies?" asks Eugene Clowney, 23, an actor and one of the founders of Sneaker Rumors, a Facebook-based blog. "It's like that. When something becomes a fad, humans inevitably kill it."

Many people in the industry place the blame for the bubble on Nike, which over the past several years has accelerated the frequency at which it releases new shoes, all while keeping their numbers extremely limited, according to Jason Faustino, 34, owner of the Long Island-based sneaker store Extra Butter. "There are three main athletes [with Nike], LeBron, Kobe, and [Kevin Durant], who keep coming out with shoe after shoe," he says. At the same time, the company fuels demand by making its products hard to find: Last February, a riot erupted in Orlando, Florida, when Nike first released the Galaxy Foamposite, of which it had initially produced only 1,200 pairs.

Nike declined to comment for this story, but conventioneers believe the company is now shifting gears in order to prevent riots and capture some of the profits from the thriving secondary market. Last year, it set the price for a new shoe in the LeBron James line at $270, one of the highest ever, and began requiring fans to reserve pairs via Twitter rather than camping out in line, in hopes of limiting quantities to one per person.

The changes are a reminder that even in a culture where hustling leads to profits, it's the sneaker-makers that have the real power. "It's materialistic," Lally, the Tahiti-bound veteran, says. "In the end you do all this because you want the freshest new shoe."

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Meet the New Teen Sneakerheads Flipping Shoes for Cash, Fast

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Brant Steinberg is a force to be reckoned with in the "shoe biz," as he calls it. Last weekend, the 13-year-old hitched a ride with a friend's older brother to the SoleXchange sneaker convention in Rockville Centre, Long Island, and rented an $80 vendors' table with some friends.

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HOW MUCH IT COSTS NIKE TO MAKE A $100 SHOE

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HOW MUCH IT COSTS NIKE TO MAKE A $100 SHOE

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How Much It Costs Nike to Make a $100 Shoe

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Find out the details on production prices for Nike sneakers and the markup for retail.

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It's kind of like one of those age-old questions. Do we give our kids too much? As little ones, they "want want want" everything they see. As they get older their demands become a bit more polite, turning into "please please please!" Sometimes it's hard to resist those cute, little dimples. And probably, more often than not, we give in because we're sick and tired of hearing the begging.

I took my (now 10 year old) son school shopping last week. We picked up $80 worth of school supplies from a list that the school provided (thankfully, the backpack from last year still works), and then we headed to the mall. My son has recently decided that he'd like a say in what sorts of clothes he wears to school. The skinny jeans, shorts that are just the right length, certain brands of t-shirts, and kid-approved, Mom-makes-me-wear-these collared shirts were among our purchases. All were on sale for pretty good prices, and I was feeling pretty good about what I had spent. And then we moved on to purchase the fashionable item that my son cares about most: sneakers. He pleaded with me for a few minutes to buy some $90 Nike feather-light running shoes that "all of his friends have" (until the sales gal told him that they did not have his size), and then his heart fell onto these Reebok ReeZigs.

Upon first glance, I thought they were kind of ugly. They're not understated in any sort of way, and they won't exactly match a whole lot of outfits. But then he tried them on. He jogged around the store with such excitement and pride that I thought... I'm really going to have to consider these. They were on sale for $80. My husband happened to call on my cell phone at that very moment and told me not to buy our son $100 sneakers. I didn't listen. I bought them anyways.

Reflecting upon my decision later that week, I came to the following conclusions to make myself feel better about this grand purchase for my 10 year old:
1. I had gotten all of his school clothes on sale for good prices.
2. He's a runner, and these are supposed to be good running shoes.
3. I actually DID make him contribute $20 toward the purchase of the shoes.

When I admitted to my husband that I bought the shoes (that he requested I not purchase), I dissolved into tears. I explained that when I was a child I always wanted those "cool" shoes that other kids were wearing, and we were never able to get them. I wanted our son to have them. Perhaps I've sent the wrong message... he asked, I bought, and now I'm stuck with buying uber-expensive sneakers from here on out.
So what do you think...do we give our kids too much? Are you able to hold back and just give your kids what they need? Or do you fall into the trap of wanting your kids to have things you didn't have as a child?

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It's kind of like one of those age-old questions. Do we give our kids too much? As little ones, they "want want want" everything they see. As they get older their demands become a bit more polite, turning into "please please please!" Sometimes it's hard to resist those cute, little dimples.

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UGG ENVY: WHEN YOUR CHILD WANTS A NAME BRAND AND IT'S JUST NOT IN THE BUDGET

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UGG ENVY: WHEN YOUR CHILD WANTS A NAME BRAND AND IT'S JUST NOT IN THE BUDGET

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Young Child

My 8-year-old daughter recently came home, pointed to her boots and said, "Two of my friends told me these aren't real Uggs. I want real Uggs."

Oh man. My daughter's knock off Uggs are from The Children's Place. I don't remember what I paid last fall but it was probably 20 or 25 dollars.

A pair of Uggs? About $120 - $140. That's a big difference.

And then my 6-year-old chimed in. "Yeah, I want real Uggs too." (Luckily, my 2-year-old twins were mum on the issue.)

Spending between $200 and $300 for two pairs of boots is not in our family budget. But I understand the longing. I remember as a child wanting a Ralph Lauren Polo sweater so badly I thought I would just die if I didn't get it. I didn't get one. I also didn't die. But the longing was so real, I can still feel it decades later.

Kristin Kutscher, a Manhattan mom, says her daughter wears Ugg knock offs. "I wouldn't buy my daughter real Uggs because I can't afford them - plain and simple. And I have no qualms about telling her they are too expensive. If I can afford something, and she wants it, then I can try to buy it for her."

Colorado mom Daphne Biener's 12-year-old daughter longed for a pair of Nike Free Runners which can run as high as $100. "We did consider it until I saw the insane price tag," Biener says. They found a look-alike pair for $40 and her daughter was fine with it because they were very similar in style to the Nike's.

But sometimes it's not about shoes or a certain clothing brand. Karen from Brooklyn says for her 8-year-old daughter, it's all about American Girl dolls and they don't come cheap. For example, Saige (the so-called girl of the year) is $110. "My daughter is obsessed with American Girl (she has one), and obsessed with which friends have which dolls, and she knows exactly how many her friends have, and which accessories. It's insane," says Karen.

So what do you do when your child is begging for an expensive item that you simply can't afford?

Experts says that it's important to not just say no but explain to your child that the money needs to be spent on food and other needs for your family. Your child will be disappointed and it's important to listen to their emotions. They should feel heard and loved which is ultimately far more important than any object.

Sometimes a compromise can be reached. If there is some "must have item," give your child some options. They can wait for a sale, request it for a birthday or save up their own money. Some parents will chip in what they were willing to spend and the child has to make up the difference. Once a kid realizes they have to invest their own money, the item can become a whole less desirable.

And another possibility is that sometimes a coveted item can be found second hand through families with older kids or online, which also teaches eco-responsibility.

My children's desire for Ugg boots seems to be on the back burner for now since it's spring. But come autumn, I will likely be dealing with this again. My inclination is to let my daughters have them if they can figure out a way to buy them for themselves and I'll chip in a small amount.

But enough about my kids. Who is going to buy me that Polo sweater?

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When Your Kid Wants a Name Brand Item and It's Just Not in the Budget | Alpha Mom

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Young Child My 8-year-old daughter recently came home, pointed to her boots and said, "Two of my friends told me these aren't real Uggs. I want real Uggs." Oh man. My daughter's knock off Uggs are from The Children's Place. I don't remember what I paid last fall but it was probably 20 or 25 dollars.

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DO FANCY RUNNING SHOES DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

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DO FANCY RUNNING SHOES DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

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Do fancy running shoes do more harm than good? | TIME.com

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If you’re a runner, odds are pretty good that you’ve been injured at some point in the last year or two. Journalist Christopher McDougall has an interesting and no doubt controversial explanation. It’s your shoes, he says.

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Advertisement

Those expensive sneakers you thought would cushion your feet may actually be bad for your ankles, according to a new study published in today's British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The study conducted by researchers from three Australian universities found that players wearing sneakers with air cells in the heels were more than four times more likely to get ankle injuries while playing basketball. To figure this out, the scientists watched an awful lot of basketball games, sitting courtside waiting for players to hurt themselves. They then asked injured players, as well as unharmed ones, to answer questions in follow-up phone interviews. In all, they observed 10,393 people play (3,421 men, 6,972 women)77.9 percent of whom were recreational players. Forty people hurt their ankles, almost half of them while landing after a jump.

It turned out that a history of ankle injuries made players almost five times more likely to be injured again. And in fact, almost three quarters of those injured had been injured before, whereas only 32 percent of the unharmed players had been injured before. But wearing sneakers with air cells came in as the second leading predictor for suffering an injury: Players with air cell sneaker were 4.3 times more likely to get hurt than those wearing shoes without air cells.

So does this mean you shouldnt wear sneakers with air cells if you've injured your ankles in the past? There may be more to it than that, but these findings could be helpful in formulating strategies to prevent ankle injuries in basketball in the future.

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Those expensive sneakers you thought would cushion your feet may actually be bad for your ankles, according to a new study published in today's British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study conducted by researchers from three Australian universities found that players wearing sneakers with air cells in the heels were more than four times more likely to get ankle injuries while playing basketball.