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The U.S. Constitution took effect in 1789. It is now the oldest written constitution. It has set a pattern for many other countries. Today almost all countries have written constitutions. Many have had several in their history.

One country without a written constitution is Saudi Arabia. It uses the Koran and other Islamic teachings as its highest law. The most famous example of a country without a written constitution is the United Kingdom. The British constitution is a group of laws that have built up throughout history. Its elements include the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, laws passed by Parliament, court decisions, and other sources.

Not all constitutions come from the people of the country. For example, the United States set up the Japanese constitution of 1947 after it defeated Japan in World War II. And even the finest constitution does not guarantee that the government will follow it. Dictators, or rulers who take unlimited power, often ignore their country's constitution.

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A constitution is a set of rules that guides how a country, state, or other political organization works. The constitution may tell what the branches of the government are,...

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The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These are the amendments in language that we can understand.

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The Second Amendment: Firearms in the U.S

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The Second Amendment: Firearms in the U.S

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Kids learn about the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution including why it was important, what bear arms means, gun laws, militias, and interesting facts.

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Bill of Rights (‘I’m gonna be (500 Miles)’’ Parody)

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Bill of Rights (‘I’m gonna be (500 Miles)’’ Parody)

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Bill of Rights ("I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" Parody) - @MrBettsClass

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Newtown, Connecticut Shooting (Sandy Hooks) News report - ABC News

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Newtown, Connecticut Shooting (Sandy Hooks) News report - ABC News

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Newtown, Connecticut Shooting: 27 Killed, Gunman Dead at Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy - ABC News

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Just another day: How to survive an active shooter event on campus

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Just another day: How to survive an active shooter event on campus

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Just Another Day: How to Survive an Active Shooter Event on Campus

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What it’s like inside a school shooting drill

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What it’s like inside a school shooting drill

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What It's Like Inside a School Shooting Drill

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Why do school shootings keep happening in the United States? - VCU News

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Why do school shootings keep happening in the United States? - VCU News

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The first thought that raced through William Pelfrey Jr.'s mind when he heard the breaking news about the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, was typical of any parent with young kids.

"It made me want to get into my vehicle and drive to their schools," said Pelfrey, Ph.D., an expert in the field of homeland security, terrorism and radicalization and a professor of homeland security/emergency preparedness and criminal justice in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. "From a professional perspective, it reminded me there are too many people with guns, the wrong people with guns and that nothing is going to change."

Guns are now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No other developed economy has as many violent firearm deaths as the U.S., according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

"School shootings happen in the U.S. at an alarming rate, but they rarely happen elsewhere in the world. Eighty or 90 percent of all the school shootings in the world happen in the U.S. They are concentrated here," Pelfrey said.

How did the U.S. get to this point and what can be done? Pelfrey fields those questions and more with VCU News.
Why does this keep happening?
It's a simple question, but the answers are extremely complicated. There are some political overtones to it. Guns are ubiquitous in the U.S. There are more guns than people. The U.S. population is about 334 million and the number of guns in the U.S. is more than 390 million (according to a report by the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based organization). We have the highest civilian gun ownership in the world by a huge margin. That's an extraordinary number relative to the rest of the world. The next countries that have as many guns are war-torn countries like Serbia or Yemen.

Another element is school safety is not as high as it should be. It's easy to maintain basic school safety but not everybody does a good job of that.

A third element is social media, a component that revolves around how people make it OK on social media to act on violence. There is a faction of government, particularly a right-wing government element, that condones or encourages violence. They do so in an oblique way saying something like, "Our country is under threat. We have to stand up and protect our country. We need to take up arms to defend our country, our way of life." When you do that, you are condoning acts that are dangerous. The U.S. border is populated by a lot of citizens who have dubbed themselves border protection and they stand at the border with guns waiting for someone to illegally cross the border and they take them into custody even though they are not law enforcement.
How do you categorize mass shootings?
Some are artifacts of bullying. A victim of bullying decides they are going to respond with extreme violence, and it's usually not against their perpetrators. It's a show of force to demonstrate they won't be bullied again. They can stand up for themselves. That describes Sandy Hook and Columbine and some other shootings.

The second category of mass shootings is domestic terrorism. Those people had been self-radicalized on social media and believe their actions represent a higher good. What they are doing is for a bigger purpose than themselves. They are willing to die, almost like a suicide terrorist, to further the goals of the theology they support.

A lot of people don't fit into either category. The mass shooting era began with Charles Whitman in 1966 when he climbed a bell tower at the University of Texas and started shooting people. He did that because he had a tumor in his brain. There was no kind of pattern, but it created a behavioral matrix that has been followed by any number of people in the U.S.
How easy is it to buy a gun?
In the U.S., you can walk into a gun store and buy as many assault rifles as you want if you have cash and are over 18 and you meet just a couple of other loose criteria. Guns are so easily obtained that it's easy to commit violent crime. We don't do a good job in our criminal justice system of prohibiting people that probably shouldn't have them from securing guns.

In most countries there are tests you have to take. You have to demonstrate you need a gun for a specific reason. You have to pass a gun ownership exam to show you can use it safely. You have to maintain license requirements. We don't do any of that in the U.S. We are going the other way. Texas last year made it easier for people to get a gun in what was already an incredibly permissive state.
What types of guns are especially dangerous to own?
Assault weapons - assault rifles and assault pistols. We don't track who buys them. You go into a gun store and buy a gun. A criminal background check is run, but no one keeps track of what you bought or how much you paid for it or what you do with it when you walk out the door. You could buy 20 assault rifles, drive to Washington, D.C., and sell them and nobody knows it because there is no reporting mechanism to identify that you sold the guns.

It is a crime to sell a gun to a convicted felon or to take them out of state to sell. But our penalties are so lax that it's not a deterrent. A straw buyer is a person who buys guns legally and then illegally sells them for profit. There are a small number of gun stores that welcome straw buyers and subsequently represent easy funnels for guns in illegal locations. Straw buyers go to stores where they know they can walk in with $30,000 or $40,000 in cash and walk out with a bunch of pistols and assault rifles and go back to the streets and sell those guns, especially in cities with restrictive gun laws. That's one of the cheap mechanisms for guns getting into the hands of criminals.
Why is screening a person who wants to buy a gun so important?
There are people who should have red flags that would preclude gun ownership, but we don't have that in place. We could look over the past 20 or so years at some of the major school shootings like Parkwood (Florida); Newtown (Connecticut); Columbine (Colorado); Uvalde (Texas); even the shooting in Buffalo (New York). These were people that had a history of mental illness or a history of being bullied and were threatening to lash out. People don't seem to connect the risk factors to gun ownership and the propensity for subsequent violence. And that is just a tragedy.
What is the role of social media in all of this?
It has a powerful role because of far-right extremism. The Buffalo shooter was a self-radicalized domestic terrorist. He had a strongly held belief about the infringement of races on the Caucasian race. He was an avid follower of far-right extremists' diatribe and used some of what he found as rationalization to act and commit violence.

Not true for every shooter. In Columbine, Newtown, Uvaldi, these were bullied misfits. They didn't fit in groups and had a history of being marginalized by their peers. They found a different path for getting even and that was through violence. But there is a different population and I believe it's one of the most dangerous threats to the U.S. and that is far-right extremists, which inspired far-right violent extremists. Social media has a tremendous role in that. There is no single bad guy we can legitimize or take out. There are hundreds of podcasts and thousands of self-proclaimed thought leaders and they write really nasty, vicious stuff and have followers. Some of those people act on what they read. No government entity does a good job counter-messaging extremists.
How does bullying play into this?
Schools don't do a great job with bullying prevention. One of my areas of research is bullying and cyberbullying. I've worked with schools, and we talk about bullying identification. Schools don't do that until it's too late. Schools need to adopt bullying and cyberbullying identification measures and then practice them. The best tactic I've seen is analogous to the "see something, say something" messaging that was rampant in New York after 9/11. That same logic can be applied in schools to enable citizens to get involved in terrorism prevention. Students can be empowered to identify bullies and then the school can come in to support fellow students.
Some people talk about arming teachers or school administrators. What do you think of that as a way of prevention?
Several years ago, Virginia considered doing that. I did a report for the Department of Criminal Justice Services in Virginia on the merits and risks of arming school personnel. Most high schools have an armed resource officer on scene, but most middle and elementary schools don't. Arming teachers or school personnel is an incredibly dangerous enterprise that could lead to the death of that person because if police respond to a shooting and see someone with a gun, they are going to shoot them. Or, the teacher could accidentally shoot another staff member or police officer or, in the worst case, a student.

At Uvalde, there was a police resource officer on scene, at Columbine a school resource officer was on scene, at Parkland a school resource officer was on scene. If a trained police officer can't prevent a school shooting, what are the chances that a teacher who is not well trained can prevent a school shooting? I think the odds are pretty low. I think the risk dramatically outweighs any potential benefits.
Can you talk about the opposite views we have in the U.S. about guns?
We live in a country with two competing paradigms. One thought paradigm is that everybody needs guns and then we will all be safe. The other is the exact opposite. Nobody should have guns and we will all be safe. Those two paradigms cannot coexist. They are diametrically opposed. But our political structure is such that they can't be reconciled.

After the Sandy Hook shooting there was a huge motivation for gun control, limiting who could buy guns and the kind of guns people could buy. That faded away rapidly. I expect the same thing will happen here, and it's depressing to say that, but I see very little political will to enact any meaningful changes.

Mass shootings are going to happen again. It's a pattern. School shootings and mass shootings happen about every year or two in the U.S. and I guarantee that there is going to be another one in a year and another one after that and nothing is going to change until enough people develop a political will to support meaningful gun changes.
What predictions do you have for the future when it comes to gun laws?
I expect there will be some change in gun laws, but they won't be substantial. It will provide political cover for some people to say we are doing things, we are making things safer, but they won't make things safer. I expect gun sales will go up even more because people now feel like they have to protect themselves and their family members because the government isn't doing that.

I also expect that there is going to be some investigation into police practices at Uvalde because police didn't go into that school immediately. In fact, several police officers stood outside waiting for reinforcements to arrive. That is going to lead to internal investigation and also police policy changes, which I expect will become popular across the U.S. Many police departments implemented a policy suggesting officers need to go into a school and engage an active shooter no matter what. That didn't happen in Uvalde. As a policing expert, I don't know how that is possible.
Do people use mental health as a scapegoat for these shootings?
Yes, it's an easy target. A lot of people point to mental health and say the U.S. needs more mental health funding. They disregard there was a gun that shot these people. Only a small percentage of these shootings were people that had been diagnosed with a mental illness. We want to rationalize this type of behavior. We want to understand it. We presume that the people who commit these vile acts are disturbed, that they are mentally ill, otherwise they are like us and that's untenable.

It creates an easy political target that allows politicians to rationalize their failure to enact reasonable gun laws. We have laws about who can buy guns - you have to be 18, you can't be a convicted felon. There are guns that are restrictive. It's not legal to sell fully automatic weapons. You can't buy a tank. But whenever reasonable gun restrictions are opposed or discussed, there is a small faction of citizens and politicians that go crazy, and that's a tragedy.

Over the past 50 years there has only been one meaningful law passed limiting guns - the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, passed under President Bill Clinton. That expired 10 years later under a Republican president. When that expired, people began buying guns at a substantially higher rate than ever before. They presumed that under another Democratic president or Congress gun sales would be limited again. So assault rifles, which had been a small portion of gun purchases prior to the ban, became a big part of gun sales.

Estimates are that a quarter to a third of all guns sold now in the U.S. are assault rifle platforms. That is a big number. Seven years after the ban expired, guns sales had doubled. A few years later they doubled again. It's amazing that the ban had a counter-productive effect, which is it dramatically increased gun sales and people's motivations to buy guns, particularly assault rifles.

As a policing expert, there is no reason anyone who is not military or law enforcement should ever have an assault rifle. I come from a family of hunters. Every year we would go hunting. I know rifles and shotguns. An assault rifle is a vastly inferior tool for anything other than shooting people. It's not good for hunting or self-defense. A shotgun or a pistol is more effective. There is no reason for a civilian to have an assault rifle, but they do.

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Why do school shootings keep happening in the United States?

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VCU homeland security expert William V. Pelfrey Jr. answers this question and more.

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How could you not know you were pregnant? - NPR

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How could you not know you were pregnant? - NPR

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‘How Could You Not Know You Were Pregnant?’

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Brittany Ohman got pregnant in high school, and didn’t realize it till she went into labor in her freshman dorm. She talks with NPR’s Rachel Martin about her surprise pregnancy and her son, James.

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ABSTINENCE-ONLY?! Sex Education USA vs. Germany | Feli from Germany

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What Happens To Your Brain When You Mindlessly Scroll?

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When I was young and growing up from a child to an awkwardly looking pre-teen, social media wasn't even a thought (Thank God because those selfies would be scary). The most technology I was exposed to during that time was watching Hocus Pocus on VHS, playing Mario Kart on my Nintendo 64 and messaging my friends on MSN every now and then. Nowadays, most kids are growing up with an iPhone in their faces for hours at a time, as they scroll through Instagram waiting for Kim Kardashian to post a photo of herself half naked. I guess you can say, times have definitely changed.

In 2017, 81% of the US had a social networking profile of some sort. Does that not sound insane to you? What has this world come to? We are relying more on social media than we do on each other, and many different issues are stemming from this.

Back in the day, we would meet someone in a coffee shop, call them to set up another date, and then spend more and more quality time getting to know them. Nowadays, we swipe right on someone's selfie on Tinder, then Snapchat them, follow them on Instagram, tweet them and pray that they text us back. And, let's not forget, we pray to God that they like and comment on our latest selfie.

We have become so obsessed with likes, followers, comments, right swipes, and just about everything to do with gaining social media attention, that we may have forgotten about other important things in life. Like, everything else.

This obsession leads to plenty of self-esteem and self value issues. And, if kids are exposed to this at such a young age, what does that say for their growth and maturity?

In today's society, people honestly believe that their popularity, beauty and self worth all stem from the amount of likes that they receive on their selfie. This can be insanely damaging to one's self esteem as high standards can often be almost impossible to attain, especially if they're comparing themselves to celebrities like the Kardashians, Selena Gomez, or Justin Bieber, just to name a few. For those kids/young adults experiencing depression or anxiety, they may carefully edit their posts to mask serious problems and pretend perfection. This is a huge issue if you consider how hard it makes it for their parents and friends to see when help is extremely necessary. Also, those same teens who have created these false online personas may end up feeling discouraged and depressed when they focus on the gap between who they pretend to be and who they really are.

Nowadays, what we value in life has really changed, thanks to social media. We're living in a society that cares more about spending money on designer brands (just to post an Instagram photo of us in an Off-White t-shirt that we can't even afford), than on necessities like food, shelter, etc. Examples of this can be seen across all mediums and within all age groups. However, I'm going to dive into one of my favorites.

Have you ever heard of The Ace Family? They're a famous YouTube family with almost 6 million subscribers, best known for posting adorable daily vlogs of their 2-year-old daughter, Elle, as well as challenges, pranks, and much more. I am personally a huge fan because of their positive and hilarious videos, however, with YouTube fame, comes YouTube money. Now that The Ace Family has been making LOTS of money off of YouTube ads and their merch, their videos have changed quite a bit. Their vlogs have lately been focused on showing off their Gucci outfits (even Elle is rocking full Gucci fits), their Lamborghini, and their huge Hollywood Hills mansion. It is clear that their understanding of value has shifted quite a bit, and that they are now mainly interested in broadcasting their wealth to all of their fans and followers. The problem stemming from this is that those young fans who see them as role models, will now potentially believe that the only way for them to gain likes and followers depends not so much on their personality, but more so on what they own and can show off.

By carelessly valuing social media metrics, our society will go to shit. We need to spend less time worrying about what others think, and more on how we can better ourselves and the environment.

If you're one of the millions of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat addicts, here's some tips to help manage your social media life:

1. Limit yourself. Stop spending hours looking at a screen, when you can spend hours reading a new book, taking on a new hobby, or spending time with family and friends.

2. Take a smartphone or social media break or BOTH. If you're a busy person (or at least you think you are), and you can't take time away from your phone because so many important emails, wow. Where was I going with this? Oh ya, then take a social media break for at least a week! Repeat this as often as possible. Sometimes a break is all you need to get yourself in the right head space, and to make sure that your addiction doesn't get too drastic.

3. Convince others to repeat these 2 steps. Especially family or friends (those who really matter). If you go up to someone on the subway and tell them to take a break from social media, they may attack you.

4. The last tip I can give for now (mainly because I, myself am addicted to social media) is to stop worrying about the likes, followers, and comments that you receive. Focus more on becoming a better YOU, and I promise, that is all that truly matters.

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Addicted to Likes: The Madness Behind Social Media Metrics

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When I was young and growing up from a child to an awkwardly looking pre-teen, social media wasn't even a thought (Thank God because those selfies would be scary). The most technology I was exposed to during that time was watching Hocus Pocus on VHS, playing Mario Kart on my Nintendo 64 and messaging my friends on MSN every now and then.

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Teens say social media is stressing them out

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Teens say social media is stressing them out

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"Have you ever felt like you need to change your social media use...?"
Teens and young adults from across the country answered these questions in a text survey in 2020. Their answers are eye-opening.

" I would tell young people ... the internet is far off from reality and the more time you spend on it, the more you forget what real life is actually like...," one person wrote.

"Don't let social media control your life or your self-esteem," another texted.

The study, published in September, reveals a striking awareness about the potential harms social media can have on teenagers' mental health, but also their persistent attempts to counter these harms.

Some respondents explicitly said social media made them feel depressed. Many asked their parents to help them stop using it. Nearly two-thirds of respondents gave some version of this advice to future teens: Don't use social media. It's OK to abstain. Or delete your accounts.

"I have repeatedly deleted Instagram in an effort to improve my emotional state but then, I reinstall. Many times," a respondent wrote.

About 95% of U.S. teens today use some type of social media, and about a third say they use it "almost constantly," the Pew Research Center found in August. At the same time, teens and tweens are facing a mental health crisis. And research indicates that these two trends are intertwined: that social media can cause depression and lower life satisfaction.

While clinicians and psychologists try to come up with remedies to this crisis, some of them are realizing something paradoxical: Teens and young adults may be the best source of advice and solutions. They are the experts of these apps - not their parents.

And they've been affected by social media more than any other generation, says Emma Lembke, who's 20 and founded the Log Off Movement to help teens have a healthy relationship with social media. "We, Gen Z, have felt so tangibly the impact of being left alone to big tech's profit business model," she explains. "And that relationship is completely asymmetric, and it is just harming young people."

By listening to young people, Lembke believes, parents can work with teens to help them minimize the harms of these platforms while maximizing their benefits.

"I do believe social media has great aspects as well," says Rijul Arora, age 26, a digital wellness coach and consultant who leads a project called LookUp India, aimed at helping teens unhook from social media. "I've been given a lot of opportunities because of social media. I can amplify positive content, and I'm connecting with a lot of people worldwide."

If you're a young adult struggling to keep up with school because you can't put down your phone, Arora and Lembke don't advise trying to cut off from social media altogether. Instead, they say find the sweet spot, "where you take the positive but leave the negative."

The goal is to give youth more agency over social media apps, Arora says. "So teens are using these apps instead of the apps using teens."

And parents, this all applies to you too: Here's how to support and nudge your teen toward balanced screen use, while changing your own habits.

Step 1: Learn what you're up against

Here's what teens and young adults say over and over again: Know what you are up against with social media.

Back when Lembke was in sixth grade, she really, really, really wanted a phone.

"I remember as each one of my friends got a phone, each one of them was getting pulled away from conversations with me, from even playing on the playground," Lembke explains. "So my initial response to this phenomenon was 'OK, there must be something so magical and amazing within these social media apps."

Then she got her own phone, she says, "And I remember for the first few months I was in love with Instagram."

"One day, I think I commented, [to] Olive Garden, 'I love you.' And they responded, 'We love you, too.'" Lembke says. "And I was screaming around the house. It felt like the best day ever."

But within a few months, her time on her phone had increased from one hour to five or six hours each day. And her relationship with her phone shifted.

"I realized that the magic I thought Instagram - and all these social media apps - had was really just an illusion," she says. "As I began to scroll more, I felt my mental, and physical health really suffer."

Lembke wishes someone would have told her about this possibility before she began using social media.

"I have an anxiety disorder, and I have OCD," Lembke told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in March 2022, during a roundtable hosted by the nonprofit Accountable Tech. "I was never warned that entering these online platforms would only amplify the things that I already struggle with."

Meta's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, said in a statement emailed to NPR that the company refers to research on social media and feedback from teens and families. The company has launched "more than 30 tools to support families," she says, including some "that allow teens and parents to navigate social media safely together."

A representative from TikTok noted in an email that the company released a tool in March for users to monitor their screen time.

So here's what Lembke and other young people want you to know about how the apps work:

1. These apps aren't necessarily going to improve your life. They aren't necessarily going to help your fear of missing out. In fact, some teens say their feelings of FOMO actually worsened after starting social media. And for teenagers who are already struggling with mental health problems, studies suggest that social media can exacerbate these issues.

2. The goal is to keep you on the phone, even if you don't want to stay. Even if you feel like social media is hurting you. The apps are designed to keep you using them so you can see ads. That's how social media companies make money, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg explained to Congress in 2018.

Social media apps tap into an ancient pathway in your brain that makes you crave using them and makes it extremely difficult to stop, says neuroscientist Anne-Noël Samaha at the University of Montreal. "Social media apps know very well how to exploit human behavior to keep you coming back."

Many teens say they feel like social media apps control them instead of vice versa. "I felt this addiction. I felt this pull, as if I had lost agency...," Lembke said to Sen. Blumenthal. "As a young female, as a young person, that's incredibly scary."

But here's the third thing teens say, over and over again about social media overuse: You can break the habit. And it starts with one key step: a digital audit.

Step 2: Get your baseline

Because of the way social media taps into our brain circuitry, most of the time we hardly realize we're using the apps. It's habitual or even subconscious. That's why young people suggest doing a digital audit to help bring this usage into your consciousness.

For a project in high school English class, Sofie Keppler tracked the time she spent on each app on her phone each day for a week. The results triggered several big epiphanies for the 16-year-old: "First, that I was using my phone like a lot - I mean a lot - more than I thought," she says.

Second, "it made me think like, maybe I should limit myself ... so I'm not always on social media, and I'm talking to everyone around me," she says. "The more I was on the phone, the more I was ignoring people in social settings."

Ironically, you can do a digital audit easily with an app, such as Apple Screen Time, Moment, Toggl Track and Rescue Time.

"Facts don't lie ... [tracking my usage] really got my eyes to open up," Lembke says on the Log Off podcast. "When I downloaded Moment and I saw I had like 200 pickups of my phone each day, I was horrified. People don't understand those statistics ... until they really, really see them."

Then once you understand your baseline, have self-compassion, says Rijul Arora, who has struggled with what he describes as an addiction to social media himself. Don't feel ashamed or anxious about it.

In workshops he gives on managing social media use, he tells teens: "Even if you have very high screen time ... first acknowledge that you're doing that, and it's OK to be that way," he says. Then when a teen seems ready to change, he adds: "It's not OK to stay that way."

Which brings us to the next step.

Step 3: Add "friction" to make yourself pause

Just as friction on the road slows down your car, friction on social media slows your usage. Basically, it's adding apps that throw up small obstacles when using social media. Friction makes you pause for a bit and think before you mindlessly log on, scroll or click.

Some "friction" even makes you take breaths, fill out a wellness survey or meditate after some amount of time engaged with social media.

Adding friction is surprisingly easy. Again, there are a bunch of apps. Lembke recommends HabitLab from Stanford University. The app uses more than 20 interventions to reduce your time on whatever apps you choose. For example, HabitLab runs a clock at the top of the screen showing how much time you've spent on the app. It also blocks your news feeds and even stops your scroll after a certain amount of time.

For some apps, it uses an intervention called "Feed Diet," which hides recommended content. Or it uses the "Mission Goal" intervention, which makes you type in why you're entering this site.

Other friction apps include Moment, Freedom, Forest and Screentime Genie. Both Instagram and TikTok also have tools inside the apps to add friction.

Do these friction apps work? "Oh, I think my screen time decreased by like 80%" while using HabitLab, Lembke says.

If you're tired of apps, Lembke recommends something she created: the five-minute power scroll. While looking at your news feed, stop at each image for five minutes. Say to yourself, "OK, with this image and with this person, why am I following them? Does this image make me happy? Am I benefiting from their content?" And if not, "unfollow them and give yourself grace to do that," Lembke says.

This five-minute power scroll helps you reflect on why you're using the app and what you want to prioritize during your time online, she says. "It's how can I maximize its benefits for me, while mitigating its harms."

Step 4: Hack your apps' default settings

On many apps, Arora says, the default settings tickle his brain circuitry in a way that amplifies his cravings and habitual overuse.

"Never go by the default settings that tech companies give you," says Arora. "Kids love this tip! Because they hate to be manipulated."

Over and over again, teens say that turning off notifications is the first - perhaps the most critical - step here. You can do it for only certain times of day, if you need.

But also explore all the setting options, Arora says, including those related to privacy, your feed, comments and likes. "For example, many people don't realize that you can turn off 'likes' on Instagram," he says. "This helps reduce the competitiveness of the app."

And if an app recommends videos or other content, or starts the next video on auto-play, don't click. Go and find the video you want to look at, Lembke says. Remember, she says, you're in charge. Not the app.

Both Instagram and TikTok have information for parents on how to set up teens' accounts in a way that makes them safer but also can help with overuse.

For example, TikTok has started setting all users under age 18 to a screen time limit of 60 minutes each day. When they reach that limit, the app prompts them to enter a passcode if they want to keep watching, "requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time," the company explained in March.

And in Instagram, teens can turn on notifications that urge them to "take a break" after a certain amount of scrolling. The app will also "suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future," Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, noted in December 2021.

Step 5: Enrich your 3D life

This one is huge. And it comes from Alassane Sow, 20, who's studying environmental microbiology at Michigan State University. He and many other young people notice that they use social media when they're bored (or stressed and need a distraction).

"A lot of people have a sort of shame when they see that they have 10 hours of screen time a day, and they don't like that," Sow explains. "But they don't have anything else to do - or they feel like they don't."

Sow saw this in himself. "At some point, I realized that I couldn't sit down for five minutes in my own space without looking at my phone for some sort of stimulus. That's when I noticed, like, something was off," he says.

So he went out and started to find other hobbies that don't use his phone. He even has a special name for this: long-format entertainment. These are activities that take time to complete, such as reading a book, or drawing a picture.

"These activities make sure my brain isn't only entertained by short videos and stuff like that," he explains.

"I consciously plan to do them - instead of being on my phone, I say to myself, 'I'm going to read a chapter of this book today or I'm going to go see my friends - that's my favorite thing to do."

Psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists agree wholeheartedly with Sow. Reinvigorating your life offline is critical to healthy social media usage. Then cutting down social media becomes much easier. You don't have to accept boredom offline.

"I'm a big believer in passion in your life," explains therapist Bob Keane at Walden Behavioral Care. "What do you really like to learn? What gets you really excited besides your phone? And that's, I think, what we really have to encourage kids to develop."

Not sure where to get started finding a passion? Lembke's Log Off project has a whole series of projects and challenges to try, from dipping your toe into the 3D world to taking on big, long-term projects.

Step 6: Reach out to your parents for help - or if you're a parent, get involved

This isn't ironic or a joke. Teenagers say over and over again that they want their parents to help them regulate their social media use.

They don't want parents to rip the phone away or be controlling or bossy. And they definitely don't want to feel judged or shamed for their social media use. But they want parents to listen empathetically, offer gentle advice and set up guard rails. Even some rules. They want help learning to manage their device themselves.

"In order to prevent addiction and manage digital wellbeing, it is important for parents to set boundaries for their children/teenagers," writes recent high school graduate Keegan Lee in a blog post on Log Off, called "A Message from Gen Z to Parents." Lee describes how to talk to teens about their usage and gives some ideas for how to set up rules, including "Try to keep tech out of the bedroom."

"Children may not like this suggestion," she continues, "however, explain to them the purpose of the bedroom is used to rest and recharge."

Also, Lee suggests setting clear consequences and punishments when kids violate tech rules. And "revisit the rules frequently," she writes. If parents don't help kids manage their screen use, she explains, no one else will.

Keane at Walden Behavioral Care says teenagers in his support group told him the same idea. "The kids were pretty clear to us that they need help," he says. "They need help figuring out ways to be able to manage this because they told us, clearly, 'We can't do it by ourselves.' "

And the rules need to apply to the whole family, including the parents themselves. "For example, if you have a family dinner, no one has a device at the table," Keane suggests. "If a parent is driving your adolescent to a game or a practice ... the parent can say, 'If you're going to want me to drive you, you're not on your phone, you're talking to me.' "

The goal is simple but critical: Get kids back in the habit of socializing face-to-face. Because unlike online interactions, talking to other humans in person "is the glue of genuine human connection," says therapist Kameron Mendes, who works with Keane at Walden Behavioral Center. And it's time to replenish that glue.

"Adolescence is when kids start to become their own people in the world," Mendes adds. "They try on finding friends, connecting with other people and connecting with other types of values and ideas. For that process to take hold and flourish, we really need to restore some level of human connection."

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Teens say social media is stressing them out. Here's how to help them

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Many parents are worried about their kids losing themselves for hours on their phones. Turns out, teens are troubled too. But they also know a lot about how to get unhooked. Here's how they do it.

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The UN agency said that even being close to a smartphone has been linked with students being distracted in the classroom, which in turn causes poorer student performances.

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A new UNESCO report warns against the overuse of technology like smartphones and computers in education, saying that the benefits they bring disappear when they're used in excess or without the guidance of a teacher.

"The digital revolution holds immeasurable potential but, just as warnings have been voiced for how it should be regulated in society, similar attention must be paid to the way it is used in education," Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, said in a press release shared with Euronews.

"Its use must be for enhanced learning experiences and for the well-being of students and teachers, not to their detriment."

UNESCO's 2023 GEM report warns that while technologies in the classroom can be beneficial to students' learning, they can also have a detrimental impact if used inappropriately or excessively - as in the case of smartphones.

"Large-scale international assessment data, such as that provided by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), suggest a negative link between excessive ICT use and student performance," the report says.

While mere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to have a negative impact on learning in 14 countries, the agency writes, less than 1 in 4 nations across the world have banned smartphone use in schools.

Those that have banned them include France, which introduced the measure in 2018, Italy, where teachers collect students' smartphones at the beginning of the day, Finland, and the Netherlands, which is going to introduce the ban in 2024.

As a result of their findings, UNESCO recommends a global ban on smartphones in the classroom.

"We need to learn about our past mistakes when using technology in education so that we do not repeat them in the future," said Manos Antoninis, Director of the Report.

"We need to teach children to live both with and without technology; to take what they need from the abundance of information, but to ignore what is not necessary; to let technology support, but never supplant human interactions in teaching and learning."

A focus on human interaction

UNESCO is wary of the beneficial impact of technology in the classroom, with evidence in its favour coming mostly from the richest countries in the world - like the UK - or from "those trying to sell it", the agency says.

Instead of relying on technology to educate children, education should continue to be centred on human interaction, the agency says.

In the past 20 years, paper has been replaced with screens in many classrooms, and students have ditched the heavy tomes of the encyclopedia for Wikipedia - which had 244 million page views per day in 2021, according to UNESCO. The COVID pandemic accelerated the technological revolution in the classroom, forcing millions of students worldwide to transition to online learning.

According to UNESCO, some 50% of the world's lower secondary schools were connected to the Internet for pedagogical purposes in 2022.

But while some changes are to be embraced, UNESCO said we should debate how much space we want technology to take over in the classroom. "Too much attention on technology in education usually comes at a high cost," the agency writes in the report.

Resources spent on technology should be spent on classrooms, teachers, and textbooks for all children in low and lower-middle-income countries lacking access to these resources, so that they too can reach universal secondary schooling and minimum learning competencies.

On top of that, the agency warns that the benefits of technology in education are not evenly distributed, with disadvantaged kids usually being denied the opportunity to take advantage of it.

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UNESCO calls for a global smartphone ban in schools

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The UN agency said that even being close to a smartphone has been linked with students being distracted in the classroom, which in turn causes poorer student performances.

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The Arctic

The Arctic culture area, a cold, flat, treeless region (actually a frozen desert) near the Arctic Circle in present-day Alaska, Canada and Greenland, was home to the Inuit and the Aleut. Both groups spoke, and continue to speak, dialects descended from what scholars call the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

Because it is such an inhospitable landscape, the Arctic's population was comparatively small and scattered. Some of its peoples, especially the Inuit in the northern part of the region, were nomads, following seals, polar bears and other game as they migrated across the tundra. In the southern part of the region, the Aleut were a bit more settled, living in small fishing villages along the shore.

Did you know? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 4.5 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States today. That's about 1.5 percent of the population.

The Inuit and Aleut had a great deal in common. Many lived in dome-shaped houses made of sod or timber (or, in the North, ice blocks). They used seal and otter skins to make warm, weatherproof clothing, aerodynamic dogsleds and long, open fishing boats (kayaks in Inuit; baidarkas in Aleut).

By the time the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, decades of oppression and exposure to European diseases had taken their toll: The native population had dropped to just 2,500; the descendants of these survivors still make their homes in the area today.

The Subarctic

The Subarctic culture area, mostly composed of swampy, piney forests (taiga) and waterlogged tundra, stretched across much of inland Alaska and Canada. Scholars have divided the region's people into two language groups: the Athabaskan speakers at its western end, among them the Tsattine (Beaver), Gwich'in (or Kuchin) and the Deg Xinag (formerly-and pejoratively-known as the Ingalik), and the Algonquian speakers at its eastern end, including the Cree, the Ojibwa and the Naskapi.

In the Subarctic, travel was difficult-toboggans, snowshoes and lightweight canoes were the primary means of transportation-and population was sparse. In general, the peoples of the Subarctic did not form large permanent settlements; instead, small family groups stuck together as they traipsed after herds of caribou. They lived in small, easy-to-move tents and lean-tos, and when it grew too cold to hunt they hunkered into underground dugouts.

The growth of the fur trade in the 17th and 18th centuries disrupted the Subarctic way of life-now, instead of hunting and gathering for subsistence, the Indians focused on supplying pelts to the European traders-and eventually led to the displacement and extermination of many of the region's native communities.

The Northeast

The Northeast culture area, one of the first to have sustained contact with Europeans, stretched from present-day Canada's Atlantic coast to North Carolina and inland to the Mississippi River valley. Its inhabitants were members of two main groups: Iroquoian speakers (these included the Cayuga, Oneida, Erie, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora), most of whom lived along inland rivers and lakes in fortified, politically stable villages, and the more numerous Algonquian speakers (these included the Pequot, Fox, Shawnee, Wampanoag, Delaware and Menominee) who lived in small farming and fishing villages along the ocean. There, they grew crops like corn, beans and vegetables.

Life in the Northeast culture area was already fraught with conflict-the Iroquoian groups tended to be rather aggressive and warlike, and bands and villages outside of their allied confederacies were never safe from their raids-and it grew more complicated when European colonizers arrived. Colonial wars repeatedly forced the region's Indigenous people to take sides, pitting the Iroquois groups against their Algonquian neighbors. Meanwhile, as white settlement pressed westward, it eventually displaced both sets of Indigenous people from their lands.

The Southeast

The Southeast culture area, north of the Gulf of Mexico and south of the Northeast, was a humid, fertile agricultural region. Many of its natives were expert farmers-they grew staple crops like maize, beans, squash, tobacco and sunflower-who organized their lives around small ceremonial and market villages known as hamlets. Perhaps the most familiar of the Southeastern Indigenous peoples are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, sometimes called the Five Civilized Tribes, some of whom spoke a variant of the Muskogean language.

By the time the U.S. had won its independence from Britain, the Southeast culture area had already lost many of its native people to disease and displacement. In 1830, the federal Indian Removal Act compelled the relocation of what remained of the Five Civilized Tribes so that white settlers could have their land. Between 1830 and 1838, federal officials forced nearly 100,000 Indigenous people out of the southern states and into "Indian Territory" (later Oklahoma) west of the Mississippi. The Cherokee called this frequently deadly trek the Trail of Tears.

The Plains

The Plains culture area comprises the vast prairie region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, from present-day Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Before the arrival of European traders and explorers, its inhabitants-speakers of Siouan, Algonquian, Caddoan, Uto-Aztecan and Athabaskan languages-were relatively settled hunters and farmers. After European contact, and especially after Spanish colonists brought horses to the region in the 18th century, the peoples of the Great Plains became much more nomadic.

Groups like the Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Comanche and Arapaho used horses to pursue great herds of buffalo across the prairie. The most common dwelling for these hunters was the cone-shaped teepee, a bison-skin tent that could be folded up and carried anywhere. Plains Indians are also known for their elaborately feathered war bonnets.

As white traders and settlers moved west across the Plains region, they brought many damaging things with them: commercial goods, like knives and kettles, which Indigenous people came to depend on; guns; and disease. By the end of the 19th century, white sport hunters had nearly exterminated the area's buffalo herds. With settlers encroaching on their lands and no way to make money, the Plains natives were forced onto government reservations.

The Southwest

The peoples of the Southwest culture area, a huge desert region in present-day Arizona and New Mexico (along with parts of Colorado, Utah, Texas and Mexico) developed two distinct ways of life.

Sedentary farmers such as the Hopi, the Zuni, the Yaqui and the Yuma grew crops like corn, beans and squash. Many lived in permanent settlements, known as pueblos, built of stone and adobe. These pueblos featured great multistory dwellings that resembled apartment houses. At their centers, many of these villages also had large ceremonial pit houses, or kivas.

Other Southwestern peoples, such as the Navajo and the Apache, were more nomadic. They survived by hunting, gathering and raiding their more established neighbors for their crops. Because these groups were always on the move, their homes were much less permanent than the pueblos. For instance, the Navajo fashioned their iconic eastward-facing round houses, known as hogans, out of materials like mud and bark.

By the time the southwestern territories became a part of the United States after the Mexican War, many of the region's native people had already been killed. (Spanish colonists and missionaries had enslaved many of the Pueblo Indians, for example, working them to death on vast Spanish ranches known as encomiendas.) During the second half of the 19th century, the federal government resettled most of the region's remaining natives onto reservations.

The Great Basin

The Great Basin culture area, an expansive bowl formed by the Rocky Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevadas to the west, the Columbia Plateau to the north, and the Colorado Plateau to the south, was a barren wasteland of deserts, salt flats and brackish lakes. Its people, most of whom spoke Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan dialects (the Bannock, Paiute and Ute, for example), foraged for roots, seeds and nuts and hunted snakes, lizards and small mammals. Because they were always on the move, they lived in compact, easy-to-build wikiups made of willow poles or saplings, leaves and brush. Their settlements and social groups were impermanent, and communal leadership (what little there was) was informal.

After European contact, some Great Basin groups got horses and formed equestrian hunting and raiding bands that were similar to the ones we associate with the Great Plains natives. After white prospectors discovered gold and silver in the region in the mid-19th century, most of the Great Basin's people lost their land and, frequently, their lives.

California

Before European contact, the temperate California area had more people than any other North American landscape at the time, with approximately 300,000 people in the mid-16th century. It's estimated that 100 different tribes and groups spoke more than 200 dialects. These languages were derived from the Penutian (the Maidu, Miwok and Yokuts), the Hokan (the Chumash, Pomo, Salinas and Shasta), the Uto-Aztecan (the Tubabulabal, Serrano and Kinatemuk) and the Athapaskan (the Hupa, among others). Many of the "Mission Indians" who were driven out of the Southwest by Spanish colonization also spoke Uto-Aztecan dialects.

Despite this great diversity, many native Californians lived very similar lives. They did not practice much agriculture. Instead, they organized themselves into small, family-based bands of hunter-gatherers known as tribelets. Inter-tribelet relationships, based on well-established systems of trade and common rights, were generally peaceful.

Spanish explorers infiltrated the California region in the middle of the 16th century. In 1769, the cleric Junipero Serra established a mission at San Diego, inaugurating a particularly brutal period in which forced labor, disease and assimilation nearly exterminated the culture area's native population.

The Northwest Coast

The Northwest Coast culture area, along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to the top of Northern California, has a mild climate and an abundance of natural resources. In particular, the ocean and the region's rivers provided almost everything its people needed-salmon, especially, but also whales, sea otters, seals and fish and shellfish of all kinds. As a result, unlike many other hunter-gatherers who struggled to eke out a living and were forced to follow animal herds from place to place, the Indians of the Pacific Northwest were secure enough to build permanent villages that housed hundreds of people apiece.

Those villages operated according to a rigidly stratified social structure, more sophisticated than any outside of Mexico and Central America. A person's status was determined by his closeness to the village's chief and reinforced by the number of possessions-blankets, shells and skins, canoes and even slaves-he had at his disposal. (Goods like these played an important role in the potlatch, an elaborate gift-giving ceremony designed to affirm these class divisions.)

Prominent groups in the region included the Athapaskan Haida and Tlingit; the Penutian Chinook, Tsimshian and Coos; the Wakashan Kwakiutl and Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka); and the Salishan Coast Salish.

The Plateau

The Plateau culture area sat in the Columbia and Fraser River basins at the intersection of the Subarctic, the Plains, the Great Basin, California and the Northwest Coast (present-day Idaho, Montana and eastern Oregon and Washington). Most of its people lived in small, peaceful villages along streams and riverbanks and survived by fishing for salmon and trout, hunting and gathering wild berries, roots and nuts.

In the southern Plateau region, the great majority spoke languages derived from the Penutian (the Klamath, Klikitat, Modoc, Nez Perce, Walla Walla and Yakima or Yakama). North of the Columbia River, most (the Skitswish (Coeur d'Alene), Salish (Flathead), Spokane and Columbia) spoke Salishan dialects.

In the 18th century, other native groups brought horses to the Plateau. The region's inhabitants quickly integrated the animals into their economy, expanding the radius of their hunts and acting as traders and emissaries between the Northwest and the Plains.

In 1805, the explorers Lewis and Clark passed through the area, followed by increasing numbers of white settlers. By the end of the 19th century, most of the remaining members of Plateau tribes had been cleared from their lands and resettled in government reservations.

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Native American Cultures - Facts, Regions & Tribes

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Native Americans, also known as American Indians and Indigenous Americans, are the indigenous peoples of the United States. By the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million Native Americans were already living in the Americas - 10 million in the area that would become the United States.

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Learn American Holidays - Thanksgiving Day

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The Origins of Thanksgiving for English Language Learners

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The Origins of Thanksgiving for English Language Learners

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Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States. Traditionally, it is a holiday that Americans spend together with their families. Thanksgiving dinner usually includes the traditional Thanksgiving turkey.

Improve your understanding of the holiday by reading the story that follows. Difficult words are explained at the end of each paragraph. Once you have read the story of Thanksgiving, take the reading comprehension quiz to test your understanding of the text.

The Story of Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims, who celebrated the first thanksgiving in America, were fleeing religious persecution in their native England. In 1609, a group of Pilgrims left England for the religious freedom in Holland where they lived and prospered. After a few years their children were speaking Dutch and had become attached to the Dutch way of life. This worried the Pilgrims. They considered the Dutch frivolous and their ideas a threat to their children's education and morality.

fleeing: running away from, escaping
prospered: do well, live well
frivolous: not serious
morality: belief system

So they decided to leave Holland and travel to the New World. Their trip was financed by a group of English investors, the Merchant Adventurers. It was agreed that the Pilgrims would be given passage and supplies in exchange for working for their backers for seven years.

backers: financial supporters

On Sept. 6, 1620, the Pilgrims set sail for the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. Forty-four Pilgrims who called themselves the "Saints," sailed from Plymouth, England, along with 66 others, whom the Pilgrims called the "Strangers."

The long trip was cold and damp and took 65 days. Since there was the danger of fire on the wooden ship, the food had to be eaten cold. Many passengers became sick and one person died by the time land was sighted on November 10th.

The long trip led to many disagreements between the "Saints" and the "Strangers." After land was sighted, a meeting was held and an agreement was worked out, called the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed equality and unified the two groups. They joined together and named themselves the "Pilgrims."

Although they had first sighted land off Cape Cod, they did not settle until they arrived at Plymouth, which had been named by Captain John Smith in 1614. It was there that the Pilgrims decided to settle. Plymouth offered an excellent harbor. A large brook offered a resource for fish. The Pilgrims' biggest concern was attack by the local Native Americans. But the Patuxets were a peaceful group and did not prove to be a threat.

harbor: protected area on the coast
threat: a danger

The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. The cold snow and sleet was exceptionally heavy, interfering with the workers as they tried to construct their settlement. March brought warmer weather and the health of the Pilgrims improved, but many had died during the long winter. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew who left England, fewer than 50 survived the first winter.

devastating: extremely difficult
interfering: preventing, making difficult

On March 16, 1621, what was to become an important event took place. An Indian brave walked into the Plymouth settlement. The Pilgrims were frightened until the Indian called out "welcome" (in English!).

settlement: place to live

His name was Samoset, and he was an Abnaki Indian. He had learned English from the captains of fishing boats that had sailed off the coast. After staying the night, Samoset left the next day. He soon returned with another Indian named Squanto who spoke even better English. Squanto told the Pilgrims of his voyages across the ocean, and his visits to England and Spain. It was in England where he had learned English.

voyages: travels

Squanto's importance to the Pilgrims was enormous and it can be said that they would not have survived without his help. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap. He taught them which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. He taught them how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.

sap: the juice of the maple tree
poisonous: food or liquid dangerous to the health
mounds: raising of the earth made of dirt by hand
decaying: rotting

The harvest in October was very successful, and the Pilgrims found themselves with enough food to put away for the winter. There was corn, fruits and vegetables, fish to be packed in salt, and meat to be cured over smoky fires.

cured: cooked by smoke in order to keep meat a long time

The Pilgrims had much to celebrate, they had built homes in the wilderness, they had raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, they were at peace with their Indian neighbors. They had beaten the odds, and it was time to celebrate.

wilderness: uncivilized country
crops: cultivated vegetables such as corn, wheat, etc.
beaten the odds: won something that was very difficult or against somebody

The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be shared by all the colonists and the neighboring Native Americans. They invited Squanto and the other Indians to join them in their celebration. Their chief, Massasoit, and 90 braves came to the celebration which lasted for three days.

They played games, ran races, marched, and played drums. The Indians demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims demonstrated their musket skills. Exactly when the festival took place is uncertain, but it is believed the celebration took place in mid-October.

proclaimed: declared, named
colonists: original settlers who came to the North America
braves: Indian warrior
musket: type of gun or rifle used during that period in history

The following year the Pilgrims' harvest was not as bountiful, as they were still unused to growing the corn. During the year they had also shared their stored food with newcomers, and the Pilgrims ran short of food.

bountiful: a lot of
newcomers: people who have recently arrived

The third year brought a spring and summer that was hot and dry with the crops dying in the fields. Governor Bradford ordered a day of fasting and prayer, and it was soon thereafter that the rain came. To celebrate - November 29th of that year was proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. This date is believed to be the real true beginning of the present Thanksgiving Day.

fasting: not eating
thereafter: after that

The custom of an annually celebrated thanksgiving, held after the harvest, continued through the years. During the American Revolution (late 1770s) a day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.

harvest: collection of the crops

In 1817 New York State had adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century, many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving. Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.

designating: appointing, naming

The History of Thanksgiving Quiz

Answer the following questions about Thanksgiving based on the story above. Each question has only one correct answer. This reading and exercise is based on the story "The Pilgrims and America's First Thanksgiving" written by the American Embassy.

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Thanksgiving for ESL Students: History and Quiz

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Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States. Traditionally, it is a holiday that Americans spend together with their families. Thanksgiving dinner usually includes the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. Improve your understanding of the holiday by reading the story that follows. Difficult words are explained at the end of each paragraph.

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Thanksgiving - Native Americans - One Word

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Thanksgiving - Native Americans - One Word

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Thanksgiving | Native Americans | One Word | Cut

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Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, and Columbus Day 2023 occurs on Monday, October 9. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century, but did not become a federal holiday until 1937.

For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus' achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage. But throughout its history, Columbus Day and the man who inspired it have generated controversy, and many alternatives to the holiday have proposed since the 1970s including Indigenous Peoples' Day, now celebrated in many U.S. states and cities.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who set sail in August 1492, bound for Asia with backing from the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella aboard the ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Columbus intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, on October 12, 1492, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.

Later that October, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China; in December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan. There, he established Spain's first colony in the Americas with 39 of his men.

In March 1493, Columbus returned to Spain in triumph, bearing gold, spices and "Indian" captives. The explorer crossed the Atlantic several more times before his death in 1506.

Did you know? Contrary to popular belief, most educated Europeans in Columbus' day understood that the world was round, but they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed. As a result, Columbus and his contemporaries assumed that only the Atlantic lay between Europe and the riches of the East Indies.

Columbus Day in the United States

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York's Columbian Order-better known as Tammany Hall -held an event to commemorate the historic landing's 300th anniversary. Taking pride in Columbus' birthplace and faith, Italian and Catholic communities in various parts of the country began organizing annual religious ceremonies and parades in his honor.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage with patriotic festivities, writing, "On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life."

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely as a result of intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic fraternal organization.

Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday of October. While Columbus Day is a federal government holiday meaning all federal offices are closed, not all states grant it as a day off from work.

Columbus Day Alternatives

Controversy over Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups in the United States rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism.

In recent decades, Native Americans and other groups have protested the celebration of an event that resulted in the colonization of the Americas, the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade and the deaths of millions from murder and disease.

European settlers brought a host of infectious diseases, including smallpox and influenza that decimated Indigenous populations. Warfare between Native Americans and European colonists claimed many lives as well.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

The image of Christopher Columbus as an intrepid hero has also been called into question. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery. Later, while serving as the governor of Hispaniola, he allegedly imposed barbaric forms of punishment, including torture.

In many Latin American nations, the anniversary of Columbus' landing has traditionally been observed as the Dìa de la Raza ("Day of the Race"), a celebration of Hispanic culture's diverse roots. In 2002, Venezuela renamed the holiday Dìa de la Resistencia Indìgena ("Day of Indigenous Resistance") to recognize native peoples and their experience.

Since 1991, nearly 200 U.S. cities, several universities and a growing number of states have adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day, a holiday that celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans, alongside Columbus Day. While the Biden administration has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day since 2021, it is not yet a federal holiday.

When Is Columbus Day?

Columbus Day was originally observed every October 12, but was changed to the second Monday in October beginning in 1971.

In some parts of the United States, Columbus Day has evolved into a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Local groups host parades and street fairs featuring colorful costumes, music and Italian food. In places that use the day to honor indigenous peoples, activities include pow-wows, traditional dance events and lessons about Native American culture.

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Columbus Day 2023 - Facts, Celebrations & Controversy

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Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.

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History vs. Christopher Columbus - Alex Gendler

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History of the Holidays: Columbus Day | History

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Understanding Indigenous Peoples' Day | VOA News

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The difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom

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The difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom

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The difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom

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Learn about the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

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Moment HM King Charles III is crowned in Coronation ceremony - BBC News

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Generations sharply divided over keeping monarchy

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Generations sharply divided over keeping monarchy

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There is a sharp generational divide in attitudes towards the monarchy, suggests a YouGov opinion poll, with young people much less in favour of it.

Among 18 to 24-year-olds, only 30% say the monarchy is "good for Britain", compared with 77% among the over-65s.

The survey of more than 2,000 adults in Britain comes as the first anniversary approaches of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The pollsters found that overall, 62% want to keep the monarchy.

But they report a "remarkable difference between generations", with younger people much less supportive on remaining a monarchy and more sceptical about the Royal Family representing good value for money.

For King Charles, as he approaches his first year on the throne, 59% of people thought he was "personally doing a good job".

The pollsters say there has been a broadly consistent picture of "overall positivity towards the monarchy", but there is also a sizeable and rising minority who are opposed.

A decade ago, the same YouGov tracking survey found 17% wanted an elected head of state, which in this latest survey has risen to 26%, the highest in a series of regular surveys from YouGov going back to 2011.

On whether Britain should continue to be a monarchy or be replaced with an elected head of state, the poll found:

62% support the monarchy

26% want an elected head of state

11% don't know

But underneath these overall figures, the survey shows widely diverging views.

On whether the Royal Family is good value for money, 75% of the over-65s believe they are, but only 34% of 18 to 24-year-olds feel the same.

And while 80% of the over-65s want Britain to stay as a monarchy, that falls to 37% for the 18 to 24-year-olds.

There is also less support for the royals in Scotland or Wales than in England, where London has higher levels of people against the monarchy than elsewhere in the country.

Historian and royal commentator Ed Owens says the lack of support among the young should "certainly be of concern" to the Royal Family.

But he says it will be difficult for the royals to turn this around, when many of the factors are outside their control.

Dr Owens says opposition to the monarchy is part of a wider sense of "disenchantment" for younger generations about issues such as unaffordable housing, stagnant wages and student debt.

"The system doesn't seem to be working for them, so why should they celebrate an institution that seems to be at the heart of that system?" says Dr Owens.

But he says there is hope for the monarchy in the popularity of some individual royals, with Prince William appearing to have an appeal across age groups.

Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy campaign Republic, said the survey showed a "general trend of falling support, and that younger people will not be won back to the monarchist cause".

"Sooner rather than later we'll see support for the monarchy fall below 50%," he said.

You can see more royal stories in the weekly BBC News Royal Watch Newsletter - sign up here from within the UK. or here, from outside the UK.

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Generations sharply divided over keeping monarchy

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Young people are much less convinced about supporting the monarchy, suggests a survey.

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14 Times Princess Diana Made Headline News With Her ‘Scandalous’ Royal Behavior

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From wearing a strapless dress to shaking hands with an AIDS patient, Diana couldn’t escape being front-page news.

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Princess Dianna Death Accident (Minute by Minute)

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Prince Harry refused to accept Diana’s Death

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Prince Harry refused to accept Diana’s Death

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Prince Harry refused to accept Princess Diana’s death for years | 60 Minutes

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Eight conspiracy theories about Princess Diana’s fatal crash

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More than 20 years on, conspiracy theories continue to rage – despite almost all of them being proven decisively wrong

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Territorial Evolution of The British Empire

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Territorial Evolution of The British Empire

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Territorial Evolution of the British Empire ✔

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Series of maps depicting the rise and fall of the British Empire from 1492 to the present day. Credits: Maps by Gerrynobody at the Wikipedia project, in the public domain Music: Kevin MacLeod, "Moorland", Incompetech.com Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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By three to one, British people think the British Empire is something to be proud of rather than ashamed of - they also tend to think it left its colonies better off, and a third would like it to still exist

Britain has long found it difficult to evaluate its former empire. Imperial nostalgia on television has been shamed by historians, and modern prime ministers have expressed ' deep sorrow' for Britain's role in slavery - but they have also called on British people to celebrate the legacy of the Empire.

Among the British public, feelings tend to be positive. A new YouGov survey finds that most think the British Empire is more something to be proud of (59%) rather than ashamed of (19%). 23% don't know. Young people are least likely to feel pride over shame when it comes to the Empire, though about half (48%) of 18-24 year olds do. In comparison, about two-thirds (65%) of over 60s feel mostly proud.

Economically, the British Empire invested in infrastructure, established trading routes and installed institutions - but it also extracted resources, oversaw famines and in some cases left behind instability. Though many (36%) are unsure, British people do tend to think that, overall, former British colonies are now better off for having been part of the empire, by 49-15%.

A third of British people (34%) also say they would like it if Britain still had an empire. Under half (45%) say they would not like the Empire to exist today. 20% don't know.

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year are the latest reminder of the British Empire, and of a determination to present its legacy as constructive. YouGov also asked which countries British people would especially like to do well at the events, with Australia, New Zealand and Canada being most favoured.

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The British Empire is 'something to be proud of' | YouGov

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By three to one, British people think the British Empire is something to be proud of rather than ashamed of - they also tend to think it left its colonies better off, and a third would like it to still exist

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British Empire facts

What is an empire?

Empire is a term used to describe a group of territories ruled by one single ruler or state. Empires are built by countries that wish to control lands outside of their borders. Those lands can be close by or even thousands of miles away. For example, the Roman Empire (1st - 5th Centuries A.D.) stretched all the way from Britain to

What was the British Empire?

The British Empire is a term used to describe all the places around the world that were once ruled by Britain. Built over many years, it grew to include large areas of North America, , New Zealand, Asia and Africa, as well as small parts of Central and South America, too.

How big was the British Empire?

Why did Britain* want an empire?

But they weren't alone. Other European countries were also exploring the world, discovering new lands and building empires, too - the race was on, and England did not want to be left behind...

*It wasn't until 1707 that Scotland joined with England and Wales to become The Kingdom of Great Britain.

Where were the first colonies?

The first English colonies were in North America, at the time known as the ' New World'. Creating colonies was no easy task for the English! In 1585, the famous explorer Sir Walter Raleigh tried and failed to build an English settlement at a place called Roanoke in Virginia. It wasn't until 1607 that Captain John Smith founded the first permanent English colony at Jamestown in Virginia.

The 'First British Empire'

Over time, the English would claim more and more territories. This sometimes meant fighting with other European nations to take over their colonies.

Trading settlements were also created in India by a company called the East India Company. This company became so powerful, it allowed England to control of the trade of luxury goods like spices, cotton, silk and tea from India and China, and it even influenced politics.

The years 1775-1783 were a turning point in British history, as the nation lost a huge part of its empire in the American War of Independence. Feeling 'American' rather than 'British', and resentful of sending money back to Britain, 13 colonies in North America united and fought to be free from British rule. With the help of Spain, France and the Netherlands, they won the war, and gained independence, becoming the United States of America. This marked the end of what is now called the ' First British Empire '.

The 'Second British Empire'

Although Britain had lost a huge part of its North American territories, it claimed new lands in the late 18th Century and early 19th Century, forming the ' Second British Empire'. Colonies were founded in parts of , and later Trinidad and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Singapore and Hong Kong () as well as other parts of Asia.

From 1881 to 1902, Britain competed with other European empire-builders in what became known as the ' Scramble for Africa'. By the early 1900s, huge parts of Africa - including , Kenya, Nigeria and large areas of southern Africa - all came under British rule. The British Empire was larger and more powerful than ever...
As Queen of Great Britain, Queen Victoria was also Queen of all the countries in the British Empire. She was even Empress of India! Here she is pictured on a Canadian postage stamp during her reign.

The British Empire and Indigenous Peoples

During the Second World War, India suffered some of the worst famines (lack of food) in human history, partly caused by the British government taking vital supplies away from the Indian people to support the war effort elsewhere - causing the death of millions.

Many Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous Australians, lost not just their land, food and possessions, but their traditions, too. When British settlers arrived, they forcibly replaced the beliefs, language and traditions of Indigenous populations with their own, removing their cultural identities.

Today, many Indigenous communities are trying to reconnect with the heritage the British tried to erase, by celebrating their cultural identities and protecting them for the future.

Slavery and the British Empire

One of the most horrific parts of the history of the British Empire was its involvement in the trade of enslaved people - people who were made the property of others and forced to obey their owners' demands.

Throughout history, slavery has existed on all continents and in many societies, but when the European imperialists arrived in Africa in the 15th Century, they began the most organised slave operation the world had ever seen - the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Slavery made Britain incredibly wealthy. It provided slave owners with unpaid labour to farm expensive items like sugar, tobacco and cotton, which they could sell for huge profits - at the expense of the enslaved people and their homelands. It also largely funded Britain's Industrial Revolution, which only went on to make Britain richer.

Even when slavery was abolished, former slave owners were paid compensation by the British government for the loss of their human 'property'. No compensation was paid to the enslaved people themselves! The compensation sum was vast, and in fact, the loan taken out to pay for it was still being paid off by British tax payers as recently as 2015!

Many former slave owners went on to invest their compensation money in businesses - some of which still exist today - or in development projects like the British railways. Therefore, even though slavery had ended, its legacy continued to live on.

*Slavery continued in territories run by the East India Company until 1843.

Why did the British Empire collapse?

Over the course of the 20th century, Britain's empire broke down in stages. After the First World War (1914-1918) there was a feeling of ' nationalism' sweeping the globe, whereby countries should have the right to be independent and rule themselves. In 1926, , Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became independent, meaning they were no longer under British control.

Over the next decades, however, the remaining colonies continued to push for independence. After the Second World War, Britain no longer had the wealth or strength to manage an empire overseas. Many colonies had fought for the British during the war (although people of colour were mainly given low-rank positions), and were making their own plans for independence.

That said, there are some small fragments of the British Empire that still exist today, known as 'British Overseas Territories'. These are mainly self-governing countries separate to the United Kingdom, that continue to share a bond with Britain. They include Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Monserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The fight for independence

An Indian postage stamp remembers the 1942 'Quit India' movement, which fought for freedom from British rule.

In their efforts to free themselves from British rule, many people were treated cruelly - and, in some cases, demands and protests were met with violence from British forces.

In 1919, for example, in an event known as the Amritsar Massacre, the British imprisoned and killed thousands of Indian people taking part in a peaceful independence protest.

What is the Commonwealth?

As the British Empire began to fall, it was replaced by what is today called The Commonwealth (or The Commonwealth of Nations) - an organisation that countries can choose to join, or leave. It began in 1931, when the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa formed the British Commonwealth of Nations. Today, it is made up of over 50 countries who work and trade together. They also share a common set of values, including fair political elections, the respect of human rights and working towards international peace.

What do we think about the British Empire today?

By the time the British Empire came to an end, it had truly left its mark on the world. Countries had experienced huge social, economic and political changes under British rule. But what the British Empire left behind is a complex topic that is questioned and discussed to this very day...

In the past, the British largely looked proudly on its empire, as a period that brought power and wealth to Britain, funding exciting new inventions, technology, the trade of exotic goods and helping other countries to 'modernise'.

Today, those British attitudes are changing. People are learning more about the wrongs that the Empire forced on Indigenous Peoples and the long-lasting damage that it left on its overseas territories, long after the empire was over.

While empire made Britain richer, its lands overseas became poorer, as much of the wealth was taken and sent back to Britain, or enjoyed by British landowners. This created vast differences in wealth - not only between countries, but between people of different races, too.

In societies across the British Empire, people of European descent (with white skin) were seen as 'superior' and had more wealth, rights and privileges than Indigenous people, especially enslaved people, and later, their descendants - who had darker or black skin.

In fact, following European imperialism, people of colour have had to work incredibly hard for equal rights and opportunities. Sadly, this struggle is still ongoing in countries around the world, including the United Kingdom. Even though laws state everyone should be treated equally regardless of race, people continue to face hardships and disadvantages because of the colour of their skin.

The good news is that more and more people are speaking out against racism and their voices are being heard. And thankfully today, more than ever, organisations, charities, governments and individuals around the world are working together to create a future where everyone is treated fairly and equally.

And you can help, too!

- Treat everybody equally, no matter the colour of their skin.

- If you see or hear someone being treated unfairly, because of where they come from or what they look like, tell a trusted grown-up, like a parent or teacher.

- Learn about different people and cultures around the world, and encourage others to do the same! You can find lots of fab features on different countries and cultures, here.

- Discover the stories of famous figures who have fought for equality, such as Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

What did you think of our British Empire facts? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Images ⓒ Getty Images: 'British Empire Throughout the World' map (172849572), illustration of Jamestown, St Helena (1130096285), wood engraving of Tobago (1211948053), Canada postage stamp (93298541), Polynesian and Australian Indigenous people (1201874497), enslaved people boarding a vessel (157479463), British Empire 1914 map (96229510), Quit India postage stamp (175417247), Commonwealth of Nations flags (135350558), paper people (1187828086).

Words by: Paul Kane and Molly Groarke

Special thanks to the Museum of British Colonialism and the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection.

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British Empire facts! - National Geographic Kids

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Learn about one of the most important periods in history in our British Empire facts. How big was the British Empire? When and why did it rise and fall...?

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British voters explain why they’re voting remain

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British voters explain why they’re voting remain

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British voters explain why they're voting to stay in the European Union

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British voters explain why they are voting leave

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British voters explain why they are voting leave

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These British voters tell us why they want their country to leave the European Union

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Brexiteers' Opinions: Why They Voted Leave

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Brexit two years later: Why the UK is struggling | DW News