Teenage Texting...Taking a Bad Toll???

The article "Texting May Be Taking a Toll," Katie Hafner explores the issue of teenage texting, and the problems that it is creating.

With texting becomming so popular, physicians and psychologists are becomming worried. They say that texting is leading to anxiety, school distractions, bad grades, thumb injuries, and bad sleep.

Dr. Martin Joffe surveyed students at 2 high schools. He saw that the teenagers were sending hundreds of messages every day. "That's one every few minutes," he said. "Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That's going to cause sleep issues in an age group that's already plagues with sleep issues."

Because texting is something that goes on constantly, more like everyday, psychologists have not come to a conclusion on the health effects of texting. However, Sherry Turkle who is a psychologist, studied teenage texting, and she said that it might be changing the way we grow up.

"Among the jobs of adolescence are to separate from your parents, and to find the peace and quiet to become the person you decide you want to be," Professor Turkle said. "Texting hits directly at both those jobs."

Doctors expect teenagers to break away from parents, "but if technology makes something like staying in touch very, very easy, that's harder to do; now you have adolescents who are texting their mothers every 15 times a day, asking things like, 'Should I get the red shoes or the blue shoes?'" Professor Turkle added.

However, Michael Hausauer feels that "Texting can be an enormous tool. It offers companionship and the promise of connectedness. At the same time, texting can make a youngster feel frightened and overly exposed."

In my opinion, I'm kind of in the middle. Do teens do a lot of texting? Yes. However, sometimes the texting is beneficial. More than likely, you will find a teenagers whereever you go texting, whether it be a friend, girlfriend,  boyfriend or parent. There is nothing wrong with texting, except for the amount of texting we do. However, you never know who we are texting. We could be texting our mother to tell her about some changes in school, or we could even be texting our friends to talk about a major crisis. Adults' problem, in my eyes, is that they can't really understand teenagers for who they are. Texting is just like Ray Bans, and skinny jeans; a trend. The only difference is, it doesn't get old.

Now, you should take the time right now and think; if I was put in the situation my child is in, how would the teenage me react?

Texting is a trend that everyone is doing. If you are not doing it, your "so many years ago." Think about it....

A.D.H.D. Pills Given to Help Students In School

In the article "Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School," Alan Schwarz brings to light the use of pills that help children in school, even if they don't have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D. for short.

According to the article, Dr. Michael Anderson gives his patients, who aren't doing so well in school, a pill called Adderall. The pill is supposed to give the children more focus and control while in school. Dr. Anderson makes the diagnosis, but he just uses it as an excuse to give the children the medicine. The article states that he gives it to children because of their academic struggles in school.

Dr. Anderson, who is a pediatrician for the poor families in Cherokee County, said "I don't have a whole lot of choice. We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to change the kid's environment. So we have to change the kid."

He, and a few other physicians are giving different children, who aren't doing well in school, this medince. Not just for A.D.H.D., but to help them do better in school.

Experts say that children who already are good in school still use the pill, but the physicians who are on this, only give it to struggling students. "People who are getting A's and B's, I won't give it to them," Dr. Anderson said.

After reading this article, my opinion stayed the same; I don't think that this pill should be given. In the beginning of the article, it stated that Dr. Anderson uses A.D.H.D. as an excuse to give the pill. In toher words, he's diagnosing kids with a disorder that they probably don't have. Also, I feel that pills like these can get really addicting. When they get addicting, some people can become suicidal, see things, and even go crazy. The article didn't even state the side effects. Therefore, my opinion has not changed.

iPad Before Bed = Bad Sleep

The article "Using iPads Before Bed ‘Can Lead to a Poor Night’s Sleep’" by Stephen Adams  is about how using your tablet or iPad, right before you go to sleep, can cause you to have a bad night's sleep.

The article says that a lot of people are beginning to get on their tablet or iPad to do last minute things, such as checking Facebook or their email right before they go to sleep. Researchers, however, are saying that the blueish light the tablet gives is stopping people to get a good night's sleep. Why? This light mimics the daylight, and it confuses our brain into thinking that is it is still daytime.

According to the article, any light can make it hard to sleep, but this blue light has shorter wavelengths, and it suppresses nocturnal melatonin. In other words, the brighter that this light is, the harder it is to fall asleep.

The article states that neurologists already knew that exposure to bright lights before sleep will make it harder to sleep; whether it be a computer screen, phone screen, or a television screen. However, the article says that because cell phones, tablets, and iPads are portable, they are now being taken into the bedroom. Researchers also say that people hold these devices closer to there eyes than they would a television or computer.

Researchers at the Lighting Research Center, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York say "Looking at tablet for more than two hours leads to a suppression of our natural melatonin levels as the devices emit optical radiation at short wavelengths."

Personally, I feel like people do spend more time on their tablet, or iPad, more than they should; especially before bed time. It's a nice thing that the researchers are trying to warn people to stop using it right before bed, but not all people will listen. That will be their fault. But in my opinion, I feel like the light shouldn't be used if it causes sleeping problems. That's just how I feel about it.













 

Cheating Made Easy

The article, "Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception," by Richard Perez-Pena, is about how cheating has been going on in many different high schools and colleges.

The article also states that the cheating that's going on is not all the students' fault. Donald L. McCabe says "I don't think there's any question that students have become more competitive, under more pressure, and, as a result, tend to excuse themselves and other students, and that's allowed by the adults around them." Mr. McCabe is a leading researcher on cheating.

"When you start giving take-home exams and telling kids not to talk about it, or you let them carry smartphones into tests, it's an invitation to cheating," said Michael Josephson, the president of Josephson Institute of Ethics. Harvard's situation involved a take-home final exam. The university hasn't had an hearing yet, but this case may take months to solve.

On top of all of this, experts are saying that parents are also the blame. It states that "1960s, parenting has shifted away from emphasizing obedience, honor and respect for authority to promiting children's happiness while encouraging their ambitions for material success."

"We have a culture now where we have real trouble accepting that our kids make mistakes and fail, and when they do, we tend to blame someone else," said Tricia Bertram Gallant. "Thirty, fourty years ago, the parent would come in and grab the kid by the ear, yell at him, and drag him home."

This simply means that times are changing. Back in the day, children knew that cheating was wrong, and wouldn't even think about cheating. Now, however, children don't even find cheating as a major offense. I think that if parents would stop trying to be friends with their children, and would actually put their foot down about something, then the cheating would stop.

I also think that if teachers would teach a little differently, that the students wouldn't have to cheat.

The overall question is "how bad do they want it?