Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Sleepy U.S. Teens Are Running on Empty

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Most American teenagers are plagued by too little sleep, which can hurt their health and their school performance, federal health officials said.

Nearly 58 percent of middle school students in nine states and almost 73 percent of high school students across the country don't get the recommended amount of nightly shuteye, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Children and adolescents who don't get enough sleep are at increased risk for obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health, and attention and behavior problems, which can affect them academically," said report author Anne Wheaton, a CDC epidemiologist.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, children aged 6 to 12 need nine to 10 hours of sleep a night, while teenagers aged 13 to 18 should get at least eight hours per night, she said.

One sleep expert has a theory on why so many teens are short on shuteye.

A big part of the problem is that teens stay up late using smartphones and computers, playing video games or watching TV, said Dr. Thomas Kilkenny. He is director of sleep medicine at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City.

Wheaton added that then kids have to get up early to get to schools that often start before 8:30 a.m. "One way for kids to get more sleep is to delay school start times," she suggested.

Switching to later school start times has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and others, Wheaton said.

In addition, parents can help their children practice good sleep habits. "These are things like having consistent bedtime and rise time, and that includes not just during the week, but on the weekends," Wheaton said. "That's good for everybody -- the adults, too."

Studies have shown that teens who have bedtimes set by their parents get more sleep than those who don't. Parents can also consider a media curfew or removing technology from the bedroom, she added.

"Adolescents who are exposed to more light in the evenings are less likely to get enough sleep, and using media can contribute to having later bedtimes," Wheaton explained.

Parents should also set a good example, she advised. If children see their parents placing a priority on sleep, then they're more likely to do the same.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/sleepy-u-s-teens-are-running-on-empty-730521.html

Early Periods, Higher Heart Risks?

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

Women whose periods started before age 12 may face an increased risk for heart disease and stroke, a new British study suggests.

"More frequent cardiovascular screening would seem to be sensible among women who are early in their reproductive cycle or who have a history of adverse reproductive events or a hysterectomy as this might help to delay or prevent their onset of [cardiovascular disease]," advised the researchers, led by Sanne Peters, from the University of Oxford.

The findings stem from data on more than 267,000 women in the United Kingdom who averaged 56 years old at the start of the study. Participants were recruited from 2006 to 2010, then followed until March 2016 or their first heart attack or stroke, whichever came first.

The study found that women who began having their periods before age 12 were 10 percent more likely to develop heart disease than those who were 13 or older when their periods started.

The findings were published online Jan. 15 in the journal Heart.

Because this was an observational study, no firm conclusions can be made about cause and effect, the researchers noted in a journal news release.

They added, though, that the study was a large analysis and they had accounted for a number of other factors that could have affected risks.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/cardiovascular-health-information-20/misc-stroke-related-heart-news-360/early-periods-higher-heart-risks-730119.html

What's Hot? 01/26/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 1/26/18
1. #WCKD
2. #FridayFeeling
3. #ImNoFanOfTrumpBut
4. #Davos
5. #FlashbackFriday
6. Migos
7. #IHaveFunAtWorkWhen
8. Colonel Sanders
9. Nutella
10. Jemele Hill
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 1/26/18
1. Wilder Penfield
2. XFL
3. Earthquake California
4. Tiger Woods
5. Doomsday Clock
6. Culture 2
7. Monster Hunter World
8. Earthquake
9. Maze Runner: The Death Cure
10. Hostiles
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 1/26/18
1. Say Something (feat. Chris Stapleton) - Justin Timberlake
2. God's Plan - Drake
3. You Make It Easy - Jason Aldean
4. Perfect - Ed Sheeran
5. Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) - Bebe Rexha
6. Havana (feat. Young Thug) - Camila Cabello
7. Finesse (Remix) (feat. Cardi B) - Bruno Mars
8. The Middle - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
9. Thunder - Imagine Dragons
10. Filthy - Justin Timberlake
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 1/21/18
1. NFC Championship - Vikings/Eagles
2. NFC Championship Postgame
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Young Sheldon
5. NCIS
6. This Is Us
7. Blue Bloods
8. The Good Doctor
9. Mom
10. Hawaii Five-O
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 1/26/18
1. Justin Timberlake - Say Something (Official Video) ft. Chris Stapleton
2. Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow.
3. Lady Gaga - Joanne (Where Do You Think You're Goin'?
4. Moving on from Beme
5. Pantry Essentials Basics with Babish
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
2. 12 Strong
3. Den of Thieves
4. The Post
5. The Greatest Showman
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Cigarettes and Pot Linked to Teen Psychosis

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on CNN.

For teens, using either marijuana or cigarettes is associated with higher odds of psychotic-like experiences, a new study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found. Psychosis describes the mental condition of losing touch with reality, such as experiencing hallucinations or delusions.

"Individuals who use cannabis regularly have a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of a psychotic outcome," University of Bristol researchers wrote in the study. Past research has calculated a statistical association between daily use of tobacco and an increased risk of psychosis.

The researchers wondered, are there differences for teens?

For the new study, the research team looked at family data for 3,328 teens living in the Bristol area of the United Kingdom. The teens answered questions about their use of cigarettes and cannabis at six separate time points between the ages of 14 and 19. Since many people who smoke pot also smoke cigarettes, the researchers attempted to discover the separate health effects of each substance.

Analyzing the data, the researchers found a strong association between smoking cigarettes (only) at an early age and having a psychotic experience by age 18. These teens had a 4.3% higher probability of having a psychotic episode by age 18 as compared to teens who did not smoke. "Early" use or "late" use was not defined by an actual age.

The researchers also found that teens who only used cannabis at an early age experienced a 3.2% greater chance of having a psychotic experience as compared to non-users.

The most striking increased probability, though, occurred among teens who only used cannabis at a later age. They had 11.9% greater odds of psychotic experiences by age 18.

Next, the researchers looked at other factors in each teen's life -- alcohol use, bullying, social class and a family history of schizophrenia, among others -- to see if these might have swayed the results.

With these additional factors included in the analysis, the researchers found that the relationship between smoking cigarettes and psychotic-like symptoms weakened. However, the relationship between cannabis and psychosis remained strong.

The researchers also flipped their focus to see whether teens who had experienced psychosis during childhood showed increased cannabis or tobacco use. They found little evidence that early psychotic experiences led to increased use of either substance.

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/17/health/cannabis-cigarettes-teens-psychosis-study/index.html

All That Smartphone Time May Be Making Teens Unhappy

*The following is excerpted from online articles posted on HealthDay.

Teens who are glued to their smartphones and other devices are unhappier than those who spend less time on digital media, new research finds.

The study can't prove cause-and-effect, so it's not clear if teens are made unhappy by spending a long time on their devices, or whether less happy teens are simply drawn to using them more.

But whatever the relationship, "the key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," believes study author Jean Twenge.

"Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising -- two activities reliably linked to greater happiness," said Twenge. She's professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

In the new research, Twenge's team surveyed more than a million 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders across the United States. The study asked kids how much time they spent on their phones, tablets and computers; the amount of time they spent in face-to-face socializing; and their happiness levels.

On average, teens with higher levels of screen time were less happy than those who spent more time doing "non-screen" activities -- things such as sports, face-to-face time with others, and reading newspapers and magazines.

"Although this study can't show causation, several other [prior] studies have shown that more social media use leads to unhappiness, but unhappiness does not lead to more social media use," Twenge said in a university news release.

Just how much screen time is "healthy"? According to the research, the happiest teens in the study spent a little less than an hour a day scanning their smartphones, tablets or other devices. After that, levels of unhappiness tended to steadily increase with the amount of screen time.

The researchers also found that since the 1990s, increasing availability of screen devices was associated with an overall decline in U.S. teens' happiness.

Levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem and happiness among young people plummeted after 2012 -- the year that the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent, Twenge noted.

The study was published in the journal Emotion.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/health-technology-information-18/cellphone-health-news-729/all-that-smartphone-time-may-be-making-teens-unhappy-730392.html

Severe Bullying Tied to Mental Health Woes in Teens

*The following is excerpted from online articles posted on HealthDay.

Teens who were severely bullied as children are at increased risk for mental health problems and suicide attempts, a Canadian study finds.

The study included data on more than 1,300 children in the province of Quebec, from birth until age 15.

About 59 percent of the children reported some bullying in their first years of elementary school, but that generally declined as the youngsters got older.

However, about 15 percent of the children were "exposed to the most severe levels of victimization from the beginning of their education until the transition to high school," Marie-Claude Geoffroy and fellow researchers from McGill University in Montreal wrote in the study.

"Although peer victimization starts to decrease by the end of childhood, individuals in the severe trajectory group were still being exposed to the highest level of victimization in early adolescence," the investigators noted.

At age 15, those who'd been severely bullied when they were younger were more than twice as likely to report depression or low moods and three times more likely to report anxiety than those who had experienced little or no bullying. They were also nearly 3.5 times more likely to report serious suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.

The study found no increased risk for mental health problems among teens who'd been moderately bullied.

The findings were published Jan. 15 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

"Our results, along with those of many other studies, suggest that severe peer victimization may contribute to the development of mental health problems in adolescence," the researchers wrote. "Therefore, it is important to prevent severe victimization early in the life span."

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/severe-bullying-tied-to-mental-health-woes-in-teens-730063.html

What's Hot? 01/19/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 1/19/18
1. #TheDebut
2. #FridayFeeling
3. #NationalPopcornDay
4. #ReleaseTheMemo
5. Ja Rule
6. #MarchForLife
7. #FlashbackFriday
8. Kemba
9. Jordyn Wieber
10. Kevin Davis
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 1/19/18
1. Saoirse Ronan
2. Carl Higbie
3. Government Shutdown
4. 12 Strong
5. Den of Thieves
6. Amazon HQ2
7. Kodak Black
8. Grey's Anatomy
9. Hailee Steinfeld
10. NBA All Star 2018
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 1/19/18
1. Supplies - Justin Timberlake
2. Perfect - Ed Sheeran
3. Havana (feat. Young Thug) - Camila Cabello
4. The Champion (feat. Ludacris) - Carrie Underwood
5. Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) - Bebe Rexha
6. Havana (feat. Young Thug) - Camila Cabello
7. Finesse (Remix) (feat. Cardi B) - Bruno Mars
8. Thunder - Imagine Dragons
9. Filthy - Justin Timberlake
10. Sick Boy - The Chainsmokers
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 1/14/18
1. NFL Divisional Playoff - Titans/Patriots
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. NCIS
4. Young Sheldon
5. Bull
6. The NFL Today
7. Blue Bloods
8. This Is Us
9. Mom
10. Hawaii Five-O
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 1/19/18
1. How a TV Works in Slow Motion - The Slo Mo Guys
2. Justin Timberlake - Supplies (Official Video)
3. Kid orders bong. Package arrives and his mom wants to see him open it.
4. Tinashe - No Drama (Official Video) ft. Offset
5. My New Career. A New Episode!
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
2. The Post
3. The Commuter
4. The Greatest Showman
5. Insidious: The Last Key
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Bad Fad Alert: Tide Pod Challenge

*The following is excerpted from online articles posted on CBS News and TechCrunch.

A government watchdog is expressing concern over the dangerous misuse of a laundry detergent. In this latest social media fad, teenagers are putting detergent pods in their mouths in what's being called the "Tide Pod Challenge."

Ingredients in the pods include ethanol, hydrogen peroxide and polymers – a highly-toxic mix of detergent meant to wipe out dirt and grime. Manufacturers have been concerned about toddlers mistakenly ingesting them, but now teens are popping them on purpose and posting videos of the results online, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

Nineteen-year-old Marc Pagan, who did it on a dare, told CBS News he knew better but did it anyway.

"A lot of people were just saying how stupid I was or how – why would I be willing to do that," he said. "No one should be putting anything like that in their mouths, you know?"

Ann Marie Buerkle, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says ingesting any of the liquid carries a deadly risk.

"This is what started out as a joke on the internet and now it's just gone too far," Buerkle said.

The pods are bright and colorful and to children they can look like candy. At least 10 deaths have been linked to ingesting these pods. Two were toddlers, eight were seniors with dementia.

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide products, told CBS News: "They should not be played with... Even if meant as a joke. Safety is no laughing matter."
—CBS News

YouTube appears to be trying to get ahead of any wider societal outcry over (yet more) algorithmically accelerated idiocy on its platform — i.e. when sane people realize kids have been filming themselves eating detergent just to try to go viral on YouTube — and is removing Tide Pod Challenge videos.

A YouTube spokesperson sent us the following statement on this: “YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm. We work to quickly remove flagged videos that violate our policies.”

At the time of writing it’s still possible to find Tide Pod Challenge videos on YouTube, though most of the videos being surfaced seem to be denouncing the stupidity of the ‘challenge’ (even if they have clickbait-y titles that claim they’re going to eat the pods — hey, savvy YouTubers know a good viral backlash bandwagon to jump on when they see one!).
—TechCrunch

Sources:
CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tide-pod-challenge-ingesting-detergent-risks/

TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/18/youtube-is-pulling-tide-pod-challenge-videos/

What's Hot? 01/12/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 1/12/18
1. #TheFour
2. Haiti
3. #CriticsChoiceAwards
4. #TonyaHarding
5. #CriticalRole
6. Don Lemon
7. #BlackHogwarts
8. The Cavs
9. Raptors
10. Anderson Cooper
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 1/12/18
1. Norway
2. Sam's Club
3. Trump Sh*thole
4. Nancy Kerrigan
5. The Commuter
6. Cavs
7. Eric Greitens
8. Camila Cabello
9. Paddington 2
10. Dark Souls Remastered
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 1/12/18
1. Finesse (Remix) (feat. Cardi B) - Bruno Mars
2. Perfect - Ed Sheeran
3. My My My! - Troye Sivan
4. Filthy - Justin Timberlake
5. Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) - Bebe Rexha
6. Havana (feat. Young Thug) - Camila Cabello
7. Thunder - Imagine Dragons
8. Tequila - Dan + Shay
9. rockstar (feat. 21 Savage) - Post Malone
10. How Long - Charlie Puth
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 1/7/18
1. NFL Wild Card - Falcons/Rams
2. Golden Globe Awards
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Young Sheldon
5. NCIS
6. Bull
7. Blue Bloods
8. Hawaii Five-O
9. Mom
10. NCIS: New Orleans
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 1/12/18
1. Taylor Swift - End Game ft. Ed Sheeran, Future
2. Imperial March played on pencil
3. Nintendo Direct Mini 1.11.2018
4. 5 McDonald's Gadgets put to the Test!
5. Real Life Lucky Block Mystery Box
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
2. Insidious: The Last Key
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
4. The Greatest Showman
5. Pitch Perfect 3
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Here's How Much the Typical Kid Gets in Allowance Each Year

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on CNBC.

Piggy banks might be on the endangered species list, yet your kids still need to learn about money. They're handling a lot of it.

Kids ages 4 to 14 received an average $454 in allowance over the course of 2017, in addition to cash gifts for birthdays and holidays, according to a forthcoming survey from allowance tracker RoosterMoney. The average kid takes home around $8.74 a week.

The average weekly allowance by age revealed the following range of payments:
Age 4: $3.76
Age 6: $5.24
Age 8: $7.24
Age 10: $8.10
Age 12: $9.85
Age 14: $12.26

RoosterMoney polled 10,000 of its users.

Offering an allowance is an opportunity to teach children how to spend and save. People form many of their financial habits by seven years old, a 2013 University of Cambridge study found.

But the way these payments are doled out and stored is changing. Apps like RoosterMoney, FamZoo and Threejars offer ways to digitize the allowance and induct children into the economy, which itself is becoming increasingly virtual.

"Parents are finding it harder to have conversations about money because they don't have cash around," said William Carmichael, CEO of RoosterMoney.

Parents are actually doing a disservice to their children by teaching them about finances solely via cash, Carmichael said.

"That's not the world their kids will live in," he said.

Source: CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/digital-allowance-apps-help-kids-better-manage-money.html