Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

FDA Cracks Down on Youth Access to Juul E-Cigarettes

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

A crackdown on the sale of the wildly popular Juul brand of electronic cigarettes to teens has been announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It includes a nationwide undercover blitz targeting the illegal sale of Juul products to minors at both stores and online retailers, according to FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

Juul electronic cigarettes look like computer flash drives and have become a favorite of teenagers. They contain high levels of nicotine and emit vapors that are hard to see or detect.

Just last week, a survey found that many young Americans don't even realize that Juuls contain highly addictive nicotine.

But just one Juul cartridge has nicotine levels equal to a pack of cigarettes, and Juul now commands more than half of the e-cigarette market.

"Today's announcement is a step in the right direction, but the FDA needs to accelerate its actions when it comes to regulating e-cigarettes like Juul and remove flavors known to entice youth," said Dave Dobbins, chief operating officer of the Truth Initiative, which conducted the youth survey.

"Keeping e-cigarettes on the market without first evaluating them is putting an entire generation of young people at risk of addiction," Dobbins added in a statement.

Gottlieb stressed that the FDA is taking the dangers of Juul products seriously.

"The illegal sale of these Juul products to minors is concerning. In fact, just since the beginning of March, FDA compliance checks have uncovered 40 violations for illegal sales of Juul products to youth," he said in an agency news release.

"The FDA has issued 40 warning letters for those violations… And we anticipate taking many more similar actions as a result of the ongoing blitz and our focus on enforcement related to youth access," Gottlieb said.

"Let me be clear to retailers," he added. "This blitz, and resulting actions, should serve as notice that we will not tolerate the sale of any tobacco products to youth."

Another part of the crackdown includes additional enforcement actions against companies the FDA believes are marketing e-cigarettes in ways that are misleading to minors.

In yet another action, the FDA said it has asked the maker of Juul products for documents that could help explain why kids find the products so appealing.

"We don't yet fully understand why these products are so popular among youth. But it's imperative that we figure it out, and fast. These documents may help us get there," Gottlieb said.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/cancer-information-5/electronic-cigarettes-970/fda-cracks-down-on-youth-access-to-juul-e-cigarettes-733249.html

What's Hot? 04/27/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 4/27/18
1. #FridayFeeling
2. #ArborDay
3. North and South Korea
4. ABBA
5. Korean War
6. #FlashbackFriday
7. House Intelligence Committee
8. ON SALE NOW
9. #FridayReads
10. #WWEGRR
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 4/27/18
1. Patriots Draft Picks 2018
2. Josh Brolin
3. Desmond Marrow
4. Frank Ragnow
5. Bill Cosby
6. Avengers Infinity War
7. pansexual
8. Ryan Shazier
9. Lamar Jackson
10. Josh Allen tweets
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 4/27/18
1. No Tears Left to Cry - Ariana Grande
2. Never Be the Same (feat. Kane Brown) - Camila Cabello
3. Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) - Bebe Rexha
4. Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons
5. Nice For What - Drake
6. Ball For Me (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Post Malone
7. The Middle - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
8. Wait - Maroon 5
9. Never Be the Same - Camila Cabello
10. You Make It Easy - Jason Aldean
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 4/22/18
1. Roseanne
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. Young Sheldon
4. NCIS
5. Bull
6. The Voice - Mon.
7. 60 Minutes
8. Mom
9. NCIS: New Orleans
10. The Voice - Wed.
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 4/27/18
1. Ed Sheeran - Happier (Official Video)
2. Avengers: Infinity War Cast Sings "The Marvel Bunch"
3. Honey Roasted Carrots - You Suck at Cooking
4. Please don't photoshop our wedding photo
5. Are Rich People Worse Humans?
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. A Quiet Place
2. Rampage
3. I Feel Pretty
4. Super Troopers 2
5. Blumhouse's Truth or Dare
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Many Teens Don't Know Juul Contains Addictive Nicotine

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

Many young Americans don't realize that the wildly popular Juul electronic cigarettes contain highly addictive nicotine, putting them at risk for future cigarette use, a new study shows.

Looking much like a USB flash drive, just one Juul cartridge has nicotine levels equal to a pack of cigarettes, the researchers said. And Juul now commands more than half of the e-cigarette market.

The new study found that 25 percent of survey respondents aged 15 to 24 recognized a Juul e-cigarette device when shown a photo of the product. Among those who recognized it, 23 percent said use of the product is called "Juuling," suggesting the product is so distinctive that young people place it in a category of its own, said Truth Initiative, the group that conducted the study.

But 63 percent of Juul users did not know that the product contains nicotine, the findings showed.

"It is no wonder that Juul e-cigarettes have rapidly caught on with youth -- they look like a sleek USB flash drive, are easily concealed, and come in youth-appealing flavors like mint, mango and creme brulee," said Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative.

"Unfortunately, young people are unaware that Juul packs a powerful nicotine punch with a single cartridge equal to an entire pack of cigarettes. This escalates the urgency for [U.S.] Food and Drug Administration regulation and public education regarding the risks for young people," Koval said in an organization news release.

Prior research has shown that e-cigarette use by young people strongly increases their risk of cigarette smoking. More than four times as many young adults who use e-cigarettes start smoking tobacco cigarettes than those who do not use e-cigarettes, according to the Truth Initiative.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/cancer-information-5/electronic-cigarettes-970/many-teens-don-t-know-juul-contains-addictive-nicotine-733067.html

Teens Who Cook Set the Table for Healthy Eating as Adults

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

Teach teens to cook, and they will eat better as adults.

That's the conclusion of a new study conducted at schools in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. Participants reported on their cooking skills in 2002-2003 when they were aged 18 to 23, and they then detailed their meal-preparation habits in 2015-2016 when they were aged 30 to 35.

"The impact of developing cooking skills early in life may not be apparent until later in adulthood, when individuals have more opportunity and responsibility for meal preparation," said study author Jennifer Utter, from the University of Auckland, in New Zealand.

Having adequate cooking skills at ages 18 to 23 was associated with better nutrition at ages 30 to 35, including being more likely to prepare meals with vegetables most days, having fast-food less often, and having family meals more often, the findings showed.

The study was published April 17 in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

"Opportunities to develop cooking skills by adolescents may result in long-term benefits for nutritional well-being," Utter said in a journal news release.

"Families, health and nutrition professionals, educators, community agencies and funders can continue to invest in home economics and cooking education knowing that the benefits may not be fully realized until young adults develop more autonomy and live independently," Utter concluded.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/food-and-nutrition-news-316/teens-who-cook-set-the-table-for-healthy-eating-as-adults-733064.html

Study Finds Over 3,300 Android Apps Improperly Tracking Kids

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

There's little doubt that mobile apps sometimes overstep their bounds by collecting more data from kids than the law allows. But how often does that happen? It might be more than you think. Researchers using an automated testing process have discovered that 3,337 family- and child-oriented Android apps on Google Play were improperly collecting kids' data, potentially putting them in violation of the US' COPPA law (which limits data collection for kids under 13). Only a small number were particularly glaring violations, but many apps exhibited behavior that could easily be seen as questionable.

Of the 5,855 total apps included in the study, 281 of them collected contact or location data without asking for a parent's permission. Needless to say, those are red flags for any app targeted at kids. A further 1,100 shared persistent identifying info with third parties for restricted purposes, while 2,281 of them seemed to violate Google terms of service forbidding apps from sharing those identifiers to the same destination as the Android Advertising ID (which gives you control over tracking). About 40 percent of apps transmitted info without using "reasonable security measures," and nearly all (92 percent) of the 1,280 apps with Facebook tie-ins weren't properly using the social network's code flags to limit under-13 use (though they may not have realized they were using this info for law-breaking purposes).

The researchers are adamant that they're not showing "definitive legal liability." These apps maybe running afoul of the law, but it's up to regulators at the FTC to decide if they are. Without iOS data, it's also unclear how common this problem is across platforms.

Source: Engadget
https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/15/study-finds-over-3300-android-apps-improperly-tracking-kids/

What's Hot? 04/20/18

Trending Today on Twitter - 4/20/18
1. #420day
2. #FridayFeeling
3. #NationalSchoolWalkout
4. Happy 420
5. Columbine
6. Arsenal
7. Earle Bruce
8. Wenger
9. #FlashbackFriday
10. Forbes 400
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 4/20/18
1. Ariana Grande
2. Pelicans
3. Columbine
4. Andrew McCabe
5. Miami Heat
6. J Cole
7. NFL Schedule 2018
8. Super Troopers 2
9. Deadpool 2
10. Scandal
Source: Google

iTunes Top 10 Singles - 4/20/18
1. No Tears Left to Cry - Ariana Grande
2. Nice For What - Drake
3. Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) - Bebe Rexha
4. Cry Pretty - Carrie Underwood
5. Babe (feat. Taylor Swift) - Sugarland
6. You Make It Easy - Jason Aldean
7. Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons
8. The Middle - Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
9. Never Be the Same - Camila Cabello
10. Psycho (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Post Malone
Source: iTunes

Top 10 TV (Broadcast) Shows - Week Ending 4/15/18
1. Roseanne
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. ACM Awards
4. Young Sheldon
5. 60 Minutes
6. James Comes: ABC News Interview
7. The Voice - Mon.
8. Mom
9. Blue Bloods
10. Survivor
Source: Nielsen Co.

Trending Today on YouTube - Today - 4/20/18
1. Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U
2. Devils Vs Angels Two w/TheOdd1sOut
3. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Final Trailer
4. Billie Eilish - lovely (with Khalid)
5. I LOST $10,000 TWICE
Source: YouTube

Top 5 Movies - Last Weekend
1. Rampage
2. A Quiet Place
3. Blumhouse's Truth or Dare
4. Ready Player One
5. Blockers
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Share of American Young Adults Living with their Parents Highest in 75 Years

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

Parents in the US cannot get rid of their kids. The share of young adults in their late 20s living with their parents is the highest it’s been in 75 years.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 33% of 25-29 year olds lived with their parents or grandparents in 2016. This is almost three times as many as in 1970.

The share of young adults who don’t leave the nest has steadily increased in recent decades, and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis. Across education levels, race, gender, and region, no group has been immune from the trend.

Pew’s researchers think late twenty-somethings are boomeranging back home because, in contrast to previous generations at this stage of their lives, they are less likely to have a well-paying job and less likely to be married. It turns out that no job and no partner makes living with your parents a lot more appealing.

Source: Quartz
https://qz.com/1248081/the-share-of-americans-age-25-29-living-with-parents-is-the-highest-in-75-years/

Over 80% of Teenagers Prefer iPhone to Android

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

American teenagers continue to deeply prefer Apple's iPhone to phones running Android.

82% of teens of teens currently own an iPhone, according to Piper Jaffray's "Teens Survey," which questions thousands of kids across 40 states with an average age of 16.

That's up from 78% in last fall, and it's the highest percentage of teen iPhone ownership Piper's seen in its survey.

iPhone ownership among teens could go even higher — 84% of teens say their next phone will be an iPhone.

The enduring popularity of the iPhone in America's high schools may also be leading to a boom in Apple Watch interest. 20% of teens plan to buy an Apple Watch in the next 6 months, and Apple is the 2nd-most desired brand among upper-income teens, behind only Rolex, according to the survey.

Piper's analysts thinks this sets Apple up well for the fall, when it is expected to release three new iPhones, including one low-cost version with facial recognition and an end-to-end screen, features which currently cost $1,000 or more.

Source: Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-popularity-teens-piper-jaffray-2018-4

Another Study Finds Later School Bell Brings Sleep Bonus for Teens

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

Singapore's teens are the world's best on an international test of academic performance, but they pay for it with their sleep.

Most get well below the recommended eight to 10 hours of shut-eye on school nights. But a new study finds that delaying the morning school bell would help.

Studies in Western nations have found that later school start times improve students' sleep and well-being. But the impact in East Asian countries, where students are under strong pressure to excel, has been less clear, the researchers explained.

The new study included 375 students at an all-girl's high school in Singapore that moved its start time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

In Singapore, school typically begins around 7:30 a.m. (That's an hour earlier than recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.) On average, teens in Singapore average 6.5 hours of sleep a night on school nights.

At a follow-up one month after the later school start was introduced, teens were spending an extra 23 minutes in bed on school nights. The percentage who said they slept at least 8 hours a night rose from just under 7 percent to 16 percent, the researchers found.

After nine months, total sleep time had increased by about 10 minutes a night, the findings showed.

At both follow-ups, the teens reported less daytime sleepiness, greater alertness, as well as fewer depressive symptoms and mood problems.

"Starting school later in East Asia is feasible and can have sustained benefits," said lead researcher Michael Chee. He is a professor in the neuroscience and behavioral disorders program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

The study was published April 10 in Sleep, the international journal for sleep and circadian science.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/adolescents-and-teen-health-news-719/another-study-finds-later-school-bell-brings-sleep-bonus-for-teens-732801.html

Teens Would Rather Eat Out Than Buy More Clothes

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

It seems there's at least one thing teens care more about than what they wear: what they eat.

According to Piper Jaffray's biannual Taking Stock With Teens study, teens are spending more money on food than on clothing, a trend that's been taking hold for several years.

The survey included responses from 6,000 teenagers who had an average age of 16. The 1,400 teens who fell in the upper-income group had an average household income of about $100,000, while the 4,600 teens in the group from average-income households had a mean income of about $56,000.

"Food remains the single largest category of spend within the teen wallet," analyst Nicole Miller Regan, wrote in a research note.

Upper-income teenagers are spending 24 percent of their cash on food, which trumped the amount spent on clothing by 4 percentage points. Teens from average-income homes are spending about 21 percent on food, 2 percentage points higher than their clothing spend.

"Broadly speaking, we see Spring 2018 results as a continuation of the trend of restaurant spend outpacing clothing spend as first seen in the Spring 2014 survey cycle," Regan said. "We believe this reflects the restaurant industry's arguably less discretionary nature as a category of spending relative to other consumer (discretionary) categories."

For teens in the upper-income bracket, spending on food has continued to grow since 2014, while spending on clothing has shrunk. In comparison, the survey found that average-income teens flip-flopped between spending more on food and spending more on clothing in the same time period.

Teenagers, part of the so-called Generation Z, are currently the largest age cohort of American customers, eclipsing the millennials.

Regan said that teens are most influenced by taste when it comes to choosing where to eat. Convenience is the second-biggest factor, followed by menu selection. Nutrition was the lowest-ranked attribute.

Piper Jaffray also discovered that more teens are spending money on dinner, with 66 percent of all teen dining occasions happening at night. Breakfast accounted for 2 percent of meal occasions, while lunch was about 20 percent.

"The majority of teens, approximately 66 percent, still dined out most frequently for dinner, which we believe has evolved to become a social tradition and a form of entertainment for teens, especially as discretionary spending has been reevaluated during recent times of increased economic pressures," Regan wrote.

Gen Z isn't crazy about full-service restaurants. These teens prefer limited-service chains, ones where they spend less time interacting with waitstaff and are free to congregate for long periods of time or take their food to go.

Starbucks, in particular, has remained a top restaurant brand for teens for years. In 13 out of the last 17 surveys, Starbucks has been the No. 1 food brand for upper-income teens to shop at. Chipotle was the top restaurant in fall 2010 and spring 2015, while Chick-fil-A was top in spring 2017 and spring 2018.

Source: CNBC.com
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/teens-would-rather-dine-at-starbucks-than-buy-more-clothes.html