Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Parents Heartbroken Kids are Celebrating Milestones Without Family Due to COVID

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

From birthdays to graduations, 2020 has put a damper on many big moments around the world. For children, COVID-19 restrictions have forced them to celebrate some of life’s biggest achievements in virtual silence. A new survey finds four in five parents say their kids are going through milestone moments during quarantine and are heartbroken their loved ones can’t be around for them.

The OnePoll study of 2,000 Americans with children under six-years-old examined how parents are attempting to keep their families connected with relatives during isolation. Two-thirds (67%) are reluctantly maintaining their distance from loved ones during the pandemic.

Nearly half of respondents said this is the longest they’ve ever gone without seeing a single extended family member in person. Forty-five percent estimate their children will go the rest of the year without spending in-person quality time with an extended family member.

The survey, commissioned by the photo-sharing app FamilyAlbum, also revealed who is most commonly absent from a child’s life in 2020. Kids are often having to go without seeing their grandmothers and grandfathers (42%), aunts and uncles (35%), and cousins (32%).

Parents lament the fact their children are passing exciting milestones with nobody around to witness them. Seventeen percent of parents have seen their child’s first steps without another loved one present.

One in five children (19%) said their first word and 18 percent learned to roll over on their own without an audience. Another 39 percent have celebrated a birthday without their family this year. Other key moments parents have witnessed their children achieve alone since March include learning the alphabet, learning to read, and mastering how to ride a bike.

Source: Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/kids-celebrating-milestones-without-family-covid/

Naps Help Preschoolers Learn, Remember More

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

Could naptime be the key to your child’s success in school? A new study finds preschoolers who nap may learn and remember more than peers who don’t.

Past research has revealed that healthy sleep routines can benefit one’s ability to learn and retain information. The new study finds that naps can achieve similar advantages for young children.

Researchers at the University of Arizona studied the ability of 39 “typically developing” 3-year-olds to understand and apply language skills by teaching the children verbs.

Each participant in the study was taught two fake verbs. Animated characters on a computer screen performed two separate full-body gestures; one represented “blicking,” while the other represented “rooping.” Some of the group was selected to take a nap within an hour of learning the verbs, while the others waited at least 5 hours.

Twenty-four hours later, the kids were presented with a set of new characters performing the same gestures. The researchers found that the children that napped identified the verbs better than those that did not.

Study co-author Rebecca Gómez, associate professor of psychology at the university, says parents needn’t worry if their preschoolers no longer nap. The most important thing is the total amount of sleep the child gets in a day, which should be 10 to 12 hours. The total can be a combination of nap time and nighttime slumber.

Source: Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/study-finds-nap-napping-preschool-memory/

Vaping Lures Teens to Smoking

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

Instead of being a safe alternative to smoking, vaping may serve as an enticing gateway to the cigarette habit for some teens, new research shows.

It's known that teens who use electronic cigarettes are more likely than their peers to take up the real thing. But the question of cause-and-effect has remained: Perhaps those same kids might have started smoking anyway?

But the new study casts doubt on that idea.

Researchers found that among teens who said they had no intention to ever smoke, those who vaped were more than four times more likely to eventually try cigarettes.

That, experts said, suggests that e-cigarettes can predispose kids to tobacco use -- possibly by fueling a craving for nicotine.

The study was published online in Pediatrics. It included more than 8,660 U.S. adolescents ages 12 to 17 who were surveyed between 2014 and 2016. Initially, just under 13% said they intended to start smoking, and 8.5% had ever vaped.

By the next survey, those e-cigarette users were more likely to have tried cigarettes -- but only if they'd previously had no plans to start smoking.

Among kids with no intention to smoke traditional cigarettes, almost 10% of e-cigarette users went on to try cigarettes, versus about 2% of other teens. That contrasted with their peers who had planned to start smoking. E-cigarette use made no difference in whether they eventually tried cigarettes.

The study could not look at whether vaping got some kids hooked on nicotine, Owotomo said -- but that is a possibility.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/11-9-peds-vaping-lures-kids-to-smoking-2648609424.html

What's Hot? 11/20/20

Trending Today on Twitter - 11/20/20
1. Mr. President
2. #fridaymorning
3. #FreePCFriday
4. #FridayFeeling
5. #FridayThoughts
6. Megan
7. Geraldo
8. #FridayMotivation
9. Romney
10. Tucker
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 11/20/20
1. NBA Free Agency
2. Orlando Hall
3. Benoit Mandelbrot
4. Seahawks
5. Rudy Giuliani
6. Gucci vs Jeezy
7. Charli D'Amelio
8. California curfew
9. Supernatural
10. Rachel Maddow
Source: Google

Top Five on Spotify - 11/20/20
1. Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish
2. positions - Ariana Grande
3. Dakiti - Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez
4. Lemonade (feat. Gunna, Don Toliver & NAV) - Internet Money
5. Mood (feat. Iann Dior) - 24kGoldn
Source: Spotify

Top Five on Apple Music - 11/20/20
1. positions - Ariana Grande
2. Dakiti - Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez
3. For the Night (feat. Lil Baby & DaBaby) - Pop Smoke
4. Drankin N Smokin - Future, Lil Uzi Vert
5. Therefore I Am - Billie Eilish
Source: Apple Music

TV Shows Trending on Streaming Services - 11/20/20
1. The Queen's Gambit - Netflix
2. The Crown - Netflix
3. The Undoing - HBO
4. Big Sky - Hulu
5. Yellowstone - Peacock
Source: Reelgood

Trending Today on YouTube - 11/20/20
1. BTS 'Life Goes On'
2. BTS 'BE' Comeback Countdown
3. Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber - Monster
4. Kylie Jenner: Grinch Cupcakes with Stormi
5. The Undertaker Takes Care of Business While Eating Spicy Wings
Source: YouTube

Netflix Top 5 in the U.S. Today - 11/20/20
1. The Crown
2. The Princess Switch: Switched Again Part 2
3. Kevin Hart - Zero F**ks Given
4. The Queen's Gambit
5. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Source: Netflix

The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight, 2020

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Common Sense Media.

A new report from Common Sense Media provides an updated look at the media use by children ages zero to eight.

According to the report, for the first time, young kids spend more time watching online videos than doing any other activity on screens. But the content they're seeing on sites like YouTube and TikTok lacks educational value and, in many cases, exposes young children to advertising, violence, and other content that's inappropriate for their ages.

Among the key findings,

• On average, children from birth to age 8 use about two and a half hours of screen media a day. Daily use ranges from 49 minutes among those younger than 2, to two and a half hours among 2- to 4-years-old, and more than three hours among 5- to 8-year-olds.

• Online videos now dominate children's screen time. For the first time, watching online videos on sites like YouTube now constitutes the largest proportion of children’s total TV and video viewing, with an average of 39 minutes a day—more than double the amount of time devoted to online videos three years ago (:19). Next is 30 minutes a day spent watching content through a streaming service, while just 18 minutes is devoted to watching TV shows at the time they air, and another six minutes to watching shows that were recorded earlier or watched on-demand.

• More than a third (34%) of children age 8 and younger watch online videos every day, up from 24% three years ago. Nearly half (46%) of 2- to 4-year-olds and more than two-thirds (67%) of 5- to 8-year-olds have their own mobile device (tablet or smartphone), making online viewing even more accessible.

To read other key findings, download the complete report here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/2020_zero_to_eight_census_final_web.pdf

Source: Common Sense Media
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-kids-age-zero-to-eight-2020

Dieting and Weight Worries on Rise in Teens

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

Significantly higher numbers of Generation Z boys and girls in the UK are dieting to lose weight, and are likely to overestimate their own weight, finds a new study.

The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that girls who are trying to lose weight are also more likely to experience depressive symptoms than in previous years.

In 2015, 42% of 14-year-old girls and boys said they currently were trying to lose weight, compared to 30% in 2005.

Lead author Dr. Francesca Solmi (UCL Psychiatry) said: "Our findings show how the way we talk about weight, health, and appearance can have profound impacts on young people's mental health, and efforts to tackle rising obesity rates may have unintended consequences.

"An increase in dieting among young people is concerning because experimental studies have found that dieting is generally ineffective in the long term at reducing body weight in adolescents, but can instead have greater impacts on mental health. We know, for instance, that dieting is a strong risk factor in the development of eating disorders."

The research team reviewed data from 22,503 adolescents in the UK, in three different decades, who are part of different cohort studies: the British Cohort Study (of people born in 1970; data was collected in 1986), the Children of the 90s study (born 1991-92, data collected in 2005), and Millennium Cohort Study (born 2000-02, data collected in 2015).

The adolescents were all asked questions about whether they were, or had been, trying to lose weight, whether they had dieted or exercised to lose weight, whether they perceived themselves to be underweight, about the right weight or overweight (which was compared to their actual height and weight measurements), and they filled out questionnaires that gauged depressive symptoms. The researchers found that in 2015, 44% and 60% of all participants had dieted or exercised to lose weight, respectively, compared to 38% and 7% in 1986.

While girls have consistently been more likely to diet to lose weight, the researchers found a greater increase over the years among boys, who were also becoming more likely to be trying to gain weight.

Both girls and boys also became more likely to overestimate their weight from 1986 to 2005, and even more so by 2015, which the researchers say adds to their concerns that increased efforts to lose weight are not necessarily due to increased obesity rates.

The reported weight-related behaviors and weight misperception were associated with depressive symptoms, and among girls, this relationship was becoming even stronger over the three decades examined in this study. The findings could possibly be part of the explanation for increases in adolescent depressive symptoms that have been observed in recent decades.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201116112855.htm

Cannabis Strength has Skyrocketed in the Last 50 Years, Scientists Warn

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

From cars to computers, not many things are still the same as they were 50 years ago. A new report says you can add marijuana to that list as well. While support for legalizing this once illicit drug continues to grow, researchers from the University of Bath say today’s cannabis isn’t the same product it was in the 1970s. They reveal that the marijuana found on the streets today is significantly stronger, increasing the risks of addiction and harmful side-effects.

A team from Bath’s Addiction and Mental Health Group examined 80,000 samples of marijuana collected over the last 50 years. The samples come from the streets of the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Italy, and New Zealand.

Study authors tested the cannabis to see how each sample’s concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, compared over time. THC, or  is the active ingredient in cannabis that produces the drug’s intoxicating effects and makes users “high.”

The results reveal THC concentrations in herbal cannabis have increased by 14 percent between 1970 and 2017. Researchers point to stronger varieties like sinsemilla becoming the dominant brands of herbal marijuana found for sale as the main reason for this increase. Traditional herbal cannabis products from decades ago contain more seeds and less THC, thus making them much easier for users to tolerate.

The study finds frequently using marijuana with high levels of THC can lead to a higher risk of developing problems including drug addiction and psychotic disorders.

“As the strength of cannabis has increased, so too has the number of people entering treatment for cannabis use problems. More Europeans are now entering drug treatment because of cannabis than heroin or cocaine,” lead author Dr. Tom Freeman says in a university release.

The study adds that cannabis resin, or hash, has now surpassed herbal marijuana in terms of its strength. Researchers say THC concentrations in cannabis resin have skyrocketed by 24 percent since 1975.

“Cannabis resin – or ‘hash’ – is often seen as a safer type of cannabis, but our findings show that it is now stronger than herbal cannabis. Traditionally, cannabis resin contained much lower amounts of THC with equal quantities of CBD, however, CBD concentrations have remained stable as THC has risen substantially, meaning it is now much more harmful than it was many years ago,” study co-author Sam Craft adds.

The study appears in the journal Addiction.

Source: Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/cannabis-strength-skyrocketed-last-50-years/

Concussion Risk Rises In Soccer After Heading Ball

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

A new study finds that performing a “header” while playing soccer —hitting the ball with your head— significantly increases the likelihood of getting a concussion.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York published their findings in the journal Neurology. The study took its results from 222 adult, non-professional soccer players, 79% of whom were male.

Over a nine-month period, each participant regularly took part in online surveys, answering questions as to the number of headers they did, if they had experienced unintentional head impact during practice or a game, and whether they experienced symptoms like headache or confusion— potential telltale signs of head trauma.

It was found that players who head 125 or more balls over the course of two weeks— about nine a day— were three times as likely to have a concussion than those who did less than four headers over that period.

Source: Study Finds
https://www.studyfinds.org/study-finds-soccer-concussions/

What's Hot? 11/13/20

Trending Today on Twitter - 11/13/20
1. Friday the 13th
2. #WorldKindnessDay
3. #FridayFeeling
4. #FridayMotivation
5. #TheMandalorian
6. #FridayVibes
7. Vogue
8. Navarro
9. Chainz
10. Rory
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 11/13/20
1. Masters leaderboard
2. Titans
3. GameStop
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Call of Duty Cold War
6. Dominion Voting Systems
7. Travis Scott
8. LeVar Burton
9. Argentina vs Paraguay
10. USMNT
Source: Google

Top Five on Spotify - 11/13/20
1. positions - Ariana Grande
2. Dakiti - Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez
3. Lemonade (feat. Gunna, Don Toliver & NAV) - Internet Money
4. For the Night (feat. Lil Baby & DaBaby) - Pop Smoke
5. Mood (feat. Iann Dior) - 24kGoldn
Source: Spotify

Top Five on Apple Music - 11/13/20
1. Dakiti - Bad Bunny, Jhay Cortez
2. positions - Ariana Grande
3. For the Night (feat. Lil Baby & DaBaby) - Pop Smoke
4. pov - Ariana Grande
5. Remember the Times - Kodak Black
Source: Apple Music

TV Shows Trending on Streaming Services - 11/13/20
1. The Queen's Gambit - Netflix
2. The Undoing - HBO
3. Yellowstone - Peacock
4. The Mandalorian - Disney+
5. Fargo - Hulu
Source: Reelgood

Trending Today on YouTube - 11/13/20
1. Billie Eilish - Therefore I Am
2. Rapper Mo3 shot dead on Dallas highway
3. Rod Wave - All Week
4. Trying to Catch a 1,000 MPH Baseball
5. Nba YoungBoy - Around
Source: YouTube

Netflix Top 5 in the U.S. Today - 11/13/20
1. The Queen's Gambit
2. Dash & Lily
3. Trial 4
4. The Impossible
5. Cappelle's Show
Source: Netflix

Teens Benefit With Less Screen Time, More Time With Sports and Art

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

Walking away from TV, laptops, and cellphones and spending more time in sports and other extracurricular activities boost teens' mental health, Canadian researchers say.

Spending less than two hours a day browsing the internet, playing video games, and using social media was linked to increased levels of life satisfaction and optimism and lower levels of anxiety and depression, especially among girls, the study found.

"Although we conducted this study before the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings are especially relevant now when teens may be spending more time in front of screens in their free time if access to extracurricular activities, like sports and arts programs, is restricted due to COVID-19," said lead author Eva Oberle, an assistant professor with the Human Early Learning Partnership at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

For the study, the researchers surveyed nearly 29,000 seventh-graders.

They found that:

• Teens who took part in extracurricular activities were less likely to engage in screen-based activities for two or more hours after school.
• More than two hours a day of screen time was linked with lower levels of life satisfaction and optimism, and higher levels of anxiety and depression.
• Longer screen time negatively affected girls' mental health more than boys'.

The findings were recently published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/11-6-extracurricular-activity-healthy-for-teens-2648620085.html