Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

What's Hot? 06/30/23

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/30/23
 1. #FORE
2. Alan Arkin
3. #FridayFeeling
4. #fridaymorning
5. #FridayVibes
6. Good Friday
7. 303 Creative
8. #SocialMediaDay
9. Rylo
10. SCOTUS
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/30/23
 1. Affirmative Action
2. Mexico vs Haiti
3. The Witcher
4. Aspartame
5. James Harden
6. Scot Peterson
7. Olivia Rodrigo
8. Supreme Court Student Loans
9. Jonathan Majors
10. Steam Summer Sale 2023
Source: Google

Top Five on Apple Music - 6/30/23
 1. fukumean - Gunna
2. Last Night - Morgan Wallen
3. All My Life (feat. J. Cole) - Lil Durk
4. LUNA - Peso Pluma, Junior H
5. LADY GAGA - Peso Pluma, Gabito Ballesteros, Junior H
Source: Apple Music

Top Box Office Movies - Weekend of 6/23/23
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2. Elemental
3. The Flash
4. No Hard Feelings
5. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Source: Showtimes.com 

TV Shows Trending on Streaming Services - 6/30/23
 1. The Bear - hulu
2. Secret Invasion - Disney+
3. From - Prime Video
4. Hijack - AppleTV+
5. Silo - AppleTV+
Source: Reelgood

Trending Today on YouTube - 6/30/23
 1. Olivia Rodrigo - vampire
2. Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer 2
3. Saying bye for a while now
4. John Mulaney Seeks the Truth While Eating Spicy Wings
5. The Problem with Me being Jewish
Source: YouTube

Netflix Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S. Today - 6/30/23
 1. Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators
2. Suits
3. Catching Killers
4. Black Mirror
5. Glamorous
Source: FlixPatrol

Kids Who Love Reading Have Bigger Brains, Become Happier and Smarter Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Children who are avid readers and will pick up a book just for fun tend to develop into happier and smarter teenagers, a new study reveals. Researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered that reading for 12 hours a week is optimal for youngsters to foster bigger and better brains. The team identified strong links between recreational reading between the ages of two and nine, and performance in memory, speech, verbal learning, and general academic tests.

Moreover, young readers exhibited better mental health, with fewer indicators of stress and depression. They demonstrated improved attention spans and fewer behavioral problems such as aggression and rule-breaking, according to clinical scores and reports from parents and teachers. The team also found that these children slept longer and spent less time looking at screens.

However, almost half of the 10,000 teenagers studied had minimal exposure to reading for pleasure or did not start reading for fun until later in their childhood. The remaining 52 percent — according to the research conducted by the University of Warwick, Fudan University in China, and the University of Cambridge — spent between three and ten years reading for enjoyment.

The study was published in Psychological Medicine.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/kids-read-for-fun-smarter-teens/

Eating Disorders Among Teen Girls Skyrocketed During the Pandemic

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Eating disorders among young girls dramatically escalated during the pandemic, a new study reveals. Researchers in the United Kingdom uncovered a 42-percent increase in diagnoses among 13 to 16-year-olds during the health crisis. There was also a 38-percent rise in cases of self-harm within the same two-year period.

This trend was also observed among 17 to 19-year-olds, albeit to a lesser extent, adding to mounting evidence linking lockdowns to the worsening mental health of adolescents. While the precise causes remain uncertain, the study’s lead author, Alex Trafford, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, emphasizes the importance of early identification of mental health difficulties among young people and timely access to treatment in order to prevent the exacerbation of existing conditions.

Trafford’s team analyzed data from 1,881 general practices across the U.K., including over nine million individuals between 10 and 24 years-old. They found that the observed incidence of eating disorder diagnoses in girls was significantly higher than expected based on previous trends.

This increase was largely attributable to a rise in cases among 13 to 16-year-olds, and to a lesser extent, among 17 to 19-year-olds. The observed incidence of self-harm in girls between 13 and 16 also exceeded expectations.

The team compared the actual rates of documented diagnoses during the pandemic with projected rates based on data from 2010 to 2020, assuming the pandemic had not occurred, from March 2020 to March 2022. They observed 3,862 cases of eating disorders and 9,174 cases of self-harm among 13 to 16-year-old girls, significantly higher than the projected numbers of 2,713 and 6,631 respectively.

Trafford highlights the surge in eating disorders and self-harm among teenage girls as a long-term consequence of the pandemic that demands attention.

The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/eating-disorders-teen-girls/

Sleep Troubles Tied to Suicidal Thoughts in Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

It is already known that getting enough sleep is vital to good health, but now new research suggests that having a sleep disorder is linked to suicidal thoughts in children, teens and young adults.

Treating these sleep issues could be an inroad to improving their mental health, the study authors suggested.

"People so often think of sleep disorders as being a symptom of other mental health problems like depression or anxiety," said Melynda Casement, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, in Eugene. "But sleep problems can also contribute to anxiety, mood disorders, and suicide risk," she explained in a university news release.

The researchers looked at emergency department records for a nationally representative sample of children, adolescents, and young adults aged 6 to 24.

The investigators found that youth with a sleep disorder were three times more likely to be seen in an emergency department with suicidal thoughts than those who did not have a sleep disorder.

While suicide is still stigmatized, sleep disorders do not carry that same stigma. So, identifying and treating these could improve mental health and reduce suicide risk even when people aren't comfortable talking about their mental health challenges, the study authors said.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/sleep-in-teens-2661410212.html

Adolescent Binge Drinking May Lead to Long-Lasting Brain Changes

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Heavy alcohol consumption may cause permanent dysregulation of neurons, or brain cells, in adolescents, according to a new study in mice. The findings suggest that exposure to binge levels of alcohol during adolescence, when the brain is still developing, leads to long-lasting changes in the brain's ability to signal and communicate -- potentially setting the stage for long-term behavioral changes and hinting towards the mechanisms of alcohol-induced cognitive changes in humans.

"What we're seeing here," said Nikki Crowley, assistant professor in biology and biomedical engineering and Huck Early Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering, "is that if adolescent binge drinking knocks neurons off this trajectory, they might not be able to get back, even if the alcohol consumption stops."

The team, led by Avery Sicher, a doctoral student in Penn State's neuroscience program, used a model of adolescent ethanol exposure in mice to understand how different populations of neurons in the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain, are changed by voluntary binge alcohol consumption. In this model, mice are known to consume alcohol in patterns that approximate human binge drinking -- defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as a pattern of alcohol consumption that leads to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, usually in about two hours. Binge drinking is considered to be one of the most dangerous patterns of alcohol misuse, and understanding its impact on the developing brain can help inform treatment.

Sicher and her colleagues gave mice access to alcohol during a 30-day period. Due to their faster development and shorter lifespan, this corresponded to roughly ages 11-18 in human years.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230609123038.htm

What's Hot? 06/23/23

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/23/23
 1. Thug
2. #fridaymorning
3. #FridayFeeling
4. #FridayVibes
5. Good Friday
6. Happy Friyay
7. Fontaine
8. Brandon Beane
9. Klee
10. Finally Friday
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/23/23
 1. NBA Draft 2023
2. Chris Paul
3. Shahzada Dawood
4. James Cameron
5. Cam Whitmore
6. Elon Musk
7. NBA Mock Draft 2023
8. The Bear
9. Jalen Hood-Schifino
10. Carson Wallace
Source: Google

Top Five on Apple Music - 6/23/23
 1. fukumean - Gunna
2. All My Life (feat. J. Cole) - Lil Durk
3. Last Night - Morgan Wallen
4. rodeo dr - Gunna
5. Ella Baila Sola - Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma
Source: Apple Music

Top Box Office Movies - Weekend of 6/16/23
1. The Flash
2. Elemental
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
4. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
5. The Little Mermaid
Source: Showtimes.com 

TV Shows Trending on Streaming Services - 6/23/23
 1. Black Mirror - Netflix
2. Silo - AppleTV+
3. From - Prime Video
4. Outlander - Netflix
5. The Bear - hulu
Source: Reelgood

Trending Today on YouTube - 6/23/23
 1. I Actually Bought 100 Scam Ads
2. Jennifer Lawrence Sobs in Pain While Eating Spicy Wings
3. Ian & Anthony Play 2 Truths 1 Lie
4. YoungBoy Never Broke Again - I Need to Know
5. BloRilla - Put It On Da Floor
Source: YouTube

Netflix Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S. Today - 6/23/23
 1. 85 South: Ghetto Legends
2. Black Mirror
3. Suits
4. Never Have I Ever
5. Our Planet
Source: FlixPatrol

Cutting Back on Social Media Reduces Anxiety, Depression, Loneliness

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Young people are using social media more, and their mental health is suffering.

Researchers at Iowa State University found a simple intervention could help. During a two-week experiment with 230 college students, half were asked to limit their social media usage to 30 minutes a day and received automated, daily reminders. They scored significantly lower for anxiety, depression, loneliness, and fear of missing out at the end of the experiment compared to the control group.

They also scored higher for "positive affect," which the researchers describe as "the tendency to experience positive emotions described with words such as 'excited' and 'proud.'" Essentially, they had a brighter outlook on life.

"It surprised me to find that participants' well-being did not only improve in one dimension but in all of them. I was excited to learn that such a simple intervention of sending a daily reminder can motivate people to change their behavior and improve their social media habits," says Ella Faulhaber, a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction and lead author of the paper.

Many of the participants in the ISU study commented that the first few days of cutting back were challenging. But after the initial push, one said they felt more productive and in tune with their lives. Others shared that they were getting better sleep or spending more time with people in person.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230614220707.htm

Going to Bed a Little Earlier Greatly Increases Total Sleep Time for Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Going to bed earlier is one way for teens to get the sleep they need, new research suggests.

That may be easier said than done, the researchers admitted. But their study shows that if you can get teens to go to bed earlier, they will increase their time asleep by 41 minutes for each additional hour in bed.

"The idea that there's a circadian phase delay that prevents teens from going to bed earlier is not true," said lead researcher Ian Campbell, a project scientist in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Teens have been getting less sleep, he said, with smartphones, tablets, gaming and increased school pressure all contributing to less sleep.

For the study, Campbell and his colleagues enrolled 77 kids, aged 10 to 16, who were studied over three years. In addition, they studied another group of 67 participants who ranged in age from 15 to 21. This group was studied only once.

Annually, participants kept three predetermined times in bed—seven, 8.5, and 10 hours for four consecutive nights. They also kept the same wake-up time.

The investigators found that by the fourth night, average sleep increased by more than an hour as the time in bed increased from seven to nine hours, and it increased by an additional hour with 10 hours in bed.

"This is a paper [that] came out of our study of how sleep needs change across adolescence, and the main goal of that is to alter sleep duration by advancing time in bed with three different times in bed conditions—seven, 8.5 and 10 hours in bed—and look at how that affects daytime performance," Campbell said.

The final results of the best sleep patterns for teens aren't complete, he said. So how much sleep teens need and when is the best time to go to bed and wake up aren't yet clear.

The findings were published online in the journal Pediatrics.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-bed-earlier-greatly-total-teens.html

About 15 Percent of Children Received Mental Health Treatment in 2021

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

In 2021, 14.9 percent of children aged 5 to 17 years received mental health treatment, according to a June data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Benjamin Zablotsky, Ph.D., and Amanda E. Ng, M.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey to describe the percentage of children aged 5 to 17 years who received mental health treatment in the past 12 months.

The researchers found that children aged 12 to 17 years were more likely to have received any mental health treatment (including prescription medication and counseling or therapy) in the past 12 months compared with children aged 5 to 11 years (18.9 versus 11.3 percent). In the past 12 months, boys were more likely than girls to have taken prescription medication for their mental health (9.0 versus 7.3 percent).

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/physician-s-briefing-teen-2661249506.html

What's Hot? 6/16/23

Trending Today on Twitter - 6/16/23
 1. #fridaymorning
2. #FridayFeeling
3. #FridayVibes
4. Good Friday
5. #FursuitFriday
6. Rove
7. Eva Longoria
8. #FridayMotivation
9. Happy Friyay
10. Juneteenth
Source: Twitter

Trending Today on Google - 6/16/23
 1. Perryton, Texas tornado
2. Adipurush Review
3. U.S. Open
4. USA vs Mexico
5. Ray Lewis III
6. The Flash
7. Black Mirror
8. Concacaf Nations League
9. Ja Morant
10. Conor McGregor
Source: Google

Top Five on Apple Music - 6/16/23
 1. All My Life (feat. J. Cole) - Lil Durk
2. Last Night - Morgan Wallen
3. Ella Baila Sola - Eslabon Armado, Peso Pluma
4. WHERE SHE GOES - Bad Bunny
5. Fast Car - Luke Combs
Source: Apple Music

Top Box Office Movies - Weekend of 6/9/23
1. Transformers: Rise of the Beast
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
3. The Little Mermaid
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
5. The Boogeyman
Source: Showtimes.com 

TV Shows Trending on Streaming Services - 6/16/23
 1. The Crowded Room - Apple TV+
2. Based on a True Story - Peacock
3. From - Prime Video
4. Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets - Prime Video
5. Silo - AppleTV+
Source: Reelgood

Trending Today on YouTube - 6/16/23
 1. Doja Cat - Attention
2. ATEEZ - 'BOUNCY'
3. Hermitcraft 9: Episode 39 - THE BIG CLEAN
4. #DinnerWithTheDon featuring K Hood
5. I Threw a Pool Part At The AMP HOUSE
Source: YouTube

Netflix Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S. Today - 6/16/23
 1. Never Have I Ever
2. Manifest
3. S.W.A.T.
4. FUBAR
5. Bloodhounds
Source: FlixPatrol