Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Talking to Someone in Person Better for Mood Than Using Smartphones All Day

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

Countless people look to their smartphones for approval and happiness, but researchers from the University of Georgia find that people would be better off talking to someone in person instead. Study authors report that when people were asked to either scroll on their phones, sit quietly by themselves, or have a conversation with a stranger, participants usually believed talking was the most enjoyable.

“When people are out in the real world, they have these options,” says lead author and doctoral student Christina Leckfor in a university release. “We were interested in getting a sense of how people compare their options, both in terms of how they expect to feel and then how they actually feel after doing these things.”

“We thought people might underestimate how much they would enjoy talking to a stranger and overestimate how much they would enjoy using their smartphones,” Leckfor continues. “But that’s not what we found. Across our studies, people were actually more accurate in predicting how they would feel than we thought they’d be.”

When study participants were given three options (use a smartphone, sit alone, or talk to a stranger), the conversation held the highest positive emotional value. Using a smartphone ranked second, and sitting alone came in third.

Adding more options shuffled up the results even further. After providing volunteers with specific smartphone tasks (watching videos, scrolling social media, or texting) besides just talking or sitting quietly, participants reported they would enjoy watching videos the most, followed by talking to a stranger, using social media, and then texting. Sitting alone once again ranked last.

A major difference, according to Leckfor, stemmed from the emotions associated with these tasks. While people admitted they would prefer using their smartphone in some capacity, they saw a higher mood boost after talking to a stranger.

“It surprised us that even though participants reported an improved mood after talking to a stranger, they still ranked texting above talking to a stranger,” Leckfor adds. “This could mean that people don’t always recognize the potential benefits of a conversation, or they’re not prioritizing that information. It also shows that just experiencing something as enjoyable isn’t always enough to get us to want to do it.”

The study was published in The Journal of Social Psychology.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/talking-to-someone-in-person/

Talking to Kids While They Watch TV Reduces Effects of Too Much Screen Time

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

Want something constructive to come out of all that time children spend watching television? A new study suggests making better use of the commercial breaks while kids watch their favorite programs. Researchers from the University of Michigan find starting a conversation with children as they watch TV appears to mitigate some of the developmental drawbacks that come from too much screen time as an adolescent.

Prior studies indicate that kids who watch tons of television lag behind in certain developmental areas, such as curiosity. This latest work reports the more parents talked with their preschoolers during shared TV time, the more likely those kids were to display high levels of curiosity by kindergarten.

Study authors assessed the TV-watching and conversational habits of 1,500 preschoolers and their parents. From there, they measured subsequent early childhood curiosity in kindergarten.

“Curiosity is an important foundation for scientific innovation, joy in learning, and numerous positive outcomes in childhood,” Dr. Shah explains. “We want to better understand what fosters curiosity in early childhood, which could potentially identify ways to help mitigate the achievement gap associated with poverty. Parent-child conversation facilitates children’s thinking, learning, and exploration – all behavioral indicators of curiosity.”

The team also measured each child’s curiosity using a series of surveys given to their parents inquiring about various aspects of curiosity such as eagerness to learn new things, openness to new experiences, adaptability to new scenarios, and imagination. It’s no secret kids (and adults) have access to far more screens than just the TV, but study authors note that the television still accounts for 72 percent of all adolescent screen time.

The average American child watches one to four hours of TV per day, with economically disadvantaged children usually watching even more.

“Our findings suggest the importance of parents finding opportunities to foster conversational exchanges in daily routines with their young children – including while watching television,” Dr. Shah concludes.

The study is published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/talking-to-kids-tv-screen-time/

Why People Snub Their Friends with Their Phone

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

Smartphones have made multi-tasking easier, more understandable, and at times compulsive. But in social settings, these devices can lead to a form of contemporary rudeness called phone snubbing, or phubbing, the act of ignoring one's companions to pay attention to a phone.

While it may be commonplace, snubbing one's friends (Fphubbing) can have serious repercussions on relationships, and there are a variety of factors that may drive individuals to ignore their friends in favor of an electronic screen, according to a new University of Georgia study.

The study reveals positive associations between depression and social anxiety on increasing Fphubbing: depressed people are likely to phub their friends more frequently, and socially anxious people, who might prefer online social interactions to face-to-face communication, might also exhibit more phubbing behavior. Personality traits such as neuroticism also influence phubbing behavior.

"And of course, some people who have high social anxiety or depression are more likely to be addicted to their smartphone," said Juhyung Sun, lead author on the paper who completed her master's degree in communication studies at UGA.

The very ordinariness of phubbing suggests some fundamental insights about how technology interrupts social interactions -- and how quickly they are accepted, if not embraced.

"I observed that so many people use their phones while they are sitting with their friends at the cafe, any dining time, regardless of the relationship type," said Sun, currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Oklahoma.

Another significant finding in the study revealed that agreeable individuals have a lower instance of phubbing in the presence of their friends. People who have agreeableness as a personality trait tend to show cooperative, polite, and friendly behaviors in their interpersonal relationships and social settings, Sun said.

"They have a high tendency to maintain social harmony while avoiding arguments that can ruin their relationships.," she said. "In face-to-face conversations, people with high levels of agreeableness consider phubbing behavior rude and impolite to their conversational partners."

And though agreeable people may prioritize strong friendships, an exploratory study by the researchers revealed phubbing also to be more likely in the presence of three or more people.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210809105911.htm

Parents Should Focus on Health, Not Fat, in Food Talks with Kids

There's a right way and a wrong way to persuade your adolescent to eat healthy and help avoid obesity, a new study suggests.

Pointedly connecting food with fatness or talking about needed weight loss is the wrong way and could even encourage unhealthy eating habits, researchers report.

Instead, discussions that focus on simply eating healthfully are less likely to send kids down this road, the new study showed.

"A lot of parents are aware of the obesity problem in the U.S -- it's everywhere you turn -- but they wonder how to talk about it with their children," said study lead author Dr. Jerica Berge of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.

She advises that parents "tell kids to eat more fruits and vegetables because eating them will make them healthy and strong. Don't connect these conversations to weight and size."

Overall, the research showed, conversations about eating that focused on a child's supposed need to lose excess weight were linked to a higher risk of problem dieting and other unhealthy eating behaviors among adolescents.

On the other hand, parents who talked about healthy eating and living but did not focus on weight and size were less likely to have children who dieted or engaged in other unhealthy eating behaviors such as anorexia, binge eating or bulimia.

The study was published online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/06/24/focus-on-health-not-fat-in-food-talks-with-kids

Dad's Advice Could be Key to Teens' Sexual Activity

The idea that fathers play a significant role in the development of their kids' approach to sex has received some support in a new evidence review. Studies in the review suggest that adolescents have less sex if their fathers talk to them more about sexual matters.

The review suggests that "fathers do make a difference. It's not just about mothers," said lead author Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, a professor and co-director of New York University's Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health.

There are caveats. The review only looked at a few studies because there's little research into the role of fathers -- as compared to mothers -- when it comes to the decisions that teens make about sex. And it's possible that some other factor could explain the apparent link between more fatherly communication and less sexual activity.

While schools and health-care providers often focus on children directly in efforts to change the way they act, "in study after study, young people say that when it comes to these important decisions, it really matters what their parents think about these issues," Guilamo-Ramos said.

The review authors found and reviewed 13 studies about the effect that fathers had on the sexual behavior of their kids. The studies suggest -- but don't prove -- that communication between fathers and kids is especially influential.

Closeness with fathers at the beginning of a study was significantly associated with daughters delaying starting sex after a year of follow-up. A single study on father-son HIV prevention found that more communication about sex was linked to increased abstinence in the six-month study period.

The study appears online Oct. 15 and in the November print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/10/18/dads-advice-could-be-key-to-teens-sexual-activity

Talking About Sex: Teens Less Comfortable Than Parents

Think that parents are the only ones who get stressed when talking to their teens about sex and relationships? Think again.

Just over 50% of moms and dads express some level of unease, compared to 82% of teens, a survey out today finds.

And on issues such as how to say no to sex, teen pregnancy and sexting, nearly 90% of teens say they don't want additional discussions with their parents. And one in six say their parents have never spoken to them about anything sex-related.

The findings, from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 parents and their kids ages 15-18, also show that being comfortable does not guarantee being informed: 81% of those who have sexually active teens know that their teens have had intercourse. But only 45% of those whose teens said they have had oral sex knew it.

Parents may underestimate their teen's sexual activity, but overall the new findings show that parents consider talking about sexual health an important part of their parenting job, says Leslie Kantor, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The health care provider and advocacy group co-sponsored the survey, along with the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health at New York University and Family Circle magazine, as part of the nationwide Let's Talk Month campaign.

According to the survey's findings:

-- 42% of parents say they've talked to their teens "many times" about how to say no to sex. But just 27% of teens say parents have talked that often.

-- 48% of parents say they've talked "many times" to their teens about when sex should or shouldn't take place; 29% of teens agreed.

-- 29% of parents say they've talked "many times" to their teens about birth control methods; 35% of teens say their parents "never" or just "once" discussed the issue.

-- 39% of parents say they've discussed the risks of sexting (sending sexually explicit text messages); 41% of teens say their parents "never" or "just once" discussed the issue.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/02/parents-teens-sex-talk/1606371/

Half of Teens Couldn't Live Without Their Phone for a Week

TextPlus, a free messaging app, recently surveyed 600 respondents between the ages of 13 and 17 to discover how connected teens are to their cellphones.

Half of all teens surveyed said they couldn’t live without their mobile device for a week, while 36% said they weren’t able to go 10 minutes without checking their phones.

Despite the variety of games and apps now available on smartphones, good ol’ fashioned texting still reigns supreme when it comes to teens’ preferred mobile activity; 61% said they couldn’t survive without texting — more than any other activity they perform on their phones.

With this reported addiction to texting, it’s not unusual to see teens check their phones anytime, anyplace, the survey said. Frustrated parents, beware: Whether they’re in class or at the dinner table, 52% of teens said they’re on their phones regardless of the environment. What’s more, 37% of those surveyed admitted to checking their devices on the toilet, and 20% said they do it at church.

The survey added that texting is the first and last thing teens do everyday, with 73% checking their phones before bed, and 72% on their devices first thing in the morning.

Source: Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/teens-mobile-phones/

Memorial Day Kicks Off 100 Deadliest Days for Teen Drivers

Memorial Day may have marked the unofficial start of summer, but it also kicked off the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers.

From graduation parties and holidays to summer jobs, many teenagers spend more time on the road between Memorial Day and Labor Day than any other time of the year. Given that texting is the communication mode du jour for high schoolers, that extra time on the road often translates into more texting while driving.

While nearly every teen knows it's dangerous, 43 percent admit to texting from the road anyway, and 75 percent say their friends text and drive, according to an online survey of 1,200 teenagers ages 15 to 19, which was commissioned by AT&T.

Peer pressure is a key contributor to the prevalence of this hazardous behavior, says Andrea Brands, director of consumer safety and education for AT&T. "The fact [is] that most teens expected to receive a response [to their texts] within five minutes … That's one of the reasons why they really feel like they need to be texting all the time," Brands says. "That to me is a big reason why they're doing it, even though almost all of them—97 percent—said this is a bad practice."

Another way parents can attempt to quash texting behind the wheel is by practicing what they preach, Brands says. "Not just their parents, but adults in general are telling them not to text and drive, but then they're getting on their BlackBerrys and doing it themselves," she says.

In fact, 77 percent of the teens whom AT&T surveyed say the same adults telling them not to text and drive do it "all the time," according to the survey.

Sources: U.S. News & World Report, AT&T
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2012/05/29/teens-learn-texting-while-driving-from-parents
http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/txting_driving/att_teen_survey_executive.pdf
 

40% of Teens Video Chat With Friends

More teens are using video chats to interact and communicate with friends, thanks in part to the adoption growth of apps such as Skype, Googletalk and iChat, according to a new study.

A report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that about 37% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 participate in video chats. Not surprisingly, 42% of girls — who tend to be more active on social networking sites — are more likely to web chat with others compared to boys (33%).

Teens of various ages are equally likely to use web chat services. About 34% of online 12 to 13 year olds use video chat, while 39% of 14 to 17 year olds do the same. Teens who are more active online, text frequently and use social media often are, not surprisingly, more likely to video chat.

About 77% of all teens between the ages of 12 and 17 use Facebook, while just 16% use Twitter. Teens who use Facebook and Twitter are more likely to use video chat, with 41% of Facebook users web chatting (compared with 25% of non-users) and 60% of Twitter users using video chat, compared with 33% of non-Twitter users.

The study also found that 77% of all teens have cell phones, 75% of which can send and receive texts.

Source: Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/05/03/teens-video-chat/

Study: Teens Prefer Texting to Phone Calls

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, teens will be flummoxed when it comes to how to make a phone call. That's because there's more texting going on than ever, while voice calling continues to decline, says a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

Three-quarters of teens use text messaging, Pew says (it's a little surprising the figure isn't higher), and the "volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user" in 2011, said Pew in "Teens, Smartphones and Texting," which looks at changes in teens' communication habits over the last five years, with a focus on mobile devices.

Pew reports: "Much of this increase occurred among older teens ages 14-17, who went from a median of 60 texts a day to a median of 100 two years later. Boys of all ages also increased their texting volume from a median of 30 texts daily in 2009 to 50 texts in 2011. Black teens showed an increase of a median of 60 texts per day to 80."

While 63 percent of teens say they exchange text messages every day, only 39 percent actually use their phones for voice calling. Only 14 percent of all teens say they talk daily with friends on a landline, down from 30 percent who said so in 2009.  Nearly a third (31 percent) of teens say they never talk on a landline with friends (or report that they cannot do so).

Source: MSNBC
http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/teens-texting-voice-calling-down-report-484645