News Log #7

"Nude photos and cruel messages, teen digital dating abuse grows"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/26/teens.digital.dating.abuse/index.html

Summary: Allyson Pereira recalls her sophomore year in high school, when her boyfriend abused her via email, instant messaging, and MySpace. He then broke up with her, and a month later, changed his mind. He requested that she send a nude picture of herself to him, and then they would get back together. Allyson feels foolish for have making that mistake-- after sending him the picture, her boyfriend sent it to others in the school, and the two never got back together. Allyson, now 21, was later featured in the MTV show "A Thin Line" and spoke about the pain she went through. Studies have shown an increase in acts like these: digital abuse, like sexting, or uploading racy photos to the Internet to humiliate a person. 

Response: Sexting and sending nude photos is one of the most disgusting and humiliating acts for a person to commit. It causes people to have no respect for you, and in the end, nobody will remember you from before the messages. You'll be remembered as the girl or boy who sent that picture, and you'll be labeled. A teen feels the need to give in to this pressure either to be liked or to fit in. Peer pressure is one of the worst things about school and life, and we should all try not to give in.

News Log #6

"100 Candles on Her Next Cake, and Three R's to Get Her There" 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/19brody.html

 

Summary: Esther Tuttle, age 99, is months away from her 100th birthday. She speaks about what keeps her going and how the doctors help her and other centenarians stay healthy and strong. In the past twenty years, the number of centenarians in the country has increased by almost 60,000 people. She believes she's lucky to be living this long. Her secrets? She does yoga each morning, and takes a half an hour walk before eating a well balanced breakfast. She keeps up with her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. She lives with her friend, her husband having passed away in 1988. She eats healthy meals and keeps up with her daily routine. She truly is a good example of how people should live.

Response: Mrs. Tuttle is someone to look up to. She has good, healthy habits and follows what the doctors tell her. When I get older, I'm going to do just what she does. My father, who is almost 58, eats a balanced meals, exercises by playing golf and doing yardwork every weekend, and follows his doctor's directions. Both my dad and Mrs. Tuttle are examples I'm going to follow for when I grow older. Mrs. Tuttle really has her priorities set straight and elderly people should try their best to follow examples like her.

News Log #4

"Y U Luv Text, H8 Calls"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550201949192336.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_LeadStoryNA 

Summary:

Rates for calls on cell phones has gone down a significant amount since last year. More people are starting to text- in the second quarter of 2010, people ages 45 to 54 sent and received 323 texts a month; a 75% increase. An average teenager (13-17 years) sends and receives about 3,339-- more than 100 messages a day. Why do people text more instead of calling? It's quicker, easier, and is cheaper. However, text messages cause misunderstandings-- you don't hear the person's tone or inflection, and people can get upset. Furthermore, people get text message alerts from websites like Twitter and Facebook. Text messaging costs less than calls, and a lot of carriers now offer unlimited texting for lower monthly rates. Texting can take over peoples' lives, but is it the more popular form of communication?

Response:

I don't find this shocking at all. More people now have cell phones-- nine years ago, the only people in my family that had cell phones were my mother, my father, and my sister, who was leaving for college at the time.  Younger kids today have cell phones-- kids as young as eight years old. I got my first cell phone around ten years old, because I was home alone more often and my mother wanted a way for me to reach her. I barely knew how to text. At first, I used my phone to call my family members. Now, I use it to text my friends and I still call my family members-- mostly my mom, sister, or grandmother. My father uses his mainly to communicate with my mom and for work. My grandma barely uses hers; mainly for the same reasons as my dad. My sisters and I both text more than we call, and my mom uses both methods evenly. As a teenager, I text more than calling because it's easier, and it's faster.

News Log #3

 "Too Young For School, but Ready for Irony"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12irony.html?scp=1&sq=irony&st=cse

Summary:
 Studies show that young children today are starting to use ironic remarks-- even though they don't quite understand what they're saying. A study was conducted on numerous families in Canada, each with two children, and both parents.  It showed that the children mostly used hyperbole or rhetorical questions. When involved in a fight, however, children used rhetorical questions and understatements ("I'm just a little bit angry with you right now"). Kids use hyperbole a lot to exaggerate injustices done to them by their parents-- like when they don't receive allowance. Doctors think that this can be a helpful tool in self defense and for understanding when they're older, but some people think differently.

Response:
Children, overall, are starting to become more and more influenced by their parents, what they hear on TV, and what they hear at school. This is harmful to them-- they are using a type of language that they don't even understand in most cases. Their attitude has become bitter and sassy. Their parents just accept it, when their children are really too young to know what they're saying. Whose fault is this? TV, classmates, older classmates, adults, and ultimately parents.