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To spot 'fake news,' students need to know things
It's Media Literacy Monday in journalism class at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School, and Silicon Valley students are analyzing...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 21, 20242 min read
4 comments


Ban phones in school: The experiment with kids' minds has failed
Smart phones are making students less smart, writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Student achievement has been falling around the world...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read
6 comments


Teen angst is normal: 'Wellness' may backfire
Mental health doesn't mean feeling good all the time, writes psychologist Lisa Damour in The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 11, 20232 min read
1 comment


'Smartphones are kryptonite for learning'
Schools are going phone free to remove distractions in class and encourage students to socialize in their free time, report Meg Oliver...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 20, 20231 min read
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Teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media, says Gallup
U.S. teenagers average 4.8 hours a day on social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter),...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 19, 20232 min read
9 comments


Fourth-graders are finding PornHub
Online porn is easily available to kids, addictive and destructive, writes Isabel Hogben, a runner-up in The Free Press's high school...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 3, 20231 min read
1 comment


'At lunch hour, everyone eats alone, scrolling TikTok'
But, Mom, everyone else has a smartphone. Parents are trying to say "no" to smartphones for elementary and middle schoolers, but it's...

Joanne Jacobs
May 24, 20232 min read
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Surgeon General: Social media is hazardous for your kids' health
Social media is endangering the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, warns Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in a 19-page...

Joanne Jacobs
May 24, 20232 min read
1 comment


Study links early smartphone use with poor mental health
At what age did you get your first smartphone or tablet? The younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental...

Joanne Jacobs
May 20, 20232 min read
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Cellphone bans spread: 'This has got to stop'
Schools across the country are banning cell phones in hopes of reducing distractions and refocusing students on academics, writes Donna...

Joanne Jacobs
May 12, 20232 min read
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Digital danger: Screen time is stealing childhood
Screen time is very bad for kids, argues Michel Desmurget, a French neuroscientist, in Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 12, 20232 min read
1 comment


TikTok sets limits for teens as mental health worries grow
Social media is a major cause of the mental illness epidemic in teen girls, argues social psychologist Jon Haidt. Fifty-seven percent of...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 5, 20232 min read
2 comments


Young, liberal and depressed: Doomers are not OK
Liberals are the most depressed among the growing number of sad teenagers, writes Matthew Yglesias on Slow Boring. Teenage girls are...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 4, 20232 min read
5 comments


Sad girls: Social isolation predates Covid
Fifty-seven percent of teenage girls felt "persistently sad or hopeless" in 2021, reports the Centers for Disease Control. That's double...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 18, 20231 min read
2 comments


Don't risk freedom, privacy to protect kids from social media
In their zeal to protect children from social media, Utah legislators are debating legislation that would usurp parents' rights and...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 12, 20232 min read
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It's only Schoolhouse Rock (but I like it)
I'm so old I don't know the words to Conjunction Junction. Schoolhouse Rock, animated musical shorts on grammar, history, civics,...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 3, 20232 min read
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Why parents fear social media
Parents' concerns about their teenagers' social media use focuses on access to explicit sexual content and time wasting, writes Risa...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 9, 20231 min read
1 comment


Seattle schools sue TikTok and others for kids' mental-health crisis
Seattle Public Schools is suing social media companies, reports Julie Calhoun on King 5 News. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and...

Joanne Jacobs
Jan 9, 20232 min read
2 comments


AI is learning to censor social media, and your taxes are paying for it
President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes half a million dollars for research in technology to detect and remove...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20221 min read
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Home alone
Americans are socializing a lot less, staying home alone a lot more, writes economist Bryce Ward in the Washington Post. That's true for...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 4, 20222 min read
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