Joanne Jacobs
Transgender teens are unhappy -- or unhappy teens blame their gender
More than 3 percent of high school students identify as transgender, more than double the number a few years ago.
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Joanne Jacobs
Aug 171 min read
Teens can vote for school board in Oakland, Berkeley -- but will they?
Teenagers 16 and 17 year old will be able to vote for school board in Oakland and Berkeley.
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 153 min read
The anti-anxiety experiment: Friends without phones, adult-free camping
British mother persuaded teens to go smartphone-free for a month, then camp out for the weekend on their own.
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 122 min read
Bullying, violence are up: 1 in 10 teens are afraid to go to school, says CDC
Teens aren't quite as sad or suicidal as they were in 2021, reports the CDC, but violence, bullying and school avoidance are up.
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 101 min read
Boys can find uses for menstrual pads, but not in a good way
#TamponTim is in the news, tweets Kira Davis. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz requires schools to provide free menstrual products in all school...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 72 min read
'Learn to joke,' say teens who faked teacher TikToks with sex, pedophilia
Middle school is the worst. Kids hit puberty and turn deeply stupid for a few years before they learn to handle it. Even so, the seventh...
Joanne Jacobs
May 112 min read
Teaching depression: Mental health programs can make students feel worse
Mental health awareness campaigns aimed at teenagers may backfire, writes Ellen Barry in the New York Times. While the truly troubled may...
Joanne Jacobs
May 32 min read
Can't be bothered: Kids are absent from everything, not just school
Chronic absenteeism is way up, writes Robert Pondiscio, but kids aren't just absent from school. A disturbing number of young people are...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 42 min read
Ban TikTok, say principals: 'Social media is merciless'
In an Education Week survey, 55 percent of principals said banning TikTok would "make their jobs easier," reports Olina Banerji. TikTok...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 132 min read
Teens love their smartphones -- but some say it's 'peaceful' to be phone-free
Seventy-two percent of teenagers say they often or sometimes feel "peaceful" when they're without their smartphones, according to a Pew...
Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read
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
Nov 11, 20232 min read
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
Oct 20, 20231 min read
'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 19, 20232 min read
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
Sep 3, 20231 min read
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
Jun 25, 20232 min read
Awkward? Anxious? There's a pill for every problem, available online
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, writes Frey India, but it's more like Marketing Pills to Girls Month. She was inundated with...
Joanne Jacobs
May 24, 20232 min read
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 13, 20231 min read
Sad, sleepy teens: Will starting school later improve mental health?
Worried about the teen mental health crisis, nine states and a number of major cities are considering mandating later start times for...
Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20232 min read
Guns, gays, suicide, smoking ... The show may not go on after all
Can a high school put on Oklahoma without guns? The Theatre Guild at an Ann Arbor (MI) high school revised the classical musical days...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 29, 20232 min read
Teens don't want to work, drive, have sex with a real-life person
Not long ago, teen-age boys dreamed of buying a car and "roaring away from school during lunch period, with a girl riding shotgun, on our...
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