PLUS: Flash mobs turn violent, U.S. kids unimproved readers, Sony competes with Wii
Playing Risk — Scientists have long been puzzled by the “health paradox” of adolescence: People are at peak physical condition when they’re in their teens and early 20s. Why, then, does that period of extreme health coincide with high health risks (think drug use and wild driving) and increased death rates? The answer, for many youth workers, may be self-evident: Teens take more risks than the rest of us. And the reason they take risks, scientists say, is because they like it. Researchers made a number of males between the ages of 9 and 35 play video games to study how the subjects reacted to various stimuli. The scientists found that, once their subjects hit their teens, they were more likely to get a bigger charge from winning a scenario through a “lucky escape.” And, while teens are pretty good at sizing up the positives and negatives of any given situation, they still tend to take risks because of the inherent thrill such risks embody. (Reuters)
Flash mobs turn violent –Although the concept of the “flash mob” started out as a kind of performance art driven by text messaging and social media, in recent weeks these gatherings have turned ugly. In Philadelphia, hundreds of teenagers have been gathering for nothing more clever than simple brawling and vandalism. City authorities have announced plans to step up curfew enforcement, and tohold parents legally responsible for their children’s actions. They’re also considering making free transit passes for students invalid after 4 p.m., instead of 7 p.m., to limit teenagers’ ability to ride downtown. (NY Times)
U.S. Kids Not Improving Much in Reading — For the last several years, the United States government has pulled out all the stops to help its children read better—not the least of which was the $6 billion they invested in the Reading First program in 2002. Now, experts tell us that all those efforts have done little good. In 2009, children’s reading scores barely improved from 2007, and 38 states reported “no significant change” for either fourth-graders or eighth-graders, the two grades which are monitored. (USA Today)
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better — Jumping on the interactive gaming bandwagon—a wagon driven by Nintendo’s ultra-popular Wii gaming consol—Sony announced that it’s created an interactive gaming attachment for its PlayStation 3 consol, called the PlayStation Move. The technology, Sony reps say, is an evolutionary step beyond what we’ve seen before. “If you’re used to getting away wit those little flicking motions while playing tennis on the Wii, you’ll be in for a rude awakening on the Move,” writes Clayton Morris, a gaming expert for Fox News. “Sony uses your full range of motion: no more phoning it in when you should actually be working your body.” (Fox News)
It’s All Na’vi To Me — Spanish? French? So old school. What folks really want to learn in their high schools these days—some people, at any rate—is Na’vi. Fanatics of the blockbuster Avatar are beginning to learn the film’s fictional language, despite the fact that its creator, linguistics professor Paul Frommer, hasn’t yet released a dictionary, stylebook or grammar for it yet. Most of these diehard fans have picked up some of the language by watching the film repeatedly, and then they’ve inferred the rest from there. They’re now helping others speak Na’vi (a language, remember, that won’t have much practicality unless you hitch a ride to the moon of Pandora) through learnnavi.org—a site that offers study guides, word lists and suggestions on how to pick a suitable Na’vi name for yourself. The site, thus far, has more than 4,300 users. (Slate)
Quote: “He causes riots everywhere he goes, and my Mom loves him just as much as I do!” — an unnamed girl confessing her undying affection for teen sensation Justin Bieber. Bieber, 16, began his career unceremoniously on YouTube, where his mother posted some videos of him singing. He was discovered and signed by Island Def Jam Music Group nad his debut album, “My World,” sold more than 1 million copies. (Reuters)
Quote: “If you’re out of my sight, you must constantly twitter me what you’re up to, even though I don’t know what twitter is and I have no desire to find out.” — Homer Simpson (“Postcards From the Wedge“). The New York Times reports that shows on every major network are tapping social media darling Twitter for “plotlines and punch lines.” (NY Times)
