Blogging can help teens cope

From the Calgary Herald
By Dr. Sue Hubbard

When I was a teenager, if you had something you wanted to get off your chest, but you didn’t want anyone to know, you’d write it in your diary. A diary was a safe place to express sadness, confusion, anxiety, joy and excitement. And being a teenager, all those emotions were swirling inside my head
all the time.

Q. What did the writer write about in her diary? Do you keep a diary? Why?

For some strange reason, I always felt better after writing it all down, clicking the lock shut, and placing the diary in a spot I thought no one would look. My musings were usually personal thoughts that I didn’t think anyone else would understand anyway.

Today’s kids are much more likely to share their thoughts over the Internet in a personal blog, and a new study says that could actually be very helpful. Research has long supported the therapeutic value of diary keeping and journaling for teens and adults. But now, researchers suggest blogging might even be better.

Q. Teens used to express their thoughts in a private diary that noone could read.  Do teens still do this? Today, some teens are expressing their thoughts on blogs that others can see. Which do you think is better?

The study, published in the journal Psychological Services and conducted by Meyran Boniel-Nissim and Azy Barak, psychology professors at the University of Haifa, Israel, found that engaging with an online community was “more effective in relieving the writer’s social distress than a private diary would be,” Pamela Paul wrote in January in the New York Times.

Q. What did the study find out about sharing thoughts online?

So, how did they discover that? The researchers randomly surveyed high school students in Israel, then picked 161 (124 girls and 37 boys) who “said they had difficulty making new friends or relating to their existing friends,” Paul wrote. Average age was 15. The teens were divided into six groups.

“The first two groups were asked to blog about their social difficulties, with one group asked to open their posts to comments. The second two groups were asked to blog about whatever struck their adolescent fancy; again, with one group allowing comments,” Paul noted. “All four groups were told to write in their blogs at least twice a week. As a control, two more groups were told to keep a print diary or to do nothing at all.”

Four psychologists reviewed the blog entries “to determine the authors’ relative social and emotional state,” Paul wrote. “In all the groups, the greatest improvement in mood occurred among those bloggers who wrote about their problems and allowed commenters to respond.” Those who responded offered positive feedback and support, and that appears to be the key.

Q. There were six groups altogether. What did the first two groups do? What did the second two groups do? What did the third (control) group do? Which group ended up feeling better (improved their mood)?

 “Almost all comments made by readers were very positive and constructive in trying to offer support for distressed bloggers,” Dr. Barak wrote in an email to Paul.

Royar Loflin, a 17-year-old blogger from Norfolk, Va., didn’t participate in the study, but said blogging helps her find peace of mind. “I definitely write posts in which I talk about being overwhelmed, and it helps me to relax,” Loflin told Paul. “People will write in the comments, ‘I remember when I was in your shoes’ and ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get through the SATs!’ and it’s wonderful. It really helped me understand things better.”

Q. So what is the conclusion about blogging? Do you have your own blog where you post your thoughts? Do you let people read it and post comments?

Words and phrases

Get something off your chest - Tell someone something because you are unhappy
Musings - Thoughts

Distress - Pain, unhappiness
Engaging - Sharing, taking part in
Whatever struck their adolescent fancy - Whatever the adolescents/teenagers liked
As a control group - In any experiment, you have one group you experiment on, and another group - the control group - you leave alone. This is the way nearly all experiments are done.

Bye-Bye, Junk Food

You might notice something new in the next few years as you watch Disney programs: Starting in 2015, there won't be any candy, sugary-cereal or fast-food commercials aimed at kids.

The Walt Disney Company on Tuesday became the first major media company to ban ads for junk food on its TV channels, radio stations and websites. It hopes this will stop kids from making poor food choices.

President Obama's wife, Michelle, talks about Disney's ban on junk food ads

 First Lady Michelle Obama called it a “game changer” that is sure to send a message to the rest of the children’s-entertainment industry. “Just a few years ago, if you had told me or any other mom or dad in America that our kids wouldn’t see a single ad for junk food while they watched their favorite cartoons on a major TV network, we wouldn’t have believed you,” said the First Lady, who heads a campaign to help stop child obesity.

The ban would apply to Disney XD and Saturday-morning children’s programming on Disney-owned ABC stations, as well as Radio Disney and Disney-owned websites aimed at families with young children. In addition, Disney plans to make changes to its kids’ menus at theme parks and resorts. Fast-food options will be replaced with healthier choices, such as smoothies, apples, vegetables and yogurt.

What’s Out?
In addition to candy bars and fast-food meals, other foods that don’t meet Disney’s nutritional standards will be banned from the company’s kid-targeted media. Any cereal with 10 grams or more of sugar per serving will be off the air. There will be no ads for full meals of more than 600 calories. Juices with high levels of sugar and foods with too much sodium will also be pulled.

Even though many fast-food chains and food companies offer healthier options, like apples and salads, Disney said it could still deny the companies’ ads. Leslie Goodman, Disney’s senior vice president of corporate citizenship, said a company that wants to advertise will need to show that it offers a range of healthy options.

Nutritional Trend
Disney isn’t the only one pushing away unhealthy foods. Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a ban on drinks over 16 ounces sold in movie theaters, restaurants and convenience stores in the Big Apple. He says large, sugary drinks are partly to blame for obesity.

Getting rid of junk-food ads could make it easier to keep a family on a healthy diet, says Nadine Haskell, a mother of two sons, 8 and 11, from Columbus, Ohio. “If they see a commercial on TV, then the next time we go to the grocery store they'll say they want to try it,” said Haskell.

Is It OK to Sneak Food Into the Movies?

From Scholastic News:

You and your friends are settling into your seats. The new Spider-Man movie is about to start, and you’ve got the essentials: soda, popcorn, and gummy worms. Sure, you spent your entire allowance on these snacks, but hey, food is part of what makes the movies fun.

Just as the lights dim, you catch a whiff of . . . tuna fish?! You twist your neck, searching for the culprit. Then you spot him: A couple rows back, some guy is chowing down on a homemade sandwich.

How’d he get that in here? you wonder. You want to pelt him and his stinky sandwich with pieces of your popcorn. Then you remember how much you paid for it.

YOUR RIGHT TO SNACK
Sneaking food into a movie is pretty tempting. For one thing, the options at the concession stand are almost always junk food—nachos, candy, giant greasy pretzels. Then there are the prices. Why pay $5 for a bag of M&Ms when you can get them for a buck at the corner store? Besides, it’s not like you aren’t already paying big bucks for your ticket.

Earlier this year, a Michigan man decided to fight for his right to snack. Joshua Thompson is suing his local AMC theater after it banned outside food. He argues the ban violates a Michigan law that prevents businesses from charging outrageous prices.

“He got tired of being taken advantage of,” Thompson’s lawyer told the Detroit Free Press. “It’s hard to justify prices that are three and four times higher than anywhere else.”

Most legal experts believe Thompson has little chance of winning his case, but he does have a point; 85 cents out of every dollar of treats a movie theater sells is pure profit.
How do they get away with it?

THE SNACK BUSINESS
The truth is that movie theaters are more in the snack business than the movie business. A huge chunk of what you spend on a ticket goes to the Hollywood studio that made the movie. This makes sense, since studios fund the production, hire the stars, and pay for the advertising that draws crowds to the movies in the first place.

But that often doesn’t leave much cash for the theater, which has its own costs. Theater owners have to pay their employees, keep their buildings clean, and provide the latest high-tech projection equipment. “If we can’t keep a majority of that ticket price there’s only one way that we can pay for everything . . . and that’s at the concession stand,” says movie theater owner Jon Goldstein. If customers stopped buying food, owners would have to raise ticket prices even higher.

RULES ARE RULES
Of course, there’s another reason to think twice before sneaking food into the movies: It’s against the rules. Breaking those rules can have severe consequences too. Some theaters will kick you out if they catch you. Worse, you could be banned from ever coming back.

Even without the threat of punishment, the truth is that we follow rules all the time—out of respect. Sneaking food into the movies is kind of like bringing your own pasta to an Olive Garden restaurant. It’s just bad manners.

Here’s a radical idea: Eat before the movie.

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What Do You Think? Is it OK to sneak food into the movies? Use evidence from the article and your own ideas to support each side of this debate. Use this essay kit to write a persuasive essay.