1. Teenagers 'spend an average of 31 hours online' - Telegraph →

    They spend some three and a half hours communicating with friends on MSN, and around two hours on YouTube and in chat rooms.

    Just over an hour is devoted to looking up cosmetic surgery procedures such as how to enlarge breasts and get collagen implants, an hour and a half is spent on family planning and pregnancy websites and one hour 35 minutes is spent investigating diets and weight loss.

    One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless.

    If you wonder whether or not your teens talk to unknown people online, the answer is yes. Without a doubt.

    If you wonder whether or not it is dangerous, consider this: have you taught your teenager to be a freethinking individual who has a good grasp of what qualifies as a safe situation and what does not?

    I don’t think the answer to these type of problems is trying to add another lock and key to the American upbringing: after all, the internet did not mark the beginning of kidnapping or sexual abuse. I think what we really need to examine is how our culture creates teenagers who are barely able to chew their own food without the help of their parents, much less make the adult decisions that they are inevitably going to be faced with.

    As for the amount of time spent online, I have to say that I think the internet has the ability to be an amazing portal of information and socialization, a place to expand horizons and create their own unique identities. Out of of the places I spent my time as a teenager, I can say with certainty that I got in far more trouble within the walls of my highschool than I ever did online.

Notes

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    make on NPR last year. It doesn’t take...gossip and privacy and self-expression (try 7th...
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