Teen Checkup | Internet Safety

Tolerant Teens Most Helpful When Gadgets Fail

You know that feeling you get when your Internet connection dies or when your computer just stops functioning? You want to literally pull your hair out or even throw your computer into oncoming traffic. We’ve all been there, and each one of us handles the situation differently.

Teens evidently are the most tolerant during a technological meltdown. According to the Pew Research Center, young adults are much more optimistic when their gadgets fail.  In fact, they are more likely to be confident that they are on the right path to fixing it than us older adults who want to kick and scream.

While there is no data on how successful teens are in actually fixing their devices, experts say young people have high hopes that they can at least try to fix the problem.

Teens. I guess they’re much more tolerant than we thought.

All of this is good to know, especially the next time my wireless router decides to stop working.

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: patience, technological meltdown, when technology fails, wireless router, young adults

‘Street Lit’ a Favorite Among Teens

Goodbye Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High. Teens are now flocking to read books like “A Gangsta’s Girl” and “A Hood Chick’s Story.”

It’s called “street lit” folks and the kids love it.

Urban fiction is a style of literature that depicts drugs, violence, and sexual promiscuity in black and Latino neighborhoods. Some of the books, like “The Coldest Winter Ever,” detail the extravagant lifestyles of drug dealers. Others describe the bloody violence associated with the drug trade. The sex scenes are explicit and, in some cases, sex is is often used as a form of power rather than an expression of love.

This genre is nothing new. In fact, it has been around since the 1970’s. Only recently has it taken off, attracting young adults particularly from urban areas to sit down and pick up a book. But are these books sending the wrong message? How much damage can a book called ”Hotlanta” really do on a 16-year-old mind?

Experts say these plots are relevant for teens living in the inner-cities of America. This is the kind of stuff they deal with everyday.

As for our middle-America children. Well, perhaps they won’t be attracted to “street lit,” but they will be attracted to TV shows like “Gossip Girl” which sends the same sexual message.

In my opinion, never take a book from a child. Let them read - and read often. Urban fiction is still an escape, even if it does hit close to home for some kids. Take that away, and what’s left? Drugs, crime, and sex.

Reading. It’s a good thing. Even if it’s a comic book.

More from around the sphere:

TheHappyNappyBookseller: I Share My Opinion (what’s not urban lit) - And some mainstream publishers are now offering a “safer” variety of teen street lit, such as Scholastic’s “Bluford High” and Harlequin’s “Kimani Tru” series—but beware, young connoisseurs of urban lit may find these more restrained … Harvard University Press Publicity Blog : Libraries embrace street … - Today’s New York Times informs us that urban libraries like the one headed by Shonda Miller in Far Rockaway, Queens, have begun to embrace what’s variously known as “urban fiction,” “street lit” or “gangsta lit,” a genre that sprang up. An Urban “Street Lit” Retirement - The Daily Voice - Black … - For the record, I never called my work “street literature” and I never will. When I began to publish ground breaking contemporary novels with Flyy Girl in 1993, and Capital City in 1994, I called them “urban classics. …

This post was written by: Erin

Tags: gossip girl, inner cities, mainstream publishers, middle america, sexual promiscuity, teen street, urban libraries, young adults