Monday, March 30, 2009

Teenagers in the News. . .

"Explicit Cellphone Photos Could Land Teenagers in Prison"


By: Riva Richmond

We have talked about teenagers being digital natives, and what teenager these days is without a cellphone in hand. In this article, Richmond states, "One in five teenagers may be child pornographers risking life in prison — for the crime of taking and distributing naked pictures of themselves." I thought SICK! i mean when i was 13 or 14 years old, i was not about taking naked pictures of me or my friends, but now with teh invovement of sex all over the mainstream media, teens are becoming more and more risky with the ways that they are using the media that they have. It is called "sexting" an incident went teribly wrong when a boy in upper state NY took a picture of himself and sent it to a girl who then sent it and it eventually reached 300 kids. The problem is the media and cell phone and digital cameras mixing with the mass medias influence of sex on young children.


"Murders by Black Teenagers Rise, Bucking a Trend"

By: Erick Eckholm

"The murder rate among black teenagers has climbed since 2000 even as murders by young whites have scarcely grown or declined in some places, according to a new report. " Whe3n reading this article it was hard not to stereotype, because people are still so racist in our society, yet the statistics were scary. The main racial difference involves juveniles ages 14 to 17. In 2000, 539 white and 851 black juveniles committed murder, according to an analysis of federal data by the authors. In 2007, the number for whites, 547, had barely changed, while that for blacks was 1,142, up 34 percent. The numbers are outstading and some of this has to do with what is being shouwn on the news and on the shows and video games, but others has to do with how people are brought up and what they are forming into, all in all it is a scary subject and something must be done!


"The Lives of Teenagers Now: Open Blogs, Not Locked Diaries"


By: Tom Zeller

This article i read in teh New York Times was not all bad, like the other 2 i read, THis article simply was stating that teens are becoming more and more atuned to making digital masterpieces. People who have studied graphic and making digital art are getting a run for their money. A teen, Mellissa, made a digital slideshow about her father that passed away on her own website with pictures and music and it was all for free. Teens have such an access to online art that they are making wonderful things out of what they are given. According to the Pew survey, 57 percent of all teenagers between 12 and 17 who are active online - about 12 million - create digital content, from building Web pages to sharing original artwork, photos and stories to remixing content found elsewhere on the Web. Some 20 percent publish their own Web logs. Myspace and Facebook are changing the way teens live their lives and they are becoming less social in person and more social through the internet.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

FAST FORWARD. . .

Lauren Greenfield's website was great! It was easy to navigate, and the pictures were a great representation of teens today. The whole "getting older younger" idea that sticks out to her is one statement that is most definitly portrayed through the pictures in her book. After photographing my 13 year old cousin, i have come to the same type of realization. Talking to her made it seem as though she was up to my age. When i was 13, i was not talking about getting my hair colored or reading confessions of a shopaholic. Thats what i am doing now at 22. The Artist statement by Lauren Greenfield showed the reader exactly what she was thinking and why she went about her projects. I was shocked my some of the pictures, especially the one with the girl weighing herself infront of her friends and parents, she was real skinny, and it was shocking to see. Also the girls huffing in the bathroom was shocking. All in all, those pictures tell a huge STORY about what is happening/happened to the YOUTH.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009


PREP


After reading the first two chapters of prep, i came to realize that this novel is following certian problems that arise in young awkward teenagers as they are faced with these problems everyday. I follows Lee, a Freshman at Ault School. This school is a boarding school. The problems she ran into were problems that most teens face everyday. The begining where she did the wrong presentation reminded me of one time in hihg school when i thought i was supossed to present on thursday, when in actuality it was on tuesday, i did not do a good job, and had no visual aides! It made me want to do what Lee did when she ran out of the classroom. She faces problems of sexual orientaion, tattle telling on people, first crush, and many other problems just in the first chapter, it made me want to keep reading to see what else happens to Lee. Its almost like a guilty pleasure in a way as she runs into these problems, you want to feel bad for her, then realize that you can just relate these problems to some of the problems you had when you were a child. I think that this book relates to ourclass emensly as it is how teenagers evolve and grow through the life of a young girl. It was not confusing, just some of the book seemed to be dragged out, like when the author descibed certian shing sin depth, (ie. the bathroom floor, or the yearbook) however i felt as though that may have helped ion understanding how this girls mind is functioning. It almost seemed at times she was psychotic, but thats just how some teenage minds think!