news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10434969-238.html
Share A study released Wednesday by the Girl Scouts shows that young people report they take fewer risks and treat each other better than their counterparts of a generation ago.
Good Intentions: The Beliefs and Values of Teens and Tweens Today," is based on a national study conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute and Harris Interactive. It's based on research conducted with 3,263 students from 3rd to 12th grade from throughout the US The sample included youth in and out of scouting. Most youth wouldn't forward an embarrassing e-mail (Credit: Girl Scout Research Institute) With some exceptions, the survey is identical to one carried out in 1989, which provides some comparative data on how young people's perceptions of risk, values, and etiquette have changed since the advent of the commercial Internet and social networking. Contrary to what some people may think, young people are actually more responsible, more involved in their community, and more tolerant of diversity than they were 20 years ago (based on self-reporting). They also say they are more likely to refuse an alcoholic drink at a party (58 percent now, as opposed to 46 percent in 1989), less likely to think smoking is OK (18 percent versus 27 percent), more likely to refrain from sex until marriage (33 percent versus 24 percent), more likely to tell the truth to a principal (33 percent versus 24 percent), and much more likely to "continue a relationship with a gay/lesbian friend" (48 percent versus 12 percent). Also, youth say that they are more likely to vote (84 percent versus 77 percent) and give to charity (76 percent versus 63 percent) in the future. Cyberbullying Cyberbullying wasn't an issue in 1989, but it is now. The good news is that 84 percent of youth said they would not forward an embarrassing e-mail about someone else; The study asked youth to respond to this scenario: "A friend e-mails to you and some of your friends an embarrassing photo of a girl from school. No one really likes this girl, and you don't know her very well." Eighty-four percent of the youth said they would delete the e-mail without forwarding it. About half of that group (40 percent) say they would also tell "the offending friend that what they did was wrong." Eight percent said they weren't sure, 1 percent didn't answer, and 6 percent said they would forward the photo and message to the rest of their friends. It's important to remember that this is a survey based on what young people say they would do, not a report on actual behavior. Still, it provides an optimistic view of today's youth and tends to confirm other studies.
recent study conducted by Cox Communications found that 3 percent of teens admit to having forwarded a (sexting) message that included a nude or partially nude photograph of a peer.
Larry Magid is a technology journalist and an Internet safety advocate. He's been writing and speaking about Internet safety since he wrote Internet safety guide "Child Safety on the Information Highway" in 1994. com, and a board member of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He also writes a personal-tech column for the San Jose Mercury News.
I think that people are just realizing that some things, while called 'risky' are really someone else having a problem with what you do, and more and more those people are being marginalized and told "BUTT OUT!"
techgeekdude January 14, 2010 4:20 PM PST I'd like to think the results are accurate, but the reality is that they aren't. Somewhere along the way, too many young people get lost. Too many kids these days take things for granted and the sense of entitlement is more rampant today. You can blame this on a number of things such as poor adult role models, the lack of values in earning rather demanding something, and to a certain degree, social media. Of course I'm generalizing because I think most kids are naturally good and intend to do the right thing. It's just too many negative outside influences are making it more difficult and pretty soon, they are taking risks and pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with.
Squeedle January 14, 2010 4:47 PM PST How would you even know this is the reality? If you base it on your personal experience that's hardly scientific; you have bias and could be remembering only the situations that confirm a belief you already had.
larrymagid January 14, 2010 7:50 PM PST I suspect that this survey accurately reflects what kids said and that it can be generalized to the population of kids. Having said that, I pointed out that it's based on what kids say not necessarily how they behave. That's an entirely different issue and a lot harder to quantify.
Lerianis4 January 15, 2010 11:31 PM PST techgeekdude, do you even spend time with children? I have, and there is no 'sense of entitlement' or any of the other BS that you are slinging there. The only people who can say stuff like this are people who do NOT volunteer and actually get to know what kids are doing and get to know them. Oh, and one person's 'negative influences' is not another persons, so there is too much viewpoint in that. As I have said many times before: unless children are killing each other, physically attacking each other, or stealing from each other..... They just want to force THEIR morality on the kids, and they have no right to do that unless the kids are DIRECTLY harming someone else other than themselves.
larrymagid January 14, 2010 7:53 PM PST The survey isn't only about risk behavior. It's also about values and beliefs which is why they included those and other questions that have nothing to do with risk.
artistjoh January 15, 2010 1:44 PM PST I had to reread the article and your comment again in a vain attempt to understand your bizarre comment. Either you did not comprehend what the article was saying or you are perhaps an example of an older (and possibly less tolerant) school of thought. One question was about sex, a subject fraught with risky behavior in a physical sense. And the the other question was about maintaining a friendship with a gay or lesbian person which addresses tolerance on the one hand but is also addressing the willingness to take social risks on the other. Both questions are extremely relevant to life and the way teenagers and young adults deal with moral questions and the complex nature of risk taking which can be both negative if involving risky sexual practices or positive where people are prepared to risk social standing in order to do the right thing in regard to minorities including those of different sexual preferences.
Shinespark January 15, 2010 6:11 PM PST The phrasing made me wonder what value judgments were attached, and whether the surveys were conducted in a way that wouldn't prime a specific response. Later, after reading it, the data seemed more detached/scientific than when it was out of context.
groink_hi January 16, 2010 12:15 PM PST These sort of "what kids say and not what they actually do" surveys is just as credible as the driver tests you must take in order to get a driver's license. There's a difference between what people "know" is right/wrong, and what they'd actually do in a real-life situation. Many careless accidents caused by breaking road laws are caused by the very people who said they wouldn't do these things in the driver tests. One other thing people must remember, and that is the X-generation didn't have the "toys" Y-generation now have. My friends and I frequently bring up the idea of what kind of a school life we would have had (we're all X-gen) if we had cell phones, texting, IM, blogging, Facebook, etc. I studied education technology in college, and I came to the conclusion that the X-gen is more tech savvy than Y-gen - not only on how to use technology, but the responsibilities behind the use of technology. Although Y-gen make technology a bigger part of their lives than X-gen, the Y-gen has less respect of the technology, and are less likely to think about the consequences if the technology is used in a way that's bad for society. And I have to say that this is caused by the Y-gen being mis-taught on how to use these technologies. The questions lis...
|
http://csua.com/feed/