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Tag: Youth Mental Health

If Polis vetoed it, maybe Colorado should take a closer look
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

If Polis vetoed it, maybe Colorado should take a closer look

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I guess we can’t say Polis never vetoes, it’s just rare. I wanted to share a couple of articles (one by Complete Colorado linked first below and the second by CPR) detailing some vetoes from Governor Polis this legislative session. I’ll leave it to you to poke around in either or both articles, but there are a couple of notable things I wanted to mention. There are some non-surprises such as modifications to the Labor Peace Act. No one figured he’d sign it; he’s been a vocal opponent of such efforts. The legislative Democrats are just biding their time for the next governor anyway. There was one that is an update to an earlier post. HB26-1418 would have put a fee on video game transactions to provide m...
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With Phones Put Away Students Rediscover Friendship, Games, and School Spirit
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Intelligencer, Approved, National

With Phones Put Away Students Rediscover Friendship, Games, and School Spirit

By Anya Kamenetz | Intelligencer When New York State banned phones in public schools from bell to bell this past September, the goal — according to the ban’s champion, Governor Hochul — was undistracted learning. But within weeks of the Great Phone Lockup, teachers began to notice an incidental (and arguably even more compelling) benefit: The teens were talking to one another as if they were in a Brat Pack movie. Sure, there’s been grumbling and some burner phones and scrolling in the bathroom. At one high school, an entrepreneurial senior even bought a pouch-unlocking magnet on Amazon and tried to charge classmates a dollar per jailbreak. But generally, with phones off-limits, the atmosphere feels different. There’s a pleasant buzz in the lunchroom, chatter in the hallways, and an ...
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Teen’s Suicide Highlights Rising Sextortion Crisis Targeting American Teens
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Approved, National, New York Post

Teen’s Suicide Highlights Rising Sextortion Crisis Targeting American Teens

By: Chadwick Moore | New York Post The afternoon that 15-year-old Bryce Tate was sextorted started off as a perfectly normal Thursday. The Cross Lanes, W. Va., sophomore came home from the gym on Nov. 6, scarfed down a plate of tacos prepared by his mom, then went outside to shoot hoops. At 4:37 p.m., he received a text message from a strange number. Three hours later, Bryce was found in his dad’s man cave — dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “They say it’s suicide, but in my book it is 100% murder,” Bryce’s father, Adam Tate, told The Post. “They’re godless demons, in my opinion. Just cowards, awful individuals, worse than criminals.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE NEW YORK POST
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Phones Out of Classrooms A Rare Point of Unity in Divided Nation
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Politico, Approved, Commentary, National

Phones Out of Classrooms A Rare Point of Unity in Divided Nation

By Jonathan Martin | Commentary, Politico Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” has prompted an unlikely bipartisan revolution to ban phones in classrooms. LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The most consequential bipartisan accomplishment of this decade was hatched in NYU faculty housing and is being fulfilled in conservative and liberal state capitals alike. The legislative victory at hand? Banning phones in classrooms. Until now, it has barely registered amid the tribal trolling that passes for a national political dialogue in the Age of Trump. But as the school year gets fully underway across the country this week, more parents may be able to identify Jonathan Haidt, or at least his groundbreaking book on the risk of children’s access to smartphones, than they can recognize their ow...
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DiGirolamo: Teen sexting—What every parent needs to know
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National, Top Stories

DiGirolamo: Teen sexting—What every parent needs to know

By John DiGirolamo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice How Teens Make It Worse: Taylor Swift wrote that when you’re fifteen, and someone tells you they love you, you’re going to believe them. Almost twenty years later, a teen’s definition of love and what’s fun and flirty now includes sending nude images.  The number one activity where teens contribute to their own detriment is sexting. According to the nonprofit Fight the New Drug, most teens have viewed pornography, with the average age of exposure at eleven years old. If explicit images are viewed frequently and at a young age, sending and receiving nude pictures become normalized. Over 90% of teens have sent or received explicit images by the time they graduate high school. 53% of boys and 39% of girls believe pornog...
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Gazette editorial board: ‘Sam’s Story’ is a tragic testimony to Colorado’s marijuana crisis
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denvergazette.com, Approved, State

Gazette editorial board: ‘Sam’s Story’ is a tragic testimony to Colorado’s marijuana crisis

The Gazette editorial board | Commentary, Denver Gazette It’s both embarrassing and galling that an elected University of Colorado regent — who also happens to be the state’s most politically connected marijuana dealer — tried to squelch a public health campaign alerting parents to the perils her products pose to our youth. Denver pot shop owner and first-term CU Regent Wanda James at first claimed, preposterously, the campaign was racist. Then, she denounced it as “recycled junk science” even if — oops — its author was no less an authority than the Colorado School of Public Health. Outrageously, she even tried to use her clout to crush the campaign. It all backfired on James last week. The Board of Regents voted to censure her for her misuse of her public office in a shameless bi...
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DiGirolamo: This is how a predator grooms your son in under an hour
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, National, Top Stories

DiGirolamo: This is how a predator grooms your son in under an hour

By John DiGirolamo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Perhaps you have a son and think you don’t need to worry about online predators. Think again. Typically, girls are targeted on social media accounts for either explicit content or coerced to meet in person for a sexual encounter. It’s different for boys, who are usually targeted for money. These blackmail situations are criminal offenses, commonly termed “sextortion.” This is What a Predator’s Playbook Looks Like: A criminal will set up a profile with a picture of an attractive college age female. The picture will be provocative and eye-catching, so a teenage boy won’t think twice about accepting the social connection. They’ll make contact online through social media accounts such as Snapchat, Instagram and especially...
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