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In recent years, police in Merseyside and London, England, have found that young people wearing the distinctive white headphones of iPod music listening devices are increasingly the target of muggings and robberies.
Muggings in some areas increased almost 40 percent. Small devices like the iPod and mobile phones are easily identified and removed by robbers (Will Iredale, "Street Robbery Soars as iPod Users Targeted," The Sunday Times, Oct. 9, 2005).
As a result of the continuing popularity of iPods, the small size, high monetary value and the distraction presented by listening to music while on the street, users need to be cautious. Stay alert and keep iPods and mobile phones out of sight (including headphones) while on the street in potentially unsafe areas.
Percentage of people over age 12 who listen to the radio
at least 15 minutes a week (Arbitron).
The Columbus Dispatch, April 13 2008
of 1,175 parents interviewed by AT&T learned how to send text messages from their children. The New York Times, March 9, 2008
Concerning the latest Internet advance, "the grid," "Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system—so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet this autumn [2008]" (Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times, April 6, 2008).
Giving gifts to other people or to charities makes the givers happier than those who don't give, according to a recent study from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University. Researchers concluded that spending money on oneself doesn't have the same happiness-causing effect as spending on others (Randolph Schmid, "Science, Bible Agree: Giving Is Better," The Christian Post, March 21, 2008).
Jesus Christ, the perfect example of giving, instructs us to give to others as well, saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
Cern, the organization that pioneered the Internet, has developed an updated Internet that will be 10,000 times faster than current broadband connections. Called "the grid," it will allow entire films to be downloaded in seconds, rather than hours and make possible video conferencing with holographic images.
Currently used as a tool of scientific research, it is based on a grid of fiber-optic cables and powerful, updated servers allowing far greater computing than the existing Internet.
The creators of the grid predict that it will also allow "cloud computing," where computer users will store all of their information and documents online rather than in the far smaller memory available on personal computers (Jonathan Leake, "Coming Soon: Superfast Internet," The Sunday Times, April 6, 2008).
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration finds that 30 percent of 16-year-olds had a driver's license in 2006, down from 41 percent 10 years ago. Montana Miller, assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University, has some theories on the reasons for the decline.
Teens "devote a lot of time to their extremely complicated social lives," said Miller, who specializes in teenage Internet socialization. "When kids used to be bored, they would drive around. Now, they get online and travel all around the world and talk to their friends."
Another likely factor is the pressure kids feel to have sterling grades, take advanced classes, volunteer and participate in myriad activities that make their college applications impressive. Since driver education classes often cost $300 to $400, many teens understand that it is expensive to purchase and maintain an automobile.
"So where are you going to find the time to learn to drive or have a job and make enough money for a car?" Miller said. (Kathy Lynn Gray, "In No Hurry to Drive," The Columbus Dispatch, March 3, 2008).
Medihoney, a bandage made from seaweed-based material and saturated with powerful, antibacterial New Zealand manuka honey, has recently been put on the market. The new dressings, tested in hospitals and war zones, help to kill germs and speed healing by keeping wounds clean.
The bandage comes as a significant breakthrough at a time when many antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against pathogens (Linda Johnson, "Honey—Nature's Infection-Fighter—Making a Medical Comeback," Associated Press, Dec. 26, 2007).
Honey is mentioned frequently in the Bible. It is interesting that scientists continue to find additional nutritional and medicinal benefits from this natural substance.
Teens, especially girls, are increasingly sending explicit, nude pictures of themselves to boys in order to compete for romantic relationships. Experts explain that while those sending the messages think they are just reaching one person, they don't realize that the images proliferate among friends and on the Internet. The danger that sexual predators will collect them is very real (Charlie Boss, "Teen Girls' Cell-Phone Invitations Bare All," The Columbus Dispatch, April 13, 2008).
Explicit photos are completely outside the laws that God established to protect the purity of sex within marriage. Images are extremely hard to remove from the human memory, but equally as difficult is to remove them from the online world. Keeping a clean presence in the digital world is key to maintaining a positive reputation. The Internet and any material published there, even under privacy safeguards, is easily retrieved and made public.
A 2007 U.S. study by TNS Media Intelligence finds that spending on radio advertising dropped 3.5 percent from the previous year. Spending on Internet advertising surpassed radio advertising spending for the first time in 2007.
However a strong radio listening audience still remains, and the broadcasting industry is seeking to maintain that interest. Adapter requests on iPods are primarily for FM radio, suggesting that the listening device crowd still yearns for radio transmissions. Providing radio access on cell phones is also in consideration.
Likewise, Internet radio offers niche markets and access through Wi-Fi connections, while High Definition (HD) Radio expands the potential of traditional broadcasting signals (Tim Feran, "The Changing Face of Radio," The Columbus Dispatch, April 13, 2008).
The proliferation of digital communication devices is causing a shift in person-to-person relationships, particularly between parents and children. Parents are being forced to learn the details of mobile phones, texting and Internet socialization in order to fulfill their responsibilities as guardians and protectors of their children.
Children and teenagers are defining themselves and their relationships by digital communication. Young people text message and call their friends on mobile phones not always for in-depth discussion, but to keep track of each other. On the down side, some young people are not learning when it's appropriate to communicate by in-person conversation or to socialize in person apart from the digital world (Laura Holson, "Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)," The New York Times, March 9, 2008).
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