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Archives > Volume 8 Issue 6 - January 22, 2010 Study: Teens and tweens spend almost every waking hour online...The average young American now spends practically every waking minute - except for the time in school - using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. New York Times news story here 
Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cell phones. And because so many of them are multitasking - say, surfing the Internet while listening to music - they pack on average nearly 11 hours of media content into that seven and a half hours. "I feel like my days would be boring without it," said Francisco Sepulveda, a 14-year-old Bronx eighth grader who uses his smart phone to surf the Web, watch videos, listen to music - and send or receive about 500 texts a day. The study's findings shocked its authors, who had concluded in 2005 that use could not possibly grow further, and confirmed the fears of many parents whose children are constantly tethered to media devices. It found, moreover, that heavy media use is associated with several negatives, including behavior problems and lower grades. The third in a series, the study found that young people's media consumption grew far more in the last five years than from 1999 to 2004, as sophisticated mobile technology like iPods and smart phones brought media access into teenagers' pockets and beds. Victoria Rideout, a Kaiser vice president who is lead author of the study, said that although it has become harder for parents to control what their children do, they can still have an effect. "I don't think parents should feel totally disempowered," she said. "They can still make rules, and it still makes a difference." Perry Aftab of Wired Safety explains on the Today Show why kids need "disconnect time." TODAY show video here The full study is available online at kff.org. See eGuide/online safety, eGuide/MySpace and Facebook, and eGuide/cell phones for more information on protecting kids in the online world. UK brothers say they tortured kids "because we were bored"... Two young brothers inflicted numerous injuries on two children during a sadistic 90-minute orgy of violence, torture and sexual abuse that began because they were bored and there was "nothing to do", a British court heard today. The Times news story here 
The pair, aged 10 and 11 when they carried out the brutal assault near the village of Edlington, South Yorkshire, only ended their attack when their arms began to ache from the punches and stones that they had thrown.
A doctor who later examined the more seriously injured victim, aged 11, who was found semi-conscious with severe hypothermia at the foot of a ravine, said that "the outcome could have been fatal." His young friend, 9, raised the alarm after stumbling back to the village, barefoot and with his face and hair covered in blood. A neighbor who saw him thought at first that his face had been painted. Shivering and shaking, his teeth chattering, he mumbled that "some boys have beat me up with long sticks." His eyes began to roll and he seemed to be going into shock before an ambulance arrived. The boy's older friend was found lying face down in the mud of the ravine, naked from the waist down. A branch was embedded in his cheek, his blood-soaked face was swollen and there were deep gashes in the back of his head. One of his rescuers said, "There didn't seem to be any life in him." Nicholas Campbell, QC, for the prosecution, gave a detailed account of the attack last April and its aftermath at Sheffield Crown Court, where the two brothers, now aged 11 and 12, are being sentenced for grievous bodily harm with intent, robbery and intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity. They have also pleaded guilty to a further assault against a 12-year-old choirboy that they had carried out a week earlier in the same area of secluded wasteland. Questioned by police after his arrest, the older brother explained that he and his sibling spotted their victims as they played on their bikes at the local recreation ground and lured them into a trap because they were bored and "there was nowt to do." Asked why he stopped after an attack during which he and his brother punched, kicked and stamped on the children, hitting them with sharpened sticks, bricks, heavy stones and a broken ceramic sink, he said, "My arms were aching." When his younger brother was asked the same question in a separate interview, he said that he stopped the attack because he was "tired...My arms were hurting." Mr. Justice Keith handed the brothers indeterminate sentences and told them that they would have to serve at least five years, after which time a decision would be made on their future. "The fact is this was prolonged, sadistic violence for no reason other than that you got a real kick out of hurting and humiliating them," he said. The Times news story here In other news... 
A teenage girl who appeared topless in a "sexting" cell phone picture that was distributed among her middle-school classmates should face child-pornography charges, a Pennsylvania prosecutor argued before a U.S. appellate court. MSNBC news story here In the first U.S. case to test the constitutional status of "sexting," the American Civil Liberties Union countered that the incident does not come close to meeting the definition of child pornography which typically depicts graphic sexual acts with minors and is done for commercial gain. The ACLU also said the Wyoming County prosecutor erred when he threatened 16 teenagers with the felony charges unless they agreed to participate in a "re-education" course on why sexting was wrong. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals was considering a March 2009 court ruling that said the pictures, in which teenagers sent sexually suggestive pictures of themselves to their friends by cell phones or the Internet, fall under the U.S. Constitution's free speech protections. Officials of the Tunkhannock School District in rural northeastern Pennsylvania contacted the county prosecutor's office in January 2008 after finding pictures on the cell phones of the 16 students.
The upcoming Vancouver Olympics will bring thousands of athletes and visitors to Canada. The games will attract another, less desirable crowd - sex workers. KING 5 news story here Hundreds of prostitutes and pimps are expected to cross the border into Canada from I-5 in Western Washington. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Ballard, is sponsoring legislation to give those considered "sex slaves" a chance to get help while on the road. Kohl-Welles wants the Department of Transportation to put up signs in the restrooms of the state's rest stops to help raise awareness about the sex trafficking trade. The signs have a hot-line number and encourage victims or those who think they may know a victim to call for help. "If good people know, they intervene. If good people know, policy makers make law changes," said former Congresswoman Linda Smith (R-WA), who founded Shared Hope International, an organization fighting sex trafficking. Smith said while most people associate "sex slaves" with immigrants, 90 percent of trafficking victims are born in the United States. Meanwhile, South African preachers will raise awareness about human trafficking and concerns the World Cup could mean more exploitation. CBS news story here Jo Seoka, Pretoria's Anglican bishop, said in an interview Tuesday, "The church has the constituency to do this," adding South Africa, a country of 50 million, has 4 million Anglicans. Seoka, who spoke from a meeting near Cape Town where 21 leaders of churches and other groups met to launch the Stop Human Trafficking Project, called for better border policing and stronger laws. Rural South Africans have been brought to the cities and forced into sex trade, housecleaning or farm work at slave wages. Rights groups fear more people, including those from neighboring countries, could become victims to meet demand from World Cup fans visiting from around the world.
Celebrities are shining the spotlight on childhood sexual abuse. ABC News story here When Mo'Nique gave her Golden Globe acceptance speech on Sunday, she dedicated her award to victims of abuse: "I celebrate this award with all the Preciouses, with all the Marys - I celebrate this award with every person that's ever been touched. It's now time to tell. And it's OK." The same night, actor Gabriel Byrne told an Irish television show that he was molested at seminary school at the age of 11. "I didn't feel I suffered at the time. I just felt it was the way of the world," Byrne said on "The Meaning of Life" on Sunday. "It took many years to come to terms with it and to forgive those incidents that I felt had deeply hurt me." Any story of a child being sexually abused is shocking. With celebrities, there's the additional element of surprise - along with the question of how were they able to overcome it? "You see a celebrity, and a lot of them seem to have it all together," writer Antwone Fisher told ABCNews.com. "They look healthy, wealthy and wise, like they've had a charmed life. But most of them have traveled bumpy roads." When celebrities speak out about their own claims of abuse, they have the power to get people to listen - and act. Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Teri Hatcher and Cincinnati Bengals' Laveraneus Coles all have shared claims of abuse. When "One Day at a Time" actress Mackenzie Phillips alleged a decade-long sexual relationship with her father, singer John Phillips, on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) reported a 26 percent jump in its hotline calls and an 83 percent increase in traffic on its Web site.
A Long Island woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to abusing her children and family pets, sometimes forcing the children to witness her torturing animals to death, prosecutors said. AP News story here "This is a case where a mother subjected her children to the most unimaginable and horrific living conditions that I have ever seen," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said. "These kids were beaten, they were starved, they lived in absolutely horrendous conditions within their own household and this was done intentionally by the mother." Sharon McDonough, 43, killed numerous kittens and dogs, stashing the dead cats in the trash, and burying 42 dead dogs in the backyard of her Selden, Long Island, home, Spota said. The dogs were buried, he said, because some had identifying microchips implanted in them and McDonough feared being discovered if the carcasses were found in the trash. The children were not only abused, but were forced to witness the deaths of family pets, the prosecutor said. "Our investigation found evidence she wrapped duct tape around a cat's nose and mouth and hung the animal from her child's bunk bed, killing the cat," Spota said, adding the woman's "11-year-old daughter witnessed the cruelty." On another occasion in 2006, McDonough allegedly strangled a Maltese dog in the presence of her older daughter, who was 10 at the time, Spota said. The Maltese carcass was among those found buried in the yard, prosecutors said. McDonough's adult son contacted authorities in November about the living conditions of his younger siblings. He had moved out of the home the previous August and grew increasingly concerned about the plight of the girls, Spota said. McDonough could face up to two years in prison if convicted of the top charge, aggravated animal cruelty. She also is charged with child endangerment and animal torture, misdemeanors that carry up to a year in jail. The prosecutor said he will lobby the state legislature for changes in the law to increase penalties for child endangerment.
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