youth

Premature babies twice as prone to mental disorders

Babies born at 36 weeks gestation or earlier had double the chance of being admitted to hospital for mental disorders as those born on term, while those born at 32 weeks or earlier had three times the risk, a study found. Previous research had indicated preterm babies were more likely to have behavioural problems at [...]

Why Family and Friends Miss Signs of Suicidal Depression

Dominique Browning discusses the reactions of friends and family to the recent suicide of Mary Richardson Kennedy and some of the common misconceptions about suicidal depression.In particular, she focuses on the sense of surprise some people feel when a loved one commits suicide. In her insightful article, she asks: “Is it possible that friends can [...]

Scientists Find Learning Is Not ‘Hard-Wired’

Neuroscience exploded into the education conversation more than 20 years ago, in step with the evolution of personal computers and the rise of the Internet, and policymakers hoped medical discoveries could likewise help doctors and teachers understand the "hard wiring" of the brain. That conception of how the brain works, exacerbated by the difficulty in [...]

How the internet killed porn

How do you sustain an industry that provides a certain standard of product - be it journalism, music, or mainstream movies, or X-rated movies - when more and more consumers are in the habit of downloading content for free? In the world of porn, the answer is: you can't. via How the internet killed porn.

Facebook considers targeting under 13s

Faced with slowing growth in its advertising business, Facebook is considering throwing open its social network to children, in the hope that their parents will pay for games and other content on the site. The plan is also designed to limit the company's legal risk over the already-widespread use of the site by minors, millions [...]

The positive internet-incentive strategies, serious games, online education & learning

When psychiatrists, psychologists and other clinicians discuss the use and overuse of computer-based technologies in schoolchildren and young people, it is tempting to assume that there is a near-exclusive focus on the negative, pathological and undesirable aspects of this rapidly evolving domain. Such pop-cultural terms like ‘internet addiction’, ‘cyberbullying’ and ‘sexting’, seen in the media [...]

Sexting-prosecute or prevent?

The term ‘sexting’, although relatively new, describes a particular set of behaviours that have been occurring in Australia for over 5 years. The sending and receiving of sexually explicit images via mobile phones or other applications such as instant messaging, email or through social networking sites, has until recently gone relatively unreported. What is concerning [...]

Stress and the young mind, part 2……..N.U.T.S.

In last month’s newsletter we looked at how the powerful chemicals that drive stress responses in the mind and body can be very detrimental to young people.  Before looking at how to combat stress and at the risk of appearing repetitive it is pertinent to reiterate a few points; Stressors are highly individualistic in nature [...]

Sexting and the law

In many cases, schools deal with these matters in-house, counselling the participants and doing their best to re-call the images. In some cases, police are called. They have two options: use their discretion to warn those involved or press charges. But in Victoria, there are no laws written with teen sexters in mind. ''Pressing charges'' [...]

The Cult of Happiness

Voltaire captured this new conception of happiness when he said: “Earthly paradise is here where I am,” and that if paradise is here where I am, then happiness is here and now, not yesterday, and even less in some hypothetical future. Throughout the twentieth century, hedonism’s claims grew ever stronger influenced by Freudianism, feminism, and [...]

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