It is a widespread belief that teenagers are more interested in things and activities that are related to computer and mobile phones than on the every-day issues surrounding them. In a recent survey conducted by Harvard University, researchers established that a majority of teenagers are not attentive to general news programs. Although the sample size is small (only 1800 samples), the study confirms what people have long suspected. Teens are more interested in gizmos like latest mobile phones and iPods and internet socializing networks like Orkut and Facebook and instant messaging tools.
Most of them are blissfully unaware of the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. For most of them, Vietnam is the place where Sylvester Stallone was tortured in the first half of the Hollywood blockbuster, First Blood. About 60% of the teens participated in the study indicated that they are not interested in serious newspaper stories. But there are plenty of television programs and newspaper features intended for teens. Even on the internet, there are specialized websites that consider teenagers as their target audience. Let us consider some of the television programs and websites intended for children that provide both information and entertainment.
ABC News 4 Kids is a program aired on ABC Channel on every Tuesday and Thursday. In this program, news stories are presented in an interactive manner with the aid of animations. CNNfyi dot com provides study materials to students. The objective of this venture is to create awareness about current events among students. This website also provides a useful reference list comprising books, periodicals, and links to other websites. The famous Venderbilt Television News Archive, which has been recording news broadcasts of major television channels, namely ABC, CBS, and NBC, from 1968, is available on the internet also. Here abstracts of each day's bulletin are provided in an easy to search manner.
Brain Bowl is an interactive game based on current events. It is created by an organization called Learning Network and it is updated daily. The game is made interesting with several modes such as one-player mode, two-player mode, and kid-versus-parent mode. NewsCurrents is another website that encourages teenagers for several information-gathering activities. An organization called Knowledge Unlimited is running this website. The website also contains useful links for gathering information about current events.
But despite all these valuable items and a number of informative programs in channels like Discovery, National Geographic, and Animal Planet, most of the teenagers prefer to watch sports broadcasts on television channels and spend most of their time between social networking and chatting on the internet. It has been a trend that a majority of the teenagers do not know (or care) about things outside their academic field. One possible exception is perhaps the new models and functions of mobile phones. But it is a blessing that most of them are very good in their chosen field of study.