Generation Next Blog

January 2013

New Year – New Cyber-Safety Initiative

By |2013-01-24T10:21:39+11:00January 24th, 2013|Categories: Cybersafety|Tags: , , , , , |

How many of us rang in the New Year by posting a picture or status update for all our friends on Facebook? Probably a lot of us. Another year, another exponential increase in the amount of people engaged in social media in general and Facebook in particular. With increased use, comes increased mis-use – predominantly [...]

School nurses axed in SE Qld

By |2013-01-24T09:29:31+11:00January 24th, 2013|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

All state-funded primary school nurses have been axed in a move doctors and nurses say will most affect children who are already disadvantaged. The move comes as Royal Children's Hospital staff fear a "workforce redesign" could affect their ability to treat their patients and involve job cuts. Nine primary school based nursing positions have been [...]

Tiger parents- What does the science say?

By |2013-01-24T09:59:58+11:00January 23rd, 2013|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , |

In 2011, Yale Law professor Amy Chua caused a stir with a Wall Street Journal article titled "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," describing her strict methods of parenting. In the backlash to the article, critics accused Chua of hurting her daughters in her quest to make them succeed. For her part, Chua criticized the less [...]

Children’s ADHD Drugs Don’t Work Long-Term

By |2013-01-22T10:26:22+11:00January 19th, 2013|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , |

Attention-deficit drugs increase concentration in the short term, which is why they work so well for college students cramming for exams. But when given to children over long periods of time, they neither improve school achievement nor reduce behavior problems. The drugs can also have serious side effects, including stunting growth. Sadly, few physicians and [...]

Fewer Girls In The World

By |2013-01-22T11:12:30+11:00January 17th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

Throughout human history, a masculinised population has translated into criminal and violent conflict; and contrary to predictions that females would become more valued in their scarcity, a masculinised sex ratio has instead amounted to the increased likelihood of girls and women contending with rape, abduction, bride-sharing, trafficking, forced marriage, and various other forms of violence [...]

Do we teach prejudice?

By |2013-01-22T11:19:05+11:00January 17th, 2013|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , |

Again and again I’ve been surprised by what my children don’t see. I once invited a friend who has a disabled child over for lunch. The child was born with only one functioning eye, half an ear missing, and a malformed leg that had been amputated above the knee. Despite these difficulties, she was bright [...]

Muhammad Ali’s advice to his daughters…………..Inspiring

By |2013-01-22T11:43:19+11:00January 15th, 2013|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters: “When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting [...]

Purposeful Rejection of Immunization in Kids

By |2013-01-22T12:05:08+11:00January 14th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , |

My mother encountered a well-meaning PRIK who had deprived her daughter of vaccinations. Sure as eggs, the child contracted whooping cough and recovered normally due to herd immunity (their chances of getting sick was lessened due to the sense of responsibility of the immunized majority). When the parent was gently pressed over the fact that [...]

Fear that gaming apps will groom young gamblers

By |2013-01-22T10:00:20+11:00January 13th, 2013|Categories: Cybersafety, Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

A VIRTUAL poker-machine game that children and teenagers can easily access was the highest-grossing phone and tablet app in Australia, prompting outrage from gambling critics and the established pokies industry. The continued growth of virtual gambling apps has also moved Senator Nick Xenophon to push for laws re-classifying the games as gambling when Federal Parliament [...]

Sex sells but we’re paying the price

By |2013-01-22T09:34:52+11:00January 12th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , |

There are myriad reasons why sex has become so debased in society it has been almost rendered an ablution, going from something magical to mechanical, from a gift of love to subservient surrender. About now it's my duty to raise my arm and declare ''mea culpa'' because, as a magazine writer and editor who has [...]

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