1 . By now, we are all aware that social media has had a tremendous influence on our culture, in business, on the world-at-large. Social media websites revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the Web. However, aside from seeing your friend’s new baby on Facebook, or reading about Justin Bieber’s latest conflict with the law on Twitter, what are some of the real influences?

Social networks offer the opportunity for people to re-connect with their old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, share ideas and pictures, and many other activities. Users can keep pace with the latest global and local developments, and participate in campaigns and activities of their choices. Professionals use social media sites like LinkedIn to enhance their career and business development. Students can work together with their peers to improve their academic and communication skills.

Unfortunately, there are a few downsides too to social networking. If you are not careful, immoral people can target you for cyber bullying and disturbance on social sites. School children, young girls, and women can fall victim to online attacks which can create tension and suffering. If you are a victim of cyber bullying, do not take it lying down, but try to take appropriate legal action against the attacker.

Many companies have blocked social networks as addicted employees can distract themselves on such sites, instead of focusing on work. In fact, studies show that British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity because of social media addiction among employees.

Also, what you carelessly post on the Internet can come back to trouble you. Revealing (泄露) personal information on social sites can make users vulnerable (易受伤害的) to crimes like identity theft, stalking, etc. Many companies perform a background check on the Internet before hiring an employee. If a potential employee has posted something embarrassing on social media, it can greatly affect their chances of getting the job. The same holds true for our relationships too, as our loved ones and friends may get to know if we post something undesirable on social networks.

Social media has its advantages and drawbacks as each coin has two sides. It is up to each user to use social sites wisely to enhance their professional and social life, and exercise caution to ensure they do not fall victim to online dangers.

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3 . If there’s one cliché (陈词滥调) that really annoys Danah Boyd, a specialist researcher who has made a career from studying the way teenagers use the web, it’s that of the digital native. “Today the world has computer-mediated communications. Thus, in order to learn about their social world around them, teenagers are learning about those things too. And they’re using that to work out the stuff that kids have always worked out: peer (同龄人) sociality, status, etc.” she says.

It’s no surprise Boyd takes exception, really. As one of the first digital anthropologists to dig into the way teenagers use social networking sites, she gained insights into the social web by taking a closer look at what was going on.

Lately, her work has been about explaining new ways of interpreting the behavior we see online. She outlined some examples at a recent conference in San Francisco, including the case of a young man from one of the poorest districts of Los Angeles who was applying for a top American college. The applicant said he wanted to escape the influence of violence, but the admissions officer was shocked when he discovered that the boy’s MySpace page was covered with precisely the violent language he claimed to hate. “Why was he lying about his motivations?” asked the university. “He wasn’t,” said Boyd. “In his world, showing the right images online was a key part of surviving daily life.”

Understanding what’s happening online is especially important, for today’s teenagers have a vastly different approach to privacy from their parents. She says, “Adults think of the home as a very private space. That’s often not the case for teenagers because they have little or no control over who has access to it, or under what conditions. As a result, the online world can feel more private because it feels like there’s more control.”

The concept of control is central to Boyd’s work, and it applies to pointing out the true facts about teenage behavior. Boyd suggests control remains in the same places as it always did.

“Technologists all go for the idea of techno-utopia (乌托邦), the web as great democratizer (民主化)”, she says. “But we’re not actually democratizing the whole system; we’re just shifting the way in which we discriminate.”

It’s a call to arms that most academic researchers would tend to sidestep, but then Boyd admits to treading a fine line between academics and activists. “The questions I continue to want to ask are the things that are challenging to me；having to sit down and be forced to think about uncomfortable social stuff, and it’s really hard to get my head around it, which means it’s exactly what I should dive in and deal with, ” she says.

4 . When you were at school, the last thing you probably wanted to do was to spend your weekends going to work. There was homework to do, sports to play and fun to have. But our parents probably persuaded us to find a job to earn some money and get some life experience. When I was a teenager I delivered newspapers to people’s homes. I then progressed to a Saturday job in a supermarket: stacking shelves and working at the checkout.

Today in the UK you are allowed to work from the age of 13, and many children do take up part-time jobs. It’s one of those things that are seen almost as a rite of passage(成人仪式). It’s a taste of independence and sometimes a useful thing to put on your CV(简历). Teenagers agree that it teaches valuable lessons about working with adults and also about managing their money.

Some research has shown that not taking up a Saturday or holiday job could be deleterious to a person later on. A 2015 study by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills found that not participating in part-time work at school age had been blamed by employer’s organizations for young adults being ill-prepared for full-time employment, but despite this, recent statistics have shown that the number of schoolchildren in the UK with a part-time job has fallen by a fifth in the past five years.

So, does this mean that British teenagers are now afraid of hard work? Probably not. Some experts feel that young people feel going out to work will affect their performance at school, and they are under more pressure now to study hard and get good exam results and a good job in the long term. However, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News that “Properly regulated part-time work is a good way of helping young people learn skills that they will need in their working lives.” In reality, it’s all about getting the right balance between doing part-time work and having enough time to study and rest.

5 . Social Phobia

It’s natural to feel nervous, or shy in front of others at times. Most people manage to get through these moments when they need to.     1     It’s probably more than shyness. It may build up into a powerful fear. As a result, people feel uncomfortable participating in everyday social activities. This is called social phobia (also called social anxiety).

    2     It prevents them from chatting with friends in the lunchroom, joining an after-school club, or going to a party. Sometimes, they even feel too nervous to ask a question in class or go to a teacher for help. Social phobia not only prevents people from trying new things. It also prevents them from making the normal, everyday mistakes that help people improve their skills still further.

It is really sad, isn’t it? But the good news is that people with social phobia can learn to manage fear, develop confidence and communicating skills and stop avoiding things that make them nervous. Of course it’s not always easy. Dealing with social phobia takes patience, courage to face fears and the willingness to practice.     3    

Therapists (治疗师) can help people create a plan for facing social fears and build the skills and confidence to overcome it. And family or friends are especially important for them.     4    Friends and family can encourage them to pick a small goal to aim for, remind them to go for it, and be there when they might feel discouraged. Good friends and family are there to celebrate each small success along the way.

Little by little, someone who decides to deal with extreme shyness can learn to be more comfortable.     5     As shyness and fears begin to melt, confidence and positive feelings build. Pretty soon, the person is thinking less about what might feel uncomfortable and more about what might be fun.

6 . One form of social prejudice (偏见) against older people is the belief that they cannot understand or use modern technology. Activities like playing computer games, going on the Net and downloading MP3s are only for the youngsters. Isn’t it unfair that older people enjoying a computer game should be frowned upon (反对) by their children and grandchildren?

Nowadays older people have more control over their lives and they play a full part in society. Moreover, better health care has let more people in their sixties and seventies feeling fit and active after retirement. Mental activity, as well as physical exercise, can contribute to better health. Playing computer games is a very effective way of exercising the brain. So that’s why grey gamers are often seen now.

When personal computers were first introduced, most older people didn’t believe they would ever get familiar with them. Now computers have been around for a few generations and retired people have gradually become more relaxed about using them for fun. Gamers over 65 prefer playing puzzle games and card games. Kate Stevens, aged 72, says, “I find it very relaxing. It’s not very demanding, but you still need to concentrate.”

Another development that has favored “grey games” is a change in the type of video games available on the market. There’s a greater variety of games to choose from, including more intellectual and complex strategy and simulation (模拟) games. For example, Internet Chess and Train Simulator are among the most popular of these. Train Simulator is based on real — world rail activities. Players can choose from a variety of challengers, such as keeping to a strict timetable and using helper engines during a winter storm.

Some people argue that “grey gamers” simply don’t have the skills required for computer games, and that teenagers are better. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most computer games require the kind of analytical thinking that improves with practice, which means that the “grey gamers” may well be far better than the young. In games where speed is the main consideration, older people would be at a disadvantage because they may have slower reaction. time. On the other hand, “grey gamers” have a preference for slower — paced, mind challenging games.

8 . Do you ever pull your phone out of your pocket, thinking it is vibrating (振动), only to find that it isn’t?

This phenomenon, which scientists call “phantom ( 幻 觉 的 ) phone vibration”, is very common. Around 80% of people surveyed say they have imagined their phones vibrating when they were actually still.

So, what leads to this universal behavior? According to the BBC, the explanation lies in your brain's ability to discover signals from the outside world.

When your phone is in your pocket, there are two possible states: It is either vibrating or not. Meanwhile, you also have two possible states of mind: the judgment that the phone is vibrating, or that it isn't. Ideally, you match the four states correctly. However, sometimes your braindecides that the consequences of missing a call are more serious than a "false alarm". Therefore, you become more sensitive to vibrations so that you don't miss anything.

This is just like the fire alarm in your home—it can be annoying when it goes off in response to just a tiny bit of smoke. But that's a small price to pay compared to a fire really breaking out because the alarm fails to alert( 警 醒 ) you. Now, you might still ask: why can't our brains just make every judgment correctly without being too sensitive to false signals? The answer is that your brain bears a heavy burden every day. "You get a large amount of sensory information that's coining from your eyes, ears and skin, and you can't deal with all that information all the time, " Michael Rothberg, a researcher at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, US, told Live Science.

For example, the rustling（沙沙声）of clothing or the growling (咕咕声) of your stomach may both lead your brain to believe that they come from the vibration of your phone——it is like trying to hear your name being called in a noisy room.

So, perhaps you should just check your phone whenever you think it's vibrating. It isn't too much trouble to do that, is it?

9 . In today's world, online social media' has become more powerful and the most destructive thing over worldwide, although with time all generations have come to accept the changes social network has brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most enthusiastic users of these sites. According to various research studies in the field of online social networks, it has been revealed that these sites are impacting the' lives of the youth greatly. When using these sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Myspace, there are both positive and negative effects on the youth.

Firstly, social media helps the youth and any other user updated with what is happening around the world, and helps the teenagers stay connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart. This strengthens their relationship. Even if they finished school and moved to different locations, they stay connected and update one another.

In addition, social media sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers by updating different topics to discuss. Youth who have been interviewed say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and more efficient.

While on the one hand social network sites seem to bring people together and stay connected, on the other hand it causes many physical and mental health problems such as eyes infection, back problems, etc. Other negative effects of social networking various people suggested included encouraging poor spelling and grammar, exposing underage to online predators (捕食者), allowing spread of misinformation that is seen as fact, decreasing productivity as those who are supposed to be working spend time in the sites to chat, providing a perfect platform for cyberbullying and providing details that increase risks of identity theft.

“The more social media we have, the more we think were connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.” One researcher said.

In conclusion, social networking clearly portrays both positive and negative effects on the youth. It is the decision of individuals whether to use it in a right way or wrong.

10 . Summer heat can be dangerous, and heat leads to tragedy far too often. According to Kidsandcars Organization, an average of 37 young children per year die of car heat in the US, when they are accidentally left in a hot vehicle.

For Bishop Curry, a fifth grader from McKinney, Texas, one such incident hit close to home. A six-month-old baby from his neighborhood died after hours in a hot car. After hearing about her death, Curry decided that something needed to be done. Young Curry drew up a sketch(草图) of a device he called "Oasis."

The device would be attached to car seats and watch the temperature inside the car. If it reached a certain temperature in the car, and the device sensed a child in the car seat, it would begin to circulate cool air. Curry also designs the device using GPS and Wi-Fi technology, which would alarm the child's parents and, if there was no response from them, the police.

Curry's father believes that the invention has potential. "The cool thing about Bishop's thinking is none of this technology is new," he said. "We feel like the way he's thinking and combining all these technologies will get to production faster." His father even introduced the device to Toyota, where he works as an engineer.

In January, Curry's father launched a campaign for the invention. They hope to raise money to finalize the patent, build models, and find a manufacturer. They have raised more than twice that--over $46,000.

"I was so proud of him for thinking of a solution," the father said. "We always just complain about things and rarely offer solutions."