Page 6A
TV TIME
East Oregonian
Friday, April 28, 2017
AP poll: Most teens Congress doing minimum to run government
have taken break
from social media
NEW YORK (AP) — The
common stereotype has teens
glued to their phones 24-7.
But nearly 60 percent of
teens in the U.S. have actu-
ally taken a break from social
media, the bulk of them even
voluntarily, a new survey
found.
The poll from The Asso-
ciated Press-NORC Center
for Public Affairs Research
of teens aged 13 to 17 found
that most teens value the
feeling of connection with
friends and family that social
media provides. A much
smaller number associate it
with negative emotions, such
as being overwhelmed or
needing to always show their
best selves.
The survey, released
Thursday, found that teens’
social media breaks are typi-
cally a week or longer, and
boys are more likely to take
longer breaks.
Teens were allowed to
cite multiple reasons for their
breaks. Nearly two-thirds of
teens who took a break cited
at least one voluntary reason.
Amanda Lenhart, the lead
researcher and an expert on
young people and technology
use, said she was surprised
by this, as it counters the
broader narrative that teens
are “handcuffed” to their
social media profi les.
Today’s teenagers might
not recall a time before
social media. MySpace
was founded in 2003. Had
it survived, it would be 14
years old today. Facebook
is a year younger. Instagram
launched in 2010. For an
adult to understand what
it might be like to take a
break from social media for
someone who grew up with
it, consider disconnecting
from email, or your phone
for a couple weeks.
Voluntary reasons for
teens’ breaks included 38
percent who did so because
social media was getting in
the way of work or school.
Nearly a quarter said they
were tired of “the confl ict and
drama” and 20 percent said
they were tired of having to
keep up with what’s going on.
Nearly half of teens who
took a break did so invol-
untarily. This included 38
percent said it was because
their parents took away their
phone or computer and 17
percent who said their phone
was lost, broken or stolen.
The involuntary break “is
sort of its own challenge,”
Lenhart said. “They feel
that they are missing out,
detached from important
social relationships (as well
as) news and information.”
About 35 percent of teens
“I like to see what
my friends and
family are up to
... I wouldn’t want
to take a break
from them.”
— Lukas Goodwin,
Teenager
surveyed said they have not
taken a break, citing such
worries as missing out and
being disconnected from
friends. Some said they need
social media for school or
extracurricular activities.
“I like to see what my
friends and family are up
to,” said Lukas Goodwin,
14, who uses Instagram and
Snapchat every day. He said
he took a break from Insta-
gram “a few years ago” but
not recently. Now, he says, “I
wouldn’t want to take a break
from them.”
Among the survey’s other
fi ndings:
— Lower income teens
were more likely to take
social media breaks than
their wealthier counterparts,
and their breaks tended to last
longer. The study points out
that educators who use social
media in the classroom need
to understand that not every
teen is online and connected
all the time.
— Boys were more likely
to feel overloaded with
information on social media,
while girls were more likely
to feel they always have to
show the best version of
themselves.
— Teens who took breaks
typically did so across the
board, checking out of Face-
book, Snapchat and all other
services all at once. And they
were no more or less likely
to take breaks from social
media based on the type of
services they use.
— Although they felt
relief and were happy to be
away from social media for a
while, most teens said things
went back to how they were
before once they returned to
social media.
The AP-NORC poll was
conducted online and by
phone from Dec. 7 to 31.
A sample of parents with
teenage children was drawn
from a probability-based
panel of NORC at the
University of Chicago.
Parents then gave permis-
sion for their children to
be interviewed. The panel,
AmeriSpeak, is designed to
be representative of the U.S.
population. The margin of
error is 4.6 percentage points.
U.S. Postal Service via AP
This image provided by the U.S. Postal Service shows
a Total Solar Eclipse Forever stamp. The stamp, that
when touched transforms the image of the blacked-
out sun into the moon, comes out in June 2017, on the
Summer Solstice.
Touch new stamp and total
solar eclipse becomes moon
CAPE CANAVERAL,
Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Postal
Service is going all out for
this summer’s total solar
eclipse, with a fi rst-of-its
kind stamp.
Just touch the stamp with
your fi nger, and the heat
transforms the image of the
blacked-out sun into the
moon.
Remove your fi nger,
and the eclipse reappears.
The trick is using tempera-
ture-sensitive ink.
There’s a map on the back
of the stamp sheet showing
the eclipse’s diagonal path
across the U.S. on Aug. 21,
as the moon covers the sun in
the sky.
It will be the fi rst total
solar eclipse visible in the
contiguous United States
since 1979 and the fi rst one
coast to coast since 1918.
Announced Thursday, the
Forever 49 cent stamp comes
out in June — on the summer
solstice.
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Congress is doing the
bare minimum to keep the
country running, readying a
short-term spending bill to
keep the lights on in govern-
ment past Saturday, when
President Donald Trump
will mark his 100th day in
offi ce.
The short-term legisla-
tion will carry through next
week, giving lawmakers
more time to complete
negotiations on a $1 trillion
government-wide spending
bill for the remainder of
the 2017 budget year. The
government is currently
operating under spending
legislation that expires
Friday at midnight, so action
is required before then.
In addition to the failure
to come up with a spending
deal that could pass ahead of
Trump’s 100-day mark, the
House GOP looked unlikely
to give Trump a victory on
health care before then.
A revised health care bill
has won the support of the
hard-right House Freedom
Caucus, holdouts on an
earlier version that collapsed
last month, but GOP leaders
were struggling to round up
votes from moderate-leaning
Republicans.
“I don’t know if it’s
bringing anyone over,”
said Rep. Chris Smith,
R-N.J., who said he had
been lobbied by leadership
but still opposed the legis-
lation because it undoes
an expansion of Medicaid
under former President
Barack Obama’s Affordable
Care Act. “There’s much
of Obamacare that has to
be fi xed. That part of it is
critical,” Smith said.
Trump himself unleashed
a tweetstorm of criticism
of Democrats involved in
negotiations on the spending
bill, accusing them of trying
to close national parks and
jeopardize the safety of U.S.
troops.
“As families prepare for
summer vacations in our
National Parks - Democrats
threaten to close them and
shut down the government.
Terrible!” Trump tweeted.
“Democrats jeopardizing
the safety of our troops to
bail out their donors from
insurance companies. It is
time to put #AmericaFirst,”
he wrote.
Democrats
dismissed
such accusations.
“We are never going to
shut government down. In
fact, we don’t even have the
power to do so,” said House
Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif. Referring to
Republicans she said: “They
have the majority. They have
the president. They have
the Senate. They have the
House. Any shutting down
of government, the ball is in
their court.”
Nonetheless,
leaders
in both parties projected
certainty that a deal would
ultimately be reached on the
spending legislation, which
covers all government agen-
cies and is leftover business
from last year.
“Talks on government
funding legislation have
continued throughout the
week on a bipartisan, bicam-
eral basis,” said Senate
Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., adding
that the short-term extension
will allow time for a fi nal
agreement to be completed
and voted on next week.
The talks involving
congressional
Republi-
cans and Democrats had
progressed
relatively
smoothly after the White
House earlier this week
had backed off a threat to
withhold payments that help
lower-income Americans
pay their medical bills and
Trump dropped a demand
for money for the border
wall.