A Change in Administrations Underlines the Stakes of an E-Cigarette Case SCOTUS Heard This Week
An e-liquid manufacturer is challenging the FDA's "arbitrary and capricious" rejection of flavored vaping products.
Teenagers
Food and Drug Administration Defends Refusal To Approve Flavored E-Cigarettes Before the Supreme Court
The FDA’s regulations are burdensome and unnecessary to address the inflated high school vaping epidemic.
Review: Are Teen Girls Suffering From Hysteria?
A new podcast explores a mysterious case of teens developing Tourette syndrome–like tics and other cases of suspected mass psychogenic illness.
Australian Prime Minister Proposes Total Social Media Ban for Anyone Under 16
Under this restrictive measure, there will be no exceptions, even for parental consent.
'Let Parents Decide' What Kids Can Do Online, Argue Tech Groups in New Lawsuit
The groups are challenging a Florida law that bans some teens from social media.
Mandatory ID Checks for Nonalcoholic Beer?
Some people really think nonalcoholic beer is a gateway to alcoholism.
Instagram Announces AI Age Verification on New Teen Accounts
Voluntary AI age verification is preferable to federally mandated verification at the operating system level.
Michigan Judge Handcuffed and Jailed a Teen for Falling Asleep During a Field Trip
Judge Kenneth King is facing a lawsuit for punishing a 15-year-old who visited his courtroom with his "own version of Scared Straight.''
Censoring the Internet Won't Protect Kids
Sen. Rand Paul makes the case against the Kids Online Safety Act.
Ted and Courtney Balaker: College Students Are Rejecting Wokeness
The filmmakers who brought The Coddling of the American Mind to the big screen discuss the students whose stories inspired the film and the state of the media, Hollywood, and storytelling.
FTC Opens a Backdoor Route to Age Verification on Social Media
In a "novel" order concerning the app NGL, the agency takes aim at online anonymity and at minors on social media.
Judges Block Indiana and Mississippi Age Verification Laws for Porn, Social Media
And the Supreme Court agrees to weigh in.
Is Inside Out 2 Secretly About Helicopter Parenting?
In the sequel to 2015's Inside Out, letting kids grow up means relinquishing control.
Don't Freak Out Over Florida Teen Labor Laws
Laws letting teens work longer hours won't have the disastrous effects critics claim they will.
Parents, Not Lax Regulation, To Blame for Tweens' Excessive Screen Time
We need parents with better phone habits, not more government regulation of social media.
WARNING: You Won't Like This New Label
Plus: Ex-NSA chief joins forces with OpenAI, conscription squads hunt Ukrainian draft-dodgers, and more...
Vermont Cops Terrorize High School Students With 'Mock Shooting'
"I'm shaking and crying because I'm like, 'Oh my god, I'm gonna get shot,'" one student told a Vermont newspaper. "It felt so real."
Rethinking the 5-Paragraph Essay in the Age of AI
Artificial intelligence writes a pretty good analysis of George Orwell's 1984.
California's $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Law Is Already Having Disastrous Unintended Consequences
Many have seen their hours reduced—or have lost their jobs entirely.
Old Enough for a Gun, Too Young for TikTok: What's Legal for Teens in Your State?
From tattoos to abortions to gender expression, a confusing mess of laws govern which Americans are considered adults.
Regulating Smartphones? Jonathan Haidt vs. Libertarians
The author of The Anxious Generation argues that parents, schools, and society must keep kids off of social media.
Abigail Shrier: Stop Obsessing Over Our Children's Happiness
The author of Bad Therapy argues that we have created a generation of "emotional hypochondriacs."
Study: Social Media Don't Displace In-Person Hangouts for Teens
Teens who use social media heavily also spend the most in-person time with friends.
More Than 1 in 4 Kids Are Chronically Absent From School, Report Shows
Since COVID-era school closures, chronic absenteeism has increased from 15 to 26 percent, with poor districts struggling the most.
The Bad Science Behind Jonathan Haidt's Call to Regulate Social Media
Only 22 of the 476 studies in The Anxious Generation contain data on either heavy social media use or serious mental issues among adolescents, and none have data on both.
Photo: The Kid Who Beat Tetris
Willis Gibson, 13, became the first Tetris player to trigger a "kill screen."
Review: Musical Movie Doesn't Recapture Mean Girls' Genuine Meanness
The audience's tolerance for the truth about bullying has diminished in our oversensitive age.
Parents Don't Want Schools to Confiscate Kids' Phones
A new survey highlights how fear-based parenting drives phone-based childhoods.
Blaming Tech for Teen Troubles
Jonathan Haidt’s clever, insufficient case against smartphones.
Ron DeSantis Signs Social Media Age-Verification Bill
The law would require platforms to use invasive measures to prevent most teenagers under 16 from making social media accounts and bar all minors from sexually explicit sites.
Ending Fees and Fines for Juvenile Offenders is Best for Rehabilitation
A former chief judge of Delaware's Family Court argues that imposing fines and fees on juvenile offenders undermines their potential to become productive, law-abiding adults.
Lawsuit Hobbles Utah's Plan To Mandate Age Verification Online
"Laws like this don't solve the problems they try to address but only make them worse," says a Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression attorney.
DeSantis Vetoed a Social Media Age-Verification Law, but That Doesn't Mean He Won't Sign a New One
A law forcing kids off social media sites is still likely coming to Florida.
The Best of Reason: Why Are Teens Depressed? It's Not Social Media.
Maybe the problem for teens isn't screens, but what they are replacing.
States Try To Strip Sex From Literature in Libraries, Schools
These aren't outright bans. But they still can chill free speech and academic freedom.
Kids Have First Amendment Rights Too, Federal Judge Reminds State Lawmakers
Banning people under age 16 from accessing social media without parental consent "is a breathtakingly blunt instrument" for reducing potential harms, the judge writes.
Why Are Teens Depressed? It's Not Social Media.
Maybe the problem for teens isn't screens, but what they are replacing.
Nanny State Social Media Mandates Are No Substitute for Effective Parenting
Throughout Republican-run Western states, lawmakers are passing legislation that treats adults as if they are children.
AI Versus Age-Verification Laws
AI tools churning out images of fake IDs could help people get around online age-check laws.
Utah Would Rather Repeal Social Media Age Check Law Than Defend It In Court
Laws like Utah's would require anyone using social media to prove their age through methods such as submitting biometric data or a government-issued ID.
How a Teen Locker Room Butt Slap Triggered a 2-Year Investigation
The story shows what can happen when those accused of misconduct are subjected to opaque investigations with little due process.
British Teen Gets Potential Life Sentence for Grand Theft Auto VI Hack
Rockstar Games told a U.K. court that it spent $5 million to recover from the hack. Is that worth the rest of a teenager's life?
How To Prepare Your College-Bound Kids for a Successful Launch
An excursion into Facebook groups for empty nesters shows many of them could use a hobby, a job, or even a straitjacket.
Remember the Teen Vaping 'Epidemic'?
Policies inspired by that exaggerated threat continue to undermine the harm-reducing potential of e-cigarettes.
Teenage Trick-Or-Treaters Are Too Scary For These Cities
Across the country, ghoulish cities have outlawed teenage trick-or-treaters.
Prosecutors Turn Their Extortion Racket Against Facebook and Instagram
The propensity of prosecutors to jump to conclusions before all the evidence is in is very destructive—and nothing new.
An 18-Year-Old Had Consensual Sex With a 16-Year-Old. He Went to Jail for 6 Years.
In her new book From Rage to Reason, Emily Horowitz explains what's wrong with the sex offense registry.
