jeytar: অক্টোবর 2012

বুধবার, ৩১ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

W.Va. blizzard warning as Appalachia storm blows

Snow coats Highway 33 West in West Virginia as Hurricane Sandy batters the eastern seaboard, and a cold weather system blankets most of the high elevations in West Virginia on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. As the systems meet, blizzard conditions are in effect across multiple counties in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

A student walks across the lawn at Davis & Elkins College as the snow started falling hard in Elkins, W. Va., on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Vicki Smith)

Snow plows thunder through the mountains of West Virginia as the superstorm begins it's raking of the region, Monday evening, Oct. 29, 2012. In the higher elevations of the mountains there could be from 2-3 feet of snow and blizzard conditions thru Tuesday. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

Snow falls in Elkins, W.Va., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, a day after Sandy slammed the eastern coast of the Unites States. In some parts of West Virginia the collision of multiple storm systems could produce up to 3 feet of snow. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

Fred Brugge of Lexington, Ky., clears snow from his car windshield on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park at Prestonsburg in eastern Kentucky. Snow settled in across portions of Kentucky?s Appalachian region as part of superstorm Sandy hitting the eastern U.S. A winter storm warning continues through Wednesday morning for the eastern counties of Harlan, Letcher and Pike. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner)

ELKINS, W.Va. (AP) ? Wet snow and high winds spinning off the edge of superstorm Sandy spread blizzard conditions over parts of West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian states Tuesday, shutting one interstate as trucks and cars bogged down and knocking out power to many.

The National Weather Service said a foot and more of snow was reported in lower elevations of West Virginia, where most towns and roads are. High elevations in the mountains were getting more than two feet and a blizzard warning for more than a dozen counties was in effect until Wednesday afternoon.

At least 236,000 customers were without power in West Virginia early Tuesday. In Elkins, a city of about 7,000 people, power went out across town before dawn and the only lights were from passing snow plows as heavy, wet flakes piled up to about 8 inches.

Authorities closed nearly 50 miles of Interstate 68 on either side of the West Virginia-Maryland state line because of blizzard conditions and stuck cars. Eastbound lanes in Maryland ere later reopened.

More than 30 other highways and roads were closed in West Virginia by snow, ice, high water, and downed trees and power lines. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Leslie Fitzwater said. Schools were closed in at least 39 counties.

"It's a mess out there and people should stay home if they can until our first responders can get out there, clear the roads and get to those who need the most assistance," Fitzwater said.

Officials in West Virginia said a woman was killed Monday in a storm-related traffic accident. A spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said about 5 inches of snow had fallen in the area of Tucker County where the crash occurred, making road conditions treacherous.

On the Maryland side of I-68, crews were trying to remove several tractor-trailers stuck on the highway. Four or five passenger vehicles also were abandoned in the median, State Highway Administration spokeswoman Kelly Boulware said.

The higher elevations in western parts of Maryland received more than a foot of snow since Monday afternoon, and it was still snowing Tuesday before dawn, Boulware said.

Police rescued several stranded motorists on the interstate in West Virginia, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

A significant winter storm continued in northeast Tennessee, where snow was forecast for higher elevations through Wednesday morning.

At Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn reported 22 inches of snow at the highest elevations, with strong winds blowing drifts up to 4 feet deep.

Roads were closed throughout the park and a handful of hikers coming off sections of the Appalachian Trial on Tuesday morning reporting tangles of fallen trees and waist-deep drifts.

"We don't know exactly how many people are still up there, but we've not received any distress calls," Soehn said. "It's that heavy, wet snow, so it is difficult to plow."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-30-Superstorm-Snow/id-ed09e7011cd04bdcb1f73cceb56dd191

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৫ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Obama votes early in Chicago hometown

CHICAGO (AP) ? President Barack Obama has cast his ballot early, returning to his hometown of Chicago to drum up support for early voting.

The president says, "all across the country we're seeing a lot of early voting." He says it was "really convenient" but jokes, "I can't tell you who I voted for."

Obama signed forms and showed his driver's license at a South Side Chicago voting site and then voted at a blue voting machine.

It was the first time a sitting presidential nominee voted early and reflects the Obama campaign's strategy to encourage as many voters as possible to vote early or by absentee ballot.

About 35 percent of the electorate is expected to vote before Election Day.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-25-Obama-Early%20Voting/id-916fc398d7554ca3af60841c03f1c907

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Israeli PM's party to ally with ultranationalists

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's prime minister announced Thursday that he was joining forces with his hard-line foreign minister in upcoming elections, instantly creating a hawkish new bloc that now appears poised to lead the country.

The deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu makes the new ticket the clear front-runner in the January elections, giving the ultranationalist foreign minister, a staunch opponent of concessions to the Palestinians, a major say in any future peace efforts. It also raises speculation that centrist opposition parties might now be compelled to unite as well.

"We are facing great challenges and this is the time to unite forces for the sake of Israel. Therefore Likud and Yisrael Beitenu will run together on the same ticket in the next elections," Netanyahu said at a news conference.

"We are asking for a mandate from the public to lead Israel against security threats, above all preventing Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons and the struggle against terror," he said.

Israelis vote for political parties, not individual candidates. The leader of the bloc with the most seats in the 120-member parliament usually serves as prime minister of a coalition government.

Likud has been leading in opinion polls, but the resurgent Labor Party has been making gains by criticizing the outgoing government's record on economic and social issues.

Analysts suggested Netanyahu took Thursday's step in order to head off the possibility of a broad centrist bloc led by Labor. Together with Yisrael Beitenu, Likud could control more than 40 parliamentary seats, based on recent polls, making it roughly twice as large as Labor.

But polls have suggested that even with a center-left alliance, Netanyahu's bloc would still win.

Opposition lawmakers said the new alliance created an extremist party opposed to peace that would alienate many moderate voters. Labor's leader, Shelly Yachimovich, urged her centrist rivals to rally behind her.

"I call on all the centrist forces in the Israeli political map to join with Labor ... to not let the Lieberman-Netanyahu government rule," she said. Yachimovich called Netanyahu's new coalition "racist" and called on "moderate voters on the right" to join Labor.

Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz of the Kadima party also called for the center party to unite, dubbing Netanyahu's hawkish union "a wake-up call." Israel Radio political analyst Hanan Kristal said Netanyahu's move would guarantee victory for the new bloc in the upcoming election. He said Likud might lose some moderate voters but they would be few.

"The big question now is about Lieberman, now that he is Netanyahu's number two," Kristal said. "Will he be the defense minister or deputy prime minister? Or remain foreign minister?"

Lieberman, who once worked as a bar bouncer, immigrated to Israel in 1978 from Moldova in the former Soviet Union. He became a national figure in 1996 as a top aide to Netanyahu during his previous term as prime minister. He later quit Netanyahu's Likud party and was elected to parliament in 1999 as head of Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home), a secular hawkish party he established to represent the more than 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

His party has gained strength since then and was the third largest in the 2009 elections, drawing many votes from native Israelis as well as his traditional base.

Lieberman is known for inflammatory rhetoric that has at times agitated his partners in government. He has called for executing Israeli Arab lawmakers who met with leaders of the militant group Hamas.

More recently, Lieberman pushed a series of legislative proposals that critics said were anti-Arab, including a failed attempt to require Israelis to sign a loyalty oath or have their citizenship revoked.

He embarrassed Netanyahu in the past by expressing contrasting views to that of the government, including skepticism over the chances of reaching peace with the Palestinians.

Lieberman has called the Palestinian President an "obstacle to peace," and urged his removal so that peace talks that collapsed in 2008 could be revived.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-pms-party-ally-ultranationalists-202433972.html

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Rockets, Mortars Launched from Gaza Pummeling Southern Israel

Dozens of rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip pummeled southern Israel early Wednesday and an Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian militant, in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to Gaza by Qatar's leader...

Several foreign workers in Israel were critically wounded in the rocket fire Wednesday, and a number of militants were injured in the Israeli air attacks, Israeli and Palestinian health officials said. Hamas security forces were ordered to evacuate their facilities for fear they would become targets of Israeli airstrikes, and some schools in southern Israel and Gaza canceled classes.

Crossings between Gaza and Israel were shut down following the exchanges of fire.

Hostilities have been simmering for weeks, and Israel's defense minister vowed that his country would not reconcile itself to attacks from Gaza.

Asked if Israel was considering a ground operation in the Palestinian territory, Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that "if we need a ground operation there will be a ground operation. We will do whatever necessary to stop this wave" of violence.

The Israeli military said nearly 70 rockets and mortars were fired by late morning, and that Israeli aircraft struck Gaza four times. The Popular Resistance Committees said one of its members died in one of the airstrikes, and Gaza health official Dr. Ashraf al-Kidra said another Gaza man died of wounds sustained in an attack Tuesday night that killed two militants. No militant group claimed him as a member.

One of the rockets hit a house, causing no injuries, and one of the airstrikes struck a mosque in the southern Gaza village of Khouza for the second time in several weeks.

Much of the fighting has been between Israel and smaller militant groups. But the military wing of Gaza's Hamas rulers and a smaller militant group claimed credit for the rocket and mortar fire Wednesday.

In a statement, Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees said "these holy missions come in response to the repeated, continuous crimes of the enemy against our people, which killed four and injured 10 in the past 48 hours."

The barrage from Gaza came just hours after Qatar's ruler accorded Hamas unprecedented political recognition by becoming the first head of state to visit the largely shunned Palestinian territory on Tuesday.

READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE

Editor's Note: This is non-negotiable: Until all Muslims denounce their ideologies mandate that Jews be killed and Israel eliminated, they will be complicit in each and every action made against the Israeli and Jewish people. It must go without saying, if you want to live in peace you must live peacefully. Today, Islamists -- in the form of jihadists, terrorists and apathetic Muslims -- choose not to live peacefully.

The New Media Journal and BasicsProject.org are not funded by outside sources. We exist exclusively on tax deductible donations from our readers and contributors.
Please make a tax deductible donation today.

Source: http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/7249

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বুধবার, ২৪ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Investors Call on Canadian Oil Sands Producers to Improve Environmental and Social Performance

$2 Trillion Group of Investors Propose Higher Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Water Management, Land Reclamation and Consultations with First Nations

BOSTON, Oct. 22 /CSRwire/ - As presidential candidates spar over the issue of North American energy independence, a group of 49 investors with $2 trillion in assets under management are calling on Canadian oil sands developers to dramatically reduce the environmental and social impact of their operations by lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, managing water use, promoting land reclamation and consulting fully with First Nations and other communities affected by oil sands projects. The investors argued that these performance improvements ?should be prioritized ahead of unmitigated growth ambitions for oil sands development.?

The investors? statement of expectations was delivered to Canada?s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA), an industry-led group formed in March with the specific goal of improving the industry?s environmental performance.

?We are supportive of COSIA?s goal to ?accelerate the pace and scope of environmental innovation? to put the oil sands on a more sustainable path, as well as its focus on transparency and accountability,? the investors wrote in the statement. ?We believe that COSIA?s effectiveness will be greatly enhanced by setting specific goals for improving environmental and social performance along with detailed plans for achieving them.?

Canadian oil sands production is already at 1.6 million barrels per day, the vast majority of which goes to the U.S. Last year, the U.S. imported as much oil from the Canadian oil sands as it did from Saudi Arabia, the second largest source of U.S. oil imports. Oil sands production is projected to grow to 4.2 million barrels per day by 2025.

Oil sands development is significantly more resource-intensive than traditional oil development, creating environmental and social concerns that investors argue may threaten the sector?s long-term viability and growth.

In their statement, investors specifically called on COSIA to:

Set goals and timelines for reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of oil sands production to at least that of conventional oil production, while also providing greater disclosure on research and development efforts and supporting provincial and federal regulations that would lead to significant reductions in GHG emissions.
Manage water risk by setting goals and timelines for minimizing net surface and groundwater withdrawals, and keeping withdrawals within science-based ecosystem limits.
Reduce the rate of land disturbance and increase reclamation, provide disclosure of liabilities, establish wetlands and biodiversity offsets and accept limits to the amount of land available to oil sands development at any given time.
In cooperation with government authorities, fully incorporate the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in their responsibilities to First Nations, Metis, Inuit and other communities affected by oil sands operations.

?Oil sands companies cannot ignore these performance improvements in the name of unmitigated growth. The risks to their industry and investors are simply too great,? said Matthias Beer, senior analyst of governance & sustainable investment at F&C Asset Management, a U.K-based investment firm. ?This statement of expectations asks oil sands companies to hold themselves to reasonable standards, which we believe is a necessary step in protecting the long-term financial viability of this resource.?

?This is a clear sign that investors are dissatisfied with the status quo in Canada?s oil sands, but the expectations it lays out are achievable,??said?Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres,?a sustainability advocacy group that organized the initiative. ?Oil sands companies must listen to their investors and substantially improve their environmental and social performance. Investors are telling these companies to prioritize these critical issues before they embark on aggressive growth plans."

In 2010, Ceres commissioned the report,?Canada's?Oil?Sands: Shrinking Window of Opportunity, which provides further detail on the financial and environmental risks of oil sands development including land, water and greenhouse gas management.

About Ceres

Ceres?is an advocate for sustainability leadership.?Ceres?mobilizes a powerful coalition?of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build?a healthy global economy.?Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of 100 institutional investors with collective assets totaling more than $10 trillion. ?

For more information, visit http://www.ceres.org

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CsrwirePressReleases/~3/E1Gmvk_OlZk/34780-Investors-Call-on-Canadian-Oil-Sands-Producers-to-Improve-Environmental-and-Social-Performance

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Pakistan-India jurists can end impasse: CJP

ISLAMABAD - The jurists being the most law-knowing and mature people and capable of moulding public opinion, can play a role in creating the environment for peaceful interaction between the two neighbours, but also ensuring that such interaction is translated into real trust and harmony between the two countries.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that while addressing the delegation of Indian lawyers, who visited the Supreme Court on Monday.
"I believe that the present visit and interaction between the jurists of India and Pakistan will go a long way in understanding each other better and help remove lingering sense of mistrust and apathy towards each other," he added. CJ said that lawyers are among the most active and knowledgeable segment of a society.
?They play a leading role in moulding the public opinion on important issues of public policy. Pakistan and India are among those two nations whose very existence was made possible primarily because of the visionary leadership of their founding fathers who were also distinguished jurists of their times,? he added. The institutions of judiciary both in Pakistan and India have a common cultural, social and legal background, he said.
"We draw inspiration from the same source of jurisprudence and follow the same pluralistic and all encompassing representative democracy based on the twin principles of rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.?
"Given the peculiar evolution of democratic institutions and commonality in legal principle in our two countries, we can learn form each others' jurisprudence," he added. The Supreme Court of India has rendered benchmark judgments in the field of Public Interest litigation, he said.
Similarly, Supreme Court of Pakistan has also endeavoured to ensure implementation of fundamental rights to the citizens as enshrined in the Constitution by taking suo moto notices in wider public interest, CJ stated.
Even today, the role of lawyers and jurists cannot be under estimated in terms of providing a strong leadership in both the countries, he stressed.
CJ stated:it is a proven fact of history and considered opinion of historians and scholars of law and politics that only those societies thrive and prosper where the twin principles of "rule of law" and "supremacy of Constitution" are practiced.
The present Pakistan has successfully transitioned itself to rule of law based upon complete implementation of Constitutionalism in the country, he said.
?Our law-enforcement agencies are striving hard to check terrorism menace and the court system in the country including the Anti-Terrorism Courts are geared to handle these cases expeditiously and dispense justice in a forthright and transparent manner. Therefore, I do not see any reason why Pakistan should not regain its position as a civilised and progressive country, which is at peace with itself and with countries in the region and beyond, ? he added.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Business/~3/MbgxX2rzI6c/pakistan-india-jurists-can-end-impasse-cjp

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৩ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Obama to Do Live MTV Q&A Friday

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-live-mtv-q-friday-001646475.htmlyom kippur yom kippur avengers soa andy williams andy williams Lady Gaga

Friendship 2.0: Teens' technology use promotes sense of belonging, identity

Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
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Contact: Molly McElroy
mollywmc@uw.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

With adolescents seemingly glued to cell phones and social networking websites, experts are investigating whether the near-constant digital activity changes youths' development.

A new study from the University of Washington shows that digital media helps teens reach developmental milestones, such as fostering a sense of belonging and sharing personal problems. But the study also raised questions about whether digital connectedness might hinder the development of an autonomous sense of self.

Katie Davis, an assistant professor in the Information School and an expert on digital media use during adolescence, calls it "Friendship 2.0."

"What they're doing is different from generations of teenagers from before the digital era, but it comes from the same place of basic developmental needs. It's just that they're using different tools to satisfy these needs," said Davis.

She is the author of a study on the role of digital media in adolescent friendships and sense of identity, an important factor in psychological well-being. The study will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescence.

Davis interviewed 32 adolescents, aged 13 to 18 and about an even mix of boys and girls, living on the island of Bermuda where teens have similar digital media habits as teenagers in the United States. She asked them about how they use media to communicate with friends, and came up with an inventory of their media use:

94 percent have cell phones.
53 percent have Internet-enabled cell phones.
91 percent have Facebook profiles.
78 percent use online instant messaging, such as MSN, AOL or Skype.
94 percent use YouTube.
9 percent use Twitter.
These percentages are similar to what Davis found when she surveyed 2,079 youths living in Bermuda, an affluent British-dependent territory located about 640 miles off the coast of South Carolina. Though more Bermudian teens use social networking sites and own cell phones than American teens, Davis says that her findings from the island where she grew up and worked as a school teacher can provide insights on U.S. teens because the two countries share cultural ties and the role of digital media in teens' lives is similar in both places.

Davis asked about the content of their digital conversations and analyzed 200 examples shared by the teens. Casual chatter about homework or what they did that day occurred three times more than intimate conversations about feelings or problems.

Looking more closely at the casual exchanges, Davis found that friends stay connected through frequent check-ins, sharing something funny that happened or asking what they're up to or how they're doing. These off-the-cuff conversations can last throughout the day, with breaks for going to class or having dinner.

Most 68 percent of check-ins occur on Facebook, and include groups of friends commenting on photos or YouTube videos. Nearly half of the participants in the survey talked about posting photos of themselves with their friends and then tagging their friends, allowing them to discuss a shared experience and promote a sense of belonging to a circle of friends.

Intimate exchanges, discussed by 69 percent of participants usually girls included how they were feeling, whether they were having a bad day or other problems that they hoped to get their friends' help with. Youths, especially those describing themselves as shy or quiet, said that it was easier to share these personal thoughts digitally than in person. Some felt typing rather than speaking their feelings gave them more control.

Some participants considered the ability to connect anytime and anywhere with their friends to be not just convenient, but necessary to stay up-to-date and to avoid feeling isolated or being left out of group activities.

"Adolescents are interacting with their peers constantly, and the question arises as to whether they can still develop an autonomous sense of self," Davis said. This isn't known yet, but she suspects that this constant connectivity may support the development of an outward-looking self, one that looks to others for affirmation rather relying on an internal sense of worth and efficacy.

"Relying on others for self-affirmation suggests a relatively fragile sense of self, but our study doesn't say for sure that that is what is going on," Davis said. "What we can say is that adolescents are using digital media to promote their sense of belonging and self-disclosure of personal problems, two important peer processes that support identity development."

###

The study was funded in part by The Bank of Bermuda Foundation.

For more information, contact Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu or 206-221-7741.

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Friendship 2.0: Teens' technology use promotes sense of belonging, identity Public release date: 22-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Molly McElroy
mollywmc@uw.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

With adolescents seemingly glued to cell phones and social networking websites, experts are investigating whether the near-constant digital activity changes youths' development.

A new study from the University of Washington shows that digital media helps teens reach developmental milestones, such as fostering a sense of belonging and sharing personal problems. But the study also raised questions about whether digital connectedness might hinder the development of an autonomous sense of self.

Katie Davis, an assistant professor in the Information School and an expert on digital media use during adolescence, calls it "Friendship 2.0."

"What they're doing is different from generations of teenagers from before the digital era, but it comes from the same place of basic developmental needs. It's just that they're using different tools to satisfy these needs," said Davis.

She is the author of a study on the role of digital media in adolescent friendships and sense of identity, an important factor in psychological well-being. The study will be published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescence.

Davis interviewed 32 adolescents, aged 13 to 18 and about an even mix of boys and girls, living on the island of Bermuda where teens have similar digital media habits as teenagers in the United States. She asked them about how they use media to communicate with friends, and came up with an inventory of their media use:

94 percent have cell phones.
53 percent have Internet-enabled cell phones.
91 percent have Facebook profiles.
78 percent use online instant messaging, such as MSN, AOL or Skype.
94 percent use YouTube.
9 percent use Twitter.
These percentages are similar to what Davis found when she surveyed 2,079 youths living in Bermuda, an affluent British-dependent territory located about 640 miles off the coast of South Carolina. Though more Bermudian teens use social networking sites and own cell phones than American teens, Davis says that her findings from the island where she grew up and worked as a school teacher can provide insights on U.S. teens because the two countries share cultural ties and the role of digital media in teens' lives is similar in both places.

Davis asked about the content of their digital conversations and analyzed 200 examples shared by the teens. Casual chatter about homework or what they did that day occurred three times more than intimate conversations about feelings or problems.

Looking more closely at the casual exchanges, Davis found that friends stay connected through frequent check-ins, sharing something funny that happened or asking what they're up to or how they're doing. These off-the-cuff conversations can last throughout the day, with breaks for going to class or having dinner.

Most 68 percent of check-ins occur on Facebook, and include groups of friends commenting on photos or YouTube videos. Nearly half of the participants in the survey talked about posting photos of themselves with their friends and then tagging their friends, allowing them to discuss a shared experience and promote a sense of belonging to a circle of friends.

Intimate exchanges, discussed by 69 percent of participants usually girls included how they were feeling, whether they were having a bad day or other problems that they hoped to get their friends' help with. Youths, especially those describing themselves as shy or quiet, said that it was easier to share these personal thoughts digitally than in person. Some felt typing rather than speaking their feelings gave them more control.

Some participants considered the ability to connect anytime and anywhere with their friends to be not just convenient, but necessary to stay up-to-date and to avoid feeling isolated or being left out of group activities.

"Adolescents are interacting with their peers constantly, and the question arises as to whether they can still develop an autonomous sense of self," Davis said. This isn't known yet, but she suspects that this constant connectivity may support the development of an outward-looking self, one that looks to others for affirmation rather relying on an internal sense of worth and efficacy.

"Relying on others for self-affirmation suggests a relatively fragile sense of self, but our study doesn't say for sure that that is what is going on," Davis said. "What we can say is that adolescents are using digital media to promote their sense of belonging and self-disclosure of personal problems, two important peer processes that support identity development."

###

The study was funded in part by The Bank of Bermuda Foundation.

For more information, contact Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu or 206-221-7741.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uow-f2t102212.php
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