Name: _______________________________ READING AND WRITING MAGAZINE
POWER FOR TEENS
spotlight skill:
Cite Your Citing Text Evidence use with: “Two Days With No Phone” (p. 4) and
Evidence Common Core Tool Kit #1
Read “Two Days With No Phone” on pages 4-6 of this issue of Action magazine. Then answer the questions below. Be sure to use details from the text (text evidence) to support your responses.
Question Response Text Evidence
1. What effect might too much texting have on a student’s relationships?
and Franchesca. Which student is more likely to text less in the future than they did before the experiment?
5. A teen checks his phone every
five minutes, and his mood changes when he doesn’t have access to his phone. Might he have an addiction?
Action Teacher’s Guide • September 2, 2013 • T3
nonfiction/Health
D ays Two W ith No e Phon orr y that ts w of Exper xting is out u e o teen t ol. Could y ne contr your pho r p give u hours? Ou id. for 48 lunteers d vo brave
Extra Resources Online!
•Bonus Quiz •common core Game •3 Reading levels •Listen & Read audio •Lesson plan •Graphic Organizer www.scholastic.com/actionmag 4 Scholastic Action | September 2, 2013 Instead of sleeping, Kenny Alarcon, 16, often texts “My friends thought I was crazy for doing this. with his friends through the After I got my phone back, everyone was joking, night. “You get an urge,” ‘The ghost is back!’ ” —Kenny Alarcon explains the teen, who lives in the Bronx in New York City. “When I get a text, I’m “When I gave my phone away, the first day I itching to respond to it even went crazy. I thought the phone was ringing but if I want to sleep.” I didn’t have the phone!” —Franchesca Garcia Franchesca Garcia, a high school senior from Providence, Rhode Island, has also felt the need to stay up of text messages. Some to a middle or high school constantly connected. We people also worry that student,” she explains. page 4: istockphoto.com (iPhone); Clockwise from Top Left: Tetra images RF/Getty Images; istockphoto.com; blue jean images RF/Getty Images; Tooga/Digital Vision/Getty Images;
1,000?” she answered. “It’s face-to-face. That could be when it comes to sleep. too many to count.” hurting their relationships It probably won’t surprise with friends and family. Sleep Texting you that teens are texting Plus, all that texting Both Franchesca and more than ever before. (See (and time on social media) Kenny told us that they page 24 for a chart with takes away from hours that wake up several times teen-texting statistics.) could be spent studying, during the night to text. Some experts are worried exercising, pursuing a Kenny even sleeps with his about how all that texting hobby, or just relaxing. phone beneath his pillow. is affecting teenagers’ lives. Dr. Elizabeth Dowdell is Dr. Dowdell says that it’s a professor at Villanova common for teens’ sleep Teens in Trouble? University in Pennsylvania. to be interrupted by texts. One concern is that She says that many people Sometimes teens even send students might not learn expect to be able to access texts filled with nonsense correct grammar and anyone or to be accessed by words when they don’t wake spelling if most of the anyone at any time. “It’s up all the way. She has been writing they do is made very appealing, especially studying this trend, which she calls “sleep texting.” Why is sleep texting a Vocabulary problem? “Adolescents statistics: a set of numbers that presents information need a solid 8, 10, even access: reach, get in touch with 11 hours of sleep to really depressed: feeling very sad for a long period of time function and to think isolated: all alone, separated from others clearly,” reports Dr. Dowdell. addiction: a strong need for something, such as drugs If they regularly lose sleep, she adds, teens may start
www.scholastic.com/actionmag | September 2, 2013 5
having trouble in school. admitted “it had benefits.” They may become grumpy, Sure, Kenny missed his Signs of angry, or depressed. A lack friends, and he was sad at Addiction of sleep can lead to weight times. But he also felt relief Many teens report gain and even obesity. from the constant texting. troubling problems when That’s because many people “Sometimes it’s teenager they try going without turn to junk food for quick drama, people gossiping,” phones and technology. energy when they are tired. he explained. “I felt less One recent study asked stressed because I didn’t students to give up phones The 48-Hour have to be involved.” and electronic media for Challenge Instead of texting, Kenny 24 hours. The result? One According to Dr. Dowdell, went to the gym and in five people experienced teens need to learn that caught up on schoolwork. changes in their bodies or they can—and should— The first night, he told us, “I emotions that are signs of turn off their phones slept for 18 hours!” He also possible addiction. Look sometimes. So we decided to spent time sitting with his below for some of these have Kenny and Franchesca family and talking. Kenny’s warning signs. do an experiment. mom helped him with Feeling These were the rules: No homework for the first anxious, phone for 48 hours. No time in two years. Said Thinking lonely, or you hear your worried computer or Internet either, Kenny, “I felt closer to phone ring or unless it was for schoolwork. my parents.” vibrate, even No Twitter, no Instagram. Franchesca had an though it is Would these two teenagers even happier result not there be able to do it? when she put away her “I think I’m going to feel phone. “I loved it!” she said. really isolated,” Kenny “I was going to the gym and worried. Franchesca was hanging out with friends and nervous but brave. “I’m playing basketball. I had a excited for the challenge,” wonderful experience.” She she said. “I don’t know slept better too. what’s going to happen.” Franchesca decided to Strong Nausea, Kenny and Franchesca continue the experiment cravings to pick feeling up your phone handed their phones to their for a while. “I think I’ll and check sick mothers for safekeeping. be so much smarter messages The challenge was on. and healthier,” she explained. “Everybody in The Results the world should try it.” We caught up with Kenny Kenny doesn’t plan to give and Franchesca after 48 up his phone again. But he phone-free hours. “Wow, it now knows that he can live Fidgeting, being unable was pure torture,” Kenny without it. Said the teen, “It to sit or joked. But though life with was a reality check.” Masterfile
stand still no phone wasn’t easy, he —Sarah Jane Brian
