Not only that, but you [vlad] do not practice medicine in a region that represents a statistical random sample of American teens, because no such place exists.
So all this really proves is that if you have a room full of adolescents, and an adult asks each of them if they're screwing, don't expect many to say, "Yes. Like a Jackhammer. Am I excused?"
Seriously. It's all scare tactics to feed America's mentality of fear. It's so that someone can feel superior to whomever would allow their kids to be so depraved. It's the same mindset that loves watching "COPS" and car crashes. The same rubberneckers who slow down for a wreck on the opposite lanes of the expressway, just so they don't miss anything. It's fucked up and I get tired of hearing about it. If you raise your children with a healthy respect for themselves and the world around them, there's a good chance they will behave in a respectable way. If you choose to let the schools and TV raise your child, don't act all whiny and shocked when they come home with jock itch in their mouth. Rant closed.
For those of you citing anecdotal evidence about your geographical areas, what was the situation 20 years ago? I can tell you that smoking is _way_ down as is hard core drug use (for my old high school). It definitely varies by region. When I moved to Portland (from Atlanta) I was shocked by the number of people who smoked...
There was a story about this in the Palm Beach Post (Florida). It didn't really say anything definitive. I even asked some of my co-workers if I was missing anything. They aggreed with me, the article said nothing. Has anybody actually found somebody who went to said party? Not the usual friend of a friend. I still remember hearing about the exploding frog in the microwave oven.
If I was anywhere close to TN, I would buy you a beer John.
The TV news is no longer provided as a public service, it is purely for entertainment. Their 'entertainment' of choice is fear, doom, and gloom. If the news was even half-correct, our culture would have imploded 20 years ago.
Seriously though, news programs started because the FCC required networks to provide it as a public service. It was one of their payments for getting that public broadcast frequency for free. I think it was in the late 70s that the FCC removed that rule and effectively the networks have no guidelines or commitments for their news programs other than the normal legal concerns of slander and such. So news is no longer provided to inform you, it is provided to entertain you and because fear gets ratings.
TV news is a wasteland, only show I watch with any regularity is The Daily Show. Sad when the fake news is so much more insightful and informative than the 'real' news.
I'm glad to see I'm not alone in thinking that. I learn more in the first 10 minutes of the Daily show then I would from watching 2 hours of any of the news networks.
statistics = reasonable evidence anecdotal stories/statistics = not reasonable evidence
conclusion here: bunk until otherwise proven
I graduated H.S. here in '97. Now was definitely not the partier/popular type, but I hear the stories. Can't say I ever heard something as preposterous as this. Come on. And my wife used to hang out with the druggies and troublemakers (many of them younger), and never heard of this. I find it hard to believe without evidence.
When they start seeing it on TV and glamorized: that's when it would start existing if at all.