Do you have a facebook?

You are probably one of the million users of the world's largest social network! Facebook is a social networking website created by Mark Zuckerberg with his co-students while they were studying computer science at Harvard university in 2004. At first, if you wanted to become a member you had to be a student at Harvard university but later on it expanded including any university student, high school students and finally anyone aged 13 and over. The site currently has more than 300.000.000 active users worldwide. We use facebook to chat with friends, exchange photos, play games, watch videos and many more! What makes facebook so popular is the fact that it keeps us in touch with our friends' lifes even if they live far away. But why would someone invest so much money to provide a tool for internet users to exchange personal information online? The answer is advertisment money and marketing companies. Facebook is gathering so much information about its users that marketing experts can use them to sell the right product to the right person! So use facebook wisely and avoid giving more information than necessary! Do you have a Facebook account? Why do you use Facebook for?

School Starts-New friends, new interests, new netbooks!

So summer is over and those who are lucky to be in the first grade in junior High School will be happier than other students . The reason : a free netbook by the Greek government for everyone! Each student has already got a coupon worth 450€ and will be able to buy a netbook of his/her choice! Furthermore, the students will have to use the netbooks in the class as the Greek ministry of education has created digital versions of the lesson being taught in class with special activities and multimedia content! Some people believe that it will benefit the students at their lessons at school while others believe it is a waste of money! What is your view?

Exams are coming!To stress or not to stress!

Studying for final exams can be quite stressful. Some students deal with stress well while others (their parents too sometimes.!) have the fear of failure even if they are well prepared for a test. Here are some tips to help you reduce stress and anxiety:

• Get Enough Sleep. Studies have shown that if you don't sleep at least 7 hours a day it will negatively affect your performance on tests, even if you spend those missed hours of sleep studying.
  
• Study Smarter:Make a list of the most important things you need to learn, in order of importance, study the items at the top of the list first and try to calculate the amount of time you have for each subject you have to study.
  
• Get Organized: a system of organization for note-taking, keeping track of assignments, and other important papers. Being organised can bring you the peace of mind that comes from knowing where everything is, remembering deadlines and test dates.
  
• Create a Good Study Environment: Creating a personal environment can reduce stress and help you learn more effectively.
  
• Know Your Learning Style: Did you know that we don’t all learn in the same way? So you can try and find out your own learning style and test your knowledge and different learning techniques before the final exams.
  

How stress affects you? How do you handle stress?

Good luck

Emo or trendy?

All teenagers love music! It's often music adults hate, and it is usually played at maximum decibels. 
Music is shared between teenagers and they tend to choose their friends according to their music preferences. . It gives them a sense of identity, a feeling of belonging to a group. Most of the times music goes together with fashion trends as well as hair cut! Everyone, since the explosion of rock music, can remember a band and their special looks!Your are either a heavy metal fan or a pop fan, an emo or a trendy! What is your favourite music? Do you think it is important that your friend listens to the same music as you? 

Eurovision song contest is coming..Eurotrash is back!!!

Eurovision is in fact Europe's favourite Tv show. Every year millions of viewers from all over Europe get together in front of their tv screens and watch the most popular song contest in the world. It's a great chance to spend your time with your family and friends, vote the the song or the country you like, gossip and have fun! Eurotrash is the term term that is used to describe this phenomenon as weird performers with bizzar costumes appear on stage and represent their country. There are thousands of Eurovision fans and clubs  all over Europe that follow their favourite singers everywhere they go. Winning the first prize is even considered as a national victory in some countries. There are also lots of money involved in the Eurovision song contest, especially bets about the top 5 songs. The bottom line is that it's a great way to spend the night with your friends gossiping!!Except if you have something more important to do! What do you think about the song contest?    

How can a slumdog be a millonaire?

Darhami is a neighbourhood in India. It is the poorest city in Asia and it is the location where "Slumdog millionaire" was filmed, a new movie that won 8 Oscar awards. The film is about a boy who grows up in Darhami, India and some time in his life he chooses to take part in a popular tv show called "who wants to be a millionaire?". But how can a poor boy without basic education answer all the questions in the show? Every moment of his life is a clue to the answers. The film is quite realistic about the way of life and the conditions in that part of the world. The neighbourhood has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. There is one toilet per 1500 people; drinking water is polluted; people live in carton handmade homes,, they wash their clothes and themselves in the same river and they sometimes eat what's left from rubbish as they try to survive on 1 euro per day! The saddest part of the story is that only in india 78% of the population (800.000.000 million!!!) live in similar conditions! How can we fight poverty? Can you suggest ways to help the poor?

.

Internet Dating! Not like real life!

If Romeo and Juliet were born in our days they would probably meet in a chatroom!

Most teenagers use the internet for social reasons, either to communicate with their existing friends and classmates or to make new friends. They use instant messaging services like msn, chatrooms and social sites like Hi5, Myspace and Facebook. Online gaming is also very popular. They watch videos on youtube, exchange photos, songs and ideas online. It is easy to find someone who has the same interests as you, especially if you speak english! The question is whether it is safe for teenagers to surf the net without control as the internet is the mirror of our society and you never know who is really the person you are talking to! So never give your contact details to someone you meet on the internet.

Have you met someone on the internet? What do you use the internet for?

Peer Pressure:Why it is hard to say no to your friends?

Peer pressure is something that everyone has to deal with at a time especially when you want to be part of a group. Most of us tend to behave differently when they are in a group. Teenagers usually follow their friends even if they don't really agree with them because they don't want to be isolated. They skip a boring lesson, make fun of a weak classmate, and sometimes hang out with a popular person who is a bad influence on them even though they don't really like because they don't want to be called cowards or geeks! Think for yourself and choose your friends wisely. Hang out with people who will act and think the same as you and don't be afraid to say no! Has someone of your age ever persuaded you to do something you didn't want to do?What do you do when your friends are all doing something that you don't really want to do?

Mobile phones and Children:Toast Brain !!!

Parents should make sure that children use their mobile phones only when absolutely necessary, and even though there is still no proof that they are unsafe, experts say that there is possible health risk. Especially children under 8 should not use mobile phones at all! The Mobile Phones industry is trying to sell more mobile phones to children so they advertise their products to 7 -10 year old children. One in four 7-10 year old children now own a mobile phone! They use it mainly to send messages to their classmates, play games and talk to their parent when necessary. Parents often feel that their children should have a mobile phone for safety reasons but they are warned to control their children. Medical studies have clearly shown that heavy use of the mobile phone by 7-10 year old children causes health problems, affects brain functions, and the radiation from a mobile phone can even cause DNA damage. Do you own a mobile phone? How often do you use it?

Image is everything!

Music has changed a lot since technology and digital music have entered our lives. Nowadays teenagers listen to their, favourite singers on their mp3 players and ipods and download songs from the internet.Television especially MTV, and the internet has played a major role in changing the music industry and the way we listen to music. There are not many

record shops left as the biggest music shop in the world, itunes, sells its music online. Image is now the most important feature and if a young singer wants to become famous they should have the right looks! This is a song by Katy Perry, a new American singer. She is known for her unconventional style of dress, often humorous, bright in color, and a mix of different decades, as well as her frequent use of fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon,as part of her outfits!

You are what you eat!No more skinny models please!!!

How important is what you eat and how you look?

Anorexia is a serious health problem that affects especially young women and a growing number of men too. The role models that are repeatedly presented to young teenagers, pop idols on mtv, models in fashion shows and film stars, promote a skiny body type. The message is crystal clear: thin is beautiful!!! Teenage girls and boys that want to look like their favourite celebrities are encouraged by the fashion and film industry to think that thinner is better! But what is the reality? An anorexic often suffers from stress or depression, losses his/her hair, loses bone and muscles strength, and it is more likely to deal with more serious health problems in the future. How would you help your friend who has an eating disorder? 

What are your dreams for the future?

Martin Luther King was an american activist and leader of the african american civil rights movements. He was against the war in Vietnam and fought for the rights of all people disregarding faith, social backround and skin colour. In february 1965 he received the Nobel prize for peace for his political actions and his determination towards racial and social issues. His dream was a society free of violence and racicm ; a society of justice, social peace and political and economic equality and brotherhood. He was killed in April 4 1968 in Memphis by a white man at the age of 39. The video shows a tribute song to the man who fought for equality and justice and it was written by the popular rock band called U2. Has his dream become a reality since then?

New Orleans.A City of Ruins..

In August 2005 hurricane katrina hit the city of New Orleans in the U.S.A. New Orleans is the city where jazz music was born, of great coffee shops and local cuisine but it is also the city of opposition and racism since there is a large black community. At least 1,836 people lost their lives, most of them afro-americans, hundreds of thousands left unemployed and homeless. It is sad to notice that the Bush government delayed to respond to the victims causing many people to die from thirst, exhaustion and violence days after the hurricane had passed. The parts of the city that were mostly damaged were inhabited by afro-americans which raised a moral question of discrimination by the government. The racial mix in the city has changed significantly since many afro-americans have left their hometown as there are no proposals to rebuild the historical black neighbourhoods. Three years after the katrina those that remain in the city still live in trailers trying to restore their lives, face the future hopeless because help from the government never came.

If you were a citizen of New Orleans how would you advise the new american president, the first black president in the U.S. , to deal with the problems that the city is facing three years after the hurricane?

More children and women dead in the Middle East..

More than 90.000 palestinians have left their homes to escape bombing as Israeli forces continue to strike what they call strategic targets. About 900 people have been killed, 292 of them children and 75 women and more than 2300 injured since the beginning of the fighting. The international community is not doing anything to stop the bombing of innocent civilians and even the is Israeli people strongly support the military operation by 80%! Journalists are not allowed to enter Gaza and food and medical supplies can not reach those in need since Israel has closed the borders. This dispute is one of the many in this area since the end of the 2nd World War, when the state of Israel was founded in a land inhabited mainly by palestineans in the middle east. The U.S.A is the strongest supporter of Israel's policies as they play an important role in a vital part of the world. How do you feel about what is happening?
What would you do to stop this?