Teenagers and social networking [A] As a parent of two boys at primary school, I worry about the issues associated with teenagers and social media. Newspapers are constantly filled with frightening accounts of drug addiction and aggressive behaviour supposedly caused by violent videogames. But even when these accounts touch on real concerns, they do not really reflect the great mass of everyday teenage social behaviour: the online chat, the texting, the surfing, and the emergence of a new teenage sphere that is conducted digitally. [B] New technologies always provoke generational panic, which usually has more to do with adult fears than with the lives of teenagers. In the 1930s, parents worried that radio was gaining "an irresistible hold of their children". In the 80s, the great danger was the Sony Walkman (随身听). When you look at today's digital activity, the facts are much more positive than you might expect. [C] Indeed, social scientists who study young people have found that their digital use can be inventive and even beneficial. This is true not just in terms of their social lives, but their education too. So if you use a ton of social media, do you become unable, or unwilling, to engage in face-to-face contact? The evidence suggests not. Research by Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Centre, a US think tank, found that the most passionate texters are also the kids most likely to spend time with friends in person. One form of socialising doesn't replace the other. It expands it. [D] "Kids still spend time face to face," Lenhart says. Indeed, as they get older and are given more freedom, they often ease up on social networking. Early on, the web is their "third space", but by the late teens, it's replaced in reaction to greater independence. They have to be on Facebook, to know what's going on among friends and family, but they are ambivalent (有矛盾心理的) about it, says Rebecca Eynon, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, who has interviewed about 200 British teenagers over three years. As they gain experience with living online, they begin to adjust their behaviour, struggling with new communication skills, as they do in the real world. [E] Parents are wrong to worry that kids don't care about privacy. In fact, they spend hours changing Facebook settings or using quick-delete sharing tools, such as Snapchat, to minimise their traces. Or they post a photograph on Instagram, have a pleasant conversation with friends and then delete it so that no traces remain. [F] This is not to say that kids always use good judgment. Like everyone else, they make mistakes— sometimes serious ones. But working out how to behave online is a new social skill. While there's plenty of drama and messiness online, it is not, for most teens, a cycle of non-stop abuse: a Pew study found only 15% of teens said someone had bullied them online in the last 12 months. [G] But surely all this short-form writing is affecting literacy? Certainly, teachers worry. They say that kids use overly casual language and text-speak in writing, and don't have as much patience for long reading and complex arguments. Yet studies of first-year college papers suggest these anxieties may be partly based on misguided nostalgia (怀旧). When Stanford University scholar Andrea Lunsford gathered data on the rates of errors in "freshman composition" papers going back to 1917, she found that they were virtually identical to today. [H] But even as error rates stayed stable, student essays have blossomed in size and complexity. They are now six times longer and, unlike older "what I did this summer" essays, they offer arguments supported by evidence. Why? Computers have vastly increased the ability of students to gather information, sample different points of view and write more fluidly. [I] When linguist Naomi Baron studied students' instant messaging even there she found surprisingly rare usage of short forms such as "u" for "you", and as students got older, they began to write in more grammatical sentences. That is because they want to appear more adult, and they know how adults are expected to write. Clearly, teaching teens formal writing is still crucial, but texting probably isn't destroying their ability to learn it. [J] It is probably true that fewer kids are heavy readers compared with two generations ago, when cheap paperbacks boosted rates of reading. But even back then, a minority of people—perhaps 20%—were lifelong heavy readers, and it was cable TV, not the internet, that struck a blow at that culture in the 1980s. Still, 15% or more of kids are found to be deeply bookish. In fact, the online world offers kids remarkable opportunities to become literate and creative because young people can now publish ideas not just to their friends, but to the world. And it turns out that when they write for strangers, their sense of "authentic audience" makes them work harder, push themselves further, and create powerful new communicative forms. [K] Few would deny that too much time online can be harmful. Some of the dangers are emotional: hurting someone from a distance is not the same as hurting them face to face. If we're lucky, the legal environment will change to make teenagers' online lives less likely to haunt them later on. Just last week, California passed a law allowing minors to demand that internet firms erase their digital past and the EU has considered similar legislation. [L] Distraction is also a serious issue. When kids switch from chat to music to homework, they are indeed likely to have trouble doing each task well. And studies show that pupils don't fact-check information online—"smart searching" is a skill schools need to teach urgently. It's also true that too much social networking and game playing can cut into schoolwork and sleep. This is precisely why parents still need to set firm boundaries around it, as with any other distraction. [M] So what's the best way to cope? The same boring old advice that applies to everything in parenting moderation. Rebecca Eynon argues that it's key to model good behaviour. Parents who stare nonstop at their phones and don't read books are likely to breed kids who will do the same. As ever, we ought to be careful about our own behaviour.

In the history of horse racing, few horses have captured the affection of the British public like Red Rum. Today, three decades after his retirement, he is still one of the best-known and most beloved racehorses of all time. Red Rum was passed around to several owners before being purchased for Noel Le Mar. The agent who made the purchase was the now-legendary horse trainer Donald "Ginger" McCain. It wasn't apparent at the time, but Red Rum had a serious bone disease in his foot. For many horses (and many trainers) this would mean the end of a racing career before it even began. For Ginger and Red Rum, though, it was just an obstacle to greatness that had to be overcome. Red Rum's true talent came out in steeplechases (障碍赛马). His power, speed and jumping ability carried him to his first Grand National title in 1973. The very next year, Red Rum returned to take his second title. He was the first horse to take successive firsts since Reynoldstown in 1935—1936. Red Rum's spirit and grace had already begun to charm the leagues of Grand National fans. In the following two years, Red Rum lost out on the title, coming in second both times. When he returned in 1977 to try again, he was largely regarded as past his prime. He was 12 years old and not expected to place highly. He surprised sporting fans around the world when he came in a remarkable 25 lengths ahead of the nearest horse, taking his third Grand National win. To this day, Red Rum's third win is known as one of the greatest moments in horse racing history. Red Rum was headed for the Grand National once again in 1978 but suffered an injury in one of his heels shortly before the race. He was retired soon after, but his public life and fame by no means decreased with the end of his career. Red Rum traveled all over the country for various engagements. He often led pre-race parades at Aintree Racecourse and was a popular guest at charity benefits and public events.

People in business often make decisions based on their own personal feelings or instincts. It is quite horrifying to see people being guided by some unknown force. But how wise is it, really, to let your instincts drive your decisions? In the decision-making process, relying on instincts only makes sense when you have a vast experience to support you. Simply "feeling" that something is right or should be done is highly subjective and can drown you. On the other hand, there is a more rational approach to making decisions. Data and analysis have long been associated with informed decisions. These reduce the likelihood of errors and increase the chances of success. Big, systematic data is mostly the foundation of most of our decisions, personal and business alike. But with its extreme usability comes a complication: what do you do if you strongly feel something should not be done, even if the data insists that it should? This seemingly easy question is what drives the need to understand the relationship between instincts and data in the decision-making process. Without making things complicated, the solution to this dilemma is using data and instincts in conjunction to arrive at the best possible decisions. Instinctive decisions are always backed by previous experiences or information, which acknowledges that instinctive decisions have worked in the past. Decisions are not about making the choice and braving the consequences because you want to blindly trust your instincts. They are about combining your inner wisdom with the knowledge of systematic data to make the best decisions. Sometimes, rational analysis and data are impractical to be employed in certain situations. Absence of definitive criteria, and time and resource constraints, and novel situations are instances which limit the practicality of data. The only feasible option is to rely on what your instincts tell you. In these situations, instincts can help you make effective and quick decisions. Combining instinctive and rational analysis produces well-rounded decisions. It reduces the chances of making mistakes, and has increasingly become a favorite approach to decision-making among leaders of today.