Teenage life is tough. Your insides are going crazy: your body and brain are changing rapidly, your thoughts and emotions explode, you feel invulnerable one minute and self-conscious the next. You have questions, and the Internet is full of answers … mostly wrong answers.
The Michigan eLibrary (MeL) Teens section has collected links to helpful websites with accurate, useful information. In this first installment on MeL Teens’ Life Happens tab, I’ll explore the Health resources.
Life Happens: Health contains links to sites and pages such as “Be Tobacco Free,” “Bike Safety,” “Body Mass Calculator,” “Cutting and Self-Harm,” “Eating Disorders,” “Nutrition for Everyone,” “Science Behind Drug Abuse,” “Sexual Health,” “Stop Sports Injuries,” “Tanning,” “A Teenager’s Guide to Depression” and “Vaccines and Immunizations.” The kind of information you’ll find at these sites is obvious.
Three additional sites under the Health heading require a little more explanation:
Go Ask Alice!—A service of Columbia University in New York City, Go Ask Alice! is geared toward college students. However, anyone may submit a question anonymously and confidentially, and most of the information that is posted is highly relevant to high school students. The information is broken up into categories for easy browsing: Alcohol & Other Drugs, Emotional Health, Nutrition & Physical Activity, General Health, Relationships and Sexual & Reproductive Health.
I Wanna Know!—From the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA), this website features well-researched answers to questions about sexual health, relationships, sexual identity and orientation, pregnancy and parenthood. I Wanna Know! is specifically for teens and young adults. If you don’t find an answer to your question, you can send an email and, if your question is selected, get reliable information.
Wait21—This is the website of a nonprofit organization that educates young people about addiction. It offers accurate information based on scientific studies. Wait21 also offers a pledge for those who wish to abstain from alcohol and other drugs until they reach 21. (You can sign the pledge even if you’ve tried alcohol or other drugs in the past.)
Go to MeL Teens to visit these sites and more! In two near-future posts, we’ll check out what MeL Teens’ Life Happens has to offer on Social Issues and Jobs & Vocations!