>> one sec, mwanzaa. i'm wrapping up this text. was that rude? most teens, in a recent survey, say "yes," yet for some reason, we still do it. when is the wrong time to send a text message? >> obviously, like, if you're in class. >> like, at the movies. >> way late in the evening, like, waking somebody up. >> when you're in the car. >> probably dinner, 'cause my mom, like, hates me when i, like, start texting and, like, she's trying to talk to me. >> okay, we know it's wrong to text at school, dinner, or when talking with a friend, but have you ever done it? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> yes, but i've never sent a text at school. >> margaret sullivan is with text plus, a mobile app that's very interested in texting trends. so, it did a survey and found that the average teen sends 100 texts a day. that's about 3,000 texts a month. here's what else the survey found. >> 75% of texters say that it's rude to talk and text at the same time -- to text in the middle of a conversation, but 50% of kids say they've done it. >> but that particular rude behavior

>>m mwanzaa. here's our top story for this week. >> socrates had it. so did napoleon. and so do thousands of teens. erika tells us about a medical condition that is surprisingly common and yet not well-known. >> i was just reading in bed, when i started to feel odd tingling in my mouth, and i got up from my bed, went to my bathroom, and i couldn't control what my body was doing, and then i remembered nothing. >> kelly was just 10 years old when she experienced something she had never felt before. >> we heard a sudden thump. wasn't sure what it was. and i went down the hall, and kelly had collapsed on the floor. >> kelly was rushed to thes hospital, where doctors did some tests. the diagnosis was epilepsy. >> epilepsy is a neurological condition that causes someone to have seizures. seizures can be described best as an electrical storm in the brain. >> for some people, an epileptic seizure means experiencing symptoms like shaking or convulsions. other symptoms may include staring or feeling confused. the sense of sound or smell can also be affected. >> in the beginning,

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's our top story for this week. >> it's no secret that american teens need to get healthier. but that can be a challenge, especially because a lot of us like eating in places where food is fast and cheap. nicole tells us why some fast food can be a fast route to health problems later in life. >> i like cheeseburgers and fries. >> i'd have to say french fries. i like french fries. >> if i could find a really good hamburger... >> my favorite fast food would be onion rings because they're just really delicious. >> it tastes great, and it's pretty affordable. so what's the problem? >> well, there is a problem, but only if we're eating too often in fast-food restaurants, or we're making choices that aren't as healthy for us in a fast-food restaurant. yes, notoriously, fast food can be high in fat, calories, sodium, and missing some other great nutrients. >> colleen thompson and ellen shanley are dieticians -- experts in nutrition, especially when it comes to fast food. they even wrote

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's this week's top story. >> teens talk a lot about college, but every four years, the country talks about a college that has nothing to do with test scores and applications. it's a key part of how our democracy works, but, as tyler explains, it's kind of complicated. >> the candidates for president campaign all across the country. first, you'll see them in the states with the earliest primary elections. those elections lead to the conventions, where the political parties choose their nominees. after the conventions, the focus is on states that deliver a big punch in something called the electoral college. and just what is that? >> i have no idea what that is. >> i don't know. >> i've learned about it, but i don't remember exactly. it involves the voting for the president. >> oh, electoral college! i know this. i learned this in sixth grade. i'm sorry. i still don't know. [ laughs ] it just rings a bell. >> the electoral college is a system that was put in place by the founders in

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's this week's top story. >> lauren reports on what american teens know about history -- or maybe i should say what they donknow. [ game-show music plays ] [ crowd cheers ] >> why did the colonists fight to win america's freedom? >> originally it was because of taxation without representation in british parliament. [ crowd cheers ] >> okay, that was an easy one. but a recent test of 8th graders went a little deeper.s they were asked to identify one advantage the colonial forces had over the british in the american revolution. >> the colonists knew the land much better than the british did, so they had better fighting ground. >> our troops were more motivated. >> and the british were from a country that was away by an ocean. >> all correct. the colonists were fighting on familiar territory. they were fighting to protect their homes and families. and they didn't have to transport supplies over the ocean. while we only showed you the kids who knew the correct answers, two out of thre

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm livia. here's our top story for this week. >> in recent years, we have seen people in othcountries struggle to form governments that work. but how much do we know about how oown government operates? a nationwide test found a lot of teens need to learn more. lauren has the story from washington, d.c. >> if i asked you which rights were protected by the first amendment, how would you respond? >> the one right that's protected by the first amendment is freedom of speech. >> correct. in addition to freedom of speech, our constitution protects several other rights -- freedom of the press, religion, peaceful assembly, and the right to petition for grievances. that's considered basic knowledge of civics for american eighth-graders by the national assessment governing board. >> the national assessment governing board is a board that sets the policy for the national assessment of educational progress, otherwise known as naep. the main goal is to ensure that we can measure the knowledge across differe

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm livia. here's our top story for this week. >> one in 200 young people have it. it can disrupt your schoolwork, your friendships, and take a toll on your self-esteem. as carina reports, it's called ocd -- obsessive-compulsive disorder. >> most of my symptoms were of um... of, like, cleansing. i had to wash my hands multiple times. it wasn't a certain number, but it was like, "this isn't enough. this isn't enough. this isn't enough." >> i realized michael had ocd when one night we were in his room and he went to close his drawers, and the drawers were closed already, and he continued to close them and close them and close them, and i said, "michael, the drawers are closed." he said, "i'm just checking, mom. i'm just checking." >> michael has ocd. it's a disorder that affects behavior. >> i think the best way to understand what it is is to relate to something that everyone kind of thinks of in their own life. so, "obsessive," in usual day-to-day language means "someone who thinks a lot or someo

i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. here's our top story for this week. >> violence against girls is a major problem in communities around the world. as tyler reports, some college students are taking a unique approach in an effort to change attitudes. [ cheering ] >> in soccer, a breakaway is when a player speeds away from the pack and has a good chance of scoring a goal. in the new video game "breakaway," players are working toward a different kind of goal. >> the game is trying to teach about essentially gender equality, but it also tackles a lot of issues that are just generally focused on bullying and peer pressure. >> lauren and steve are part of a creative group of more than 100 students from vermont's champlain college. the students partnered with the united nations to create the video game specifically for boys. >> a lot of work has been done to educate girls on the subject, but not many projects have attempted to go to the boys, which you know, it makes sense. boys need to be just as informed as girls. so, yea