And exactly how hard is it to be a teenager today?

Great Debates
21

Squish…you mentioned the stressors in your father’s time…they are (basically) the same today, but with different presentations. Those presentations are the ones that mark them apart from other times.

I think it depends more (how hard teen-life can be) on the individual teenager and his/her socioeconomic class, although generally they live an easier life today than centuries ago. This does not mean they don’t have things they deeply worry about, or that they are lazy do-nothings, it is just different.

Anthracite, I think the person who said that about your mother is a fool and ignorant girl, who I hope soon realizes she was wrong. If you want an example from my generation (I’m 19), in high school I had a classmate who went to work (part-time) when she was 16 to maintain herself and part of her family. She still had to juggle school and keep good grades in order to enter the state university, which here is one of the most selective ones. She had to quit later on her senior year because the work was taking too much time from her studies. She was confronted with a choice: either work more and slack at school, or stop working and do more at school. She chose the later one.

22

You always hear people griping about today. That is, it’s always worse if it’s happening to you right NOW. (I know I always feel something that affects me is infinitely worse than when it happens to Some Other Guy.) In the book Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher constantly complains about the troubles facing young girls today. I’m sure a lot of those things were going on back then, just not as in the open.

Plus, you’ve got people who are more understanding now. We have a lot of problems, true, but there are people here who are willing to help. Not everyone, no, but how many suicide hotlines numbers or Planned Parenthood pamphlets were circulating back in the day? There are problems and a lot of people who will suffer, live horrible lives, and die young, something which always happened and always will happen. But it seems that we’re making a bigger effort to stop that. No, we’re not perfect. However, people are more aware now.

23

I agree with you, more or less. I object to the oft-repeated line, “Teens face so much more today,” because IMO, they face the same things they always have. I think Zoggie’s right though in saying that there is more support for teens now then there ever has been.

24

A preponderance of choices and support for teens does not neccessarily leave them better off: if you perceive yourself to be failing when you’ve received all the choice/support in the world, there’s no-one else to blame but yourself. Imagine seeing only a huge blackhole where your future would lie, knowing there’s no reason you shouldn’t go to college and excel, but are secretly terrified you’ll screw up and shame your loving, supportive family. Having no socio/economic problems at which to lay the burden of your predicted failure leaves one place for it - directly on your shoulders, meaning there must be something wrong with ‘you’. Choices can simply mean more pressure to succeed, and loving support can leave you feeling more isolated and confused as to why you’re not excelling despite having no apparent ‘problems’.

I am roughly at the same point in my career now as I would’ve been 10 years ago, had I left school at 16 and worked rather than tried to please my parents; by doing what I thought they wanted me to, purely because they had worked hard in order to be able to give me choices. Life would’ve been much simpler for me had I never received higher education and worked on my grandfather’s farm for the rest of my years. I still feel the pressure to “fulfil my potential”, and it’s one that’s been the hardest to deal with for me, even through times of extreme poverty. Choice and support can simply be another millstone around your neck, which if I remember anything about being a teen, is not something you need.

25

How can we ever compare whether or not past generations had it harder than today’s teens? IMO, the hardest parts about being a teen (in any point in history) is a) becoming an adult without feeling like a fuck up and worthless, and b) the emotional roller coaster that we have all experienced (hating our parents, falling in, “love,” etc.)

Neither of these things have changed over time. People today still seek to find their place in life as they did 2000 years ago.

Also, I point out (being an annoying idiot) even though we can’t, aren’t we supposed to make our lives a little bit better for our children? Granted, I don’t want my kids to be spoiled brats, but I do want them to avoid certain experiences that I had to deal with. I will provide them with the best education possible, and for as long as they are mine to take care of, I will see to it theat they have the best lives possible. Is this not what we want for our children? Aren’t we supposed to make our kids’ lives better, and they with their own kids?

GDG

26

Probably the biggest difference is national media attention on the problems of teens.

The teen pregnancy rate may have been higher in the 1950s, but it certainly didn’t make the papers every year when the study came out.

Teens may have been using drugs, but their weren’t 20/20 specials on drugs in schools.

Teens were shooting each other, but you didn’t get media coverage of it constantly and for days.

Now, most of the media attention has been around for a while (these things were covered in my “youth”), but not with the relentlessness that happens today.

The only other thing I think is significant is that in my fathers day (and to a lesser extent, in mine) someone without a college degree could earn a decent wage in a factory - you wouldn’t get rich, but you could support a family modestly. There are far fewer of those jobs now and a much stronger consumer culture telling people that they need all the accessories of wealth.

27

Oh,

And I’m not sure about the cold war thing. I think the current threat about Terrorism, Iraq, Smallpox, Anthrax is as stressful for the majority of people (teens and adults alike) as the cold war ever was.

28

Guys, there is one variable that is a lot different today then ever before and that is the internet. When I was a kid, as an example, there was always the standard adolescent stereotypes of the cool kid, the athlete, the nerd, the fat kid, etc. We all had a place on this adolescent pyramid, we learned to live and function within it, and we matured. I suspect that this model goes back all the way to the first primal hunters as it is a constant reflection of the values society deems important (Just substitute hunters for sports people, etc…)

Now todays generation enters the picture, and with them comes the internet and online chat forums. Suddenly you do not have to remain in your social stigma, as you can go online and become 5’8 w/blond hair and a perfect figure (Aren’t they all… :smack: ) Is this a good thing or not, who knows but I can see where it would create a type of stress and confusion never heard of before. I suspect the average teenager now experiences a lot of angst over the person they are in real life, and the person they want to be in web land.

Does that make it harder today then in the 1800’s, who knows. But I would say that their problems are unique and that we can not look at any other period for comparison.

Thoughts?

Chris

29

Actually, Chris, I think the internet makes it better for those who are unpopular: outside the cliques of their high school, they can find others who share their interests and who don’t judge them by their looks or physical clumsiness.

Dangerosa, you’ve made a good point about not having to have a degree to have a good life in earlier generations. There are still professions today where you don’t need a full degree to make a good living (although you still need some sort of training), but I don’t think as many opportunities.

30

Monty: They had teenagers back when you were young?:wink:

31

**Guy#1:**No it hasn’t!
**Guy#2:**Yeah, it’s new!
**Guy#3:**Just invented this year!
**Guy#4:**Never heard of it, meself!
**Guy#5:**Beer Pressure? Now THAT I like!

Increases in media coverage have made events seem like they happen more often, but from posts above it looks like a lot of bad stuff is decreasing. Cecil talks about crime over the years. Personally, i think we are just more aware of some of the dangers, but as for is it harder to be a teenager now? I don’t know.

32

Potter:

Well, that’s true, but if you eliminate the choices, then that’s pretty much it. According to your rationale, you’re pretty much screwed no matter what.

What I’m trying to say is, things are a lot more open now. We’re having a discussion about it. If you’re feeling alone, or different, for a variety of reasons, there is a lot more help available. We’re a much more global society (something that has both positive and negative effects). For example, the internet, which was already brought up. There are other people to communicate with.

True, if those don’t work out, you might feel bad, but if it comes down to having choices that don’t work out, and not having them at all, isn’t the former a lot better?

33

Teens have it way easier these days, i’d even go so far as to say that there is hardly anything to really worry about. I’m only a 24 year old so i’m from that “generation” and quite a few of my peers are spoiled brats heh. I have a friend who’s the same age as me and his parents bought him a brand new fully optioned Audi which is like a $36,000 car. No joke, that’s ridiculous and he never even finished college while he sits slumming at home all day. I’m no model of human industriousness either but hell, I finished college and at least tried to do something before the economy went down the shitter. There are plenty of people that I know who are more concerned with going clubbing or buying the latest designer clothes from their parents accounts.

That’s just the sad fact of life or maybe i’m hanging around some seriously frivolous people. It seems like quite a large portion of our generation doesn’t care about anything except enhancing their own materialistic well being. As far as “drugs” being a problem, I think that’s just used as a political catchphrase for the war on drugs. Noone I know who has used/experimented with drug in the past did so involuntarily. They knew the consequences and knew what they were getting into. Truthfully very few drug users are addicts and most experiment a few times at parties etc… before giving it up. Teen pregnancy and things like that have always existed in the U.S. so it’s largely irrelevant as a problem for today’s teens.

Anyways, that’s just my .02 take it as you will.

34

WOWZA!
This is a great thread!
There seems to be so many different factors that contribute to if teen life is easier than it were before, and vice-versa.
I saw some great opinions here, being a fellow teenager to some here I can understand where everyones opinion comes from.
It seems that the scale is not higher on one end or equal, but both sides are slowly both rising.

On the easy side, we have computers, satellite T.V., tastier snacks, video games, cooler toys, leather chairs, better dental care, more freedom, more variety in music. Jeez, this list is a biggie. And could go on.

For the bad, (there may be less than the good, (which to some equalizes) but does everyone understand that you can have all this good, and one bad thing makes it all dissapear )
Anywho, bad things, PEER PRESSURE, <~That covers alot of ground., More variety in drugs, more outside influence, (T.V. telling us what to wear, etc.), Harders exams and of course the pressure to make a better life than your parents.
By that I mean, when you have kids, it would be a great thing to have your kids grow up to be richer and just have a better life. Isn’t that a great reason to have them? So they have a chance for a better life than the parents originally had? (Like GDG said!)

And when(insert SD poster here, Sorry! I can’t find who posted it!!) speaks about youth getting chubbier, its sad but true. I know lots are not chubby, but many are. I wish the parents would take more initiative when they see the kids playing too many Vgames and eating too many fat foods. It is soooo wrong. The human body was not meant for that.

And, all this may not apply to everyone, and it mostly applies to my experiences.

Hahaha, DGD, I thought it was hilarious/great you knew the name of the video game, many parents are like, “HUH?!? Duck Nuk’ ems?? Zuh?”

35

Teenagers? I am one. We are much more desensetized to violence. We grow up with it everywhere. We listen to our music loud. For the most part, I can see that it is our generation that will fail. We don’t care about anything. Life is much easier for us now. We don’t have to worry about anything (in general). Our solution for everything is: Let the adults deal with it. What about when everyone else kicks the bucket? We. Are. Screwed.

36

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Teelo *
On the easy side, we have computers, satellite T.V., tastier snacks, video games, cooler toys, leather chairs, better dental care, more freedom, more variety in music. Jeez, this list is a biggie. And could go on.
Well, tastier snacks is a matter of…taste, so to speak. :smiley: Leather chairs have been around since antiquity. More freedom? Hmmn, I don’t think so, but we’d have to hammer down a definition of freedom first.

I think peer pressure has always existed.

Not a chance! Show me one public high school which currently requires that students pass a Latin exam to graduate. In Arizona now, the AIMS test–a competency test which all high school students must past to graduate–is the center of controversy. Students, parents and teachers are saying that it’s too hard, while those of us who are none of the above are looking at it and saying, “This is basic stuff that anybody who has gone through four years of high school should be able to do!”

My parents (father born in 1911, mother born in 1925) could do far more complex practical math and geometry than I (born 1960)–hell, my father designed and built four houses and he never even went to high school.

37

considering this is my last year being a teenager (19 years and 3 months into the so-called “journey” that is my life), i’m qualified to reply. of course, i’m a very, very unique teenager, and my life has been far different than the stereotyped life. the main problem i’ve faced as a teenager is dealing with other people. i was basically picked on constantly from kindergarten up until around my junior year (when people finally started respecting me), and i’m pretty much “socially retarded.” my friends all had some pretty severe issues, and seeing their lives flushed down the potty didn’t help much. i never smoked, drank, went to parties (except birthdays and graduations of close friends), got high, or had boyfriends like the other kids.

i had it fairly easy though, i came from an upper middle class family who pretty much gave me what i needed, though i really don’t like my immediate family (we have nothing in common except genetics, and even then i look nothing like them). i have a super extended family though. i’ve never been severely abused (my cousin molested me when i was 13 and 14, but we reconciled a few months ago), i’ve never been arrested, and i made semi-decent grades, though i rarely did my homework.

so my life was pretty easy, compared to the lives of some others. sure, i had no friends in 7th grade, people made my life miserable, and i didn’t discover masturbation until i was in college, but i made it. 9 months and i’ll be 20, and nobody can call me a “teenager” any more. i really hate that label and its stereotypes, and i want to kick people when they use the blasted word referring to me.

so that’s that. helpful?

38

Haven’t they lowered the ACT and SAT scores repeatedly? And i can guarentee you schools teach less subjects now, as funding drops and schools become more geared towards teaching just what is on the State assessment tests to keep their funding.

39

As a teenager, I think that we do have it a little easier than some of the teens in other centuries. I have minimal chores, and don’t need a job. Instead, I volunteer at places where I enjoy working. As for schoolwork, I chose my classes, therefore any work from that is my own fault. I could have taken easier classes and chose not to. My chores include keeping my stuff in some sort of order and walking, bathing, and grooming the dog. I have CDs and books and TV and my computer all at my fingertips (or at least a few rooms away). Yeah, I have it pretty good.

40

In this thread, I’ve heard a lot about how educational standards have slipped in recent years. However, I don’t think anyone has mentioned the following point:

More education is required nowadays for the same jobs that were held in the past.

For instance, my grandfather was able to make a very comfortable living. He owned a house, got new cars every couple of years, had an extra conversion van, etc. He had an 8th grade education.

Nowadays, someone with only an 8th grade education is pretty well screwed. Heck, in a lot of cases, even someone with only a high school education is screwed. A college degree is becoming more and more necessary. . .and more and more expensive.

While standards have seemingly slipped, in a lot of ways, they haven’t.