Because they’re happy?
In all seriousness,
I had a medical class in college which had much Sociology in it. What I remember is that young males tend to be very noisy (not just laughing) because they are, whether aware or unaware, trying to make the world known that they are there particularly to young females.
I have noticed (anecdotal) that groups of young males get much louder when females of around the same age are near. It seems right.
Also, novelty figures quite heavily in humour, so teenagers tend to have a much lower threshold for laughter.
Like everyone in my peer-group, I laughed until I positively ached when Porky’s came out. I have serious doubts that any of the gags in there would provoke an audible reaction from my adult self, though, and what’s more, a “fresh, new” teenage sex-comedy that has the up-and-coming generation on the floor is probably going to seem pretty old and stale to those of us who are, well, old and stale.
Same holds for our capacity to be amused by the conversation of our peers. While (one hopes) our adult friends have developed senses of humour that are “objectively” (if possible) wittier and more sophisticated, we can’t help being somewhat jaded.
Larry Mudd - I think you’ve got a good point. I went to see Scary Movie 3 a few weeks ago, and at 37, I was one of the oldest people in the theater. There were bits in that movie that had me laughing my ass off, while the primarily teenage crowd was mostly silent. However, every time a character in the movie got hit in the head, or fell down, or got run over by a car, the kids would roar with laughter.
It was the more subtle, sophisticated humor that made me laugh; it was the obvious humor that made the teenagers laugh.
Because it’s funny!
When you don’t know whether to party like it’s 2099 or kill yourself what more can you do then just laugh?
DaLovin’ Dj
Then there’s some humor that spans the generations.
Oh, believe me…I wanted to laugh. But the adult in me gave me the ability to put the brakes on. The kids, on the other hand, just came unglued. I felt sorry for her, but Geez…it was a riot!
I remember seeing a study mentioned once where someone observed how often a group of teenagers laughed. I think they laughed around 900 times whilst observed, and only once or twice was anything resembling a joke said.
My WAG is that laughing at people is the new politeness. It’s a sign of appreciation that’s the social norm. Keep in mind that’s a complete WAG.
Does WAG mean Wild-Arsed Guess?
If you want to be a pussy and not say Ass, yes
Understanding on the Discovery chanel covered this topic once.
I remeber they said teenagers in general laugh about 150 times a day. Where as adults laugh at around 50 times a day. Small children laughed at around 250 times a day.
But basicaly what it all boiled down to (with teenagers) is that it was a tension/nervouse releaver. (or something like that) Or its also an inherent trait of how we talk to each other.
Example; How many times have you giggled at something that wasn’t funny just to be polite?