Was life easier for previous generations? Do teenagers today have a bright future to
look forward to, or have they inherited a world more competitive than that of their
parents? What do teenagers today spend all day doing? Is a life connected to a handheld device beneficial
to today’s teenagers, or would they be happier in an unconnected world? Today, we’ll be looking into the life of
modern teenagers and seeing how they spend their time, what they enjoy doing, and how
their development could well be hindered by today’s rapid lifestyle, in this episode
of the Infographics Show, Most Common Traits of Today’s Teenagers. Let’s first look at the psychology of teenagers
and how it develops. So little Johnny grows up, and around the
age of thirteen, that sweet little smile disappears. He begins to frown and become isolated. If you look close enough at the temples on
his head, you might be able to see tiny little horns begin to grow. Johnny seems to be, to his parent’s horror,
turning into a little monster. Teenagers develop a streak of independence,
and parents often find it hard to reach out and relate to them. They are becoming their own person. This is a completely natural part of human
evolution that we all experience. The problem is, teenagers are still, for the
most part, reliant on their parents. They need their parents for food and shelter,
for their education, and for their day to day expenses. So although a fierce independence is a teenage
trait, in a practical sense, they are still usually being cared for. This creates conflict, and teenagers are normally
always experiencing some type of conflict. Teenagers often withdraw into their own space,
and construct a world whereby they are alone and independent. Nobody, apart from some close friends, really
understands them. Nobody has ever experienced the feelings that
they are feeling. Teens rely more heavily on their own decisions,
rather than the advice of their elders, trying to learn how to think and act for themselves
for the first time. They find they have separate goals from their
parents, their peers and their teachers, and often isolate themselves with their own thoughts,
feelings, and ambitions. Teenagers also begin to take more risks as
they grow up. No longer will they need to hold their parent’s
hand while crossing the road, or have a book read to them. Oh, no. Those years are long behind them. Again, this is to do with evolution. Dr. Paul Martiquet, author of the book “The
Teenage Brain”, observes that the brain of a teenager is not yet fully developed-
particularly within the frontal lobes. These lobes are the areas of the brain responsible
for decision-making and the weighing up of potential consequences following dangerous
activity. Even the most well-balanced teen will have
a tendency to behave in ways that seem odd or risky to their elders. But then again, many adults also act in ways
that may seem bizarre and risky to a teenager. During the early high school years, kids generally
become more extroverted, they begin to establish closer friends within their peer groups rather
than their parents. Even teenagers who are naturally introverted
will experience a developmental stage in their teens when communication and interaction seem
like the most important things in the world. By doing this, teenagers are preparing for
early adulthood and a time in the future when personal relationships are essential for work
and family life. Parents should be willing to let their teenage
children spend time with their friends but monitor who those friends are. Teenagers begin to experience new emotions
as they develop. Hormones flood through their body, meaning
that they will begin to consider romantic attachments for probably the first time in
their lives. Mostly this is harmless flirting online, or
perhaps a crush on a celebrity. Sometimes these hormones might lead to early
romantic attachments and to coupling with members of their preferred sex. This may be harmless enough, or could lead
to unwanted pregnancy and a life-time commitment that neither teenager is equipped emotionally
to deal with – having just left childhood themselves. Parents can’t control their children’s
chemistry, so instead they should educate them on the dangers of early parenthood. But what do teenagers like to do? A family technology education non-profit group
called Common Sense Media surveyed 2,600 youths as recently as November 2015. Their census shows that teens are spending
over a third of their average day, or nine hours, online using social media, watching
videos, or listening to music. The survey also showed that teenagers are
multi-tasking. For example, they may be listening to music
online while shopping, or while travelling to and from school. Teens from lower-income backgrounds tend to
use online media more often on average, in comparison with those teens with higher income
families. The 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study estimated
that teenagers are online for 8 hours a day. According to a 2015 survey by Piper Jaffray,
teens also do a fair amount of shopping online with over 60% of teens saying that they prefer
to buy clothes over the internet rather than visiting the store and trying on the garments
first. Each generation in history is molded not only
by their parents’ views on the world, but also partly by social, political, cultural,
and economic factors. Today’s teenagers are among the first whose
entire lives has existed with cellphone technology and social media. Psychologist Jean Twenge put this new generation
under the microscope in her book iGen – Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious,
More Tolerant, Less Happy- And Completely Unprepared for Adulthood- And What that Means
for the Rest of Us. After looking into a number of national surveys
of 11 million teenagers since the 1960s, she concludes that iGens or modern teens have
a poorer state of mental health in comparison with previous generations. New media causes anxiety, loneliness, and
panic disorders, along with sleep loss, according to Dr. Twenge. She comes to these conclusions by pointing
to figures displaying national rises in mental health problems among teens, and drawing parallels
with the increase in cell phones. But what Twenge forgets to mention in her
book is that correlation doesn’t mean causation. As we mentioned before, teenagers are more
sensitive to the world around them due to natural changes in hormone and brain activity,
so this could be an equally good explanation as to why mental health problems are on the
rise in teens. And then we factor in the larger general awareness
of mental health issues, due in part, to information on the internet. We also tend to diagnose mental illness earlier
nowadays owing to our better understanding of these conditions. Twenge also explains in her book that teenagers
are spending less time with their friends in person, and this is difficult to dispute
when we look at the alleged 6 hours a day spent on the cell phone. But can this time, if used to chat on social
media, really be described as time actually spent alone? And how healthy is this kind of interaction? Teens might be growing up at a slower rate
than before. One theory, known as Life history theory,
postulates that the rate in which teens grow up is in direct correlation with how hostile
their immediate environment is. Or at least – their perception of their
environment. So in this theory, a teen growing up in a
war stricken country would, if he survived, be more likely to marry and become a parent
at a younger age. If the environment is perceived to be hostile,
teens employ a fast life strategy to grow up more rapidly and create larger families
to form larger survival groups. On the other side of the coin, a slow life
strategy, where the environment is perceived less hostile, gives rise to a slower rate
of development. And this might explain why teens are not rushing
to buy that car, get married, and have kids as quickly as they did in previous generations. So, what do you think are the most common
traits of teenagers today? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to watch our other video called
– Google vs Facebook. Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!
