Throughout the natural course of history, there have been several times where a natural phenomenon occurs called, “The teenager.” “The teenager” could be described as a stage that most people go through, carrying them into adolescence as they begin to form their own opinions and impressions about the world. Even though it’s an already well established stereotype, especially in modern media, teens often find themselves following a certain trend, or surrounding themselves with certain groups of people.
According to “The Saturday Evening Post,” the first idea of the teenager was a product of the twentieth century. This can be proven by a trend that originated from the 50’s, when most teenagers became enamored by rock music, and with good reason. This type of music was altogether new, exciting, and revolutionary. With most teens seeing it as an anthem, an anthem which inspired them to rebel against their parents, fight against the institution, and break out of the social norm.
Before this ground-breaking revelation, young people would essentially turn into mini versions of their parents, as they would start to wear their clothes and dress like them rather than find their own sense of style and fashion, unlike today’s teens. Although with this new wave of teen rebellion, most adults clearly had something to say against the movement. In 1953, an interview was conducted with J. Edgar Hoover, where he said that with this increase of new mindsets among the young, they were more likely to commit hate crimes.
However, a 2005 “Deseret News” article entitled, “Stereotypes of Teens Aren’t Always True,” provides a modest perspective of some teenagers and how they feel about teenage stereotypes. Daley Owens said, “I think the most offensive stereotype against teens is that we don’t care. About school, the world problems or anything. But it really does affect you, and we really do care. I watch the news. I watch the president slur his speeches, and I care what he means.”
As time went on, new inventions, ideas and groundbreaking discoveries were made. One of the most common being technology, specifically, the internet. And as the world progressed, the internet, or at least the idea of even having it, has had its fair share of controversy. While the world carried on creating new political news, hot topics, or spreading gossip, people have learned to utilize the online world to make the possibilities on what both the human and artificial mind can make endless.
With this in mind, the creation of the internet has proven to be yet another idea, trend, adapted by modern-day teenage culture. And as with every trend, different opinions on the topic could lead to different perceptions of the people following the trend. Taft teacher Sam Duarte said, “Adults do have perceptions of young people because of how they use technology.” He also said, “If you get feeds about young people doing dangerous things, you assume that a large population of them are doing those negative things.”
In my opinion, these quotes address most teenagers, saying that the material shown and presented on social media is a reflection on how a majority of teenagers in this day and age act. And how also most of this material could then influence the way that adults think of their teenage children, under the belief that they are participating in the dangerous acts shown all over the media. Taft junior Alyssa Zhanay said, “With the internet, kids could easily be subjected to misinformation.”
In summary, the world keeps turning, and life goes on, as some people still remain hopeful to the belief that the future for young people will continue to get better and better.
