Loud, obnoxious,
rebellious, out of control, and up to no good… this is the dominant discourse attributed
to teenagers in today’s society. What is it about teenagers that make society
think such awful things about us? Not to say that there aren't teenagers out
there that are like that but the generalizations are very insulting. Just
because a teenager dyes his/her hair red, it doesn't mean they are angry and
rebelling, sometimes it can simply be because they like the color. How could
the rest of society judge us based on general assumptions? A stereotypical teenager would next to always
be connected to drug, alcohol and sex. Media today portray many teenagers as bullies, slackers and
‘druggies’. It can be very stressful; constantly hearing about how reckless and
dangerous teenagers are and it tends to have an effect on what they do. It’s
like someone telling a child to not eat the cookie placed in front of them, its
temptation. When it comes to teenagers and technology, the idea society has is
teens are always on their devices or social networking. Dr. Macpherson from the
University of Canberra Education Institute said, “No one would argue against
the fact that teenagers have welcomed digital technologies into their lives
with open arms. But it may be that the popular stereotype of teenagers as being
consumed by Facebook and computer games needs some rethinking.” In her article,
she talks about how teenagers are seen by society as opposed to who they
actually are. Generally what she said was a significant amount of teenagers
were surveyed and the results showed that teenagers are still doing today what
they did a decade ago. And it is very true; most of the teens I know don’t fit
into society’s stereotype of what teens are said to be caught up in. I know
many teens who enjoy reading, spending time with their families and a lot that
are dedicated to succeeding in school and moving on to further their education.
A poll showed that 90% of teenagers spend time with their families after
school, whereas a ‘shocking’ 61% reported being on social networking sites. To
simplify this; many people start acting like stereotypical teenagers, because
they feel that they need to in order to be a “normal” teenager. But that in
turn makes society cast out teenagers, when it is actually those same members
of society who created these stereotypes for teenagers to follow. Jin Kim said, “I don’t think this generation
is apathetic at all. If they are, then every other generation, including my own
is apathetic as well. I have kids right in front me right now that spend their
time and effort volunteering and being active in their community. “When I look
at them I don’t see lazy or inattentive kids. I see kids that are caring and
hard-working, not apathetic.” Stereotyping teenagers is no different from
stereotyping someone due to their ethnicity, religion, gender, etc.
Discussion Questions:
Are teenagers really as disturbed as we are portrayed
to be?
How is it, that society has come to the assumption that
teenagers are such a dreadful group of individuals?
Does
this reflect who teenagers are?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I want to say that teenagers aren't disturbed as they are portrayed in the media. I believe that media literacy and text that is being consumed is giving society the wrong path about what they think about teenagers. Likewise, the same can be acquired to religion, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. I agree on how media is giving the wrong perspective on how teenagers are act. If you were to deconstruct a piece of media and examine it throughout, it wouldn't make sense to me or you. I am a teenager personally and I think that teenagers are nice, hard working, intelligent and warm hearted. Who is to blame for the stereotyping? I think its the media and the lens the media gives its viewer. Each person interprets media differently and are affected differently. If a 60 year old man were to look at the media showing a stereotype of a teenager he would believe it, In comparison if it were shown to a student, we would fully disagree and disapprove. The society has come up with dreadful assumptions because they probably took one kid that wasn't the ideal teenager and started to stereotype his actions. Finally, I have to disagree because all teenagers aren't evolving around alcohol, drugs and sex. Maybe there are a few teenagers that do those stuff and we shouldn't be accountable for their actions. Again we can blame dominant discourse for what society thinks about teenagers.
ReplyDeleteRead the text again because I believe you misunderstood what I said. "many people start acting like stereotypical teenagers, because they feel that they need to in order to be a “normal” teenager." I said many not all and I believe I was very clear in my argument which was, the media has an entirely wrong perception of who teenagers are.
ReplyDeleteI just answered your discussion questions.
ReplyDeleteOkay, then I misunderstood you, so sorry..
DeleteIt's okay.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager myself, I agree with you. The media does have it's stereotype towards us that the picture they paint about us is literally drilled into our brains that we find it "normal" to go partying, get involved in drugs, alcohol, spend most of our days on social networks. When I was younger i actually assumed this is what teenagers did. This assumption was obviously from the media. I thought being a teenager was all about spending time on the internet, partying and doing drugs. But as I grew and became a teenager this is not always the case. Just like you said some are just trying to actually involve themselves in their communities. Society will always assume and paint a certain image.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great read Lauren. I'll start off by simply saying that as a teenager, I am not as disturbed as media portrays me (teenagers in general) to be. With that being said, it is impossible for the media to actually reflect who teenagers really are. This is because media cannot speak for every teenager, but it takes a bulk and generalizes. There are some teenagers, as you mentioned, that follow the "norm" portrayed in the media. At this point it is obvious to say that media negatively portrays our age group, however this should not go without saying that as always there are the exceptions in media which positively represents us. It basically works in the sense, that media reflects the views of society. (Remember, this is only partially how media works and there are many other factors that affects what is shown in the various forms in media.) To put this into perspective, when metal music was on the rise during the late 60s to the 90s, it was strongly put down by the media because it was not the norm at the time. The talk of metal was everywhere in the media, but as soon as it integrated into society and people accepted it, the media reduced it coverage on the matter. This may seem like an obvious point, however i believe it in one that should be made and is applicable to the topic.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying and I agree with you. The harsh truth about it is that the media will probably never get an accurate enough grasp of what the reality truly is, of anything, for that matter.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The sad part is, media cannot fully be blamed for this.
DeleteIt is totally up to an individual of how he reacts to what media shows him, not saying that media has no affect on teenagers. He/she can act upon their own choices. It is that individual whose actions should be accountable for he does. Dominant discourse is definitely to blame, in my opinion. I kind of agree with Endrit. As Mariam said, i have also gone through a similar life experience where i thought teenagers are out of control and were all into enjoyment, fun and pleasure while i was growing up. But after seeing myself and how well behaved, hardworking, educated and in self-control i was, my perception changed about every teenager. From then on, i had a positive view and opinions about teenagers on today's world.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Bilal.
Deleteno not all teenagers are as disturbed as the media portrays them. most are only just trying to have a good ime and enjoy their young years before they are too old to live the life they wanted
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I do believe it is all up to the individual and how they interpret media (just like Bilal mentioned). For example many youths today watch TV, read magazines and read from the internet which gives teens these messages on how people are portrayed in society. Now if a pre teen watches the movie Freedom writers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Writers ), the movie shows how teens are gangster, drug addicts and dropouts which may give a message to the audience on how teens are in reality. However it is all up to the individual and how they interpret this form of media, therefore some might say “oh teens are bad and drug addicts” while others might say how teens are actually hardworking individual. I do agree with Endrits point when he mentioned “media literacy and text that is being consumed is giving society the wrong path about what they think about teenagers.” This is true since I have seen many ads and movies showing the reality of teens (dropouts, gangsters, criminals) before I became a teen. As a result I personally don’t think many people are acting like stereotypical teenagers in order to be a “normal” teenager. This could be shown since there are many teenagers who are hardworking, help around in our communities, volunteer, and earn good grades in school.
ReplyDeleteThat is very true Kulvir, it is all based on how an individual interprets what they are consuming.
DeleteTeenagers are not as disturbed as the media portrays them to be. The media mainly shows the bad things teenagers do and at rare case, they show the good teenagers. They are told to act mature and like an adult but society need to know, that teenagers want to have fun while it last because they don't have that many years to that before life punches them in the face. (Figure of speech) It really does depend on the individual of how they see teenagers. There are some teenagers that are out of control but the majority are good just living their life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Selina here. Being a teen myself, there are many who are very confused. It's the age where you're old enough to meet expectations of adults and we aren't taken seriously. We need to be understood but many adults can't seem to. Of course, there are teens out there who fit the criteria of go to parties and such but it's all to have fun. The media always turns things around and portrays things much differently. The media portrays teens as rebellious, obnoxious teens but we are much more than that.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, to answer your third question, i believe with majority of teenagers influenced by drugs and violence, it has caused them to demonstrate it to the public encouraging more teens to follow it. In this case, the media portrays us teenagers to be an awful example of today's society when most of them are innocent and abide by the rules.
ReplyDeleteI have friends from within different types of groups. Similar to high school related movies, where the entire student body are separated into different groups of people according to their interest, I am in between many groups. One group of friends in particular, love to have fun, cause small conflicts, and act immature by nature. I am around these people frequently and can see the different between their actions compared to my other groups of friends who are well behavior, helpful and cautious about their actions. I can understand why many adults prejudges teens for being "Loud, obnoxious, rebellious, out of control, and up to no good" but, i do not believe it is right to describe every teenager in that sense since, its not true. I believe the easiest way to solve this problem would be to wait. Soon the future generations would become the people who have experience the more modern lifestyle of a teenager and will be the adults that have a better understanding toward a teenager's decisions and behavior.
ReplyDeleteLauren, I totally agree with your post. Where you said " A stereotypical teenager would next to always be connected to drug, alcohol and sex." I agree, but I also find statics show that teens are involved highly with drugs, alcohol and sex. I do agree that many teens start to act like the negative portrayals in the media to fit what the normal belief of a teenagers is. I guess society has come to the assumption teens are such dreadful groups because of the things that we like, like channels such as MTV, and the whole fact were associated with going through that stage of rebellion (which is said to be inputted into us biologically), and that were at the age of testing things out and exploring stuff, whether it be good or bad things ( like drugs).
ReplyDelete-Lydia
To address most of the comments, thank you for agreeing and sharing your point of view. Like I said before, it is all about how individuals choose to perceive teenagers. The media plays a role indeed but society also has the choice as to what they want to accept to be the truth.
ReplyDeletePeople have had the dominant discourse that teenagers are rebellious since the early 20's. But it went out of control in the 60's with the explosion of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. The media has made it sound like it is the duty of the new generation to be rebellious to the last generation. And for the most part i agree. Even though it is not even close to how it is shows on television, i think all teens wanna be rebels to the ways of their parents.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with your last sentence. Not all teens want to be rebels to the ways of this parents. There are lots of teens I know who actually are actually trying to please their parents, those who wish to have similar ways, many who admire who their parents are and what they do.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Lauren, I believe that media is actually portraying teens in a negative way. For example if we look at some movies, we see that teenagers are up to not good and cause trouble. However that is in movies and TV, but in reality teens are actually hard workers. On the other hand, I have to agree with Bilal and Kulvir on how they mentioned that it is all about the teenagers decisions. It is true since many teenagers end up on the wrong path since they either did not get the support they needed or they did not choose to end up on the right path.
ReplyDelete