Being a teenager in the 21st century is rather daunting. It is hard to avoid the constant bombardment of pop culture and media images. Today’s teens are no longer worrying about acne and puberty and what they are going to do after graduating from high school; rather they are faced with more life-threatening and life-changing issues which for their age and considering their mental development, is very tough. I remember when I was a teenager; it was quite different from when I was just a little child who saw the world in rainbow colors. As a teenager, I felt different, thought differently and saw everybody differently. I became more aware of myself and others around me. Although I wasn’t yet a full adult, I was growing into one every day and I began to see life in a different way. I didn’t understand why I was so depressed, sad, angry, frustrated and cold. More so, I didn’t want to be told what to do anymore and as much as I could, I didn’t even want to do what I was told to do. I realized I wasn’t the only one feeling or acting like this, there were many other teenagers with similar experiences but it hasn’t always been this way with teenagers, especially in the older centuries. Although there was no major event or trend that signifies the teenagers of the 1900s, they simply did as their parents told them to do because there was more respect for authority back then, which is a far cry from the rebellious way many 21st century teenagers now live.
There is no doubt that media and entertainment has had a profound influence on teenagers in the 20th and 21st century. Young people no longer see their parents as role models; rather movie and music stars have now being adopted as their role models. Many put up the posters of these celebrities in their rooms and literally idolize them. My guess is that many parents thought the only influence they were up against was TV but they didn’t see social media coming. Little did they know that social media would have an even greater influence on their teenagers.
A CNN documentary titled #Being13 was done in October 2015 to show just how much time teenagers spend on social media and what it means to them. It was a big discovery and a huge shock. One 13 year old teenager actually said "I would rather not eat for a week than get my phone taken away. It's really bad, I literally feel like I'm going to die." Another 13 year old said, "When I get my phone taken away, I feel kind of naked, I do feel kind of empty without my phone." Many of them now see social media as their life, a world that is more real than their physical world. It’s almost as if the number of friends, likes, followers, retweets they have on social media is much more important than their school grades. I once heard of a tragic story of a young teenage boy in UK who committed suicide because a group of boys threatened to post his nude picture on Facebook and make it viral. Apparently, the boy wanted to send his picture to a girl he liked but mistakenly sent it to another boy who then showed his friends. Out of fear of having is nude picture seen by the whole world, he committed suicide.
The effect of technology, media and entertainment has given rise to deep-seated issues that teenagers are facing today which wouldn’t even have been heard of 100 or 200 years ago. Issues such as teenage pregnancy, abortion, cyberbullying, school violence, shootings, eating disorders, obesity, choking game, drug abuse, and smoking, mental health issues and so on, in fact the list is endless. As if all these are not enough, many teenagers even have to live with abusive parents who are into drugs or alcoholism. With all these cases, one begins to wonder where to draw the line between teenage-hood and adulthood. When teenagers are facing problems that adults also face or even the ones that adults find shocking, (such as choking game which involves teens who try to strangulate themselves or have a friend strangle or choke them until they pass out). Unfortunately, too many of these kids who pass out especially when they do something to choke themselves when they are alone don't ever wake up. It is becoming clearer and clearer that the only thing differentiating this young group of people from adults is their age and not the weight of the burdens they have to bear.
100 years ago, before the TV and internet came; teenagers only had to do what their parents told them to do. There wasn’t much external influence that told them to do otherwise or try something they knew their parents would not approve off. Although media and technology have had good impacts on the society in many ways, the side effects it is having on young people is so much more than anyone could have envisaged. Should we or can we even go back to the times when there was no TV and internet? Certainly not. But do we as a society have the responsibility and obligation to caution our young people about what they should watch and stay away from, absolutely yes. I believe the best time to do this is not when children become teenagers but when they are still as little as four, five, six and older. At this stage, their minds are still forming and whatever they are taught or warned against can stick with them for a long time. Waiting till they are already in their teens could be too late because by then, they would want to be independent and it could be hard to tell them what to do or not do.
References
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/health/being-13-teens-social-media-study/
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/teenagers/a/0208_teen_issue.htm
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