OK that's really taking it too far imo

I was a teen from 1989 to 1996.


Im going to have to disagree with you. This might have been the case in smaller towns that progressed slowly, but not where I lived. Teens of the 70s and 80s were more about the "dirty, grungy" look than 90s teens were.

The Emo culture didn't come about until the 00s and we didn't kill ourselves over third world problems like teens today often do. In the 90s we were just angry and sick of authority pushing us around. We questioned stupid ruled and stupid ways of doing things. Unlike teens today we hung out with friends after school and on weekends. We didn't keep our heads buried in a smart phone all day, stay in the house and walk around trying to look like the other gender. Boys dressed like boys and girls dressed like girls. When we broke up with a girl/guy we did it in person or over the phone not by text or Facebook. Of course not everyone is the same with any generation, but I didn't see much of what is popular/common today.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/living/gen-x-satisfied
My generation has adjusted well. We'll see how Generation Y does.

I was a teen from 1989 to 1996.


Im going to have to disagree with you. This might have been the case in smaller towns that progressed slowly, but not where I lived. Teens of the 70s and 80s were more about the "dirty, grungy" look than 90s teens were.

The Emo culture didn't come about until the 00s and we didn't kill ourselves over third world problems like teens today often do. In the 90s we were just angry and sick of authority pushing us around. We questioned stupid ruled and stupid ways of doing things. Unlike teens today we hung out with friends after school and on weekends. We didn't keep our heads buried in a smart phone all day, stay in the house and walk around trying to look like the other gender. Boys dressed like boys and girls dressed like girls. When we broke up with a girl/guy we did it in person or over the phone not by text or Facebook. Of course not everyone is the same with any generation, but I didn't see much of what is popular/common today.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/living/gen-x-satisfied
My generation has adjusted well. We'll see how Generation Y does.

You're 23? I thought you were in your 30s!

If I may ramble incoherently for a little (or big) bit...

I agree as well. But I also understand how today's kids bury themselves in technology.

Here's the thing. Human nature is prone to addiction. Endorphins in our brains react to pleasure and always crave more. In grade school, I had a best friend and we had sleepovers all the time. We would spend the entire weekend together. Nothing but fun. In high school, every day I would go with my friends to the pizza place and hang out as late as my parents allowed. Same, nothing but fun. And empowerment. This is the basis of human relationships and activity. Ease is another factor. Selfishness is related to such cravings. Challenge might not be easy but it provides empowerment and fun. Selfishness is the desire for these things. If you dislike somebody, it is because they interfere with your fun, power, or ease.

Where this relates to the tech obsession is that tech makes things easier. It lowers the bar for required effort to interact in pleasurable fashion. Selfishness dictates that we seek acknowledgement. Technology removes barriers that prevent that such as time and space. Hence people, and especially young people who haven't previously developed preference of modes, enjoy using the text messages and the face books to interact with and receive acknowledgement from others. I highly doubt that we as children would have rejected such tech if it were available at the time.

Well, there's the thesis/outline of my imaginary paper on technology, youth, and sociology. Please respond with your own thoughts, which will provide me with a feeling of power, and disagree if you wish, which will provide challenge.



If you apprehend the replies that you quoted the way I think you did, you are right. I am in my 30s. But if you were talking to donnie darko, no; he is 23 and has said so elsewhere. I also think he is OrangeJuice90s aka skateboard2910 aka duck6, but I can't undoubtedly prove it

I ran an IP check and the IPs don't match, but that doesn't mean too much.

Just so everyone knows 'teen' isn't an actual age group but rather a lazy person's way of classifying a group of people older than 12 and younger than 20.

In other languages you don't see 'teen' at the end of 13-19, to seperate it from 11 and 12.

11-17 would be a more accurate age group than 13-19.

If you apprehend the replies that you quoted the way I think you did, you are right. I am in my 30s. But if you were talking to donnie darko, no; he is 23 and has said so elsewhere. I also think he is OrangeJuice90s aka skateboard2910 aka duck6, but I can't undoubtedly prove it