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 are 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 infographic 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 13
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 parents 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conflict teenagers often withdrawn to
their own space and construct the 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 parents 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 martica 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 team 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 interactions seem like
the most important things in the world
by doing this teenagers are preparing
for early childhood 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 lifetime 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
nonprofit group called Common Sense
Media surveyed 2600 youths as recently
as November 2015
their census shows that teens are
spending over 1/3 of their average day
or nine hours online using social media
watching videos or listening to music
the survey also showed that teenagers
are multitasking for example they may be
listening to music online while shopping
or while traveling 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 eight
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 cell phone technology
and social media psychologist Jean Twins
put this new generation under the
microscope in her book I J 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
that's quite a mouthful if they're
looking into a number of national
surveys of 11 million teenagers since
the 1960s she concludes that I gents 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.
twinge 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 cellphones but what twinge
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 twinge
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
six 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 team
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
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