Chicago Tribune (September 19)
“Teenagers are increasingly delaying activities that had long been seen as rites of passage into adulthood…. The percentage of adolescents in the U.S. who have a driver’s license, who have tried alcohol, who date, and who work for pay has plummeted since 1976, with the most precipitous decreases in the past decade.” The larger story may be that youths have less interest in these actives “because in today’s society, they no longer need to.”
Tags: Adolescents, Adulthood, Alcohol, Dating, Delay, Drive:, Rites of passage, Teenagers, U.S., Work Society
The Atlantic (September Issue)
Smartphones may be destroying the iGen (individuals born from 1995–2012). They’ve been “shaped by the smartphone and by the concomitant rise of social media.” Despite much worrying, “the impact of these devices has not been fully appreciated, and goes far beyond the usual concerns about curtailed attention spans. The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’ lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health.” There are some positive aspects, but by and large “the results could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy.”
Tags: iGen, Mental health, Smartphones, Social media, Teenagers, Unhappy
USA Today (August 25)
Most U.S. middle and high schools “still start earlier than 8:30 a.m.,” despite growing scientific evidence that older students should sleep later. Next month, “Seattle will become one of the largest urban districts to push back start times…. Less tardiness and more attentive students should be enough to awaken more districts to the benefits of later start times for teenagers.”
Tags: Evidence, High schools, Older students, Sleep, Start times, Tardiness, Teenagers, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 21)
The senseless killing of an Australian exchange student by 3 Oklahoma teenagers should leave Americans wondering just how to fix “a culture that produces teenagers for whom the prospect of shooting an innocent man in the back on a Friday evening apparently raised not a scintilla of conscience.”
Tags: Australia, Conscience, Culture, Exchange student, Innocent, Killing, Oklahoma, Senseless, Shooting, Teenagers
Wall Street Journal (July 1)
Summer jobs have long been a rite of passage for teenagers, but the percentage of 16-19 year-olds working has dropped to the lowest level since records began in 1948. “Only 24% of teens, one in four, have jobs, compared to 42% as recently as the summer of 2001.” This is due to partly to recession, partly to changing parent expectations, but the Wall Street Journal lays most of the blame on the minimum wage which Congress raised to “$7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007.” As a result, “millions of kids will spend the summer playing computer games or hanging out” instead of “learning valuable job skills.”
Tags: Job skills, Minimum wage, Summer, Teenagers, Unemployment
