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Saturday, August 31, 2013

Teenagers

     Hi everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Mine was jam packed, and I can't believe school starts next week. Where did the time go?! I start my new schedule this week. I will have a prepared topic every Tuesday and on Fridays I will write whatever is on my heart.

     My topic this week is teenagers. I'm only 27 and I wonder what is in store for our fast moving world of technology in the next few decades.

    Here is a tiny glimpse into my childhood: I drank from hoses, roller skated in the street, hunted frogs, fireflies, butterflies and lizards. I climbed trees, rode my bike, used sleds to go downstairs. As a teenager, I got told no for just about everything I wanted to do (which looking back is a total blessing).

     When our county got a 4-H group that was all teens, I finally found something my parents would let me do. It was free, and close to everything we did as a group was some form of community service. I loved it, because it was kids my age doing something that matters. This led me to get elected into the State Ambassador program, which allowed me to travel. I got scholarships and grants to pay for my event admissions and travel expenses. This opened my world to so many opportunities.

     I was in a play called The Pied Piper during the same year I started with the teen group, and through the theater company met someone who was a competing swing dancer. He taught me everything he knew, and we were able to compete in 4-H talent shows together as well as local competitions and then state competitions. Again, this was free, and gave me positive attention, so my parents were all for it.

     Why do I bring all of this up? Because looking back on my teen years especially, I was busy. I was figuring out who I was and being active. So active that I broke a lot of bones even (yikes!). I had jobs, paid for my first car all on my own, etc. you get the point. I only got to use my mom's cell phone after I got my driver's license and left the house for more than a couple of hours. I always had to give it back. I actually didn't own my own cell phone until I was 20.

     A 2011 Ofcom media literacy study found that smartphone ownership in the 5-7 age group is a tiny 3%, rising to 13% in the 8-11s and then climbing steeply at high school age (35% in the 12-15s). In the US, 58% of kids aged 13 to 17 own a smart phone. What do they do with them? A quarter of the smartphone kids say that they regularly use it to visit social networking sites (Ofcom).

     I am a naturally outgoing person who says "Hi" to people when I pass them. I can't count how many times I have tried to say something to a teenager and they are texting with headphones in. No big deal, don't talk to strangers and all that. But that was a 2011 study, and this is 2013! It is most likely much higher now. I watch young children who know how to use my IPad better than I do, kids who know how to maneuver the Kindle Fire and tablets and nooks of all kinds.

     Don't get me wrong, I think I would have benefited from all of this technology at a younger age, like when my car was broken down by the side of the road, and so on, but will these kids know how to interact with other human beings?

     Social Networking sites, in my opinion are very antisocial. I love getting a hand written note in the mail, and getting a phone call sometimes over a text is what I need. It is so much harder to read emotion through text. You can't always read intention or motive on Facebook. I have been down right   appalled at some of the things teenagers share on Facebook. I worry about the next generation quite a bit. Already, in my tiny sphere of influence I know so many kids who don't know how to interact with their peers, and are grasping to fit in, but are so insecure. Are we breeding turtle children? Kids who poke their heads back in their shell the first social situation they get thrust into?

     I do not have children, so I don't have any right to question anyone's parenting, but can we as a society pull together and figure things out? Teen suicides are at an all time high in the US. According to statisticbrain.com, as of April of 2013 there were 4,600 reported youth suicides between the ages of 10 and 24 (10?!). Another statistic from this site is that on top of those suicides, 157,000 people between the ages of 10 and 24 received medical attention for self inflicted injuries.

     I don't know that any of that is related to technology in the hands of our youth, but it wouldn't surprise me with so much pressure being added through social media and networking sites. Add on the overall awkwardness and insecurities that come along with being a teen in general, I feel as though we are only making things worse for our youth.

      It was not my intention to be on my soap box for this long, but there it is. Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear your comments.
   

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