Teen Stereotype Idiotic and Untrue

I hope i put this in the right forum. Move me if you need to, Moderators! Anyway:
This may only be happening in America, tell me if it is in other countries.
Teenagers (i mean age 13-16) are being given a bad name. Television, the media, etc. are making them portrayed as drugged up, oversexed morons incapable of making good decisions. The relatively recent movie JUNO is about a teen who gets pregnant and such. There is a series is coming to ABC soon, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The very name casts shadows on really normal teens. Again, the main character gets pregnant. All the time you hear about underage drinking and drug busts. In Law and Order, The Closer, etc, teens often turn out to be the drug dealer/robber/murderer/rapist.
Truth is, teens are really normal people going through stressful times. Most are not drug addicts and most of those bad stereotypes are false, brought on by the media and TV. Every generation has its own sub-culture, and are looked down on by the older citizens and rakish, unruly, immoral, and so on. I admit there are a few of them who are messed up, but most just want to live happily and hang out with their friends. No teen i know or knew is hooked on drugs or is an underage drinker.
Look, i think this needs to stop. The purpose for this epidemic of sorts is profit. Television networks want this for TV series, and the press eats it up. Sure, these are stressful times for teens, but no one should take advantage of this and in doing so give teens all bad names.
I am taking a stand.
Opinions, ATS goers?

[edit on 2-8-2008 by sobek52]

I suppose I'll speak from a U.S. perspective since it's my neck of the woods.

It's to scare older generations about the young whippersnappers and increase their fear so that they'll vote against their own best interests. The media is rigged with endless scarmongering designed for just that and they fall for it so easily. It's a form of population control-- at least Germany just euthanizes them outright so we can give them points for honesty. It should shave the burden off Social Security a bit because the dearth of younger people to replace them and pay into the system to support their retirement welfare program.

Fools! Fools!

The media machine runs on hype and exaggeration. Whatever they determine is the hot topic of the minute, they'll concentrate on totally until the public can't take it anymore. Don't take anything they do seriously. Soon they'll move onto another subject matter.

Originally posted by sobek52
No teen i know or knew is hooked on drugs or is an underage drinker.

This line makes me wonder where you grew up and how old you are. I can say from personal experience, that drug and alcohol use is common among todays teenagers. Perhaps not so much with the 13-15 crowd, but from age 16-19 it is fairly common.

There were three people I went to school with that died in car crashes caused by being under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They were 16-17 at their deaths. There were two more teens who wrecked their vehicles and killed or seriously injured the passengers. Those wrecks also happened when the teenage driver was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

Not every teen does them, but a lot do. Even the ones who seem like they would never even think of trying them could have and you just don't know about it.

I do agree with you on how the media portrays them. But the sad truth is that a lot of teens are doing, or have tried, drugs and alcohol. A lot of teens are having premarital sexual relations and not using protection, which as we all know results in teenagers having kids. A lot are in legal trouble for vandalism, theft, etc. It's not every teenager, but there are enough to cause the stereotype to be easily believable.

OK, I'll bite on this one. USA as well.

From my perspective as the father of two teens, I am shocked by the naivety of quite a few of their friends, and shocked as much by their (and some other friends of theirs) maturity and determination.

As I remember it, my parents felt the same way. I had (and still have) long hair, I grew a beard as soon as I was able to, I listened to 'evil' rock 'n' roll music, and I had my own views on life. I also was able to make my own way through life, which both pleased and surprised them.

Every generation has had the same or similar experience. Children are rebels at heart, and to a large extent, I think they should be. After all, it is the children who will grow up to run this society someday and they just might have a better way. We school children and admittedly try to force them into our own mold as parents. That is necessary, for we will still be living when they are in control.

What comes out is a mixture of the old tried/true and the new experimental. This is how society adapts. Each generation comes along and dares to challenge the assumptions and beliefs of those who came before, creating a struggle for truth. The end result is a shift one way or another from the way things were done and thought of before. If it improves society, the next generation will advance things farther. If it harms society, the next generation will see the harm and move in a different direction.

If we could somehow disallow this radical thinking about life and all it encompasses, there would be no new technological breakthroughs, no societal evolution to benefit mankind. If we did not rein in the newer generations, there would be chaotic swings in society that would quickly tear it apart. Only through this mechanism of societal involvement can we continue as a social species.

As to this particular generation? My personal thoughts are that we are raising a lazy bunch of kids who know nothing about life and reality, combined with a few of the best and brightest that will somehow allow us to survive the rest. But that's what I am supposed to think, right? That's my role now, just as my role years ago was to be the one with those thoughts of change and improvement...

My gut tells me we're in trouble. My head is laughing at the beauty of societal renewal.

TheRedneck

Im 14 And Live in The UK
I dont take drugs,
I have smoked,
I have had alcohol.
Im no Drug Dealer,
Im really not into that,
I Belive they are more teenage references because of curiousity?
And Are posed On Tv because teens watch tv more really, for a Teenage audience where they can relate too it, because they are teenage aswell.

But really, I don't think most teens care that its like this,

Sure, these are stressful times for teens,

How are they stressfull? Im not stressing at all. Do you mean stressfull because of puberty?

And also, there are sub sterotypes for teens,
Geeks,
Nerds,
Chavs,
Emos,
Goths,
They all are sterotyped for different things.

There is also the sterotype for old people?
Nagging about everything and hating this generation of life.

Sterotypes are always going to be there,

For Teen Sterotypes

Emos - Self Harm alot - This Isnt Really True.
Chavs - Are tough fighters and have teenage pregnancy,
Geeks - Have no life and are on the computer all day.

So it goes on.

There isnt really anything you can do for it, It would eventually Pass I belive.

In the early 70's when I was a teenager, some of my peers smoked marijuana. Some drank. Lots of them had sex with each other. I attended my 30 year reunion in 2005 and discovered that most of us have grown up to be fairly normal, respectable, taxpaying citizens with jobs and families. As I recall it, there was nearly as much hype and propaganda about the hippie, druggie, irresponsible and apathetic teenagers who will "never amount to anything" back then as there is now.

I, however, do see a difference, and it's an important one in my book.

The problem is not the colored hairstyles, or the piercings, or the whole "Goth" thing, or drugs and sex. The problem is attitude.

Today's teenagers don't have any respect for adults, or for authority. They seem to think they are entitled to everything - freedom, material goods, a nice job, respect, loud music, etc. - without any concern for how their actions affect others, and without taking any responsibility for how their actions affect others.

If I politely ask a teenager to turn down his loud music in a public place, I'm more likely to get a disrespectful and obscene reply than I am to get compliance. In the 70's we might have rolled our eyes once the adult's back was turned and let our faces show what we thought of the "old fogey," but we would have probably muttered something like "ok, sorry," and turned down the music.

In this topsy-turvy politically correct world where telling the truth is somehow unacceptable if certain people aren't going to like the truth, people - even the people who make TV shows and movies - are afraid to address the real problems because, even if there wouldn't be public outrage (all the parents defending their darling can-do-no-wrong children), the advertisers who sell their products to teens would not buy in.

So they make movies about the same tired old themes - drugs and sex - when in fact the real issues that have us old fogies worried about today's teens are disrespect, rudeness, lack of common courtesy, lack of compassion, inability to take responsibility for their own actions, disdain for any kind of authority, and a seemingly total lack of understanding that their words and actions should be tempered with an awareness of and concern for how people around them are affected.

Just my opinion of course, and possibly a little skewed by the fact that I work in a place that serves "troubled" youth.

Drugs are good...sex is good....Am i missing the point of this topic? Anyway yes,teens are painted with a large brush these days by society...but dont blame drugs...thats just not nice...I think there is a lack of *place* in society...say waht you like about draconian dark age laws...but alteast everyone had a certain role and stance in society...people dont have that these days...there is no communities in alot of place.I remember here in then uk an elderly man died in his home and no one in the community even noticed or checked for about 4 months...very sad state we as a society are in...

[edit on 2-8-2008 by Lethil]

from a U.K respective its very similar, there is anew law instated here which allows police to stop and search a teenager if they are in a group of 5 or more its ridiclous