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Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

chicagotribune.com

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Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#51

Post by Apocryphon »

But America is shifting more toward the slower model, and the change is apparent across the socioeconomic spectrum, Twenge said. "Even in families whose parents didn't have a college education...families are smaller, and the idea that children need to be carefully nurtured has really sunk in."

One wonders if there are extant societies that are worth comparing. Maybe American family structures are becoming more like those in East Asian or Western/Northern European societies. The greater emphasis on education for credentialism, leading to longer hours spent on schoolwork or college-app burnishing extracurriculars, sounds like it.

Of course, the study claims the opposite ("noting that teens today spend fewer hours on homework and the same amount of time on extracurriculars as they did in the 1990s"), which seems at odds with the popular perception of high schoolers being slammed with AP courses.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#52

Post by stouset »

chewz wrote: post #27
goodroot wrote: post #4

It's disturbing that, at least in Chicago, there appears to systemic conditioning that's convinced people sex is dangerous and scary. > Among teenagers now, "there is a feeling you're getting of, 'Wow, the world is pretty serious, so why would I rush to immerse myself. . .Why don't I stay with my friends and away from anything that has heavy consequences, like pregnancy or sexually-transmitted diseases?'" Sex is joyf…

I disagree. Sex puts you through a lot of suffering (disappointment, self-doubt, rejection, bad life decisions etc.) and simply is a great waste of resources (time, money, energy etc.) and in modern times even more so cause it isn't usually leading to procreation or long-term bonding. Yes sex is nice but it has a heavy price.

> disappointment, self-doubt, rejection, bad life decisions etc.

Absolutely none of these are necessarily a consequence of sex, given a healthy and productive attitude toward physicality and interpersonal relationships.

I am genuinely sympathetic that you seem to associate these feelings with sexual relationships.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#53

Post by detaro »

jsemrau wrote: post #39

My take on it is the absence of role-models. In the 60's LSD and the Stones, the Doors, the Hippies In the 70's Hash and David Bowie, Disco, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Pink FLoyd In the 80's it was Coke and New Wave, Duran Duran, Punk In the 90's it was Alcohol and Metal, Ecstasy and Raves, Madonna's experimental phase encouraging women to test their limits. In the 00's there was Marilyn Manson, Nu Metal? But it's already g…

Hip-Hop is pretty big again right now, driven more and more through streaming services and less on the radio.

And a lot of it is more fragmented - you have easy access to a wider variety of music both new and old than you had when the only music sources were radios and music shops, both with limited capacity.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#54

Post by itbeho »

Jill_the_Pill wrote: post #43

They're not smoking either. Those things are no longer cool badges of maturity, independence, or rebellion. Instead, they're getting piercings and tattoos, identifying as alternative genders, sexting, and claiming more flexible sexual orientations. Alarms the old folks just as effectively.

Those kids and their damn rock and roll :)

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#55

Post by Apocryphon »

tanilama wrote: post #45

And what is wrong with that? Is this another blame piece article that teens or young people in general are less masculine and animalistic, and not as ambitious as their parental generations and need to toughen up? So fed up with this narrative, like they know what is good for the teens, what they experienced when they were young should be shrined as norm while the young people are the ones that screwed up by turning…

That sort of "the kids aren't alright" sentiment of this piece is especially rich:

"On the one hand, I know she's safe, she's not out getting pregnant or smoking pot or drinking or doing all kinds of risky stuff that I can imagine would be age appropriate,"she said. But Haskew wonders whether her daughter is missing out on life lessons those behaviors can teach. "Is that stuff necessary for human development, do you have to be risk-taking as a teenager in order to succeed as an adult?"

So these articles and parents, after years if not decades of after school specials and anti-drug classroom crusades and rubber playgrounds and helicopter parenting and initiatives to make everything about childhood as safe and as convenient as possible, are now suddenly regretting their kids not experiencing teen pregnancies or youth drug abuse? After making the world a safer place- and a more scary place through relentless hysteria and moral panics- they now think their kids are too soft and coddled? Sponsor scouting organizations or summer camps or apprenticeship programs or study abroad if you think your kids aren't experiencing the real world enough. Don't romanticize the same risky behaviors that you lobbied to abolish in the first place.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#56

Post by Gustomaximus »

pixl97 wrote: post #15

There are a pile of different answers to these questions (not question), ones that should be asked separately. For example, excluding factors that affect all the questions, putting off drinking is likely a combination of consumer education and the difficulty in getting alcohol pre-21. Fewer adults want to provide their younger peers alcohol because of legal risks. Driving is the combination of increasing expense to d…

> less money to spend on sex

This one doesn't need money ;) I would suspect other things being equal, hanging about with little to do would that costs money would encourage socialisation and sex.

Anecdotally, I feel kids are more mature in many ways than my generation (I'm late 30's). They have total access to information and I suspect this helps them learn to see the world faster.

As for less drinking/drugs, I wonder if smartphones have a big impact. In my youth we'd underage drink with friends and get a bit loose. Now days that behaviour would get uploaded fast and probably stop us doing it.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#57

Post by pizzetta »

vowelless wrote: post #40
pixl97 wrote: post #15

There are a pile of different answers to these questions (not question), ones that should be asked separately. For example, excluding factors that affect all the questions, putting off drinking is likely a combination of consumer education and the difficulty in getting alcohol pre-21. Fewer adults want to provide their younger peers alcohol because of legal risks. Driving is the combination of increasing expense to d…

My prior is like yours: There are likely different answers to the various points listed above. Regarding this one: > Sex probably includes factors of better sexual education. Higher pregnancy rates are seen in populations with no or bad sexual education. Also, you are 'held to the fire' by the state if you get someone pregnant. It's possible that the easy availability of porn has a lot more to do with this than just…

I'd also lean towards your hypothesis since there are many, many contraceptive and anti-STD choices -more than used to be available to other gens.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#58

Post by replicatorblog »

Uhhrrr wrote: post #49

No one mentions video games? It seems like they really cut into both the desire and the time to do those things.

Would suggest easily-available adult content might play a large role. Its existence blunts the hormonal challenges faced by young men. Cars used to be a way for young couples to find privacy away from parents/guardians a la "Animal House," but in a world with substitute goods that's no longer as strong a requirement. Lack of cars also makes it harder for large groups of teens to congregate, a la "Dazed and Confused" and reduces the peer pressure effects that lead many to drink and smoke.

Re: Why are today's teens putting off driving, dating and drinking?

#59

Post by simplexion »

hashmap wrote: post #48

Reduced exposure to lead probably has something to do with it. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/08/childhood-lead... "This means that lead exposure is likely to be associated not just with violent crime, but with juvenile misbehavior, drug use, teen pregnancy, and other risky behaviors."

Wow... that would have to be almost as good correlation as vaccines cause autism. I have a feeling it is more likely due to easier access to knowledge.
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