TEENS THEN AND NOW
Over the years, people and their ordinary life has drastically changed. But, did all
this changes bring people do a happier life?
As a teenager in modern world, I think there does not exist a lot of sense in
comparing the same generation then and now. It is clearly seen that everything has
changed: from the taste of music to the way teens spend their free time. However,
it would appear that trends from the past are coming back. Moreover, some internet
users claim that “Vintage is the new black” – and even my parents have the
equivalent opinion.
When I ask people whose youth was in the 80’s and 90’s, I hear notes of nostalgia
in their voices. And, from my point of view, the best thing about teens from the
past is the absence of modern technologies. They had the opportunity to spend time
in big groups of people, having lots of face-to-face conversations, and just living
their life in society. Nowadays teenagers seem to be more introverted, afraid of
speaking in public and making new friends. For modern youngsters it would
appear a lot easier to chat up in online environment, rather than tête à tête. From
my own observations, even when youth generation meets together, the majority of
them keeps their attention on the phones, while trying to escape from people
around them. According to my own experience, when a teenager is invited for a
walk, he or she would prefer to stay home, alone, in his\her comfort zone.
Nevertheless, I have another experience, which shows that there might exist
another opinion about young generation of today: once I met two girls, and both
were at the age of 27. During our conversation we talked about teens from today,
and I was pretty surprised to hear from them, that they consider youngsters from
today more extroverted than teenagers a decade ago. They mentioned, that teens
nowadays are freer to express their opinion, to show who they are, not to follow all
the rules that got old.
Another point, which is worthy to mention, is the attitude to mental health then and
now. It would appear that teenagers from the past did not have the chance to think
about their state of mind and soul. Personally speaking, I think in that time it was a
cliché to talk about your psyche, probably because adults might have told their
children that they are too young to have any problems, especially with their mind.
If truth be told, it seems that in the past teenagers were bullied a lot, due to social
inequality, and other problems. . Unfortunately, nowadays we still have to fight
with bullying, but at least, the victims of bullying have the possibility to address to
a psychologist with their mental health problems. But, from my own experience, I
can mention that some children still do not have access to psychology help. First
reason is that we do not have a qualified specialist in every school. The second
reason is their parent’s ideology, who still think that addressing to a psychologist is
a very bad thing, which is going to worse their family’s reputation.
Finally, I actually believe that today’s youngsters have much more knowledge than
those from the past. Perhaps, it is because we do have the access to the internet,
where we can find everything. Furthermore, I think adults pay a lot of attention to
teenagers’ studying process and their hobbies. Parents are ready to pay a lot of
money to be sure that their children are learning new things, new skills, and are
becoming smarter. Nevertheless, it looks like sometimes teens of today require a
lot of energy to cope all the information they learn. Moreover, It is already proven
that teenager’s brain is overworked, and is already used to multitasking, which is
not so good, and for sure, wasn’t an ordinary thing in the past.
Getting back to the point, I concluded: teens from now aren’t happier than those
before, but they are still happy in their own way. As a teenager, I would prefer to
bring some things from the past in our modern life, but at the same time, I am
satisfied with the life I live today, because every period of time has it’s own
advantages and disadvantages.
