In societies day and age, being a teenager can prove to be much more different than previous generations. Before this complicated era of millennials, there was a much simpler generation. A generation with simpler people, and much simpler problems than today. This generation gap has served to create many different conditions from the time my parents were my age. To begin, the houses of which my parents grew up in were greatly contrasted with the houses I was brought up in. When my mother lived in Cuautla, Mexico, she lived in a very small house (practically the size of a shed you would see in a backyard today) that was made of mud and straw. There was no air-conditioner to shield her from the blistering heat, and no heater when the breeze was …show more content…
He was raised in poverty from the day of his birth. His father; incarcerated, and his mother; struggling to make ends meet for their small, two bedroom trailer-home which they lived in. Like my mother, he did not grow up with most of the luxuries I have today. When he was eighteen, he did not have what most would consider today, a necessity: indoor plumbing. He did not have a restroom! Instead, there was a makeshift outhouse in the backyard that they used for digestive purposes, or rather what occurs after digestion. This measly outhouse got filled with bugs and animals or all shapes, colors, and sizes. On one occasion, a snake bit him! How …show more content…
Back when my parents were growing up, there was less of a need to watch your back everywhere you go, or be on the lookout for stalkers, rapists, serial killers, or anything of the sort. This was simply because it was a simpler time, and a simpler place. In their neighborhoods, everyone was friends with each other, and if they were not, they were relatives. There was no need to hold your tongue so that people would not get offended for odd reasons like assuming genders, or being too masculine, because everyone played a role in their little society. In my parents time, the only thing teenagers truly had to fear was the wrath of a belt or chancla when their parents got a hold of
What does being a teenager mean? Teenagers will tell you that they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. It doesn...
Because of this new demographic, people started seeing teenagers differently than children, as they did before. They had more freedom; they would be able to go out after school, they would start doing some “adult” activities, such as working. They had more independence from their parents. Teenagers would usually want to stay alone in their rooms talking to friends over the rotary dial phone (if they had one) or they would sneak out at night to go to clubs and parties.
Almost every generation criticizes the current adolescent generation due to the difference of historical perspectives. In response to this, I went out into the world and decided to interview someone of these older generations, Diane Partee Miller. Mrs. Miller is the age of seventy-five and is my maternal grandmother. She grew up in the small town of Evansport, which is located in the Northern part of Ohio. Mrs. Miller was an adolescent and primarily grew up in throughout the prime years of the 1950s. Differences between these generations is evident in classes taken in high school, social acceptance of dress, romantic relationships, and technology.
Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.
Although the teens of the fabulous fifties have come and gone, the teens of today have stepped up to the plate to instill their own fashion trends, music, slang and history. The teens of the twenty-first are said to "be the future", although the future may not look too bright in some elders eyes. In contraire, that is what may have been thought to be said of the teens of the fifties. With their endless rock and roll and rebellion the teens of the fifties are very much different but very much the same of the teens in the twenty-first century. It is amazing to see what the world has become, from bobby socks and roadsters to mini skirts and vipers.
There are many aspects of my generation that reflect, define, and influence my generation. Its a difficult task to understand Generation X, my generation. We are like no generation before us, and no preceding generation will be like ours. We are empowered by the Internet, we have more knowledge about technology than our parents, and we are exposed to so much information. One thing remains unchanged, as with past generation; the relationship between us and our parents. Jamake Highwater once said, "the greatest distance between people is not space, but culture.(301)" This is true, my generation has their own culture, one which is of course different than that of our parents. We are still considered rebellious. We listen to music that is different than what our parents listen to, we dress in a way that upsets them, and act in ways that they might not. Our parents don't dress like us. They don't see how we can be happy doing what we do. They don't understand us. We are opinionated, yet susceptible. In our adolescence we are prone to wrongful doing, wrongful thinking, and we can be difficult and misunderstood. Our weakness is how easily we can let peer pressure or the media or our surroundings influence us. Many aspects of my generation's culture reflect, define, and influence my generation.
Have you ever wondered how we as a society and generation have come to know so much? We have so much knowledge not because of ourselves but by wisdom and knowledge passed down by generations. We learn very important values about life by the history of this world and by people. Values are considered a guiding principle or standard of conduct such as honesty or loyalty or responsibility for others welfare (Null). The values that have been passed down to us shape and make us into the people we are today. We learn from values such as honesty and loyalty but also learn valuable lessons such as hardships. We learn most value in life from people who have orally passed them down or they have been written out for us. There are three literary works from
Many americans have differing variations of political views and affiliations. My interview consisted of two separate people of two varying generations. My grandma, (60’s) Baby Boomer Generation, and my sister, (29) Millennial Generation, were both interviewed to see the varying opinions, if any, that existed.
Current youth have very different life styles and expectations, consequently adolescents are taking longer to complete the transition into adulthood. Twenty-five years ago, the traditional norms were to get a job straight after school, start courting, get married, save up enough money to set up a home and eventually start a family.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Teenagers; everyone has been one, is one, or will be one. They are adventurous and silly; they try to be as grown up as possible, yet it never seems to work. Through out each decade, the teenager seemed to evolve into the teens we see today. How have they changed? Are they at all the same? What is so different about the teenagers of today and those of decades past?
Today’s world is full of worries and problems which did not affect teens a generation
The American teenager is particularly different from any other teenager around the world. The American teenager experiences many particular experiences that change the lives ultimately that will affect the rest of his life.
Although many youths alike agree to the truth behind the saying, many people do not realize that youths are in fact, very powerful people, in this sense, not by strength but by the ability to discover and dream. In today’s time, youth has become an important role in molding the society. It should be that youths become the faces of the future, playing a vital role in the quality of life the younger generation would face.
The generation that I was born into can sometimes be easily misunderstood by those in earlier generations. The individuals in my generation get thrown many different labels such as those that Rosie Evans (n.d.) listed in her article, “Millennials, Generation Y, the Lost Generation, boomerang kids, the Peter Pan generation…” and more. This can impact us as a whole because some will begin to live by the labels, in some cases that can be negative but in others it may be beneficial. Many people in this generation believe that they can’t reach their full potential due to labels and prejudgment, while there are others believe nothing can hold them back. When we get labeled all together that is also what may drive some to try to stand out from the
Generation gap, as already mentioned, is a very natural phenomenon. It has been emerging enormously in all societies of the world but it has become more complex in the recent times due to the rapid socio-economic changes and the high-paced technological advancement. Before the advent of the twentieth century, the society was not very mobile and young people lived quite a sheltered life and took influence from only their immediate environment. (Sattar, Yasin, & Fani, 2010) With the advent of television and movies, young people were exposed to cultural influences alien to their own families and cultures. And this is not al...