Teens today

Kateřina F. Williams

The general public usually puts teens and young people all in one group, judges them all based on stereotypical facts and based on their usual features. Whose fault is it, the teens', or is there something else?

Yes, it is presented to us through movies and other media that there are not many teens in first and second world countries who do not own any electronic device. I would go as far as to say, that those cases are presented as rare. And yes, the constant flow of information that we encounter every day is monstrous and can get highly addictive. Not even mentioning the fact, that one can take the world's knowledge in front of them all the time for granted quite fast, if they are not careful. Why remember who wrote what and all the dates and names, when we can easily google the answer to basically any question? The phone or computer that we possess can be our hard drive of information, so we do not need to store it in our brain. On the other hand, given the fact that the internet is so overwhelming, it is hard not to get involved. Not only teens, but other generations as well are getting gulped down into this world of immediate information about anything, attention driven to completely useless things, easily triggered mass hysteria, I could go on for hours. This time that we live in requires us to look into screens anytime of the day, as long as the information reaches us as quick as possible.

It is true though, that percentages of knowledge in countries like USA, Great Britain, France, etc. in groups of teens or people moving around this age are radically lower than the rates of older generations. This could be a mistake in the education system, or just in the students themselves. Teachers have a harder job keeping the students interested and entertained. If we look back into our history, school was never supposed to be entertaining on purpose, one went there to listen to the professor, make notes, and learn. Nowadays, professors and teachers in general are making a real effort to make the lessons fun for the students, for it to be entertaining, so the students learn more. But is it as effective, as other methods used?

Overall, it is unfair to judge people by the group they were born in, and to only see the bad side of everything they use. On the other hand, the general public has a point, in which we, teens and younger people often aren't as smart or as witty as the older generations.