A Cycle of Outrage

I feel like this article was written awhile ago. I also feel like the author was already an adult during the postwar teenager phase. It sounds like the author and probably most adults at that time were looking for someone or something to blame for the teenagers delinquent behavior. In reality they weren't even being delinquent, they were finding themselves in the surroundings the were given. The author suggested almost finding a reason or explanation for the way the adolescents were behaving. Before the war the teenagers were working early than they were postwar and thus had less responsibilities. In the text there was a study done that before the war in the 1930's only about 50% of working class students attending high school. Post war in the early 1960's that same figure was estimated at over 90%. More teenagers were spreading their life out almost, for lack of better word, and pushing life, work and marriage later into life. As much as the teenager employment rate had decreased and as confusing as that was, it then reversed and most high school teenagers found employment after the draft. 

I honestly did not like this article. I had a hard time connecting with it and I don't feel like anything really "hit home" for me. It was kind of difficult to write about if I can't find something to almost make me passionate about it. 

A Tangle of Discourses

I really dont even know where to start so I am just going to start with what has been bothering me about this whole article/research. It is not anything the researcher did or her results ( I found it hard to pick out her actual results, I felt like she just talked). In class we talked about how teenagers are not some alien form and I remember thinking "yea, yea. People dont really think that". Until i read this article. Teenagers really are not some alien form. Yes they have mood swings but so dont adults. Teenagers go through puberty and adults go through menopause or midlife crisis's.  These hormonal changes dont change who we are as individuals. Raby quotes Steinberg in her article, "parents probably project their own discomfort about adolescence onto their children...as a way of avoiding facing the unrest they themselves feel about growing old (1994)". HELLO!!!! The only major difference between these hormonal stages besides age is the fact that adults can make free willing decisions where teenagers still cannot. An adult going through a midlife crisis can essentially do what ever they want. They are free to travel or purchase expensive things where as a teenager literally cant do anything except "rebel" to get their feelings out.

There are plenty of life experiences that help (for better or for worse) mold us (as adults and as children). Adults rebel all the time. Quitting a job or getting a divorce are all some forms of rebellion. These experiences also mold us and can sometimes change the current behavior. When adults go through this they call if life. When teenagers go through it they call it rebellion and starting to find themselves as human beings. But I can argue that our entire lives we are constantly rebelling against different mediums and always trying to find who we are and where we belong in this world.

I feel like I've written a lot about one topic so I want to touch upon the at risk section of her research. I agree with what was said about how we live in different times than our grandparents and it isnt really comparable. Teenagers today are faced with pregnancy, heavier drugs and more stress and pressure. I personally feel the stress and pressure comes directly from the technology we have which ultimately makes it easier to view billions of media outlets daily. Girls and boys alike feel the pressure and stresses of fitting it and looking a certain way because that information is more readily available.

Unlearning the Myths

I really had no idea what I was going to be reading about in this article. I figured it would drag on. But as I read the more I wanted to continue reading. As a kid I remember watching the princess movies and the boys were always playing baseball such as in The Sandlot. As I grew older the idea of how the media affects young children was tossed around and it makes you think. Young children are not conscious of the underlying  messages that they view on a daily basis. 

Young girls are constantly seeing princesses and skinny pretty girls always getting they guy. They grow up believing these stereotypes and have ideas of what they "should" look like and act like. Young boys are viewing baseball and football movies and see the popular cute boy getting the girlfriend and the dorky boys get left in the dust. Boys are also held to a certain stereotype to not be nerdy and to go to the gym and get muscles. 

These stereotypes and ideologies are so subliminal that most adults don't even realize them. Children view them everywhere from commercials on TV to pictures in school textbooks. Unfortunately these messages have become such a big part of life there is nothing we can do to prevent it. The only thing we can do is as adults, teach the children how to think and analyze using their own minds and avoiding the influence of the media.