Teen Culture

Teen Culture

Teenagers really have nothing to offer society. Their contributions are in fact quite negative

I completely disagree with this statement. While it’s impossible to ignore the negative contributions of a minority of teenagers in society, in my experience, the vast majority of teens have an overall positive contribution to society. They have plenty to offer.

Such a topic like this usually arises out of a major event surrounding teenagers. It could be a major crime or incidence of vandalism, the latest teen pregnancy statistic or poor Leaving Cert results. Either way it seems that any minor incident is used as a representation of all teenagers. This stereotype is damaging and it needs to stop.

In the minds of the average adult, the average teenager is lazy, thrill seeking and always has something to complain about. The contradiction between the first two assumptions is laughable. Teens on the one hand are said to be always on their bums playing Xbox or chatting on Facebook, yet they’re also always out, causing trouble, drinking, having sex and engaging in all other kinds of unacceptable exploits. Then to top it all off, the third assumption is that this all makes teenagers unhappy.... It’s hilarious stuff if it wasn’t so serious.

The reality is that teens are generally moderate in all three areas. We play the occasional video game, we’ll chat with our friends online and yes we do go out, we socialise and we’ll have a drink. Are we any worse than some adults out there? Probably not. We’re also very happy believe it or not. A small number of teens suffer from depression or mental illness and exams can be unhappy times for many teenagers, but most of us are generally happy with our lives and our complaints are minor.

So besides the odd teen who drinks too much and gets in a fight, there is no other negative impact to society here. It’s a neutral impact. We keep to ourselves and get on with our lives. Claims of negative...

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