Posted Oct 13 2011, 1:57 am in author, Compelling Stories, Patty Blount, teens
My blog is depressing me.
Lately, the posts I’ve been writing have a common theme – sad and alarming teen trends like bullying, sexting, sexual molestation, and homelessness. Coming from someone whose novel is about sexting gone bad, this is really saying something.
So…
How about we focus on the positive?
Being a teen today can’t be all bad, right?
RIGHT?
I grew up in the ’80’s with plastic jewelry, leg warmers and Duran Duran. We had no iStuff. If we wanted portable tunes, we lugged around boom boxes. If we wanted to talk to a friend, we had to actually dial a phone – with a round dial. (Touch tone buttons came later.) We had no cell phones, no DVDs, no internet –the PERSONAL COMPUTER itself was just being born. (Thankfully, disco was already dead.)
There were first dates. First kisses. Sweet Sixteen parties. Proms. Graduation. Friendships. Dreams. It wasn’t all dark and twisted angst.
Are you a teen? Tell me why it’s GREAT to be a teen today. Tell me something GOOD going on in your life right now. Come on, make me envious :)
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I think we’re about the same age by the sound of it, so I can’t help you. One thing that hasn’t changed though, both my girls believe they can do anything they want if they try hard enough. So there’s that :-)
Determination and a positive attitude are good things to have :)
Well, I’m far from a teen, but one thing I think would be great is not having to produce term papers via a typewriter. Ugh. *grin*
Typewriters! My God, I thought ‘correctotape’ was the best invention ever.
Many of the things you mentioned, our plastic bracelets, our music, our wall-attached phones — kept us connected, literally to each other, to our families. The physical things you are pointing kids to are material things.
As an educator, I am trying to teach my college students to notice the norms that have changed over the last 20 years as a result of new technology. We didn’t have texting at the dinner table or everyone sitting at a different the TV with a laptop and cell phone. We didn’t have cyber-bullying because there were no computers.
But I will say, there are a lot of resilient teens out there. People who are finding a way to navigate their way despite the distractions. There are still people who have dreams and are going for them. Thank goodness for those persistent people. They are our future.
Resiliency is critical. I wonder what parents can do to foster more of it?