Here’s a quick series of stories about teen girls and their search for identity in the media saturated world we live in.  A story talking about the effect of teen magazines like Seventeen, Cosmo Girl!, Teen, and Teen Vogue on girls can be found here.  It’s a good read and I suggest you check it out.  And to find out what your teen daughter is reading this month in those magazines, head on over to Ypulse and check out their summary.

After you finish reading those articles, you can head on over to Australian paper, The Age, and read an interesting article by Celia Walden about identity cannibalism among teen girls.  To explain that peculiar term for you a little bit, here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Focusing entirely on those whose personality or physical attributes she covets, there is a new breed of woman who longs to be someone she isn’t, as if it were as easy as creating an avatar in some paradise-like cyber-universe. By definition, these identities cannot be acquired; but that does not stop the covetous from trying, and young women are ending the first decade of this century in a black hole of impossible desires. They are Identity Cannibals — or Cannibelles — desperate to be anyone but themselves, willing to steal another’s clothes, look and lifestyle to create a new “me”.”

As we approach a new school year and a new set of expectations and pressures from teen boys and girls alike to conform and fit in, this is an article all parents, educators, and youth ministers should read.

One of the greatest threats that face the development and success of our current generation of teens is Affluenza.  Many of today’s teens suffer from Affluenza and full blown cases of entitlement.  Of course they didn’t just wake up one day thinking the world owed them something and that their self-worth was tied to the amount of possessions they could amass.  This was taught to them in large part by parents.  It is this behavior that a couple writers at the New York Times have written about in the past week or so.  

The first article, written by Tina Kelley, follows a group of affluent parents and kids as they head off to summer camp.  To me, the way these adults act is pretty absurd.  It’s hard to even know where to start so I suggest you just read the article. In response to this article, Judith Warner wrote an opinion piece in the Times where she dissects the idea of Affluenza and goes ahead and places blame in some justified places.   

She says of affluenza:

“…what mental health professionals are now calling “affluenza,” a social pathology that, they say, is rampant at a time when getting and spending — a lot — have become our nation’s most cherished activities, and when purchasing power has become, to an unprecedented extent, almost the sole source of many people’s status and identity. 

In our society, you don’t have to be wealthy to suffer from affluenza. Its symptoms — “debt, overwork, waste, and harm to the environment, leading to psychological disorders, alienation, and distress,” in adults; “lack of motivation … apathy, laziness, or failure to commit to and achieve goals … overindulgence and attitudes of entitlement” in children,

according to the New York University Child Study Center, are pervasive — and no one is immune.

For affluenza is not just a constellation of symptoms. It is an ethic, a play-the-system, lie-and-cheat-your-way-to-what-you-want, don’t-let-the-peons-stand-in-your-way ethic of amorality. You rock, kid, parents teach. And you — alone — rule.”

I suggest you check out both of these articles and think about what it means for our nation’s future to have the next generation of leaders raised with this mindset.  

 A British study has suggested that parents begin watching sex-laced shows like Gossip GIrl with their teens.  The idea behind it is that many parents do not initiate conversations about sex with their children because they find it uncomfortable.  As a result teens are finding a lot of their questions about sex answered through shows like Gossip Girl and The Secret Life of The American Teenager and before that on the O.C. and Dawson’s Creek.  

Ideally, I would suggest that teens not watch shows like Gossip Girl in the first place.  The plots are pretty much saturated with objectionable behavior by teens and watching those shows may give young people the impression that the actions of those characters are what normal teen behavior should be.  However, if your son or daughter is watching the show anyway, it would be best if, as a parent,  you watched it with them.  Then, when sex or drugs or dishonesty pop up in the story line of the show, you have a perfect opportunity to ask, “What do you think about that?” 

The conversations that can be had during a commercial break over the moral, spiritual and emotional implications of the actions of a character may provide you a better chance for instructing your teen than a lengthy talk about the Birds and the Bees.

When I was a kid I didn’t particularly enjoy reading.  In fact, I don’t think I ever completely read a book that didn’t have pictures until I was 16. I accomplished this by writing book reports based on the information I had gleaned from a book’s first chapter, last chapter, and the synopsis on the back cover and by choosing books that had been made into movies that I’d seen. To me, reading was something that people did before modern technology like TV and cell phones. I thought that since those superior forms of entertainment and communication are available, books, and the skills associated with reading them, are obsolete.

Today, this is an attitude shared by many teens and it’s affecting their performance not only in school, but also in the real world. A study by the National Endowment for the Arts found that as adolescent reading for pleasure declines so do scores on reading and writing exams. At the same time, performance in other academic disciplines like math and science have dipped for students whose access to books is limited, and employers are rating young workers as deficient in basic writing skills.

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When I graduated high school I remember attending at least 5 graduation parties where alcohol was furnished to teens by parents.  To me this was unusual because it seemed like assisting young people in getting drunk and breaking the law wasn’t the most responsible send off for a group that has such a bright future ahead of them.

But, as research shows, many parents see it differently.  According to a Harris Research study, 1 in 4 parents think teens should be able to drink while at home with parents present. Additionally, new government research shows that nationwide 600,000 teens get alcohol from their parents. The belief among many adults is that since most teens will be drinking anyway, it’s better for them to do so while under adult supervision and in the safety of their own home.

However, while many parents claim that drinking is part of adolescence and this approach is merely an effort to keep teens safe and to teach them to drink responsibly, it may be doing far more damage than parents know.

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USMagazine.com: Heidi Montag wants to record a Christian Album.

There is a different side to Heidi Montag that you don’t see on MTV’s The Hills, the 21-year-old budding singer tells USA Today. “I have been the most religious person since I was 2 years old. I always felt this crazy connection to God,” says Montag, who identifies herself as “kind of non-denominational Baptist.” Montag — who just released her latest single “Fashion” and frequently reads the Bible — says she even wants to record a Christian album. She adds that she once planned on devoting her life to God as a missionary in Africa.  Read the full story…

 

US News & World Report: Housing crisis popular with popular teens. 

While the housing bust is threatening to drag the entire economy into a debilitating recession, it’s great news for the teenage party scene.  With a wanton lack of sympathy for the mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit crisis, teenagers in one California community are using abandoned foreclosed homes as venues for unchaperoned—and presumably “raging”—drinking parties. Read the full story…

Minneapolis Star tribune: Teens who speed may soon meet cars that tattle.

Here’s one way to get teen drivers off the cell phone: Make them hook it up to the speedometer and automatically text Mom and Dad whenever the car is speeding.  The phones could conceivably keep track of such things as the number of passengers in the car, whether they’re wearing seatbelts and even monitor the volume of the stereo. Read the full story…

New York Times: Teen cruising declines as gas prices rise. 

For car-loving American teenagers, this is turning out to be the summer the cruising died. Kevin Ballschmiede, 16, pined for his 1999 Dodge Ram — “my pride and joy” — the other night as he hung out in a parking lot in this town outside Chicago. Given that filling the 26-gallon tank can now cost more than $100, he had left it at home and caught a ride.  From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters. Read the full story…

Kansas City Star: Growing modesty movement shows teens they can be stylish without revealing too much

Low-cut camis and short dresses may be the rage in fashion and celebrity magazines, but many young women say the styles expose too much, especially during summer. They’ve turned to faith-based organizations for help. The modesty movement, as it’s called, is gaining support from religious leaders who say it’s time to cover up. Religious groups have promoted modest-themed fashion shows and proms, and referred brides-to-be to shops that sell modest gowns. This month, hundreds attended the sold-out Pure Fashion Show at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa in Sacramento, Calif. The Friday night show featured local teens from various churches modeling modest fashion from casual wear to evening formals. Read the full story…

TIME: Should you drink with your teen? 

The data indicate there are fewer young drinkers, but a greater proportion of them are hard-core drinkers. Parents have helped create this paradox. Many parents seem torn between two competing impulses: officially, most say in surveys that they oppose any drinking by those under 21. But unofficially many also seem to think kids will be kids—after all, not so long ago, they were themselves drinking as teens. A few of these parents have even allowed their kids to have big drunken parties at home. Read the full story…

The pursuit of coolness is a top priority in the lives of most teens.  I mean, when I was a teen my friends and I committed significant amounts of time and thought to doing the stuff that we thought was really cool and I think I can be so bold as to say that this is a universal thing that has always, and will always, exist.  Frankly, you will have a hard time convincing me that, at any one time, there isn’t a teenager somewhere in the world asking some form of the question “what is cool?”.  This article is my attempt at busting through the unrealistic definitions of cool to outline what it takes to be genuinely cool.  I think I am cool enough to at least give this a try.    

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As I research teen culture I often come across headlines that say things like:  “1 in 4 Teen Girls has an STD,” or “Over 2 million American Teens are Depressed.”

To be honest, when I read those types of things I can’t help but feel like this generation of young people (which I am technically a part of) is hopeless. I mean, as compared to previous generations, today’s teens seem to be the laziest, most sexually promiscuous, drug addicted, morally bankrupt group America has ever seen.  

But, just as I begin to really worry about the future of today’s youth and, in turn, the future of our society, I am reminded that this generation also has an amazing amount of potential to change the world. It is this potential that I’d like to focus on in coming weeks.  

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When I was young I had a lot of heroes.  Among them were the Lone Ranger and Batman.  These were characters that I looked up to and even aspired to be like. I believed that when I reached adulthood I could be a masked cowboy who roamed the west fighting injustice or even a billionaire crime fighting superhero.

Of course as I grew older I realized these were not viable career options and as a result more realistic role models replaced my fictional heroes.  This happens to all children as they grow older. Over time new role models like pop stars, athletes, and other celebrities replace superheroes and Disney princesses.

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Andy Warhol was the first to predict that “in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”.  He was referring to the fleeting condition of celebrity that attaches to an object of media attention, then passes to some new object as soon as the public’s attention span is exhausted.  The concept of being famous for 15 minutes has often been used in reference to figures in the entertainment industry and other areas of popular culture. 

Recently, the prominence of online social networking, blogging and other online trends adapted Warhol’s claim to now state that “in the future everyone will be famous to 15 people”.  This has added a new dimension to the definition of “celebrity”.  The internet has made it dramatically easier for just about anyone to become a celebrity by posting an attention grabbing blog or video in as public a place as possible. 

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