Teenagers

You can definitely tell that both articles written in Chapter 7 were written in the 1990's. I remember this media craze that painted an awful picture of teenagers. They were convinced that an entire generation was evil and was pretty much doomed. They would meet their demise via drugs, alcohol, sex, and violence crimes. But yet, that didn't actually happen. That generation is still kicking. I remember this media campaign against teenagers (I was probably in 4th/5th/6th grade at the time) and it was the first time that it occurred to me that the media might not know what they're talking about all of the time. What an epiphany! I looked around at the teenagers I knew and thought to myself, they don't seem all that bad to me. Sure, you have the bad seeds that do have some serious issues and need help. Like the article stated, they were probably abused as children. But for the most part, teenagers were teenagers. Some a bit rebellious, some a little hormonally crazed, but nothing too out of the ordinary. As we all know, the media likes to sensationalize things. They got a hold of some statistics that were not accurate and they ran with it. I think the reason they concentrate on teenage issues and crimes is because it is more shocking than when adults do the same things. When an adult murders someone, it's news-worthy but not necessarily shocking. When a teen murders someone, it's more alarming. The media eats this kind of thing up and then tags on the age-old phrase to the end of the report: "What's happening to the youth of America?" Stop generalizing like that! Anyway, I think things have gotten better in this decade. The youth of America doesn't get picked on as much as they did in the 90's. Hopefully it stays that way. We need to stop blaming teen problems on music, movies, television, and video games. It starts with the parents. If anyone is to blame, it's the parents, not the teens.