SOCIOLOLGICAL EXPERIMENT

[M. Nigel Salt]

Dear PD,

I need your help with a class project. Don't worry, I'm not going to experiment on you! But if you would kindly take a moment to answer the following questions, I'd be much obliged.

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers?

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?

What are your impressions of teenagers?

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?

Thank you very much for your answers!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers? DUMB and IDEALISTIC, with a license.  Adults don't have this license but they do it anyway.

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers? Sex-crazed morons played by people in their 30s.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation? first part is 169% accurate

What are your impressions of teenagers? They don't do enough crazy shit anymore.  Too civilized.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?  Yes.  If I didn't, they wouldn't be my impressions.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?  No.  I have kids for that.

Thank you very much for your answers! You're welcome.

[Phox]

Hmmm.

I would describe teenagers as young, inexperienced, and headstrong.

I feel like there are a couple of different portrayals of teenagers in the media that seems to be the most common: emotional, rebellious, and usually dumb; perfect, idealistic, pretty, smart, and pure; and the "All-American" teenager, which seems to fall somewhere in the middle, though usually preoccupied with sex and has little in the way of adult interaction.

I do not feel that any of those are accurate depictions of teenagers, but more like over-generalizations and stereotypes.

My impressions of teenagers are that they pretty much run the gamut of human possibility, though some of the stereotypes do seem to be based in fact, I don't think that saying teenagers are all hormonal whirlwinds, rebellious punks, or wrong simply because they lack life experience is anywhere close to the truth.

I can't really say that my impressions of teenagers are all accurate, because I try to give each person a fair chance to make their own impression, but I do find myself sliding into stereotyping from time to time.

As much as I'd like to believe that the media doesn't influence my impressions, I'm sure that it does, and fairly certain that it influences most people to a greater or lesser degree as well.

And I'm happy to help you out.

[M. Nigel Salt]

Awesome, thanks guys! The more answers I get the better my paper will be.

[Juana Go?]

1. Idealistic, naive, angsty, awkward, immature, concerned with status.

2. Dumb, angsty, rebellious, partiers, awkward, apathetic, sometimes even more immature than they actually are.

3. Not really. The media tends to portray one specific demographic within that age bracket (white, heterosexual, and middle/middle upper class). Or I guess you could say they only portray that one demographic positively.

4. Uh, angsty, awkward, smarter than they're often shown to be, less apathetic than they're shown, less partying than shown. Sort of wrapped up in themselves.

5. Probably both? I think being wrapped up in yourself, angstiness, and awkwardness is pretty universal for teenagers of all demographics, and I think we tend to assume teenagers are dumber than they are, but apathy/partying is accurate for the teenagers I know/was.

6. Sure, although I like to think it's less than my actual dealings with actual teenagers.

7. My pleasure!

[deadfong]

Dear PD,

I need your help with a class project. Don't worry, I'm not going to experiment on you! But if you would kindly take a moment to answer the following questions, I'd be much obliged.

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?

Inexperienced, self-absorbed.  I don't mean those in a derogatory way, just a consequence of fewer years on the planet combined with still-developing brains.

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers?

Badly.  Typically oblivious to consequences, prone to violence, hypersexual, conniving.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?

Mostly inaccurate.  While I do think, due to a combination of brain development and limited experience, teenagers often don't think out the possible outcomes of their actions, media portrayals are designed to show teenagers at their absolute worst, either by focusing only on the most extreme examples (like anything about teenaged criminals on Investigation Discovery), or through misreporting (like all that news crap about, what was it called, middle schoolers having "rainbow parties"), or through over-the-top fictionalizations (like the Law & Order: SVU episode about "rainbow parties").  It's all very, "Beware of teenagers, old person!  They are weird and unknowable and will fuck you up!"
 

What are your impressions of teenagers?

That's a hard one, because I don't know any teenagers right now.  A few years ago, when I was teaching freshman undergraduates, I thought they were, by and large, ill-prepared for college, but that wasn't their fault.  A lot of them were coming in without a foundation of any sort in things like abstract thinking ability or writing ability (Christ, the memory of some of those essays still makes me cringe), but also, to their credit, a lot of them were able to pick up those tools, once given the opportunity.

A few years before that, I was a young substitute teacher, and the head of sub services strongly recommended that I only sub middle school, because I looked too young and she said high schoolers would, I think her phrase was, "eat you alive."  She was completely wrong about that.  High school students generally listened and treated me with a degree of respect or, at worst, indifference.  Middle school students, on the other hand... All I can say is puberty is a sick joke forced on all of us by a cruel universe.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?

Like I said, it's been a while since I had any significant interactions with teenagers, but I don't imagine things have changed that much.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?

No, I mostly see the media as trying, consciously or unconsciously, to set generations at odd with one another.

Thank you very much for your answers!

You're welcome!  This was interesting.

[Eater of Clowns]

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?  Young, naive, image conscious, self absorbed, developing, learning, headstrong.

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers?   Easily categorized based on social cliques, status oriented, consumers, shallow, argumentative.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?  Inaccurate.   There's a consensus that people thought they knew everything at that age but everyone thinks they know everything at every age.  Teenagers are frequently not given adequate voice and are discounted.

What are your impressions of teenagers?  They're still developing people, emphasis on the people.  While they may not have reached full adulthood physically or mentally, they are as complicated and varied as regular people.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?  At this point I don't believe I know any teenagers personally.  My impressions are based on previous experience and training.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?  Probably.  The media has a pretty insidious way of getting into people's heads like that and I'd be fooling myself if I said I wasn't affected.

[Eater of Clowns]

It's REALLY interesting responding without having read anyone else's responses and then seeing how closely my own answers resemble some others!  This is great, thanks Nigel!

[M. Nigel Salt]

These are awesome answers! Thank you guys!

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers? Clueless. Entitled. Short-sighted. Enthusiastic. Dismissive. Trendwhore.

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers? They're either bad, stupid, and cruel or doofy, love-able, and earnest. Not much in the middle.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation? Media representation is to reality what cliff notes are to the novel.

What are your impressions of teenagers? They live in a fish tank and can't see beyond the glass. Everything is too immediate. The word will end if they don't get or can't buy or don't wear whatever's hip, yo. They're looking for a bandwagon to hop on for an easy ride and don't care who's driving or why.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager? It's accurate for the masses. Get one of 'em alone and it's a slightly different story.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager? I think the media representation influences teenagers' expectation of teenagers. I'm not going to put anything into it until they start breaking into song in my store.

Thank you very much for your answers! No problem-o.

[Richter]

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?  Playing, solidifiying, experimenting, grasping, energetic

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers? Overly shallow.  Emotional, sure, but shallow or dismissable in their emotions.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?  Inaccurate.

What are your impressions of teenagers?  Depends on the teenager.  See the above.  Some have some grounding in some areas, not in others.  There are areas of life we all need to play around with to grasp, and for them it's all a new sort of experience.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager? 
Again, depends on the person.  I can try to base my own interpretation of anyone's mindset on similar experiences in my own life.  I'm a shortsighted fool if I think my own experience is going to be universally relevant and applicable though.  That's where knowing the other individual comes in to play.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?  Neither, really, I've never met a teenager totally from the media. 

As for media interpretations - in the journalistic sense you get a polarized bag of things.  Robberies or crimes on one end, touching acts or sports team GOLD on the other.  You never hear the story "Three friends hang out and finally decide they 'get' Pink Floyd.  Great discussion about life and good memories results.  Film at eleven." 

In the context of fiction - I avoid it.  I spent my own time as a teenager.  I don't like getting dragged through the stories of someone else's.

[Placid Dingo]

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers? : Irritating, developing, confused, over
-confident (after writing more I feel this is probably unfair, but it's what came into my head first)

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers? In control of own rational desisions, autonomous.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation? I think the shows I've seen teens in (I don't see a lot of tv) are often guilty of creating Teenworld; parents are incompetent and selfish, teachers are sadistic bastards, everything is REALLY DRAMATIC and REALLY IMPORTANT.

What are your impressions of teenagers? Generally I like teenagers. I know I've been super negative here, but I think I'm guilty of absorbing a lot of the kind of venting around where I am (most friends are high school teachers and need to vent). I tend to like the fresh perspective and enthusiasm of teens and find they meet a real variety of points in self devcelopment, some knowing damn well who they are and what they stand for, and some basically a jumble of confused memes (see also; everyone else in the world, but it seems more pronounced in teens). I also find I get a bit impatient with young people when they go on giant enthusiatic WORLD CHANGING CONCEPTS that are actually 300 years old or so if they looked into it. BUT that's just part of the process.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager? I think so... I haven't worked directly with teens for about two years now but I work with pre-teens.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager? In truth, I would assume it would have to. But I don't feel a sense of that.. to be honest I think probably my impressions of portreyals of teens in media are less accurate than my impression of flesh and blood teens, as that's what I have more interation with.

[El Twid]

Dear PD,

I need your help with a class project. Don't worry, I'm not going to experiment on you! But if you would kindly take a moment to answer the following questions, I'd be much obliged.

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers?

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?

What are your impressions of teenagers?

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?

Thank you very much for your answers!

-Stupid, self-absorbed, melodramatic, cliquish, hypocritical, irrational
-Intelligent, self-absorbed, melodramatic, cliquish, misunderstood
-No. Even though they get some stuff right, I remember when I was a teenager I felt that the media didn't understand because they were made up of idiotic adults who were incapable understanding. I was with a group of teenagers interviewed by channel 56 after Columbine, and  they reduced me to a soundbite that made me sound troubled and such. And when it's a TV show, it's written by adults with a touch of nostalgia and bias. I don't expect much has changed.
-Teenagers are not quite done yet. They have the info, but not enough of the processing power. Or maybe they do have the processing power but all those growth hormones, mood swings, chronic depression and need to fit into a herd get in the way of that.
-Yes, and I also apply this to my teenaged self.
-No.

[Juana Go?]

Can I add something? For the first part, "prone to having a group identity rather than an individual one" (goth, emo, etc.) I think this is less so in late adolescence and hopefully goes mostly, if not all, away by the time they're in their early twenties.

[Hoopla]

I'm gonna answer this without reading anyone else's answers first, for scientific objectivity, or something like that...  also, i should state upfront that I don't know all that many teenagers personally, so my opinions should be taken with a generous grain of salt.

What are some words you would use to describe teenagers?

  Loud.  Arrogant. 

How do you feel the media portrays teenagers?

   Slutty, that goes for both sexes. That, and driven by rampant consumerism.

Do you think it is an accurate or an inaccurate representation?

  Probably accurate.  On the one hand, the teens of today are the first that were raised completely within the internet world, sexuality has always been readily available for them in a way that it never was for older generations... it makes sense they would be less sexually inhibited.  That said, I think the older generations have always thought teens were slutty, so that may be an erroneous assumption. As for the rampant consumerism, that goes for most all of us, so yeah I would say it applies to them as well.

What are your impressions of teenagers?

  I probably am only exposed to negative depictions of teens, but many seem intensely incurious about the world - to the degree that some seem to take pride in their ignorance.  When I was a teen we were all trying to seem older and more worldly than we were, trying to find out things that had happened before our time so we might seem a few years older.  Now Twitter blows up with teens asking who Paul McCartney is.

Do you feel like your impressions of teenagers in general are accurate for teenagers you know personally, or yourself if you are a teenager?

  As I said, I don't know all that many personally.  The few I do know represent both sides of the argument.  I know a couple who are incredibly stupid, and seem content to remain that way, and I know a couple who seem to want to learn more.

Do you think that media representation of teenagers influences your expectations and treatment of teenagers, or other people's expectations and treatment of you if you are a teenager?

  I suppose it does, but I feel like my representation of teens is based more on what I see on Twitter and Facebook, and to some small extent here at PD.

Don't know if any of that was helpful, but there you go Nigel.