Are Teenagers Necessary?
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Family on Thursday, August 28, 2008 10:00 AM
A column on “Teenagerism” in the National Catholic Register two weeks ago reminded me to call The Myth of The Teenager to your attention. The author, Michael Platt, observes that the word “teenager” entered Webster’s only after World War II, and was the product of a sea change in parental attitudes rather than any necessary psychological condition. Prior to that time, instead of “teenagers” we had “youths.” The essential distinction being that youths, while immature and inexperienced, want to grow up—they look forward to taking their place in adult society and making families of their own—whereas teenagers don’t. Platt blames parents:
The day the Teenager was created was a sad day for every youth in America. Imagine yourself young again, unsure of yourself, swayed by strong passions, by turns ashamed and proud, sometimes shy, sometimes assertive, always awkward, filled with new desires and hard on yourself for having them, drawn toward cliques, tempted by clique cruelty, by affectation, by enslaving pleasures, and by premature bonds, but fighting on, knowing that you want to become something better, someone capable of good work, deserving your own respect, and maybe one day becoming a good parent—imagine such struggling youths hearing their own parents say, “Relax, take it easy, enjoy yourself, adulthood will happen, don’t sweat, this is the time of your life.”
I particularly appreciate this observation.
What a Teenager most fears is a child of his own. His second greatest fear is death. And his third greatest fear is solitude. The thoughts “I can beget a child,” or “I can bear a child,” “I will die,” and “I am alone,” have often been the beginning of wisdom. The Teenager flees them. The Teenager cannot stand to be alone. For such a human being the natural mode of association is the gang. And how does one picture a gang of Teenagers, if not in a car speeding down the road, listening to rock music, and on drugs? Or at the rock concert in a gang of gangs? ...Never does one see a smile on the faces of those enjoying these pleasures. The Teenager is the most free and the least happy of beings.
I like that because I’m convinced the chief obstacle to prayer in our time is not lack of desire to pray, but lack of the silence and interior life that is the prerequisite for prayer. You can’t go from Rock to rapture just like that. And if you’re thinking from this description the whole culture is adolescent, Platt agrees with you, taking solace in the fact that the newest parents seem to be waking up. What do you think? Is Platt right? Is there no such thing as a teenager? Are there signs of hope from the newest parents? Go read the whole piece and come back to discuss.
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