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MrVersatile48
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From http://www.crosswalk.com
Over-entertained, Multi-tasking, and Bored Silly
The Los Angeles Times recently reported on the state of teen culture in North America:
A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don't have nearly enough options. "I feel bored like all the time, 'cause there is like nothing to do," said Shannon Carlson, 13, of Warren, Ohio, a respondent who has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal but can't ward off ennui.
The article goes on to discuss how multi-tasking as well as boredom defines the lives of teenagers. What I found interesting, though, was the age-old human desire for relationship as revealed by the survey respondents. Despite state-of-the-art marketing campaigns that duke it out for teen dollars, the Times reported that "good old-fashioned word of mouth -- with a tech twist, thanks to text messaging -- continues to be one of the most important factors influencing the choices that young people make." And when respondents were offered a "desert island" choice of one item, the majority picked computers or cellphones -- the technologies that connect us to one another.
No wonder our teens are bored stiff. Despite their race to acquire the next hot-ticket electronic item, what they're really longing for is connection, intimacy, community, relationship. If you offered "collapse on comfy bean bag chairs with a cross-generational group of interesting and loving people, bantering and laughing the summer nights away as the crickets chirp in the background" as an entertainment choice, a typical North American teen might think you were nuts. But I think that's exactly what they need to cure their ennui.
So, as we slow things down this summer to spend time with our teens and de-plug and de-screen as a family, to misquote an old Rolling Stones song, "they can't always get what they want, but if we try sometime, they might find, they'll get what they need.
Blog entries are cross-posted on my weblog about parenting and pop culture, and I invite your comments and responses there.
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Over-entertained, Multi-tasking, and Bored Silly
The Los Angeles Times recently reported on the state of teen culture in North America:
A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don't have nearly enough options. "I feel bored like all the time, 'cause there is like nothing to do," said Shannon Carlson, 13, of Warren, Ohio, a respondent who has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal but can't ward off ennui.
The article goes on to discuss how multi-tasking as well as boredom defines the lives of teenagers. What I found interesting, though, was the age-old human desire for relationship as revealed by the survey respondents. Despite state-of-the-art marketing campaigns that duke it out for teen dollars, the Times reported that "good old-fashioned word of mouth -- with a tech twist, thanks to text messaging -- continues to be one of the most important factors influencing the choices that young people make." And when respondents were offered a "desert island" choice of one item, the majority picked computers or cellphones -- the technologies that connect us to one another.
No wonder our teens are bored stiff. Despite their race to acquire the next hot-ticket electronic item, what they're really longing for is connection, intimacy, community, relationship. If you offered "collapse on comfy bean bag chairs with a cross-generational group of interesting and loving people, bantering and laughing the summer nights away as the crickets chirp in the background" as an entertainment choice, a typical North American teen might think you were nuts. But I think that's exactly what they need to cure their ennui.
So, as we slow things down this summer to spend time with our teens and de-plug and de-screen as a family, to misquote an old Rolling Stones song, "they can't always get what they want, but if we try sometime, they might find, they'll get what they need.
Blog entries are cross-posted on my weblog about parenting and pop culture, and I invite your comments and responses there.
Printer Friendly E-mail to Friend