Teenagers today are considered the lucky generation.  What is your view?

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pohnpei397's profile pic

Posted on (Answer #1)

If we are talking about teens in the United States, my feelings on the subject are mixed.  Teens today are lucky in many ways.  However, they do also face pressures and worries that were less prevalent in previous generations.

In material terms, teens today are certainly lucky in many ways.  Teens have so many more ways to entertain themselves than my cohort of teens did thirty years ago.  Teens have smartphones and computers and iPods.  They have game consoles and big TVs with lots of cable channels.  In this way, it is a good time to be a teen.

It is also in some ways a good time to be a teen in terms of major worries in the world.  There is the fear of terrorism today, but there is no longer the fear of global nuclear war that worried many people back in the early 1980s.

However, there are worries that were less prevalent in previous generations.  There is, in particular, economic anxiety because it is less clear to teens today that hard work will get them a good job and a good life.  The forces of globalization have ensured that many Americans, particularly those with less education, have a harder time finding good jobs.  This is also a generation that faces a less stable society than past generations.  There are so many divorces and split families today that teens can often have a hard time feeling like they have a stable home life.

So, I do agree that teens today are lucky in some ways, but I do not think they are lucky in all ways.  

alysha_w13's profile pic

Posted on (Answer #2)

I think that teenagers today are quite lucky with their access to modern technology and how much simpler that has made life but with that has come many negatives. Teenagers today have to deal with more social issues such as cyber bullying and there is a higher tendency towards passive aggressive attitudes as it is so much easier to avoid confrontation. Also, there is less of an appreciation for the finer things in life and it has become really easy to get caught up in all the gadgets. Having said that, the accessibility of information has made studies and education much easier and caters towards all kinds of learners. This has also been countered by higher standards in terms of having higher secondary school scores as getting an undergraduate degree has become mandatory. Overall, there are pros and cons to being a teenager today but i dont feel that they are any luckier than any past generations as any "luck" has come with negatives as well.

laurto's profile pic

Posted on (Answer #3)

I am a teenager and I feel like my generation isn't very lucky. Sure, we have technology and it makes life easier and my generation is very reliant on it for educational and entertainment purpose, but my most of my generation also faces many mental health problems and is scared of the future. Generation Y (being people born in the 1980's and 1990's) also has to face an alarming amount of debt when they reach adulthood. College tuition prices are rising at an incredible rate, jobs are hard to find, and the economy isn't the best right now and probably won't be for a good while. Generation Y also faces more social issues, such as bullying (and cyber bullying). I feel like we are lucky in some ways, just as other generations have been lucky in their own ways, but our struggles are more than what the average teenager would have faced decades ago.

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