Teen culture is a melting pot of influences. From the music, to the movies, to the school. One of the most prominent influences is the modern music industry. From fashion to language, from ideologies to cliques. Popular figures are able to set standards that the general public will follow. They help the fashion industry dictate what’s “in style” by wearing clothes they’re provided, which in turn, is echoed by the legions of fans. Media also helps facilitate these fashion fads by offering the general public how to achieve the same look on a budget. It’s all a vicious domino effect of people looking to promote their items and appealing.
In schools, we have developed cliques, groups, enemies, etc, all based on what we wear, what music we listen to, and what we do. Some groups will blatantly mock another group solely based on their outward appearances, which could very well be influenced by their music. However, another group could do the same thing but based on generalizations made by actions taken by them. For example, there is almost always a “popular” girl in every school. Everyone knows who she is, who she is friends with, and many believe that they know what they do behind closed doors. The most common assumption is that she engages in various sexual acts and does drugs. The biggest support comes from music that she probably listens to about having sex, doing drugs, and other scandalous acts, which is becoming more and more mainstream. The fact that this is floating into the mainstream is the driving force behind the bad name that teens get for simply being teenagers.
Also in schools, there is the slow assimilation of language into the common vernacular. With the rise of the internet and the usage of texting and various instant messengers, many teens disregard the standard conventions of written and spoken English. Many teens write essays, and subconsciously slip in chatspeak such as “lol”, “da”, “ur”, “y”, etc. In conversations, some will slip out an “wtf” or “tmi” on occasion. The over simplification of our lives is no longer beneficial to our generation and instead is doing more harm than the good that was originally intended so long ago.
Today, teens are under heavy fire for being teenagers and through the years, they always have been. However, contemporary culture prohibits them from stopping the current evolution. When it will stop, no one can say. For now though, teenagers are just stuck in the middle.
