'Text Me!"

I got my first cell phone the day I got my driver's license.  It was a clunky, walkie-talkie type contraption and the digital screen was only 2 colors.  It was "only for emergencies," which granted didn't last long as I soon discovered the perks of being able to speak to my friends out of earshot of my family.  But I didn't send my first text message until I was a sophomore in college.  Yes, I remember the day when cell phones were just that.  Phones.  Used for voice-to-voice communication between people.  In 2011, it is rare to see people who only use their cell phones for making and receiving calls.  Texting is all the rage, and certainly has its perks: speed, secretiveness, and the ability to avoid making or taking those unwanted calls by simply replacing an answer with a text message.  We are all guilty of a little bit of reliance on text messaging regardless of our age, but according to a recent study by Princeton Survey Research International, one demographic in particular takes the virtual cake when it comes to text messaging.

Teenage girls aged 14-17, according to the study, by far and away lead the pack in terms of daily text messaging, averaging over 100 text messages per day!  Their male counterparts averaged lowest among the groups studied, coming in at only about 20 text messages a day.  Twenty text messages per day might sound like a drop in the ocean compared to the 100 teenage girls are sending, but when you take into consideration that just a few years ago text messaging didn't even exist, it seems daunting to think how quickly the way the world communicates can change.  As a sophomore in college just a few years ago, it was rare to send 20 text messages in a month!

The Pew Research Center, the leading source of research on social trends in America, published some astonishing statistics recently.  They found that 75% of teens aged 12-17 had cell phones in 2010, up from only 45% in 2004.  This fact in particular is indicative of the drastic change in the way teens are communicating just over the last handful of years.  Pew found that texting has surpassed face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and phone calls as the most common way teens communicate with one another, but found that they still communicate with their parents primarily via voice calls.

Recalling the conversations I had with my friends on my cell phone because my parents couldn't hear me, I can only imagine the things teens today must be texting about.  They are able to sit in the same room as their parents and still conduct private, silent teenage conversations.  As a potential future parent, the prospect of keeping my teenagers under control with so little idea what they discuss with their friends promises to be a challenge.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126117811

'Just One More Show, Please!'

As adults, it is easy for most of us to spend eight hours a day online, whether it be for work, paying bills, social networking or getting our daily news.  This being part of our everyday, we are quick to forget a time in our lives when as teenagers, we spent half our waking hours in school, and probably another couple of those hours doing afterschool acitivities or working our first jobs.  And inevitablty, the last few hours watching television.  The daily life of the American teenager in 2011 looks a little bit different, according to a recent report released by media and web portal firm, Carat Interactive.

The report showed that American teens spend an average of 16.7 hours online per week, and 13.6 hours watching television.  These numbers may seem low at first glance, but let's stop and examine how these hours spent online and watching television add up.

An average school day lasts about seven hours.  That means 35 hours a week are spent in school.  Add the internet and television time spent per week together, and you get 30.3 hours.  That means teens are spending almost as much time on visual media as they are in school every week.  This begs the question, when do these kids have time to do the afterschool activities, work those first jobs, do their homework, and even sleep?  Has visual media become so important in the lives of modern-day teenagers that it trumps the need for a proper nights' sleep?

A recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation showed that American teens are "dangerously sleep deprived," missing an average of an hour to an hour and a half of sleep per night.  Psychologist Michael Breus says "Twenty-four-hour access to the internet and fast-paced video games are tempting products in the digital age," and he attributes some of this sleep loss to teenagers' excessive use of visual media outlets during the school week.  A growing concern among parents and the psychological communities is that this lack of sleep can lead to impaired driving, lack of attention in the classroom, and even bouts of depression.

One might say that there is a silver lining in the fact that teens seem to be watching less television these days.  However, replacing one kind of screen with another does not seem beneficial to teenagers when it comes to getting through the next school day.



http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/American-Teenagers-Dangerously-Sleep-Deprived-102523339.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078614/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/teens-tune-out-tv-log-instead/

One Strike, You're Out!

While attending a Yankee game last week, I had the joy of having seats in what must have been a sea of gangly, pimple covered, awkward teenage boys. Although being the only one who could get the attention of the “bud light man” was nice, what ended up being more useful was overhearing all of the chatter and gossip that game time afternoon. 

 
The first few innings were a blur, as the game was a high scoring close battle, I had a few drinks and the standard glutenous snacking all took there toll. However, by the 5th inning I had settled into a euphoric “stupor” and tuned in to all the young boys conversations going on around me. There were dozens of conversations swirling around, however there was really only 3 topics they all were comprised of, the game, women, and drinking. They all wanted to drink, and had either proclamations of such or ideas on how to achieve this unlawful goal. "You ask him!" "No, You ask him!" Debating between which of the boys would ask a legal to purchase beer for them. "You're such a [vagina]!" One exclaimed. After I hear these comments I began to think about why their relationship is based around criticism and competition, and why the need for alcohol was so strong.

After further research I came across and article, Leisure and Family: Perspectives of Male Adolescents Who Engage in Delinquent Activity as Leisure.

This article discusses the motivations that push young boys to the pursuit of delinquent behavior for purposes of enjoyment. It connects family life to delinquency by absences of a father figures or lack of support of interest in their son's lives. Why should the consumption of alcohol be considered delinquent behavior? I can agree with these theories, however, in the case of teens consuming alcohol at a baseball game I also feel that maybe these kids were just looking to relax, and have a few beers because it is what they see adults in our culture doing. Imitation is a large part of social development. By the time young men are seniors in high school they have reached their maturation. For our culture to deny responsibility and trust to these young adult males will only further their desire to lash out against societies laws. I look at our American culture and I see the mixed signals we are giving to our youth. We tell them to grow up and take responsibility by the end of high school, but we hardly give them a chance when it comes to the big stuff. It is perfectly acceptable for adults to loosen up with a few beers, why deny an 18 year old adult the same freedoms? At the age of 21 an adult male (or female of course) in America is seen as old enough to go to a baseball game, drink alcohol, and make sound judgements. Most countries legal drinking age is 18 as was America for many years. I feel like the lack of trust in our youth furthers the need for them to fight this law. Drunk driving among teens became a huge issue in America and is primarily why the drinking age increased, but what about urban environments where transportation is primarily public transit?

Listening to teenage boys under the influence of alcohol at a baseball game may be more annoying then sober teenage boys, but at least we won't have to worry about getting arrested for supplying them with the beer!

"Only recently have motivations such as the pursuit of fun, thrills, and excitement been recognized as acceptable explanations for involvement in delinquent behavior." (Agnew, 1990). 

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5001883192

How Much is Too Much?

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace have changed the way that teenagers interact with each other. A huge issue that has surfaced through these interactions are privacy and the sharing of too much information. Inappropriate postings, constant updates without pre-meditation as well as risque photographs are some of the ways these kids are exploiting themselves in a negative way. The exposure through this information can harm one of the most important parts of a teenager's psyche, their reputation. Given their developmental phase adolescents are extremely critical about how they are perceived.
Joanne Finkelstein, Dean of School of Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Greenwich, and writer of Art of self-invention: image and identity in popular culture shares, "Thinking about how others see us is an engrossing preoccupation." Through personal experience as well as readings on adolescent development I feel like this consciousness is strongly felt throughout the teenage years. "We are in an era where impressions matter, and where reputation is both an asset and a liability. Part of our daily maintenance now is to secure personal details and prevent becoming 'anonymized' or invisible."
Social networking via the internet is a easy and accessible form of communication for teens and adults alike. You choose who you want viewing your information, you choose who your friends are, and you decide what you would like them knowing about you. The more information you share the more frequent your postings, and pictures will appear in your friends "news feeds". Perhaps this help boost reputation and popularity for teenage social circles.
Teen Vogue a fashion and trends monthly American magazine geared towards the adolescent population posted a blog about the sharing of too much information on Facebook in the January 2011 articles. It was designed to inform that what they share can effect more then just their reputation. It can cause them to be denied admission into college or lose job opportunities. "In a recent survey on TeenVogue.com, 94 percent of readers polled said teens should be more concerned with privacy on the Internet."
I feel like the issue of exploitation should not only be discussed in the media, but in the schools as well. As teachers we have a responsibility to make sure we are current on what teenagers are interested in and what influences them. Social networking can be a positive form of communication, but future generations need to be made aware of the harm it can cause.

Body Image and Self Esteem

Girls: feminine adolescence in popular culture & cultural theory:

 "The feminine adolescent desires her-self as she might become- a potential visualized in connection to other girls and constructed through observation of her own and other girls' bodies." (Driscoll, 2002).

I feel like Driscoll makes a relevant observation to woman in American Culture. As a teenage girl develops social she will "dissolve opposite-sex friendships and become actively involved with same-sex groups to help define changing roles," (Kerlavage, 1999). As Kerlavage suggests the same-sex groups in adolescences become more important. I wonder who as woman we are trying to impress? Ourselves? Other Woman? Or Men? Adolescences is an emotional, physical and socially developmental time for girls that are on the verge of womanhood. America's visual culture plays a large role in how we as woman characterize ourselves in this society. In my opinion, I feel like many woman would agree, a strong woman in New York City is seen as physically slender, tan or glowing skin (usually showing a good portion of it), also dressed in current fashion trends. Unfortunately these attributes are all based on physical appearance. Appearance is assumable the first impression determining how a woman is perceived or judged. The cultural norm of the present day teenage girl in New York City sees these physical attributes and looks towards them as a model for what would make them perfect. Since these girls are in a time of developmental change they are more conscious of this visual culture.

The high school girls that I am observing are ranging from 14 to 18 years old. Between these four years there are many mark-able difference in physical changes and emotional behaviors. However, the one thing that is constant throughout this age range is egocentrism. Egocentricity is as much apart of adolescence as the physical growth teenagers experience. Freud suggests that narcissism is a normal transitional phase for one's ego. The obsession over personal body image is something that our society pressures teenage girls into indirectly. Normal behavior that girl's begin to adopt are painting/plucking/dying/shaving/dieting and exercising. Through observation I have seen freshman high school girls paint their faces with globs of makeup attempting to create the visual illusion of perfection and also by imitating what they see in magazines, on billboards, the internet and on the streets of the city. I feel like they want society to see them as an adult and not a child. The search for identity and perfection in body image can cause serious self-esteem issues that can last through adulthood. I personally have felt these pressures myself, usually pertaining to my body weight.

Until we can truly understand why we care so much about physical beauty we will be stuck in the same repetitive cultural norm. I feel like as a teacher I want to exploit this issue with my students in a way where they can form their own ideals on what is beautiful. As artists we understand that visually beauty is arbitrary. As an art educator I feel compelled to set a scaffolding for my students to come to this discovery on their own. Maybe it will help relieve some of the similar insecurities I once felt as a teenager.

Getting Them Early

My part time job as a teller at a bank has been a valuable experience for many reasons. Before I became an employee of a financial institution I really had no experience with banking in general. My first checking account was a custodial account with my mother throughout my undergraduate studies. I've been thinking about a way to incorporate my weekly time at the bank with my visual culture journal, and alas, this new promotional advertisement popped up in the lobby last week. Is this the best method to get high school students to open accounts? Or is this advertisement geared toward the teenager's parents.

I see a few regular high schoolers in this Carroll Gardens neighborhood come into the bank usually to withdrawal money from the savings accounts their parents have supplied them with. It's rare that a high schooler or adolescent will need a personal checking account, A.) because of the responsibility they have yet to acquire and B.) many hardly have enough money to avoid fees associated with these accounts.
As I have said before I have learned many valuable things from working at the bank. A coworker of mine has three teenage sons all with checking accounts at Chase Bank. I decided to discuss the pros and cons of this responsibility with her, and maybe this will answer my questions about adolescents banking in American society. Is it the norm for highschoolers to begin banking at such a young age? Are demographics a factor? Do the teens that have bank accounts influence their friends to get them as well?

Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist came up with the Social Development Theory in the 1970's his studies were published on the social development of children and the factors that influence this development. Specifically a part of his theory I feel relates to these questions I have is that of imitative learning. "All personal psychological processes begin as social processes shared among people." Basically where a teenager is socially in society is based on their environment. I feel like the teenagers that live in the more developed and more financially stable areas of Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens being one of them), are more likely to have bank accounts. Financial status is important to teenagers as imitated by their parents and their peers.

My coworker shared with me that her children are thrilled to carry around debit cards with them. "Mom, can you transfer me some money" is a common phrase she is used to hearing. On the negative side her teenagers think that money "grows on trees." Her youngest at the age of 15 doesn't quite understand the concept of banking yet. He thinks his mother just has the money and that because she works at the bank she can support him with any of his spending habits. On the positive not she shares that he does not lose money like he used it. Adolescents are notorious for absent mindedly misplacing valuable items. "With a debit card it's easier him to keep track of what he has."

American Pie, 'Worldwide pop culture phenomenon'

When I was a teenager I loved going to the movies with my friends, it was one of the "cool" places to be seen on a Friday night when football wasn't in season. My high school boyfriend actually worked at the local movie theater and we would constantly sneak into movies for free sans regret.

It has been 12 years since the teen comedy American Pie was released. I was about 15 years old and can still remember the first time I snuck in and watched this movie in the theater. I thought it was the most hilarious/crude thing I had ever seen, and would have felt embarrassment if forced to watch it with my parents. Living through the same developmental stages as the characters, I connected with their stories and the phases they were going through. An underlying theme which is unavoidable in teenage coming of age movies is the need and experience of sexual awakening. Scenes like masturbating with a warm apple pie, or experiencing oral sex for the first time was an educational lesson for my friends and I; American pie was the perfect way to learn these scary truths. "The New York Times felt American Pie was "one of the shallowest and the most prurient teen films," (Wikipedia), which it may have been, however, the New York Times didn't get a pubescent teen to write their critique.

I look at the current teen comedy, and I see that not much has changed aside from clothing and music trends. I recently watched Easy A, a contemporary teen comedy that came out just last year and it didn't even compare to the stories told in the American Pie franchise. I feel like the explicitness of the American Pie series created a timeless homage that even contemporary teens can view and still feel like they are experiencing the same issues as teens 12 years ago.  American Pie took teen comedies to another level, one in which other directors in this genre don't feel worthy of competing against. It has spawned at least six more films in this series that I can think of, the most recent in 2009. The older I've become the less I've cared about viewing these more recent films. I have grown past that stage, but I can still see the need of production for these films, and I know that our current generation of teenagers are fully enjoying them as much as I once did.

Laser Floyd

My fiance was raised in Huntington, a bay town on the north shore of Long Island. I love visiting this historical town for an occasional break from city life. Huntington has great culture stemming from its use of the shore's harbor as an import and export of goods dating back as early as the mid 15th century. There are many great mansions in the area and one specifically being The Vanderbilt, which is now also a museum, educational center, and planetarium. Our friends told us about great laser shows that the planetarium put on all weekend long. The one in particular we attended was Laser Floyd, Pink Floyd's album The Wall at 10pm.

I was surprised by how many high school aged teens were in attendance. A concern to many interested in the development and growth of teenagers is a serious deterioration in the messages of some contemporary music. Since the 1930's the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent US government agency became "charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable." (www.fcc.gov) These regulations only make teens in contemporary society want to rock harder and rebel more.
Perhaps this is also something that past generations were experiencing with the rise of rock bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, or The Rolling Stones. A current trend that is on the rise again is the resurgence of vinyl records. Its great that teens today can get their hands on LPs that are full so of replete instrumental sound. I enjoy the fact that the bands that created what music is today can still be heard and reflected upon through show's like Laser Floyd, and still remain interesting even to these younger viewers.

http://www.vanderbiltmuseum.org/home.php?section=planetarium&sub=schedule

On the F

Usually my daily commutes via Subway consist of earphones blasting my favorite tunes and a nice game of Angry Birds. Since I began observing for my visual cultures class, I've pressed pause on my play-list and decided to pay more attention to my immediate surroundings. Just Saturday I was riding the F train uptown to Penn Station when I caught an interesting conversation by a group of high school students also traveling the underground.  They seemed to be excited to be traveling together, like they were on some sort of an adventure, another event or experience that would draw their group closer.
Finkelstein shares in Art of self-invention, image and identity in popular culture (2007), about the "universal self." No matter what background you come from, people conform themselves to society creating a "cultural mask," that allows them to fit in with the norm. The universal self can have many different appearances, like this group of teenagers for instance, but everyone is conscious of their social presence and conform themselves within the customs and structures of their particular culture. I noticed that everyone in this group wore only dark colors, grays and whites. One young lady with a ton of smokey black eyeliner and bright blue bangs (the only noticeable color on any of them) ran most of the conversation amongst a group of three or four guy friends. She seemed to have strong opinions on much of what the talked about.

BRAINNSS, BBRRAAIINNNS!

Amidst a hand-clapping game and chit chat about friends, much of the teenagers conversation was about a recent Anime (Japanese animation style) show called High school of the Dead, and an online video game where the player is in control of themselves as a zombie. I myself enjoy watching zombie flicks every now and then, but never really thought about why they were so engaging. Zombies have been a large part of American pop culture since the success of George A. Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Since then it has become its own sub-culture, whether it be a Halloween costume, viewing the video to Michael Jackson's hit Thriller, or even tattooed on the arms of zombie-lovers nationwide.

I stumbled across a blog that helped in analyzing why Americans as a culture like zombies so much. http://137design.com/blog/7-why-do-we-like-zombies. Specifically reason number five jumped to my immediate attention."On the train, we listen to our ipods, blocking out external stimuli. When the train stops and we get off, we move with the crowd...like a flock. It's no stretch of imagination to suggest that we spend a good portion of our day relying on routine, rather than our higher levels of cognition to guide us. We see these zombies, partially, as a reflection of ourselves...as something we're slowly, methodically, lurching towards...and we don't want it." Was it just me who was saying that I tune out the world around me on my commute to work?

Unknown

My fiance and I spent our Saturday night cozied up to a movie now at the Windsor Terrace Movie theater to see a 7:00 show of Unknown. A PG 13 flick with great suspense. We were outside the movie theater and I couldnt help but overhear a group of teenagers deciding which movie they would spend $12.50 on. It's a tough choice to find whats worthy(way too expensive these days if you ask me.) And then I heard a comment that too me back to my youth.
"My brother would be severely disappointed in me...he'd say why are you wasting your money on that!"
I am assuming that this teenage boy was speaking about his older brother. Growing up with two older brothers constantly influencing my decisions, I know that I've thought the same things this boy has many times. If it wasn't about movies or what was "cool" to watch, it was about music. When you are raised with older siblings it places you in a role, you want to be liked by them or at least have their approval. You find yourself conforming to the same social likes as them. If I were to tell my brother in high school that I likes Justin Beiber for example...I would have been made fun of for it. Therefore if I wanted to listen to Justin Beiber I would hide it. However I found that the more I absorbed the type of music and entertainment they liked, the more that it became an integral part of who I was.

Bowl America!

This weekend I took a 4 hour bus ride to the town where I grew up. Rockville, Maryland is about 15 miles northwest of Washington DC. It’s a historical suburb with a lot of great visual culture. Last night my parents and I decided it would be a fun night to go bowling at local bowling alley one town over. Bowl America is situated off of Interstate 270, one of the main highways in the area. I had spent many fun times at this particular alley growing up, for birthday parties, fun weekends, and as I became a teenager it was one of the places my friends and I would go to hang out socially. Talk about blast from the past.

This time I was going back to Bowl America with a different mind frame. Yes, I wanted to have a good time, but I was also interested in taking a closer look at what it was like to be a teenager in this particular environment.

It was a league night so there were not as many teenagers as I was expecting. Bowling is something that I would consider to be one of the United States favorite competitive sports. As soon as you walked in you could see large American flags hanging above the bowling lanes. Half the lanes were available for recreational use, and a short wait was required.

I noticed that what few teenagers that were there were in the arcade area. Taking a closer look I realized the only games that were being played were the games that had guns. One Alien game in particular caught my eye. It had large futuristic looking guns that would draw any spectator in, by far one of the brightest most inviting games in the room. Why are these games the ones that the young men are drawn to? Why not the race car games or the skeeball?

 Violence in video games is common in our society. The male dynamic is driven towards the fantasy of what it’s like to be a strong and unbeatable force, perhaps the military’s ideological influences. Teenagers are desensitized to this type of violence and spend their money competing against each other on who can shoot the most aliens. “You suck!” Was a common phrase spoken by the two teenage boys I was observing. My Saturday night was bombarded again by this all to familiar subject!

Slightly Stoopid Youth

 "The group is noted for their eclectic mix of punk rock, ska and reggae in their works." (Wikipedia)

Webb describes representation as "...how we experience and communicate ourselves and the world we inhabit, how we know ourselves and how we deal with others." This past weekend my fiance and I attended a Slightly Stoopid concert (all ages) at Hammerstein Ballroom. I can best describe this group as a present day Sublime homage band. The laid back vibe perfect for a new breed of teenagers looking to express themselves through melodic beats, and one massive cloud of smoke hanging in the air.

The girls were covered up outside with sweatshirts and hoodies, as soon as they made their way inside the hoodies were stripped off to expose revealing low cut tops and tight mini skirts their parents probably had no idea they owned. The boys I would describe to be "Skateboard Chic" an emulation of west coast skateboarders with hints of New York urban wear. Beanie hats, baseball caps and long hair shielded their eyes from the bright lights of the concert, but also maintaining an aura of anonymity amongst themselves.

Sitting in the balcony section of the show made it easy to chat with fellow concert goers about what connections they felt to the music and to the band. Aside from the teenage melodrama of boyfriend/girlfriend arguments many of the teens were their to share their love of marijuana and music. Jimmy a 9th grader who traveled from Yonkers to see Slightly Stoopid, shared that he liked the fact that he could "groove out and get lost in their lyrics." Jimmy and his friends look up to the band, and felt like their lyrics were words to live by.

"I'm so stoned
And I'm free
So free
Said if you roll another spliff sir
Won't cha' pass it right over to me
I'm so stoned
And I'm free
So so free
But if you tell it
In a letter girl
You know that you ain't no good for me"
This "stoner" culture lets youth live vicariously through their heroes, cool musicians with a carefree persona. Exactly the type of visual and verbal language these adolescents can associate with.
Webb shares that "Representation is, in short, how we experience and communicate ourselves and the world we inhabit, how we know ourselves and how we deal with others."