Teens Are Stereotyped Essay, Research Paper
Have you ever met someone who acted just as teens are stereotyped? Not many people have because they do not exist. Real teens are poorly portrayed in the media and are the complete opposite of their stereotypes. Books and TV shows make teens out to be wild or crazy, irresponsible and out of control. One hardly ever hears about teen-heroes. Instead, newspapers and magazines are plastered with stories of teens and crime. And while looking at commercial billboards and other related media, the regular teen seems to be sex-crazed and image-obsessed.
First of all, whenever someone opens a book or magazine or turns on the television, they see a bunch of teens having fun. Immediately, because of how society sees teens, people think that the teens must be doing something wrong. People think that teens are out to cause trouble, when in reality, most of them mean no harm.. Many people may think that teens are dangerous and shun them for their own safety. It is almost a prejudice against the teenage race.
To continue, it is very rare that one reads or hears about the good teens do for society. Rather, journalists and publicists seem to enjoy highlighting the acts that hurt teens’ images. For example, in an article of last year’s (1998) “Teen People Magazine”, an article told about the recent high-school shootings. One of these incidents occurred when a young boy brought his father’s rifle to school and started shooting people. As a result, the boy shot and killed four schoolmates and a 32-year-old teacher. This and other incidents of the sort give teenagers a very bad image. The article shows that some teens are irresponsible and not very smart.
Furthermore, teens are often seen in ads purposely trying to look and act older than their age. They seem to be obsessed with sex and looking good. In the movie “Clueless”, the main characters are all from Beverley Hills. This would be an extremely magnified portrayal of the teens of today. In this movie, everyone is caught up with buying the latest name-brand fashions or befriending kids in the popular crowd. Also in this movie, most of the characters are about fifteen-years-old but are already starting to experiment with sex. Although teens may think about sex a great deal, not all teens think that having sex is right at such a young age and are not so eager to “do the deed.”
In conclusion, one can say that teens are poorly portrayed in the media. From what is seen and heard in TV ads, on billboards and in magazines and newspapers, one would think that teens are bad people while in reality, many people do not give teens a chance. With so many articles bashing teens, one would think that teens are horrible when so many of them are great. It is so sad that people of higher knowledge actually have such little respect for an awesome group of people.