I remember hearing some years ago that the term adolescence was a term invented for the American young person who was transitioning between childhood and young adulthood. The point that person (name gone in my memory) was making was that only in America could this period have such an obvious manifestation. Obviously, that isn’t true any more as adolescence is recognized as a world-wide, culture-neutral phenomenon. It is as prevalent in Taiwan and Finland as it is in Minneapolis and Boise. But it is also true that the manifestation of adolescence is undergoing a massive transformation.
I chose the photo of Justin Bieber to accompany this posting as a sample of that change. It is not a photo of a kid who mows the neighbor’s lawn for sub-minimum wages or the boy who can’t get his homework done on Tuesday night because he has a Boy Scout meeting. That would have been adolescence in a previous era. Instead, it is a photo of a boy born in 1994 who is already a multi-millionaire, internationally-recognized singer, and whose posters are plastered on the bedroom walls of millions of teenage girls. He has agents, managers, makeup people, voice coaches, sound engineers, and numerous other people who make his public life work.
Justin’s circumstance may be outstanding, but it is no longer unique. There are musicians, artists, dancers, writers, entrepreneurs, and a myriad of other young people whose knowledge of the Beatles and John F. Kennedy come from history books instead of personal experience. Adolescents in the 21st century are “in relationships” with members of the opposite or same gender; drive massively-expensive cars; may have their own apartments, condos, or homes; and may have closer relationships to 128 “friends” on Facebook than with those people who share the dinner table with them. They are not all wealthy, and they are not all superstars of one kind or another.
Adolescence was, at one time, a fairly long period of experimentation and transition. It was an accepted way of blundering, failing, and starting over. It was not a fun time for kids, who experienced confusion as the onset of young adulthood came crashing into their personal lives. While it was frustrating to parents and teachers, it was more in the realm of comical than dark. Probably the comic strip Zits best represents the era of adolescence that is fading. It is being replaced by a much shorter, less comical period which welcomes adult frustrations and anxieties into its persona too willingly. We hear of the increase of gastro-intestinal diseases, for instance, among today’s young people that used to be restricted to middle age. Depression appears to be more common and the adolescent suicide rate is frightening. The ease of mobility and easier access to finances feeds a life which is isolated from family at a time when family used to play a major role in assisting the transition. I won’t even touch the changing sexual patterns which mix immaturity and maturity in proportions which can only be described as lethal.
As young people must adapt to the changing paradigm of adolescence so must their elders. There is no “going back to the good old days” except for an occasional theme party. Instead, the role of elders in this changing paradigm requires engagement and intelligence. Reliance on expectations based upon a former paradigm is a certain way of courting disaster.
Photo Credit: wikipedia
