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A lot has changed across the generations. Generation Y has grown up surrounded by computerization and technology—from automatic teller machines to digital clocks. Radios and compact disc players are the size of earphones. Even sneakers are high tech.
For today's teens, e-mail is as common as the telephone, and Web surfing is a favorite afterschool activity. Their environment is more multicultural than that of their parents and grandparents, and images of sex and violence continue to surround them on a daily basis. To some youth, the Vietnam war and the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are ancient history. But they do know a bout Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; the attacks at the Oklahoma City Federal Building, the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon; the suicide of Kurt Cobain; and the murders of teenagers by fellow students at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Youth culture is reflected everywhere. There are positive and negative aspects to youth culture. Some of the most positive youth values include:
- Self-idealism/Optimism—Most youth believe they are special and can accomplish whatever they desire.
- Activism—Teens often play an active role in such issues as environmentalism and social responsibility. Teens are interested in working on a personal level to improve society.
- Morality/Sprituality—Today's teens tend to speak about the importance of spirituality and religion. According to one study, 50 percent of teens surveyed said religion plays an important part in their lives.
- Authenticity—Honesty is important to teens. They often perceive that the most authentic voices belong to those who have "been there and done that" and who have shared experiences similar to their own.
- Self-Reliance—Many of today's teens have been raised to be self-reliant and to believe in their own abilities.
These positive youth values are good news for parents. Yet, parents still have to contend with potentially harmful aspects of youth culture. Even parents who know their teen's friends and carefully screen everything that their teen watches on television and every compact disc and video game that their teen plays cannot keep ALL negative messages at bay.
Much of youth culture is brimming with symbols. Some of those symbols may be relatively harmless—like peace signs and logos of expensive clothes and cars. Other symbols openly promote to youth the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs, like marijuana leaves or malt liquor logos on caps and T-shirts.
But obvious pro-drug messages aren't the only problem. There are more subtle messages that glamorize substance use and abuse in youth culture. Popular actors and actresses travel back and forth from drug rehabilitation programs to jail, then return to star in hit movies or make chart-topping recordings without any visible loss of income or popularity. The same is true for many professional athletes, who are admired and emulated by youth. Given all this, it's easy to see why some young people may not fully understand the risks or consequences of using alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.
Youth perception of harm associated with drug use decreased in the 1990s, and youth marijuana use doubled during the decade.
That is why it is important for parents to stay informed, keep the lines of communication open, and give their teens clear no-use messages. The 1990s saw a boom in the use of "designer drugs"—modified versions of illegal drugs that were first produced in the 1960s by underground chemists. They were made illegal in the 1980s, but their use has now become associated with "raves,"—all-night dance parties usually held in old warehouses and abandoned buildings. Designer drugs like ecstasy, GHB, and special K (see slang terms) are often more potent than the original substance they mimic. Even a single dose can cause major brain damage and even death.
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