Teenager Streotypes

Teenagers are frequently alienated in the media to the point that it has become a real problem in our society. This is affecting the togetherness of our communities and creating unfair stereotypes. Do all teens fit the stereotypes that the media creates?

You could argue that teenagers only have themselves to blame for these negative stereotypes, for example the London Riots in 2011 where it was well renowned that young people were the main offenders. This generalisation by the media has had serious effects on communities such as the one in Farnham Common. In Farnham Common I believe that there is a fairly tight knit community, however, since the London Riots I believe that there has been a change in attitude towards teenagers. We all saw the Riots on our television screens and it seems to have had a big effect on the passive viewers among the community. I spoke to a 17 year old that lives in Farnham Common and he told me “the attitude towards teenagers has turned very negative since the riots. I feel that the older generation in the village have become intimidated and feel vulnerable when I walk past them. This is very upsetting for me and my friends as we mean no harm.” This saddening verdict conveys how our community is tearing itself apart with intimidation, just because the media has displayed teenagers in a negative way. This really shows how the media has control over our society and can manipulate us to believe things that may be over-exaggerated or perhaps false.

Teenagers are also stereotyped as being lazy, when in fact most teenagers juggle part-time jobs and their education. These unfair stereotypes effect job opportunities for unemployed teenagers, so it is no wonder that in the period July-September 2012, 963,000 young people aged 16-24 were unemployed. This astonishing amount of unemployment in teenagers is actually down by 49,000 as the economy recovers from the recession. However, it is still a very powerful statistic. I would bet that most of these young people, especially aged 16, do not have a job because of the ridiculously low minimum wage that the government has put in place. It currently stands at £3.68 for 16 year olds and an unemployed 16 year old told me, “I think that the minimum wage is very low”, however, she then added, “as teenagers, we do not have to pay for many things such as bills, so I can understand why the minimum wage gets higher as you get older”. I do not agree with this as some teenagers do live alone and require a higher wage to survive. Higher paid jobs are hard to come by because of a lack of qualifications available at the age of 16 and of course, the negative media representation they are given. As I walk around the shops in the Farnham Common Village, I do not see a lot of teenagers working there; I see an overwhelming amount of older people. I understand that they will be more experienced than younger people, but if no-one gives you a chance, how do you gain experience?