Are Today’s Youth More Alienated Than Past Generations?

The town square has changed. And that is not because of MySpace, YouTube, podcasts, blogs, etc. It’s because families have changed. Divorce splinters families from one into two, and when parents marry and re-marry, the shattering and re-blending of families continues. This means that teens live in one, two or more homes with parents and step-parents. Their school work is affected on very simple levels because schools only give them one set of books, for the most part. Their books get left, naturally, at school, at one parent’s house, at the other parent’s house — and they spend time hunting down the books, the homework from the books, and sometimes, not doing the homework because they don’t have the books.

Some parents are willing to drive their non-driving teens from house to house to school to neighbor’s house to hunt down homework. Other parents are busy working. Teens go to the web for help, and while they’re there, they cruise the net — like any other human being would do. Focus is not something that comes with ease to most teens. On the web they see MySpace, YouTube, etc., and in fact, some of these sites, among others, actually help teens.

Long story short, the town square has moved! It’s on the web and it’s on the phones with the photos that connect teens to other teens and family and friends.

Alienation as a result of this change is possible, and even probable for some, however, there have ALWAYS been alienated teens. It’s just harder to keep track of them now because families are more dissipated than they used to be.