You think that's clickbait, but it's not at all...
How many educators, parents, and people working for/in education would've accurately been able to describe "Youth behavior trends" over the past few decades?
Check the chart below, and compare it to what you would've believed or assumed:
The percentage of kids playing video games or using a computer for 3 or more hours a day double between 2003 and 2017. During that time:
- less sex
- less pot smoking
- less alcohol drinking
- less cigarette smoking
- less TV watching
Hmm...🤔
And 2011 seems to be the watershed year, where the tech use accelerated fast, and several of the traditional vices took a nose dive.
Here are a few takes on the trends behind this data:
- End of rebellion? 😈 Teens are moving away from traditionally rebellious behaviors. Teenagers are supposed to rebel, though. The current generation, I do see much less traditional rebellion happening, as this data suggests. I'm wondering how this plays out in adulthood.
- A healthier generation? 💪 The good news is that those behaviors trending downward are all ones that generally lead to unhealthy outcomes. Fewer unplanned teen pregnancies, fewer undeveloped brains using drugs and alcohol, fewer lungs getting filled with cigarettes - these are all good things for human lives, generally.
- We want moooooore 📱The kids who were freshmen in 2011 are now just entering the workforce. It's likely that their consumption of digital media has stayed constant. As they get older, they're going to want more than just Fortnite and funny memes. They'll want interesting, entertaining, and informative content produced for them to learn new things - and they'll probably want a lot of it.
This is why, as Jessica Millstone suggested when I interviewed her on The EdTech Startup Show, learning through video is still in its early stages.
And what could be the rebellion for my boys' generation?
Maybe they'll step away from the screens, knowing their parents generation never dreamed of it...
Thanks for reading,
Gerard Dawson
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