Stereotypes: Teenagers are OBSESSED with their phones; they've changed.

Teenagers are often represented in media as stupid and out of touch with reality due to their apparent obsession with the internet and phones; adults view this as the truth and often react to any teenager with remarks such as "get off that phone for once" or "you kids now days have no idea of that time, you are all to busy with your technology". Where this stereotype is true for a few of the 2000`s and above generation it does not paint a clear picture of the entire young population. Now days it is often adults on their phones a lot and children are becoming increasingly more aware and even political; technology for this generation is the future and they know how to use it to develop careers and social aspects of life rather than the older generations who do not always see the bigger aspect of it because they didn't grow up with it and may still view people and the world as a place that you can progress without technology. Teenagers are a wide spectrum of people and it is not accurate to compare them all based on this stereotype or the actions of others. There will always be the types of people who are on their mobile phones constantly and may not pay attention to the world around them however, this includes adults with technology as well and there is still a large majority that are not like this and even if they are online sometimes they are still aware of the world and what is happening in it. Tv shows, movies and the news tend to over exaggerate this stereotype making more people consider it as true and an issue.

Some tv shows that are even targeted at the teenage population use this stereotype in big ways and this can also influence their behaviour; these can make a bigger impact by becoming huge news stories. Stereotypes like this have became generic characters in tv shows with high schools and a main teenager cast in shows like Gossip Girl and Thirteen Reasons Why as they portray teenagers who target each other and have their entire lives on their phones and the destruction they can do starts to be reinforced as part of this stereotype. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bryce+sends+hannhas+picture++13rw&&view=detail&mid=2A60FC16885F56DD88B72A60FC16885F56DD88B7&&FORM=VRDGAR .This scene shows the attitudes of teenagers in tv shows towards what they are portrayed as finding humorous to use phones to gather hurtful information on each other and how it can escalate to being spread and damaging to people. In reality a lot less teenagers use phones for destructive purposes and still people make their judgements based on these media portrayals. This stereotype has been replicated in many media forms and has not really changed in its view even though everyone is different and it cannot be generalised to the whole teenage population; with this they also show teens as being harsh and isolating other teens that are not obsessed with their phones, this can have negative impacts on the real world as teens watching these portrayals might alter their behaviour to make sure that the same does not happen to them even though it is not reality. People who create these views are adults and do not see the point of view and reality of teenagers and so push the stereotype that people know; because people know it it is easier in tv shows and adverts for them to get across quickly to an audience that a character is in the teenage population.

Another example of when this happens is in the Emeries flights advert: https://binged.it/32yvjq5

which shows teenagers as antisocial even towards family, rude and in need of ways to use their phone. This paints a negative picture to people especially since it goes against their need for family to be important and close and so can stay in peoples minds longer.

This destruction is further shown through news articles as it focuses on the teenagers who go into violence and cyber bullying as well as warnings about dangers on apps which are directed at teenagers even though adults use phones and apps as well. (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3038496/Is-teenager-addicted-mobile-25-constantly-phones.html) This article Is just one of many that show a negative light towards teenagers who use mobile phones; the language it uses makes 25% sound like a larger problem than it is because even if there is truth to that that means that 75% of teenagers are not constantly on their phones which is often forgotten about or made to not be realized by people reading these articles. Articles like this use words like `are addicted' to influence readers minds to see it as a ,major issue and teenagers to need help as the word `addicted' is often used in terms of drugs, gambling and alcohol. Words like this will often be the words that people tend to remember especially when spreading the news through word of mouth as they are most likely to talk about an article they read about the fact that teenagers are all addicted to phones; fact making it more believable and the news is trying to push as the correct view. By putting this at the start of the title it will mean that more people are likely to only focus on this part rather than remembering the other parts of the article as that is the part most people read and share.

Overall this is a potentially very damaging stereotype but it does not seem to be changing and is a default setting in peoples minds for teenagers. Social media and technology has its place; communication and business as well as helping with mental health and lonliness, but teens will still put it away to interact with people in every day life but that is not always shown through media and so people do not think that.

Representation of teenagers using technology to target eachother