Analysis Of The Article ' Tweens ' Ten Going On Sixteen '

Billy Collins’ “On Turning Ten” is a coming of age poem from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy who is unenthusiastic about his tenth birthday. Collins’ “On Turning Ten” uses structural irony to juxtapose childhood with coming of age to suggest that the uneasiness of the inevitable passing of time is difficult to come to terms with, as the imaginative nature of youth is lost. The speaker uses various literary devices to strengthen the use of structural irony throughout the poem.

Born on Christmas Day in Philadelphia, Kay S. Hymowitz is a graduate from Turks University, Brandeis University, and Columbia University. The 66 year old is currently a professor at Brooklyn College and Parsons School of Design. In 2010, she was named William E. Simon fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the contributing editor of City Journal. Hymowitz enjoys writing about American childhood and education. Her books include, Ready or Not: Why Treating Our Children as Small Adults Endangers Their Future and Ours (1999), Liberation’s Children: Parents and Kids in a Postmodern Age (2003), Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age (2006), and Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men Into Boys (2011). Hymowitz is a wife and mother of three. She currently lives in Brooklyn. In 1998, she wrote “Tweens: Ten Going On Sixteen.”

In “Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen,” Kay S. Hymowitz points out that in modern society kids mature too early, creating a negative trend called “tween phenomenon”; it occurs when kids become teenagers at a young age and skip preadolescence. According to Hymowitz, the evidence presents a troubling picture of tweens who are too concerned with their looks, are involved in criminal activities, are having sex, are doing drugs, and are consuming alcohol. She provides evidence to exemplify tweendom’s negative influence on both the tweens and the world around them. The author concludes that media, absentee parents, and peers are among the several complex causes of the negative trends of tweens. Although Hymowitz may sound excessively cynical, she states a reasonable case that should be considered by parents, educators, and psychologists. Without a doubt, the three most negative behavioral trends of many tweens are their need for attention, their peer group pressure, and most importantly, their unawareness of the consequences for their irresponsible actions.

Although following the brief acknowledgement of outside influences, Twenge quickly recapitulates that teens are spending more time at home (and therefore less time working or hanging out with friends) because their social lives are on the internet. Technology has undoubtedly had an impact on the generation of kids who grew up with it, but it does not necessarily mean they are taking longer to mature than previous generations. Later on in the article, Twenge explains how iPhones are affecting the lives of the new generation in another way.

With such a large percentage of teenagers involved with using the internet and social media platforms, they truly do have the world at their fingertips. It is true that this generation does not depend on fetching water, nor do the majority have to walk miles to school or other daily, laborious tasks. The advancement of technology has made modern American life extremely convenient. However, while our technology is improving, other things such as education and image, haunt this developing age group in a way previous generations never

Now, it’s easy to point to kids and teenagers and say, “you kids and those smartphones!” However, if you go back you’ll notice that I didn’t specify an age group. While kids and teens ages 8 to 18 spend 6-9 hours a day in front of some kind of screen, “… just over an hour of that time (1:11) is spent on social media,” Jordan Shapiro of Forbes said. What’s interesting is that 18 to 34 year olds spend 3.8 hours per

Even though childhood has change for the better there is an argument stating that childhood is disappearing “at a dazzling speed” (Postman, 1996) says that there is a closing gap between childhood and adulthood. Neil Postman (1996) claims this in his book “The Disappearance of Childhood”. Postman theory was purely based on the way that communications through technology were made which shapes society today. He thinks that due to the technology such as television and the Internet children nowadays are much likely to have more access to the ‘adult world’, thus childhood to be disappearing (Postman, 1982). He claims its “Frankenstein Syndrome” consequence of the mass media is mainly the responsible for the usage of television, and the social media.

According to Twenge, the number of teens that go out with their friends has decreased by 40 percent compared to earlier generations. Twenge compares iGens to different generations such as Gen X (born between 1965 and early 1984), baby boomers (1946-1964) and Millennials (born around 1982-2002). Twenge emphasizes on the time teenagers spend on their phones. Social media plays a huge role in this. In accordance to Twenge, different forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are what teenagers spend more time on. According to Twenge, the more time teens spend on smartphones the greater they are at risk for suicide, depression, and loneliness. Twenge also explains how teens are not receiving an adequate amount of sleep, many teens now sleep less than seven hours. Twenge concludes the article by sharing her own experience with her children and technology, she recommends parents to limit the time their children spend on phones. (59-65)

The title “Tweens: Ten going on Sixteen” was a good choice for this writing. Kay Hymowitz discussed the problems of children growing up too fast. Hymowitz talked about how these children are maturing sooner and skipping through crucial parts of their development. This was her thesis and it fit really well with the title. Just by reading the title I had a good understanding of what the essay was going to be about. The word Tweens made me think of girls around the age of ten or twelve. When I read ten going on sixteen, I thought of the expression twelve going on twenty. This expression is usually used when children act or try to act much older than they are. So, just by reading the title I knew it was probably going to be about children trying to act older than they are. The author did a good job of giving me a glimpse of what the essay would be about.

In today’s society, parents are challenged with the ability of children to grow faster than ever before. Tweens are moving closer and closer to teens, and fulfill these adult-like roles. The media plays a major part in this dilemma, along with the need to fulfill major responsibilities, and the lack of family presence.

Technology has been part of our daily live more frequently than before. Screen time has been more popularly used on kids and adolescents. On a daily bases many kids seem to spend more time inside on their tablets, instead of having to spend time with other kids. This is a problem that is becoming more popular over the years,on whether kids need to spend that much time on technology or not. Parents either seem to have strict technology usage, or they either don’t. There has always been a huge controversy with experts, who either think that screen time is beneficial or could cause problems later on in life. There are many views towards this topic, from hurting kids brains, to helping them during school, and socially.

The current generation of children is completely different than the preceding ones. They are living in the digital age. “Technology has blended in with daily activity to become a way of life and children today take for granted all of which is automated. It is hard for kids nowadays to imagine a world that existed without all of the gadgets, electronics and seamless operations that computer technology provides.” (3) “Children in the United States devote some 40 hours a week to television, video games and the Internet.” (12) Many psychologists and researchers are concerned about the impact that technology has on children. Children, tomorrow’s future parents and leaders, are being consumed by the negative effects that technology had on their

Today’s technology has greatly impacted the young children’s everyday lives. Phones, tablets, and computers are all a form of technology that impact the way kids are influenced. Some children get phones or computers at young ages and it can cause kids to depend on it to entertain them. Eventually they will allow the technology to take over and have it become the form of communication between friend and family instead of face to face. As parents continue to buy their children new technology they don’t monitor the amount of time their children spend on the Internet. Technology is becoming more advanced overtime which causes children to become more attached and unable to function without it near by.

Unlike previous generations who were “introduced” to the internet, television and social media, the present generation is “born” in it. By this statement, it is implied that children today are much closer to technology and media than adults are, and so, are more likely to be affected by it. Perhaps, the highest impact on the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development of children and adolescents is by media due to its ready availability through Smart phones, tablet PCs and other portable devices. This paper attempts to evaluate some of the influences of media on various aspects of child and adolescent development.

Technology caused various of changes in this world. In the article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” the author Jean M. Twenge discuss how technology has caused a different effect on teen. “I called them iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, members of this generation are growing up with smartphones...” Many teens now are dependent on texting then having a group conversation as compared to generations we can see the differences. The generation after 2012, which Twenge calls iGen, rely more on smartphones than earlier generation. iGen use of social media, like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, began before they even started going to school. These kinds of uses have caused health issues, and teens are going out less to parks and using less outside resources. While it be safer that kids stay inside, they are more likely to go into depression. Smartphones have made teens less able to communicate, caused a higher risk to their health, and become too much in a iGens life.