Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Tangle of Discources

Reflection:

A tangle of discourses discusses the dominant discourses in North American culture: the storm, becoming, at-risk, social problem, and pleasurable consumption. The material was drawn from young girls and their grandmothers to better explain the discourses through experience. After reading the text I could relate to some of the discourses throughout my teenage years.  I think parents and society are way too hard on teens, usually calling them immature, or having an attitude, when being a teen should be about being independent and learning/ being comfortable with you are and who your becoming. When I was 13 or 14 all I really wanted to do was be left alone and hangout with my friends. But it’s so typical today to be called moody or cranky. I found this text from the reading that is so common today,
 “On the one hand, Jess accepts the definition of her as moody and sees this as inevitable to teenage hood. Then she experiences herself being punished for it (moodiness as a social problem?)” pg.441
 I think parents are too quick to judge… I don’t think when they were in their teenage years they were the happiest to be around 24/7. I thought it was interesting how most of the teens could cite the negative stereotypes held on teens and how they are usually “bad, rude, or trouble makers.” The at-risk category I think for me didn’t happen so young, I think that teens may be exposed to drugs and alcohol much earlier today then I experienced it because I was so young that I didn’t really understand it. One of the grandmothers explains how children are at risk, “Jan was concerned that there is more stress and pressure on teens today than there was in the past.” I think the media has a lot to do with the pressure children face such as being skinny and pretty or drinking to fit it. The social problem reminded me of myself being a teen because it’s a time of trying to fit in and find our own identities, see who our friends our, when parents and society brand and stereotype children who have nose rings or that are dressed differently to be troublemakers and are
bad kids. All five discourses are present in society today  and people generalize
teens as being irresponsible and rude. I think the pressure on teens is just way too much, I would like to talk about in class how teens experience a great deal of pressure from parents, society, and the media.

6 comments:

  1. I agree that the media DOES have a lot to do with the pressures that children/adolescents face. The media enforces the idea of what it is to be "beautiful", "popular", "cool",etc. which is one of the major reasons that eating disorders and bullying exist. I agree that all the five discourses mentioned in this reading are present in today's society, and there are certain stereotypes people have for a teenager.

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  2. I also agree with the stresses and pressure that teenagers face. I talked a little bit about it in my blog but I think as close in age as we are (20-25) to teenagers now (13-18) there are some HUGE differences. Social media exploded as did the use of smart technology almost about the time we were finishing up high school so we didnt really experience media literally in the palm of our hands like kids now are experiencing. I think that makes a huge impact on the pressures if you see the same things day in and day out

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  3. I agree with you, teens have to deal with a lot more than we give them credit for and it is only getting worse :-(

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  4. I agree when you say that teens are more pressured to fit in. I strongly feel that high school became a big competition esp. between girls. You were popular if you had the nice name brand clothing, if you were skinny, and if you were dating a football player. Its sad that everyone is not seen as an equal and that even when your in high school you somehow get categorized into a group.

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  5. I found it interesting as well that Jess accepts it as just hormones that causes her moodiness. I am in the middle of teaching a depression/suicide unit for my 10th graders, and one thing I stress is a lot of the symptoms of teenage depression are commonly mistaken as "typical teenage hormones." Which is really unsettling because this means a lot of teenage depression goes diagnosed.

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  6. I am not saying that our parents never went through what we did, but I do feel as though there is lot more pressure put on teenagers now. Even when I try to tell my parents how much pressure there is on me, I receive the "I had to go through with it, and I got through it just fine" response. It is irritating because personally, I feel a lot of pressure to excel, and I wondering where does this pressure to excel stop.

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