What is Wrong with Teenagers These Days?

Outline Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the decline in behaviour and lifestyle of teenagers and ways to overcome them. Central Idea: Teenagers are the future of the world and we must play our part in making sure they grow up to be independent young adults.

Introduction I. II. Today in the modern society, there a lot of problems, especially problems related with teenagers. Teen problems are growing. a. If you think that being a teen today is the same as it was when you were in their shoes, you are probably mistaken. b. III. IV. V. We need to realize that teens today face huge, life threatening decisions just about every day.

A lot of factors influenced in this situation. For example some teenagers felt lack of love from their parents. Another factor is the lack of education because of poverty. In most of the cases the problems deal with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, teen pregnancy and depression. Today I would like to inform you about the teenagers lifestyle these days and ways to overcome their problems that are influenced by three main groups.

(Transition: Lets begin with the greatest influence in a teenagers life.) Body 1. Firstly, the media has been misused to bring wrong moral values among teenagers. (David S. 1994) A. Immoral activities from the teenagers rising due to unlimited access to the net and television. i. Bad habits such as smoking and consuming alcohol is influenced by the celebrities and TV programmes. ii. Based on Ram S. (1994) ,Juvenile cases that could be sue also been raging. For an example rape cases, child pregnancy and abortion. B. Measures are taken to stop the misused of media through appropriate ways. i. Countries like Sweden and Denmark are filtering and blocking web pages with mature content. ii. Besides that, parents should be attentive to what teenagers are surfing and learning from TV and internet by watching over them.

(Transition: Now that everyone has been cleared about the misused of mass media, lets take a look in how choosing good or bad friends will affect our teenagers.)

2.

Friends play a role in developing a teenagers personality. (Jessica, 2011) A. Without a proper company to build a personality could lead their life to be miserable. i. Teens are more likely to take risks when they are around their bad peers which makes them to smoke, skip classes, and involved with illegal gang and does drugs.

B.

Other than that, when their parents neglect their child, the teenagers start to share their problems with their friends who have low reputation in classes because they tend to listen to them and give them decision that the teenagers wants it in a bad way. To avoid making bad friends, teenagers should pay attention to the lifestyle of newly made friends. ii. According to Jessica, who is leading childrens curriculum developer and speaks on parenting matters regionally, teenagers should avoid friends who smoke, has habit of skipping classes, has associate themselves with illegal gang and does drugs. iii. Furthermore, teenagers should mix with friends whove maintained good reputation in classes or even societies.

i.

(Transition: Lastly, most teenagers look up to their parents as their role models, and seek them for guidance in life.)

3.

The upbringing of a teenager reflects on the lifestyle of the parents. (Margie Ryerson, 2010) A. In most cases a family with a bad background will produce troubled teenagers. i. According to Karen S. (2004), if the parents are not getting along, the teen may be neglected because the parents are so involved in their own issues that they are not giving enough attention to the needs of the teen. ii. In addition to that, parents that are not behaving or showing a good example to their teenagers which can influenced them to follow their bad habits or lifestyle. For an example smoking in the house or drinking alcohols and using bad manner in front them. B. As researched by Margie Reverson, teens that lack significant parental contact fills this vacuum with peer and media influences and values. i. Family time should be practiced in every household, be it regular family dinners, game nights, walks, or doing chores together. ii. Besides that, parents as head of the family should act as role models. According to Karen Stephens, director of Illinois State University Child Care Centre and instructor in child development for the ISU Family and Consumer Sciences Department, social scientists and genetic researchers have identified many cycles that loop from one generation to the next. Teenagers who live in homes where parents smoke are more likely to become smokers.

Conclusion I. II. III. As we have seen, there are negative effects that mass media, friends and family which can harm a teenagers growth. Thankfully, there are steps and guides which help us direct out teenagers to the correct path. I hope that this presentation will be an eye opener to the audiences about the effects of worldly things on our teenagers.

Bibliography David S., Ram S. (1994) TV Viewing and Parental Guidance, tenth Education Consumer Guide, Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/OR/ConsumerGuides/tv.html Ruth L. (2011) The Teen Years, Retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2011/3/2/columnists/childwise/8155403&sec=childwise Margie R. (2010) The Importance of Family Time for Teens. Retrieved from http://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue0325/The-Importance-of-Family-Time-for-Teens.html

W.Ph. Stol, H.K.W. Kaspersen, J. Kerstens, E.R. Leukfeldt & A.R. Lodder (2009) Governmental filtering of websites: The Dutch case Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 251-262. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VB34WB4YR16&_user=524468&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2009&_alid=1715393062&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=sear ch&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5915&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=13&_acct=C000 026339&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=524468&md5=a38dbe50cd6712bc3ccb8b2cbf12a988&searchtype=a Karen S. (2004) Parents Are Powerful Role Models for Children. Retrieved from http://www.oh-pin.org/articles/pex01-parents-are-powerful-role.pdf Jessica. (March, 2011) Dont Allow Your Children to Mix With the Wrong Company. Retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?sec=sarawak&file=/2011/3/18/sarawak/8292322 Gohar, Gaylan (1999) "Media Distorts Teens" in Fletcher, Adam. (2001) FireStarter Participant Guidebook. Olympia, Washington: The Freechild Project.