Carnahan 1

Timothy Carnahan

Professor Hughes

English Comp 1201

2 May 2022

Literature Review

My question is “What effect does overscheduling have on teens?” I want to see what

sorts of things could be happening to me and my peers due to having too much to do in my life. I

consider myself to be an overscheduled teen because I am involved in a plethora of activities

after school and I feel like there are potentially some negative impacts on my life because of this.

Overscheduling in teens is something that hasn’t always been such an issue in the world.

The problem of overscheduling has been getting worse and worse every year. In the High School

Journal, an academic journal from the Sinclair databases, it has been reported that children have

much less free time now than they had in the past. Children have 12 hours less free time per

week now than they did 20 years ago. That includes 25% less play time and 50% less time for

outdoor activities than in years past. Moreover, family activities like vacations and dinners, are

also less prevalent than in past decades (Melman). As children’s lives have gotten busier,

unscheduled activities like family time and downtime have suffered. This journal aims to inform

and the target audience is an academic audience. Young people have been getting busier every

year and it is affecting many aspects of their lives.

One of the negative impacts mentioned most frequently in these sources is the lack of

sleep caused by overscheduling. When a teenager is overwhelmingly busy with at activites that

they have after school, they will end up doing homework and chores late into the night because

they did not have time in the day. According to an article in the journal Perspectives on Labour
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and Income “6 in 10 [teens] tended to cut back on sleep when they needed more time” (Marshall

12). Perspectives journal is a credible source that wants to educate an academic audience. Teens

need sleep and overscheduling prevents them from getting that necessary sleep. There are also

many negative effects of teens not getting this amount of sleep. An article published by The High

School Journal, one of the oldest peer-reviewed journals in education, states that “some of the

consequences of reduced sleep are memory lapses, attention deficits, depressed mood, slowed

reaction time, and lower grades. In addition, there is evidence that reduced sleep can lead to the

development or exacerbation of emotional and behavioral difficulties'' (Melman 19). Given all of

the detrimental ramifications of inadequate sleep, teens' schedules should be re-evaluated to

ensure that they are living their healthiest, best lives.

Many of the sources make the claim that overscheduling causes stress in teens. High

levels of stress is very bad for teens and can have many negative consequences. According to the

high school journal, “Adolescent stress has been associated with sev-eral negative consequences

including delinquent conduct… classroom burnout… Depressive phenomena; including

depressed mood, syndromes, and disorders are associated with adolescent stress…Extreme levels

of stress may be associated with contributing factor to adolescent health problems, violence,

suicide, and drug and alcohol abuse” (Melman) Stress in teens can lead to many issues that are

far worse and can have many detrimental effects. According to “The Busy Lives of Teens,”

“Approximately 1 in 10 regularly felt very stressed with not having enough time in the day”

(Marshall) Now 1 in 10 people might not sound like much but ten 10% is a very concerning

percentage of teens that feel regularly overscheduled and stressed.

There are several factors that contribute to the problem, but parents likely play a

significant role in the overscheduling of their kids. When children are young, the only way for
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them to get involved in activities is for their parents to sign them up. Pee wee football, tiny

tumbler gymnastics, swim lessons at the Y: parents put their kids in multiple activities to give

them opportunities for interesting lives and more successful futures. Megan Loney, a Licensed

Professional Counselor wrote, “We all want the best for our kids, and in today’s culture, that

often translates into making sure they’re involved in all the right classes, extracurricular

activities, and sports. This ensures they can get into the right schools and colleges, qualify for

scholarships, and be successful.” She goes on to say that the “pressures of overscheduling” might

be too much for families to handle and, in those cases, family therapy services could help

families find a better balance (Loney). The fact that Loney is encouraging families to undertake

therapy services takes away from her legitimacy but it's still true that parents equate busyness

with opportunities for success. Because they love their kids, they want to expose them to as

many experiences as they can. They may feel that the more things they can have their child

participate in, the better the college application will look. After all, three year old soccer may be

the first step toward a D1 college soccer scholarship, or so some parents may think.

In addition, being involved in such an overwhelming number of activities for so many

hours of the day can strain young people and will likely cause them to be far less interested in the

activities that they used to be passionate about. This loss of interest leads to teens feeling like

they are moving through their lives without purpose or direction, just going through the motions.

According to Loney, “Even if your child loves one of their activities, overscheduling can lead

them to feeling exhausted and uninterested in anything. They could end up missing out on an

opportunity to find the activity that they really love.” When young people's lives are spread too

thin, each individual thing that they do will have less of an impact on them and begin to feel like

more of a chore than an opportunity. For example, after years of playing year-round soccer, with
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fall and spring leagues, indoor winter trainings, informal open fields in the summer, and private

personal skills training on off days, a teen who has always loved the sport might find himself

suddenly burned out and uninterested in playing soccer by the time he reaches his later teen

years. If that same youth had taken summers and winters off to focus on other things or just relax

and do nothing for a time, he may have been less likely to be burned out and more likely to

continue to enjoy the sport for a longer period of time. Too much of anything, even a good thing,

can end up being a bad thing.

These sources ended up supporting a few conclusions. The most prevalent of these are

overscheduling in teenagers’ lives can lead to lack of sleep, mental and physical stress, loss of

interest in activities, and strained relationships.

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Works Cited

“Give Teens More Downtime and Support with Time Management.” ASCD, 9 May 2019,

www.ascd.org/el/articles/give-teens-more-downtime-and-support-with-time-

management. Accessed 16 April 2022.

“Is Your Schedule Too Busy?” SOVA, University of Pittsburgh, 15 Oct. 2018, sova.pitt.edu/be-

positive-is-your-schedule-too-busy. Accessed 16 April 2022.

Loney, Megan. “3 Ways Overscheduling Negatively Impacts Kids & Parents.” Central Arkansas

Group Counseling, 10 Aug. 2021, centralargroup.com/3-ways-overscheduling-

negatively-impacts-kids-parents/. Accessed 16 April 2022.

Marshall, Katherine. “The Busy Lives of Teens.” Perspectives on Labour and Income, vol. 8, no.

5, May 2007, pp. 5–15.,

citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.517.4556&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

Accessed 23 April 2022.

Melman, Shari., et al. “Adolescent Overscheduling: The Relationship between Levels of

Participation in Scheduled Activities and Self-Reported Clinical Symptomology.” The

High School Journal, vol. 90, no. 3, 2007, pp. 18–30.,

https://doi.org/10.1353/hsj.2007.0011. Accessed 22 April 2022.