Talking Points #1 on Hine

• The author of The Rise and Fall of Teenagers is Thomas Hine
• Hine's thesis statement is that the concept of teens are socially constructed. The image of teenagers is a completely different life that a young person a hundred years ago. Teens today usually spend much of their time with people their own age and in the US, tend to have the same high school experiences. In the past, a sixteen-year-old may have been a doctor, a father, or in elementary school. Today, teens are treated as "unfinished persons," or people to give responsibility to but not be trusted. Another image of teenagers are moody and miserable are proven wrong in studies that show that teens are generally happy. These are just a few of the myths Hine investigated
• I can relate to society in the fact that I commonly hear these stereotypes about teenagers.
• I think that it is interesting that youth experiences have become less diverse with time and that teens spend more time with people their own age.