In the 80s and 90slos teenagers spent hours on the landline talking with friends. This widespread practice, but especially common among girls, did not fail to generate family conflictsFirstly, due to the cost of calls, since what would later become flat rates did not exist.
And this is not all. In addition, it was both possible and common for other family members to hear conversations from extensions located in other rooms of the house.
Today, these situations, so typical characteristics of Generation and the first millennialshave disappeared thanks to instant messaging.
“A structural or profound change in the way of relating”
Current communication is based on platforms such as WhatsAppallowing text, audio or video messages. To many teenagers They no longer like calling on the phoneshowing reluctance and even fear.
The psychologist Amaya Pradoexpert in Educational and Clinical Psychology in childhood and adolescence and member of the College of Psychology of Madrid, points out in dialogue with the Hello magazine what is this aversion to calls «it’s a structural or profound change in the way of relating»not a lack of social skills.
For the expert, this is the result of the digital environment in which written or immediate communication is the norm.
«A message allows you to think about the answer, allows you to correct it, allows you to erase errors, change it even when you have already sent it or delete it, and thus control that image that you projectin a measured and controlled way, although sometimes they are quite impulsive,» Prado details in the interview.
And he adds about the difference with a call: «But in a phone call other things come into play: it requires spontaneity, tolerating silences, listening, stopping to think, interpreting the tone of voice, sometimes managing a certain uncertainty in real time… And for many young people that can mean a greater emotional exposure«.
It happens that previous generations learned to communicate when the telephone was the only remote option. Today there are messages, audios (which they love), video calls, social networks and chats in video games.
As a result, calling is no longer a daily necessity and is becoming less common. Accustomed to controlling each message, the improvisation of a call can generate insecurity and social anxiety.
«When you are used to controlling every word, every space, every phrase you are going to send, facing something improvised requires other skills and this can generate insecurity,» says the expert on adolescence.
And he adds: «However, we should not interpret this as a generalized disability, but rather that many young people they communicate constantly, even if they do differently how we can do it as parents».
How do teenagers have fun today?
In the 80s and 90s, going to clubs or gathering in open spaces to listen to music, talk and drink marked adolescence. And even those who didn’t drink alcohol often joined together to avoid being excluded from the group, even in the «matins» o «light discos».
These were parties for those over 14 or 16 years old, they opened in the afternoon, before the night session of the bowling alleys. Alcohol was not officially sold, but it was easy to enter with borrowed identification.
Today, «light» sessions are a lot stricter with alcohol. Not all teenagers show interest, unlike the 90s. In fact, many consume less alcohol and play more sports.
«There is no longer a single model of fun, which was meeting to go to the pub,» describes Amaya Prado. And he details: «Many young people, I would say practically all of them, continue to go out with friends, but new forms of leisure have appeared and these are closely related to technology (video games, digital platforms, content on social networks…).»
Overprotected and hyper-demanded, but much more committed
The most important change in the current adolescence compared to previous generations, for the psychologist who is an expert in educational psychology, it is that they are growing up in a a much more complex, much more uncertain and much more demanding world.
«They have access to a large amount of information, but they are also subject to enormous pressure. On the one hand, they are young people who are more sensitive to issues of emotional well-being, mental health, nutrition, diversity, equality… But on the other hand, they live under constant exposure and the gaze of others,» says the expert in the interview. Hello.
«Las social networks have become a constant and permanent comparison,» he says.
In this sense, comparisons have always been present in adolescence; However, now they are much more extreme and exert a much greater weight.
It is that before, according to Prado, «we could compare ourselves with our classmates, our group of friends and now they compare themselves with thousands of people who see them every day on the Internet, and this can affect self-esteem and the feeling of not being up to par.
Another issue that the expert highlights is that she is observing the overprotection by adults sometimes a reference, such as their parents.
«Many teenagers have less daily autonomythey are less efficient, less effective and it is more difficult for them to make decisions. This is very paradoxical because they are hyperconnected digitally, but sometimes they have fewer opportunities to develop greater independence in real life; It’s like they don’t know what to do with certain situations in certain situations,» he clarifies.
There is a reality, and that is every generation has its challenges and that those of now are neither better nor worse compared to those they had to face in the 80s and 90s. “They are simply growing up in a radically different world,” says the psychologist.
And he concludes: “The majority are young, committed, sensitive, with a great capacity for adaptation and that they have to manage themselves in this world full of this hyper demand and constant comparison.”
