Old Is the New Young
"Gramps, I—"
"Don't bother me, Sonny. I gotta concentrate on lightin' this here medical marijuana joint. Hands aren't as steady as they used to be, y'know."
"No, Gramps, I really need your help. I'm doing this project for my honors history class, and it's on the 1960s, and—"
"Eh? The '60s? Well, why didn't you say so! I lived through the '60s, more or less! It was an amazing time, let me tell you, boy. The '60s changed the world! And I changed more than most! Oh, my parents hated it, for sure. Why, there was this one time when I was … well, we did … er …"
"Did what? What did you do?"
"Well, come to think of it, I don't rightly recall. It's all sort of a blur now. But you know what they say … if you can remember the '60s, you weren't really there."
"So … anyone who does remember the '60s is just … making it up?"
"Yeah, something like that, Sonny. Someth—. Now, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, the '60s. I do remember one thing about those days. Something me and my friends used to say to each other. Kind of a slogan like."
"Oh? What was it, Gramps?"
"Don't trust anyone over 30."
Modern Maturity
Turns out, Gramps might be onto something.
While culture today is as frightening as ever, and while parents bemoan terrible trends among adolescents (Sexting! Prescription drug abuse! Miley Cyrus!), they may have missed something that points the finger in a very different direction. Today's youth, in some respects, are pretty mature—more mature, at times, than their forebears. While some '60s-saturated boomers stubbornly embrace the free sex and drug culture of their "glory days," their children and grandchildren are quietly turning to the values of even earlier eras. Many are shunning drugs, delaying sex and painstakingly plotting their futures, all while donating more of their time and money to help others.
"Many adolescents today are acting in ways we might expect middle-age Americans to do, while older consumers are maintaining their 'adolescent' interests, outlooks and behaviors into middle age," writes Adweek stats analyst William Higham.
Now, these are, of course, generalizations. Teens are still teens and, by definition, they are immature—if not physically or mentally, certainly emotionally. Higham's hypothesis shouldn't send us out seeking moral guidance from any ol' teen we happen to find loitering on a street corner or at the mall. Still, study after recent study suggests that teens are behaving more responsibly these days than in generations past.
Government research, says Higham, shows that illicit drug use amongst teens has fallen 25% in the last six years. Teen pregnancy rates have plummeted over the last two decades—from a recorded high of 119.5 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 in 1990 to 69.5 in 2005, according to the Guttmacher Institute. That's a drop of 41%. Higham reports that three-quarters of teens believe family is the most important thing in their lives, and half say that "living by high moral standards" is their top life goal. A Gallup poll found that 56% of teens believed people should "abstain from sex until marriage."
Higham believes "paranoid parenting" may be part of the reason teens are growing more culturally conservative. Parents have proven remarkably effective in conveying the sense that the world around them can be a scary, unforgiving place, and teens seem to be listening.
But growing up in a harsher economic climate may be factoring into the mix, too. Several polls suggest teens are taking greater care with their own personal budgets, and a study by the Christian charity World Vision found that 53% of teens say the economy has made them more aware of the needs of others. Teens are more likely to volunteer than their parents or grandparents, and 84% in a Junior Achievement poll said they'd trade their "perfect job" for a chance to make a positive difference in the world. A whopping nine of 10 teens said, in the World Vision study, that they wished they could do more to help others.
"This generation is more aware of the needs of others than most give them credit for," said Pat Rhoads of World Vision in a press release. "These findings are especially encouraging in this tight economy."
Eternal Youth … Sort Of
But if teens are getting more mature, some of their parents and grandparents seem to be growing less so.
It makes sense, really, when you take a look at the culture we live in. Ours is a society obsessed with youth—looking young, staying young, acting young. Most of the television shows we watch, movies we go to and products we buy cater to the young, so there are all sorts of societal incentives pushing us to pretend like we're young, too.
So it's not too surprising to read that some folks, well into their 50s and 60s, are still acting, or trying to act, like unfettered teens.
"Middle and old age are traditionally seen as times of conformity, responsibility, risk aversion and settling down," writes Higham. "Yet instead of retiring with pipe and slippers to listen to the classics, many of the new old are still pursuing the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle of their youth."
According to Higham, singles 55 and older are flocking online to find partners—for life or just for the night. And while drug use among teens may be falling, it's growing like gangbusters among fiftysomethings—up more than 70% between 2002 and 2008. Marijuana use is more prevalent among the Social Security set than any other age group.
Just this month, the Norton Online Family Report found that half of youth ages 8 to 17 thought they were far more careful online than their parents were—with 20% insisting that their parents have "no idea" about the Internet's dangers.
William Higham's in the business of taking stats and telling businesses and advertisers what to do with them. So, in digesting these particulars, he suggests marketers radically change the way they advertise their wares.
"Products and services we assumed teens would never want may now appeal to them, like insurance and pensions. But those we once happily sold them may now have to be rebranded for older markets, from street fashion and alcopops to personal technology. The standard 'edgy' teen-focused ad—appealing to rebellious, hedonistic or iconoclastic values—may not work with the new teen, whereas ads that appeal to traditional values might. Those edgy ads might now be better aimed at the boomers, perhaps fronted by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler or Blondie's Debbie Harry."
I wouldn't go quite that far. We all know that teens can still be incredibly childish and adults can be quite mature. But trying to stay "young" may be dating oneself these days far more than showing a little maturity and responsibility. Growing up is taking place earlier now—and not just in the sad, "kids grow up too fast nowadays" sort of way.
It's a paradox in a modern era full of them—an era in which adults aspire to be more like their children, and where some kids really can't trust folks over 30.