Hollywood, Wake Up and Stop Portraying Our Teens Badly for Ratings

Teens aren’t nearly as irresponsible as they are on TV.

As the parent of a 15-year-old daughter, I am seriously sick of the drunken, party-going, wild portrayals of teenagers on the big screen and television. Finding quality television for teens often gives us two choices:

• Little House on the Prairie or Hallmark-style stuff that bores them.
• Teenagers partying, doing drugs, staying out all hours of the night, running amok, throwing huge parties with parents who always go out of town and leave them to do so, and teens having all kinds of sexual experiences.

Now I am not a prude. I expect that there will be tough decisions for my daughter and tough situations that she will face as a young lady. But Hollywood treats teenagers as a bunch of delinquents with nothing in life to do but party and get in trouble.

Glorified delinquency is not the average teen experience and should not be portrayed as such.

I get that these conversations need to be had. And we have those tough conversations. But when every single binge-worthy and popular series the kids are into is another binge on teen drug use — well, those conversations get a bit tiring to have.

Can we have some quality television for teens — please?

Who did it right — Stranger things

These kids weren’t angels but they were real. The teenagers were varied and some, yes, were the “bad” boys or girls — but this was not the all-consuming norm of other shows.

There was action, some love themes, and the parents weren’t completely absent and useless. The show kept our attention throughout and the acting was spectacular. My daughter related to these kids and teens out there facing one adventure after another, with genuine relatable relationships and personalities.

And they didn’t need to all be drunk for it to be good television.

Who did it the worst — The Outer Banks

If one more friend of my daughter’s begs her to watch this cesspool of a show, I might lose my mind.

The acting was impeccable — the only plus.

Teens are drinking — all the time and heavily like they’ve been doing it for years. Teens are smoking weed — heavily and all the time like it’s nothing new to them. Teens are running all over the place in boats and cars and on motorbikes — like there is no sense of responsibility to anything at all. Teens, of course, are having sex and are portrayed in a very sexual-adult manner.

Again, I am not a prude — but this is just TOO DAMN MUCH.

The portrayal of teen behavior in this show is just disgusting and unrealistic. Yes, it happens — but not for everyone. Not even for most. What about the normal kids? The average go-to-high-school and text and listen to music and hang out kids? Aren’t they to feel as if their life is so boring when all the actors they idolize are out there partying like rock stars?

I have to tell my daughter when we watch tv — no, parties like this are not what all the other teens are out doing while you are sitting at home or focused on your school work and future in the medical field. Yes, some of them will make poor choices and get into trouble — but no, you are not sitting at home missing out on all the wild parties.

It is not accurate — despite us seeing it in nearly every teen portrayal on tv.

What is the truth about teenage drinking and “wild behavior”?

Here are some statistics (which remind me to keep talking to my daughter!)

• Teenagers are responsible for about 11 percent of the alcohol consumed in the country, and 90 percent of the alcohol they consume is through binge drinking. — Teenage Alcohol Abuse Statistics
• In 2010, underage drinking was responsible for 189,000 trips to the emergency room. Every year, excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for the deaths of over 4,300 teenagers. — Teenage Alcohol Abuse Statistics
• From the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), “approximately 50 percent of college women have been sexually assaulted, and 27 percent have experienced rape or attempted rape; in contrast, 25 percent of college men have committed sexual assault, and 8 percent have committed rape or attempted rape.”
• Not that many kids in high school do drugs, although marijuana is the most common. Even though it may sometimes seem like “everyone’s doing it,” know that not everyone really is. — Real Teens Ask: How Many Teens Use Drugs?
• So, what is the most commonly used illegal drug? Marijuana. More than a quarter of 10th graders say they’ve tried it in the past year. You can see the numbers for each major drug type in this report — Real Teens Ask: How Many Teens Use Drugs?
• We collected data in 2011 and 2012 through telephone interviews with 1,121 teens living in 50 mid-sized California cities. Overall, about a quarter of teens reported having had a party at their house in the past 12 months, of whom 39% reported that there was alcohol at their last party. — Teen Parties: Who Has Parties, What Predicts Whether There is Alcohol and Who Supplies the Alcohol?
• The new study shows that just over 40 percent of boys and girls reported having had sexual intercourse by age 18 — a huge decline from the peak of 1988 when 57 percent of teens between the ages of 15 and 19 reported having had sex. — Teens Are Having Sex Later, Using Contraception, CDC Finds

All of these statistics show there is definitely a problem here among teens of reckless behavior and poor decision making, but with the excess of this behavior in Hollywood portrayals, our teens are receiving these glorified risky behaviors as a standard that simply isn’t true. In my opinion, these portrayals are irresponsible and further contribute to the problem.

For most of the teens throwing parties — it is reported that most of these parties are held in the home when parents are not at home but that sometimes they are “ignored by some parents who believe it is safer for teens to drink in a supervised setting.” (Teen Parties: Who Has Parties, What Predicts Whether There is Alcohol and Who Supplies the Alcohol?) The survey also uncovered that for most of these parties, at least one parent was aware of at least the last party that was had.

For the record — as a parent I will not support this kind of behavior in my home, nor will I condone or support my daughter being a part of them. I cannot in good conscience send my daughter into an unsafe environment and I prefer to teach her the dangers of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and how both would put her in greater danger for sexual assault.

It sure would be nice if she had some quality television that showed teenagers like herself who are not focused on the underbelly of societal behavior and were a bit more goal-oriented. Having your head together does not mean you cannot have fun. Teenagers having fun does not have to equate teenagers being in danger or putting their lives at risk.

Hollywood — back us parents up, please?

Christina M. Ward is a parenting blogger from North Carolina. You may follow her work here at Publishious, or follow her on social media.