I need YOU to help with my Sociology project

[Seizurema]

Hai.

I have to do some comparison thing with interviews of people who were teenagers in different decades, and I figured hey, I might as well turn to the internets. SO if YOU were a teen in either the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s, please fill out these questions and let me know. It would help immensely

What is your name?

When were you born?

Where did you live in your teenage years?

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?

What were your favorite movies as a teen?

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)


Thanks for the help guys!

EDIT (because I'm an idiot and forgot it the first time) - Also include the decade you were a teen, thanks again!

[CliffBass]

My name is Cliff.

I was born in Seattle Washington.

I lived there (North Seattle) during my teenage years.

I smoked pot for fun and did various things high.

I loved cheech and chong.

I loved (still love) NIN, old Metallica, Chains, STP, Nirvana, SP, & Bob Marley.

It would be easier then by far, things today seem like thy're harder.

[Gopherbassist]

I only entered because I thought it said Scientology. How sad I am at my double take to see that you are not, in fact, doing experiments on Tom Cruise...

[Seizurema]

I only entered because I thought it said Scientology. How sad I am at my double take to see that you are not, in fact, doing experiments on Tom Cruise...

Eh, sorry.

But I need these by like next Tuesday, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[jrmy]

Always down to help out...

What is your name?
Jeremy

When were you born?
1974

What decade(s) were you a teen?
late 80's - early 90's

Where did you live in your teenage years?
rural Maine

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
hung out with friends, listened to music (MTV, Headbanger's Ball and 120 Minutes were a godsend back then... when MTV actually played videos), read, drew, played guitar. Didn't really drink a lot - saw too many lives screwed up by that out there, and didn't do drugs even when I wanted to (my friends always assumed that I was "the straight one," and never really offered me anything). I loved reading Reflex Magazine, which was the earliest "alternative" mag I knew of - out in rural Maine, it was a window to a wider world, and I learned about so many bands & new ways to think about life through that magazine. I still can't believe that the local bookstore, Mr. Paperback, carried it. I would read literally everything in that magazine at least twice, down to the advertisements.

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
The original Star Wars trilogy, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, The Wall, Aliens (I was a total geek) (o.k. - I still AM a total geek)

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
Whoever played the monster in the monster movie I was watching

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
The Who, Hendrix, Metallica, Primus, Soundgarden, the Cavedogs (Boston indie power-poppers), The Hoodoo Gurus (Australian power-poppers), The Screaming Trees, Ride, Bob Mould... I still listen to most of 'em, though I've cut back on Primus and Soundgarden...

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)
I think it's always going to be tough to be a teen - that's part of what being a teen is about! It's that uncomfortable transitional period in life, when you're not considered old enough to live by your own rules, but you're beginning to chafe under the authority of teachers, parents and pre-existing social constraints. There are elements today that are tougher for teens (the way teh internets allow for even more all-pervasive peer pressure & bullying), but there are elements that could make things easier (said internets can make it easier to find a supportive peer group if you feel like an outcast).

[leastwise]

What is your name?
Scott

When were you born?
1980 (teenager in the mid-90s)

Where did you live in your teenage years?
Harrisonburg, VA

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
not much
I guess "hanging out with friends" is the best answer.

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
Tommy Boy, Flight of the Navigator

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
Comedic-types. I can't think of any specifics.

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
Smashing Pumpkins, For Squirrels, Blink 182, Orbital, Built to Spill, Less than Jake

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)
Sheesh. I don't know. Too me I guess it's always a hard time. Probably more fun now than then, at least. You know, technology, and such.

This is kind of a funny question because right when I saw this post, some people in my office were talking about some troubles with a 13-yr-old stepson. I chimed in with "being a teenager is hard." A co-worker firmly replied. "No it's not. All you have to do is do what your parents tell you and do your own stuff on the side."

After hearing my point, she gave in a little. "Well maybe for teenage boys it's hard. I can't relate to teenage boys."

"That would be illegal," I replied.

[sunken.anchor]

What is your name?
Jeff

When were you born?
1979. I was a teen during the 90s.

Where did you live in your teenage years?
Southern California

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
Play in a band

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
Quadrophenia, Strange Brew, Matrix

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
N/A - I've never really been into "favorite" actors/actresses, and I especially wasn't as a teen. As long as they aren't horrible performers, they were all the same in my book.

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
80s punk and hardcore (mostly the stuff you'd find under "anarcho-punk" and "hardcore punk" on wikipedia) when I was into that scene. Then when I was a mod, a lot of British rock (Who, Kinks, Jam, various Jamaican ska groups).

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then?
As time progresses, I think it gets harder and harder. Sure, technology makes some things a lot easier. My parents would have loved it if I had a cell phone back then. But culture as a whole seems to be getting worse and worse. Thinking about what it's like to be a teenager these days makes me kind of sad. And it makes me kind of afraid of what it will be like when my kids are teenagers.

[sadzoo]

What is your name?
Kimberly Marks

When were you born?
1981

Where did you live in your teenage years?
SF bay area, and then Crescent City, Ca.

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
I did my share of drugs and drinking. I remember walking around with friends quite a bit. In the bay I would hang out at a coffee shop. In CC I would go to the beach a lot.

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
I wasn't that into movies at that age. The ones I liked were from younger days: the Labyrinth, Star Wars, ect. I remember liking Brave Heart when it came out, and also that modern day Romeo and Juliet movie.

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
I didn't have any.

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
Smashing Pumpkins, Beatles, Led Zepplin, Metallica, Sublime, Jimi Hendrix.

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)

Oh, well I think it would be harder for me at least. A few things come to mind. First thing is the generation that my parents grew up in (60's). I think that had an influence on my being raised. It was a blessing and curse, on one hand my mom was using drugs when I was a kid (which she cleaned up from). On the other had both of my parents were pretty darn open minded (especially my mom). For instance I remember her telling me I didn't have to do the pledge of allegiance at school in 4th grade. It made me think. I was challenged by my parents ethics and beliefs.

Secondly, I think it would have been pretty hard to grow up as a teen with the Iraq War. I think that it has affected all of us, but it was a bit easier to take as an adult.

Lastly, the internet. It was so hard for me to socialize as a teen. It's my opinion that the internet makes it harder for people to socialize, as people aren't forced to go out and talk to each other in person when they are lonely or bored. That would've made growing up now as a teen difficult.

Thanks for the help guys!

EDIT (because I'm an idiot and forgot it the first time) - Also include the decade you were a teen, thanks again!

I was a teen in the 90's.

[metalmariachi]

My name is Keith

I was born in 1946 in Atchison Kansas (me and Amelia Earhart, btw; I did fly around the world).

Teen age years 1959 -1966 in Nebraska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Viet Nam.

Weekends; Hot rods and motorcycles.

Movies; Rebel Without a Cause, The Wild One, The Hustler, West Side Story.

Actors; James Dean, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Anne Margret, Sophia Loren.

Bands; Link Wray, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, the Stones, The Zombies.

Black leather jackets, blue jeans, engineer boots, duck tails to pegged pants, Beatle boots, mop tops to dress whites, tiger stripes, jungle boots.

Easier? No but different. More stress with less expected responsibility.
Get good grades vs get out and get a job. Individual responsibility vs entitlement.

MM

[Enoch-Fox]

What is your name?
Drew.

When were you born?
Fall, 1987.

Where did you live in your teenage years?
I was in the Mid-Ohio Valley, in WV.

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
I was pretty punk for the MOV. By that I meant we basically drove around yelling at people and going to punk shows at the little shitty skatepark.

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
Clerks. Loved that movie, watched it all the time.

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
I didn't really have any.

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
Oh man, as a teenager, I loved Bad Religion, Offspring, and that whole genre of stuff.

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)
Probably now, by FAR. I mean, as a teen you can pretty much be who you want to be now, and find a group of people who will empathize with you. I say that, but considering how friends who are just a few years younger talk, I might be completely out of my mind. I guess the paranoia's exponentially worse.

[metalmariachi]

An additional rant.

I do think it is better for teens now than it was back in the good old days.

I grew up in an era where divorce was a stigma.
If a man had multiple affairs or beat the crap out of her every day and she divorced him, it was her fault. If she had been a proper wife doing her proper wifely duties he wouldn't have had to go elsewhere.

So a divorced women were tainted, and her daughters were also considered to be tainted.

Gay and lesbians were routinely beaten raped and killed often by the police themselves.
It wasn't ok but “they got what they deserved”.
Trangenderd persons were an abomination.

If you weren't a super smart straight A student, college was for the rich and privileged.

Girls took Home Ec and typing so they could get a husband or at least a job as a secretary.
Guys who weren't “college material” took shop.

Then there was the fact that you were going to be drafted any way unless you got a deferment ( see rich and privileged), and even Elvis got drafted.

We had bullies, but also had a solution that worked, you found a big guy to beat him up for you or you got enough friends together and then beat the crap out of him. Ok not socially acceptable, but it usually worked.

In short I grew up in interesting times, but would prefer to be a teen now than then.

MM

[hasblueshoes]

What is your name?
Todd

When were you born?
1979

Where did you live in your teenage years?
Suburban Maryland (Glen Burnie)

What did you typically do for fun on the weekends?
Hung out with a couple close friends, played in a band, played video games, rented all the worst looking movies we could find at the video store

What were your favorite movies as a teen?
Evil Dead 2, This Is Spinal Tap, Star Wars

Who were your favorite actors/actresses as a teen?
Bruce Campbell, pretty much everybody that was on The State or Mr. Show

Who were your favorite bands/musical acts as a teen?
Nirvana, Screeching Weasel, The Ramones, I'd be remiss to not mention Green Day

In your opinion, would it be "easier" to be a teen today or then? (AKA. Say some random shit)
I'll say then, it just seems like we were having more fun. I kind of feel like when I was growing up there wasn't all that much to worry about for teens. For one thing I was never in school post-columbine, that would have probably freaked me out some. Then again I am sure there was some stuff going on when I was a teen and I just missed it because I didn't really care. Maybe it is easier now, I never got to google anything for school, and when I did a project like this for my Sociology class I ended up knocking on doors in my neighborhood (and only getting about 1/5 of the responses I needed and just making up the rest).