# If you could choose would you have  preferred to be a Teenager today



## hollydolly (Aug 6, 2015)

I saw this somewhere else and thought it was a good question so I bring it to you folks... .

Take away your wisdom of age and all your life experiences and just concentrate on your teen years ( without any rose coloured specs)...and compare it to the lifestyles and opportunities, of todays' teens.

Would you have preferred to have the life of todays' youth...or do you think that the decade you were a teen was the best ever...and please feel free to give your reasons ?


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

No way would I want to be a teen now!!  You have to grow up too fast nowadays and don't get much of an innocent childhood.  

I'm grateful I grew up in the 1950's and 60's.  I wouldn't trade being a teen in the late 60's for anything!


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 6, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> No way would I want to be a teen now!!  You have to grow up too fast nowadays and don't get much of an innocent childhood.
> 
> I'm grateful I grew up in the 1950's and 60's.  I wouldn't trade being a teen in the late 60's for anything!



..50's for me...


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## Bullie76 (Aug 6, 2015)

50's for me. I'll take the 'Leave it to Beaver' era over today's texting and computer games any day.


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## squatting dog (Aug 6, 2015)

Muscle cars...12 1/2 to 1 compression, cheap 260 Sunoco, submarine races... the 60's for me. At least until the late 60's, then a trip to SE Asia changed all that.


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## hollydolly (Aug 6, 2015)

Good grief SD...what happened in SE Asia to spoil your teen years?


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

Viet Nam, Holly.


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## Glinda (Aug 6, 2015)

Bullie76 said:


> 50's for me. I'll take the 'Leave it to Beaver' era over today's texting and computer games any day.



I agree - except for me it was the 60s.  My teen years included the Beatles, Eric Clapton, long hair, short skirts and flower power.  Staring at some little screen moving my thumbs over a tiny keyboard?  Nah!


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## Josiah (Aug 6, 2015)

With my ever present bike and baseball mitt, the world was my oyster back in the 1940's.


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## Davey Jones (Aug 6, 2015)

Todays teens .....fast and furious, without a care in the world, die young.
60's teens...........slow pace, obey your parents and live longer.


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## hollydolly (Aug 6, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Viet Nam, Holly.



Oh Lord of course,  I'd forgotten about the US conscription during those years ..


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## 911 (Aug 6, 2015)

I think it would be fun to be a teenager again, but back in the days, muscle cars and drive-ins were just too cool. I could have done without being a combat Marine in Vietnam, but even from that era, I gained experiences that I was able to use later in life.


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## QuickSilver (Aug 6, 2015)

For the most part NO...  I wouldn't..   However, in looking back on how it was for females in the 60's in HS.. yes..  HS girls today have so many more options open to them.   Back in the mid-60's... HS girls were seldom counseled to go on to college unless they wanted to be a  1. Nurse... or 2. Teacher.   The girls that went on to work after HS became bank tellers or secretaries.   Most just got married and had babies..  Sadly.. very few of us knew there could be other options let along had the confidence to navigate the roadblocks put in the way of girls looking to step out of the mold.


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## Cookie (Aug 6, 2015)

I would prefer to be a teen now --- the biggest complaint I'm hearing about being a teen in today's world is the phones and technology, which doesn't seem like such a hardship to me.  Present time teens have better career options, more money, life choices, freedom to be themselves and know the world, technology, freedom to be whoever they want and access to knowledge and happiness.  I think I'd rather be a world-wise teen with an I-phone than an isolated teen in the 50's and 60s, wearing ugly clothes, as most teens were.  Today's world offers so much more -- transportation, communication, education, health care, even entertainment. 

I think many older seniors have romanticized their childhoods as being idyllic, innocent and free of cares... which I don't think was the case. We had plenty of cares, but usually no one to talk to about them.


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## jujube (Aug 6, 2015)

Oh, hell to the no!  I think my teenage years in the 60's was far easier than it would have been today.  Fewer temptations for me.


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 6, 2015)

I'd rather be a teen in the late '60s again, exciting times, great music.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> Oh Lord of course,  I'd forgotten about the US conscription during those years ..



Aye!  My first husband just missed going because he'd had rheumatic fever twice as a kid and had a heart murmur.  My brothers were too young - one only by a couple of years.


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## squatting dog (Aug 6, 2015)

SeaBreeze. Got to agree. great music.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

*Peace, man !  *


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## QuickSilver (Aug 6, 2015)

I don't think it was ever easy to be a teenager.  Past, present and future teens will still be dealing with the same issues and insecurities as all the other generations, and trying to fit in and figure out who they are.


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## AZ Jim (Aug 6, 2015)

I loved my youth.  Much simpler than today.  All faced a draft board classification at 18 but until then it was just plain ole fun.  No wasted time on TV, video games, computers, smart phones.  We were out, socializing.  I wouldn't trade it for today for anything.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

As a die-hard Beatles fan I love that the Beatles hit the US just a couple of weeks before my 12th birthday.  They split up when I was 18 and just before I graduated high school. Their music progressed as I did through my teens.  Innocent at 12, deeper at age 15/16. 

Of course, I had to visit Liverpool when I moved to the UK.


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## Cookie (Aug 6, 2015)

I think the lives of people and teens may have been more simple back in the 50s, since they were often less educated and knew much less than people know today -- and maybe the old saying goes "ignorance is bliss".  But those same kids were also terrified in the 50s and 60s, especially in the US with the threat of nuclear attack and communism and getting arrested for smoking a joint, and then of course the draft. But as we age, we often look back on our life through rose colored glasses.


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## AZ Jim (Aug 6, 2015)

Hey I can remember with a pimple on dance night was a trauma.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 6, 2015)

Cookie said:


> I think the lives of people and teens may have been more simple back in the 50s, since they were often less educated and knew much less than people know today -- and maybe the old saying goes "ignorance is bliss".  But those same kids were also terrified in the 50s and 60s, especially in the US with the threat of nuclear attack and communism and getting arrested for smoking a joint, and then of course the draft. But as we age, we often look back on our life through rose colored glasses.



Yes, we do tend to do that.  I remember duck and cover as a 6/7 year old but I don't remember being afraid.  But I do remember being able to go outside and play all day long, ride my bike just about anywhere, go to a shop to buy candy, and there wasn't a worry about being kidnapped or murdered.  I'm sure that did go on, but not that I know of where I lived.  My big worry was when I couldn't find my roller skate key.


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## Cookie (Aug 6, 2015)

I agree AS, I was allowed an amazing amount of freedom to roam around my neighborhood without concern, visit friends and hang out in the park or comic shop.  But we don't know what it is like to be a teen today, since we are not teens now and are only going by our own past experience in the 50s or 60s and don't have the experience of being a teen now. 

We really don't have enough information and seeing kids using i-phones doesn't tell us much.  The question is dubious IMO, and any answer we get about this just shows how little we know about today's teens.


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## hollydolly (Aug 6, 2015)

Cookie said:


> I agree AS, I was allowed an amazing amount of freedom to roam around my neighborhood without concern, visit friends and hang out in the park or comic shop.  But we don't know what it is like to be a teen today, since we are not teens now and are only going by our own past experience in the 50s or 60s and don't have the experience of being a teen now.
> 
> We really don't have enough information and seeing kids using i-phones doesn't tell us much.  The question is dubious IMO, and any answer we get about this just shows how little we know about today's teens.



You have a point cookie but a lot of people on here  ( not me) have teen grandchildren and they get to see their lifestyle first hand!!


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## Cookie (Aug 6, 2015)

Agree Holly, grandparents can see, but they cannot BE or know how the kids are feeling in today's world, which is more complex and different than the 50s and 60s, but not worse, just different. It's all based on assumptions, presumptions and guessing by an older generation that interprets negatively what young people are doing. Old people seem to have always put down young people's lifestyles and glorified the fantasy of 'the good old days'  -- nothing new about that. It's hard to be objective. But maybe there's some research on the subject somewhere.


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## SifuPhil (Aug 6, 2015)

I enjoyed being a teen in the early '70's because I was free to be myself and follow whatever star I wished. We still settled fights with fists, it was still fairly safe to engage in discovering the opposite sex and the library was my main source of inspiration. We still had PE and shop in school. 

I would think I would like being a teen now mainly because of computers and video games - nothing else. Now you go to jail for defending yourself in a fist-fight, sex can be deadly and libraries are now dollar stores or condos.


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## Falcon (Aug 6, 2015)

It's tough being a teen and always has been.  They are neither fish nor fowl; part way being a child and an adult;
under  lot of peer pressure and don't know which way to turn. Today's  social media may help....or hinder?

_I_  would not want to go through it again...zits and all.


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## hollydolly (Aug 6, 2015)

I'm the same as you Phil, I was a teen in the 70's, and it was like a completely different world to today. Todays drug and drink culture among the young terrifies the wits out of me..not that there wasn't both of those illicit substances around in the 70's of course, but you get my drift I'm sure..


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## LindaE (Aug 6, 2015)

I was a teen in the 70's (and early 80's) and I had a pretty decent time, although today, with all the cool technology (xbox's, computers, cell phones, etc) it would definitely be a little more fun. But then if I had sat around on my butt on a computer all day instead of having an actual social life, I might be a completely different person. Not that that would be a BAD thing, hahaha.

Honestly, if I could choose any age to be and stay at the rest of my life, I'd pick about 35.


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## Cookie (Aug 6, 2015)

During my high school days (60s) drugs and drinking were very prevalent, more so among adults than teens, but there were plenty of fatal car crashes and overdoses occurring.  The music culture of the 50s, 60s and 70s and 80s and even to the present day is wrapped around booze, drugs and sex.  

All the present day teens I know and see seem to be academically gifted and busy with social lives and school, part time jobs, enjoying family vacations and friends and sports activities. The technology they use are just tools and helpful in their goals. I see teens on the buses looking quite happy and wholesome, so I don't know where this trashing of present day teens is coming from. Maybe its worse in the UK and US and related to poverty. Perhaps some examples and statistics might be helpful. Granted teens are known to be outrageously rebellious and if they weren't I'd worry about their passivity. 

Maybe some people are even envious of the better lives present day teens have (better clothes, money, entertainment, fun, nicer parents, access to information highway, education and even smarter than some of us ever were. They have so much more than we ever did. The typical things we hear about the good old days are things like how someone had to walk miles and miles to school in a snowstorm, wearing hand me downs clothes, bad food, having to work at a job to help support the family of 10 kids, not enough money to buy luxuries, etc. etc. as if that somehow makes one a better person. Present day teens don't have these problems, unless they live in a third world country.   

I can't agree that we had it better or were happier and less screwed up than the teens of today. They struggle to get through life just like the teens of the past and like we did and do.


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## Pappy (Aug 6, 2015)

Not in a million years would I like to be a teenager now. Growing up in the fifties was a blast. We were outside most of the time, not buried on a cell phone. No police in my school, ride bikes to school and they were still there after school. Go to evening movies with the guys without fear of getting mugged. Buying a quart of beer and splitting it four ways. Band, football and cheerleaders. I loved it all.


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## Linda (Aug 7, 2015)

No way!  I'll stick with the 60s! I think my teens were the worst years of my life but I'm still glad they in the 60s and not in 2015.   I think it's hard to be a teen in any time period.


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## Butterfly (Aug 7, 2015)

I would not want to be a teenager now.  I certainly was not afraid in my teens (50s and early 60s).  I had fun.  Nowdays, I WOULD be afraid -- shootings in schools, school bullying, gangs, drugs, etc.  I agree with Pappy, above.  We were able to have a lot more freedom in those days.  The high school I attended then was a good place, fun times, no violence, and I got a good education.  Now, it is a pit of gangs and violence.


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## Underock1 (Aug 7, 2015)

I wouldn't want to be a teenager, period. Never had the mind set for it. I can actually remember thinking at the time, "some day I'll make a great grandfather", which, as it turned out, I did.


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 7, 2015)

At 13  (1957) I met the girl of my dreams..We went "steady" until 18 (see my Avatar) (1962) then got engaged. Married at 19 (1963) and this Sept will will celebrate 52 married years.

I really believe that I would do it all over again!!


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## QuickSilver (Aug 7, 2015)

Underock1 said:


> I wouldn't want to be a teenager, period. Never had the mind set for it. I can actually remember thinking at the time, "some day I'll make a great grandfather", which, as it turned out, I did.




Me neither...   I mean, having the health and the energy was great... but I wouldn't want to go through all that angst again.


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## Underock1 (Aug 7, 2015)

Ken N Tx said:


> At 13  (1957) I met the girl of my dreams..We went "steady" until 18 (see my Avatar) (1962) then got engaged. Married at 19 (1963) and this Sept will will celebrate 52 married years.
> 
> I really believe that I would do it all over again!!



Congratulations to you and your dream girl, Ken! I met my "One and Only Forever Girl" when she was just sixteen. Married her a week after her eighteenth birthday. Lost her this past March, a month after our 58th anniversary. Its against the conventional wisdom, but if you are lucky enough to find the right one before "playing the field", and marry young, I think it has special rewards. You grow together, and share so much more of life. We had the normal ups and downs of any relationship, but even at the worst of times, never doubted each other for a moment. Had our kids early too, and that worked out great as well. You're still young enough to roll around on the floor with your grandkids. Its not for everybody, but I'm glad it was for us. I hope you two have many more happy years together.
.                                                        :thumbsup1:


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 7, 2015)

Underock1 said:


> Congratulations to you and your dream girl, Ken! I met my "One and Only Forever Girl" when she was just sixteen. Married her a week after her eighteenth birthday. Lost her this past March, a month after our 58th anniversary. Its against the conventional wisdom, but if you are lucky enough to find the right one before "playing the field", and marry young, I think it has special rewards. You grow together, and share so much more of life. We had the normal ups and downs of any relationship, but even at the worst of times, never doubted each other for a moment. Had our kids early too, and that worked out great as well. You're still young enough to roll around on the floor with your grandkids. Its not for everybody, but I'm glad it was for us. I hope you two have many more happy years together.
> .                                                        :thumbsup1:



...and I agree...


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## Lara (Aug 11, 2015)

Short answer, no way. Today, I'm on a Maurice Chevalier kick. 
Here's his, tad-off-tad-on-topic, answer to this thread, "I'm glad I'm Not Young Anymore":


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## Cookie (Aug 11, 2015)

One thing about being a teenager today, is that they are young....  so who wouldn't prefer to be 13-19 in 2015 with a whole future ahead, rather than the age they are now, late 50s to 90s? I would go through it again, and as its 2015, things would be very different and probably a whole lot better.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 11, 2015)

Cookie said:


> One thing about being a teenager today, is that they are young....  so who wouldn't prefer to be 13-19 in 2015 with a whole future ahead, rather than the age they are now, late 50s to 90s? I would go through it again, and as its 2015, things would be very different and probably a whole lot better.



By the time they grow up they'll have to be 75 before they can retire.


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## Bobw235 (Aug 11, 2015)

A good question.  While I certainly enjoy the tools at my disposal in today's world (I'm always connected and reading), I cannot say I'd want to be a teenager today compared to when I grew up (late 60s into early 70s).  I think it was a simpler time and as others have said, you got outside more, had less to worry about in terms of school shootings, bullying, etc.  Yes there were drugs and other influences, but it was a great time to grow up.  My main worry in my later high school years was the draft, but it ended a year or so before I graduated.  In today's hyper competitve world, I think there are so many pressures teens face that we never had to deal with.


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## Cookie (Aug 11, 2015)

Suppose that's in the UK.  Canada, I'm not so sure. In any case, many people opt for early retirement.  The measly old age pension?  Who cares?


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## NancyNGA (Aug 11, 2015)

Well, I never had a plan.  Just meandered through life, mostly taking the path of least resistance, and someone always showed up at the right time to push me in the right direction.  Lots of kids now have a plan for their whole lives by the time they are teenagers.  I wonder what would happen if you didn't have a plan now?  

If you could get by without one, I'd probably go for it.


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## John C (Aug 11, 2015)

I became a teen just before WWII ended.  The music was so different during those times; like Teresa Brewer singing Music, Music, Music.  The Hit Parade, with Snooky Lansen, was a leading radio show with its top ten songs of the week.  And movie stars were worshipped like deities.  I am glad that I lived during those magic years.


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## Bee (Aug 11, 2015)

Cookie said:


> During my high school days (60s) drugs and drinking were very prevalent, more so among adults than teens, but there were plenty of fatal car crashes and overdoses occurring.  The music culture of the 50s, 60s and 70s and 80s and even to the present day is wrapped around booze, drugs and sex.
> 
> All the present day teens I know and see seem to be academically gifted and busy with social lives and school, part time jobs, enjoying family vacations and friends and sports activities. The technology they use are just tools and helpful in their goals. I see teens on the buses looking quite happy and wholesome, so I don't know where this trashing of present day teens is coming from. Maybe its worse in the UK and US and related to poverty. Perhaps some examples and statistics might be helpful. Granted teens are known to be outrageously rebellious and if they weren't I'd worry about their passivity.
> 
> ...




Excellent post, completely agree.


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## Lara (Aug 11, 2015)

John C, you are spot on, the music and movies were magical in our day. Even the younger generation agrees with that regarding our music. Many are still giving concerts to sold out crowds.


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## Shalimar (Aug 11, 2015)

I agree Cookie. People are people. There is no magical/terrible generation.


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## Ameriscot (Aug 11, 2015)

Lara said:


> John C, you are spot on, the music and movies were magical in our day. Even the younger generation agrees with that regarding our music. Many are still giving concerts to sold out crowds.



Rock music has gone downhill since the 60's and 70's.


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## Cookie (Aug 11, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Rock music has gone downhill since the 60's and 70's.



Sturgeon's Law:

The first written reference to the adage appears in the March 1958 issue of _Venture_, where Sturgeon wrote:

“I  repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty  years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people  who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose  conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud. Using the same  standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or  crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods,  etc. is crap. In other words, the claim (or fact) that 90% of science  fiction is crap is ultimately uninformative, because science fiction  conforms to the same trends of quality as all other artforms.[SUP][1][/SUP]

 
In other words 90% of everything is crap.


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## Shalimar (Aug 11, 2015)

I do not favour most of the movies of my younger years, in my opinion, they were overly sentimental fluff for the most part. Yes, I still love the music of my youth, but modern music has it's genius also. The music has not died,  merely changed, as have I.


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## merlin (Aug 12, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> I do not favour most of the movies of my younger years, in my opinion, they were overly sentimental fluff for the most part. Yes, I still love the music of my youth, but modern music has it's genius also. The music has not died,  merely changed, as have I.


I totally agree Shali I really love some of the modern music, it has evolved a lot and some of it is truly beautiful, and more complex than that of previous generations. I agree with the Cookie quote 90% of everything is crap, but the remaining good stuff has improved in my opinion.

Regarding movies I feel the best of the latest ones ( 90% are crap rule applies here too) are far superior to the ones of earlier decades, they are more relevant to the current world and to my mind the acting has improved, its become so much more natural. With the exception of a few I can't watch old movies from my youth as they have aged so badly, and are as Shali says generally overly sentimental fluff.


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 13, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Rock music has gone downhill since the 60's and 70's.



...Early 60's, I switched over to Country Western...


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## Rocky (Aug 13, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> For the most part NO...  I wouldn't..   However, in looking back on how it was for females in the 60's in HS.. yes..



_I'd say the same for the 50s except that I also remember the "red letter" stigma attached if any young woman became pregnant.  Birth control was unknown.  "Just say no" didn't work then and it doesn't work now._


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## Shalimar (Aug 13, 2015)

Rocky, didn't anyone use condoms?


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## Rocky (Aug 13, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Rocky, didn't anyone use condoms?



_I had to smile at that question ... they were around even then, of course, but if you were actually prepared rather than "swept away in the moment", you were a marked man, "easy" woman.  So there were trips young girls made to stay with an out-of-town relative for awhile.  It was an extremely prudish time.

I was working for doctors when the law was passed legalizing abortion.  We'd seen first-hand the results of the back-alley efforts.  And yet, here we are all these years later and we're right back in the 50s mentality all over again.  _


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## Shalimar (Aug 13, 2015)

Thanks for clarity Rocky. I remember when abortion was legalised when I was in my early twenties. Wonderful, but too late for my best friend who had been rendered sterile four years earlier due to a back street abortion. She almost died at the tender age of seventeen. She was never the same.


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## Underock1 (Aug 13, 2015)

Cookie said:


> I would prefer to be a teen now --- the biggest complaint I'm hearing about being a teen in today's world is the phones and technology, which doesn't seem like such a hardship to me.  Present time teens have better career options, more money, life choices, freedom to be themselves and know the world, technology, freedom to be whoever they want and access to knowledge and happiness.  I think I'd rather be a world-wise teen with an I-phone than an isolated teen in the 50's and 60s, wearing ugly clothes, as most teens were.  Today's world offers so much more -- transportation, communication, education, health care, even entertainment.
> 
> I think many older seniors have romanticized their childhoods as being idyllic, innocent and free of cares... which I don't think was the case. We had plenty of cares, but usually no one to talk to about them.



Absolutely! Agree 100%


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## Shalimar (Aug 13, 2015)

Cookie, Underock, I agree.  Also, without getting into it, if I were a teenager now, I would have been protected as a child.


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 14, 2015)

Shalimar said:


> Rocky, didn't anyone use condoms?



I remember when there once was a birth control credit type card. All the girl did was place it and hold it tight between her knees..


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 10, 2021)

Being a teenager today?

Not a chance!

60's and 70's for me!


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## tbeltrans (Jan 10, 2021)

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 20407...Early 60's, I switched over to Country Western...


...which these days sounds like 50s rock.   

I am not saying that is good or bad, but instead that I often can't tell whether I am listening to country or rock.  Both seem to have cranked up distorted guitars and lead lines and a lot of pounding, though there is still country that sounds like country to me in there too.  It is easy to see why that happened.  There seem to be far more country music fans today across a much wider age group.

In our condo building, there are speakers built into the ceilings of the hallways.  When we first moved in, there was a station playing what was commonly called "the music of your life" from a local FM station that featured it.  That music was orchestral versions of pop, show tunes, and standards.  When that station changed their programing to something else (probably talk shows), we experimented with different kinds of music.  We found that country music seemed the least objectionable to the most people, so that is where the dial has stayed for years now.  The country stations seem to stick around without having to change format to remain relevant in the market.

Tony


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## Becky1951 (Jan 10, 2021)

No thank you. If I were a teen of today's generation I would probably lack empathy, sympathy and common sense.


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## hollydolly (Jan 10, 2021)

Becky1951 said:


> No thank you. If I were a teen of today's generation I would probably lack empathy, sympathy and common sense.


I think that was me way back in the 70's anyway....


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## Nathan (Jan 10, 2021)

I enjoyed my youth back in the 60s, I was care-free and happy.    My life change after Vietnam, and there was no "going back" to those childhood days.  Learned a lot about life for sure.     Oh, but to answer the thread question:  *no*, I would not want to be a teenager in today's world.


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## Lewkat (Jan 10, 2021)

Not on your life.


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## tbeltrans (Jan 10, 2021)

Nathan said:


> I enjoyed my youth back in the 60s, I was care-free and happy.    My life change after Vietnam, and there was no "going back" to those childhood days.  Learned a lot about life for sure.     Oh, but to answer the thread question:  *no*, I would not want to be a teenager in today's world.


I couldn't have said it as succinctly since my history mirrors yours, so better that I quote you instead.

Tony


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## Furryanimal (Jan 11, 2021)

No.....i’d be walking down the street glued to my phone.


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## MarciKS (Jan 11, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> I saw this somewhere else and thought it was a good question so I bring it to you folks... .
> 
> Take away your wisdom of age and all your life experiences and just concentrate on your teen years ( without any rose coloured specs)...and compare it to the lifestyles and opportunities, of todays' teens.
> 
> Would you have preferred to have the life of todays' youth...or do you think that the decade you were a teen was the best ever...and please feel free to give your reasons ?


Absolutely not today. Today's kids can't take simple instructions and they've got a bad attitude about everything. They don't care about anything that's not on their cell phones. No thanks.


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## Pepper (Jan 11, 2021)

Yes.  I'm up for the challenge of youthful purpose in a beautiful, healthy Young body with a lot of devices.  YES.


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## Irwin (Jan 11, 2021)

If I were a kid in this day and age, I wouldn't hold much hope for my future -- not in the U.S., anyway. Of course, growing up in the '60s and '70s, there was always the threat of having to go fight in Vietnam looming in our future. I'm not sure I thought about it that much, though. I'm not sure I knew that much about it. We didn't have the easy access to information that we do now, and my parents didn't subscribe to a newspaper that I can remember. We had the evening news. That was about it.


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## tbeltrans (Jan 11, 2021)

One aspect of the OP's question to consider is that we are considering whether we would want to be a teenager today, but we can't help but look at it from our own perspectives which do not necessarily match the perspectives of a young person today.  This can help explain many of the responses we are seeing in this thread.  Of course we would want life as we knew it when we were teenagers.

I don't have a lot of interaction with younger folks these days, but when I do, I am constantly reminded how different their perspectives are from mine.  I don't see their perspectives as wrong and mine right (or vice versa).  However, I am well aware that they are growing up in a world very different from that which I grew up in.  

I believe that if I were a teenager today, my perspective of the world would be quite different from what my current perspective is, and therefore would probably relate to my world today pretty much in a similar manner as I did to the world I grew up in because it is what I would know.  

Would I want to be a teenager today if I had the perspective and world view of a teenager growing up in the 60s?  Probably not, but that is how most of us are probably going to answer in this thread because we simply don't have the perspective of today's teenager.  Remember that today's teenager has no experience with a world that does not have smart phones, computers, the internet, streaming services, and a myriad of other differences in politics, national attitude toward religion, lifestyles, etc.  It is all very different just as the 1960s that we grew up in were very different from the world our parents grew up in.  

Tony


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## Tish (Jan 11, 2021)

No way, I would so be addicted to all the technology.
I loved growing up in the late '70s and early '80s, there was just so much fun to be had and it was so much safer.


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## fuzzybuddy (Jan 12, 2021)

I was a child of the late 50s, 60s. I didn't have any choice in the matter. So if I were growing up now, it would be the same. I don't have a choice in the matter. I don't believe we are really aware of what is going on arounds us at that age. We are just too consumed by what some kid said or didn't say, and about being accepted, etc.  So I doubt that the era in which we were teens, probably had a huge impact on us, except for a few significant events.


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## hollydolly (Jan 12, 2021)

Irwin said:


> If I were a kid in this day and age, I wouldn't hold much hope for my future -- not in the U.S., anyway. Of course, growing up in the '60s and '70s, there was always the threat of having to go fight in Vietnam looming in our future. I'm not sure I thought about it that much, though. I'm not sure I knew that much about it. We didn't have the easy access to information that we do now, and my parents didn't subscribe to a newspaper that I can remember. We had the evening news. That was about it.


we were lucky. in this country there was no conscription here in the 60's & 70's....


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## tbeltrans (Jan 12, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> I was a child of the late 50s, 60s. I didn't have any choice in the matter. So if I were growing up now, it would be the same. I don't have a choice in the matter. I don't believe we are really aware of what is going on arounds us at that age. We are just too consumed by what some kid said or didn't say, and about being accepted, etc.  So I doubt that the era in which we were teens, probably had a huge impact on us, except for a few significant events.


The concept of not being aware of what is going on around us is not true for ALL of us.  I grew up in a household in which the news was on much of the time, either on radio or TV and we often discussed the events of the day.  Maybe there were folks growing up insulated from the real world, but I didn't seem to know many of these folks since the people I knew at school also seemed aware of what was going on.  Also, as an 18 year old teenager, I was in Vietnam, so maybe that contributes to my different view from yours.

Tony


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## Pinky (Jan 12, 2021)

uh-uh .. growing up in a lower income family, there would be so much pressure to have things my parents couldn't afford - cellphones, laptops, etc. It was tough enough in the 60's.


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## Murrmurr (Jan 12, 2021)

If I were a teenager now I probably wouldn't be getting married in just a few years, which would bring opportunities my way that I couldn't imagine back in the 60s.


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2021)

With all the environmental issues I would not want to be a teenager today.


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## Kathleen’s Place (Jan 12, 2021)

Oh most definitely I wouldn’t want to be a teenager today.  I’m not even nuts about being an old person today . I liked the uncomplicated, uninformed, world of the 50’s and 60’s. I admit that the 60’s were when things started to go crazy, but I’d still rather have that crazy than this one.  When my grandson was about 9 or 10, I was telling him about how wonderful it was growing up in my day. I finished and he looked me in the eyes and said, “Boy Grandma... I’m glad I wasn’t alive back then!”
, cracked me up


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## Murrmurr (Jan 13, 2021)

Kathleen’s Place said:


> Oh most definitely I wouldn’t want to be a teenager today.  I’m not even nuts about being an old person today . I liked the uncomplicated, uninformed, world of the 50’s and 60’s. I admit that the 60’s were when things started to go crazy, but I’d still rather have that crazy than this one.  When my grandson was about 9 or 10, I was telling him about how wonderful it was growing up in my day. I finished and he looked me in the eyes and said, “Boy Grandma... I’m glad I wasn’t alive back then!”
> , cracked me up


Several years ago I answered some questions my 6yr-old granddaughter asked about when I was a kid. The last question was "Was everything in black and white?" and naturally I figured she meant in film and TV. She didn't. She actually thought everything was colorless back then.


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## hollydolly (Jan 13, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> Several years ago I answered some questions my 6yr-old granddaughter asked about when I was a kid. The last question was "Was everything in black and white?" and naturally I figured she meant in film and TV. She didn't. She actually thought everything was colorless back then.


lol...yes I've had those type of questions too when mine was small.

One question DD asked me very seriously when she was around 6 was.. '' mummy, did they have electricity in the caves when you were a little girl ''...


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## Ruthanne (Jan 13, 2021)

Only if I could change all that happened in my teen years==they sucked bad, real bad!


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## Mr. Ed (Jan 13, 2021)

.....And do this all over again? No way.


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