U.S. Teens Working Hard at Loafing Around
A While adolescents today work less and have more leisure time than previous generations, how do they invest these valuable hours? How are today’s adolescents spending their time? Well, they probably aren’t working.
B A recently published study suggests that not only are U.S. adolescents (aged 15-17) spending fewer hours per day in paid employment (and
getting paid less in real terms than their 1977 counterparts), they
also invest less time in schoolwork, housework or engaging in
organizational activities like clubs and youth groups. This research in
the journal Youth and Society seems to contradict the prevailing notion
that today’s teens are stressed and overloaded with schoolwork,
organized sports, hobbies, standardized test preparation and extracurricular activities in
an effort to compile a sterling résumé that will impress college
admissions offices. Adolescents, it seems, may have more free time than
previously thought.
C This
new data comes from a study by the University of Utah’s Cathleen D.
Zick, who compared time diaries and time-use surveys from 1977-1978 and
2003-2005 to examine, in six broad categories, where adolescents invest
their time. These categories include personal care, housework, paid
work, schoolwork, organizational activities and leisure. Her findings
suggests that, although the median income
of two-parent, two-child families has “substantially” fallen from
1977-1978, and while teens’ average real wage is approximately $2 per
hour lower, leisure time for today’s youth has risen considerably while
paid work time has tailed off.
D While
the decline in paid work time is likely welcomed by adolescents, if
that extra time is spent only in leisure activities — especially
“passive” leisure activities like watching TV or movies, socializing or
talking on the phone — it simply becomes a waste of time. Although the
study doesn’t draw conclusions, it doesn’t seem too far a stretch to
link the rise of adolescent leisure time with the growing epidemic of teen obesity.
E Zick’s
research notes that while leisure time for adolescents increased
compared to their counterparts in 1977, time spent on housework,
schoolwork and attending organizational activities decreased. In
2003-2005 boys, on average, spent more than an hour less each day in
paid work and 15 minutes less on housework and schoolwork — while
leisure time increased by more than an hour and a half. Two-thirds of
this leisure time is spent engaging in passive activities (which — the
Wii aside — doesn’t include physical activities such as sports).
Adjusted to (1)
median – střední hodnota
tail off – snížit, zmenšit
1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.
1 Teenagers are passive and obese
2 Leisure time increased, activities and work decreased
3 Zick’s study
4 US teenagers today don’t work much
5 Adolescents have more free time than supposed
2) Read the article and answer the questions.
1 What is the main difference between US generations of 1977-1978 and 2003-2005?
2 How does younger generation spend their free time?
3 How did the older generation spend their free time?
4 What does the article say about obesity and adolescents? What is the reason for that?
5 How much time does younger generation spend on active and passive activities?
3) Explain the following words and phrases.
1 previous generations
2 paid employment
3 extracurricular activities
4 teen obesity
5 attending organizational activities decreased
4) Answer the following questions.
What
are benefits of adolescent employment? What are risks of adolescent
employment? Why is adolescent work important? What are typical examples
of adolescent jobs? How do teenagers spend their free time? Why it is
necessary to spend leisure time actively?
Video:
Tips, sources of information:
Source:
(1)
HAYDEN, Erik. U.S. Teens Working Hard at Loafing Around. Pacific Standard [online].
2009 [cit. 2015-09-20]. Available at:
http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/u-s-teens-working-hard-at-loafing-around-3424
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