The entirety of this blog is based on the foundation set by Nancy Lesko’s concepts of “panoptical time” in which “adolescence is understood as a chunk of time that could be displayed and manipulated in various contexts”(107). This idea places youth on a spectrum in which they are to meet certain expectations of progression. And when those expectations are not met, adolescents are stigmatized as either being too far behind (atavistic) or too far ahead (precocious) on the progression/maturity spectrum. Panoptical time also “demands a moratorium of responsibility yet expects them at the same time to act as if each moment of the present is consequential”(107). Adolescents are assumed as not being ready or not being capable of making logical choices or decisions of their own, because they are at an age where they are “confused about their identities”(130). Adults are those who are sure of themselves and have gone through the “slow and steady” process that is maturity. However, adolescents are still told to be cautious of actions that can negatively affect their future (such as dropping out of school of getting pregnant). Due to all these factors, adults or authority figures are instead appointed to monitor teens and also make decisions for them. This situation leads to adolescents who are “always waiting”’ for a point in their future when they will finally gain control of their own lives.
5:01 am • 10 May 2012
Why Tumblr?
The reason I have created this blog is to show how adolescents choose to represent themselves. Adolescents are literally my sources for this blog, everything you see was derived from teen blogs themselves. Images and posts that are shown here are directly linked to an individual. I thought that this was the most effective way to get an accurate portrayal of what it means to be an adolescent under the constrains of ‘panoptical time’.
5:01 am • 10 May 2012
What do you do when you have no control?
Based on my own study of teen blogs, thanks to this site, I am able to say that I have noticed a trend in responses to the lack of control that “panoptical time” creates in adolescent lives. The most common themes I saw were apathy or risky behavior.
I equate these behaviors with the lack of control, because they operate outside of the expectations that adults/authority have of healthy/model teens. A model teen would be one who does what is expected of them, participates in the community, engages in school, and abstains from behavior that is not indicative of their age (adult activities). Although, when teens refuse to meet these standards, they are attempting to take control over their lives by taking it away from authority. Apathy is the lack of interest in the activities that adolescents are expected to engage in, such as going to school. And risky behavior is precisely doing what is forbidden, in order to be adult-like.
5:01 am • 10 May 2012
Apathy
It is hard to be invested in a life that isn’t yours to decide. Authority always telling you what to do is not something that would motivate someone to care. So why care at all? It is easier to shut off from the world, then to attempt to overcome the forces that are inevitable: school, parents, teachers. Based on the idea of “panoptical time” the important part of one’s life doesn’t even occur until adulthood. When an individual has reached maturity and can be their own person. Teens have grown tired of waiting. Their current life seems void of meaning because life is happening to them, but they are not able to be active participants.
5:01 am • 10 May 2012
Risky behavior
Engaging in risky behavior is a way that adolescents liberate themselves from the constraints of authority usually through activities that would be considered adult-like. According to Silvia Bonino, Elena Cattelino, and Silvia Ciairano’s Adolescents and Risk: Behaviors, Functions, and Protective Factors because “the functions of various types of risk behavior in adolescence are closely associated… to the construction of an autonomous adult identity”(23). Teens are able to show that they are indeed worthy of making their own decisions by demonstrating their ability to be adult like, engaging in sex, alcohol consumption and late night events.
They also exhibit these behaviors in order to act as the decision maker and to be able to experience life now and not later. According to Cynthia Lightfoot’s The Culture of Adolescent Risk-Taking, “In contrast to the passing and passive flow of ‘mere experience’ taking a risk is to seek or to have ‘an experience’. Risks are…oriented toward some…wished-for future. [Risk taking]… permits a sense of movement through time”(2). Adolescents who engage in risk taking are doing so because they don’t want to wait any longer for meaningful experiences that are said to occur during adulthood. Time is no longer a period in which they stand idle, while their present lives are determined by authority.
Due to the manner in which ‘panoptical time’ causes teens to be forever anticipating, adolescents steer themselves towards activities that have the quickest rewards of pleasure or pain. There is not much waiting in feeling the effects of drugs and alcohol, or sex and adrenaline rushes. These feelings are rooted in the present and not in the future.
4:58 am • 10 May 2012
