
The Terrible Teens - aaronbrethorst
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/31/the-terrible-teens
======
superuser2
We know that, in general, older frontal lobes are better developed. But if you
take that where this author wants it to go - that we should remove most
choices from teens' lives until their brains are fully developed - _would_
their brains ever develop?

That is, do we think brain development is a function of time, or a function of
experience?

If it's simply a function of time, then perhaps keeping those under 25 in a
padded cell will make the world a better place. But I have a suspicion it's
not - that teens who are parented according to this advice will have _worse_
judgement down the road than those who are allowed to make mistakes.

Incidentally, I'd argue that the dangers of teens and alcohol are ~90% related
to driving. The rhetoric around suburbia at its inception was "a safe place to
raise your kids" but it is in fact car-dependent culture that makes alcohol so
dangerous for teens. City kids can stumble home on public transit; teenagers
in "Real America" have a choice between driving drunk or not coming home that
night. The more your parents favor the padded cell approach, the more you fear
not coming home, the more likely you are to drive drunk.

Perverse incentives and the law of unintended consequences are as alive in
parenting as they are in policymaking.

------
saint_fiasco
>Sixteen-year-olds are dangerous drivers. Their rate of fatal crashes per mile
is three times as high as the rate for drivers age twenty and over, and nearly
twice as high as the rate for drivers eighteen and nineteen.

The article suggests not letting teenagers drive. If this were to be done,
would accidents as a whole be reduced, or would the accidents just move up an
age cohort? If it's inexperienced drivers in general that are dangerous, then
not letting teenagers drive won't help.

>He found that teens took more risks when their friends were around

Steinberg attributes this to peer pressure and teenagers calling each other
chicken. Yet I wonder if this isn't just a special case of the bystander
effect. When there are many teenagers together, everyone expects somebody else
will be the voice of reason and caution. If none of my friends complain when I
steer my car with my feet, it can't be that dangerous. Surely someone would
stop me if it was actually a stupid idea...

If that were true, supervising teenagers all the time might actually make them
more reckless, not less.

I think it's very risky to just take your prejudices at face value and looking
for scientific evidence afterwards.

------
shenanigoat
Their paywall is sooooo close to getting me. I enjoy their articles and blow
through my allotment rather quickly. I would like to see a micropayment
service that works on a per article basis.

~~~
domdip
How about opening an incognito window? (No charge.)

~~~
rezistik
I think his point is that he values to articles and so he wishes he could pay
for them as he consumes them.

I kind of wish they let you pay for them after reading. Almost like tipping.

