Youth Issues: YWK1220 | Workbook

Youth Issues: YWK1220
YWK1220 Workbook
Welcome to your workbook for YWK1220. It is important you keep up with your readings and
lectures each week.
The purpose of your workbook is to:
1. Assist in your understanding of the unit materials
2. Practice exam questions.
3. Analyse myths about young people and how they are perpetuated
4. Demonstrate critical thinking approaches to youth issues
5. Encourage you to reflect on the readings and your learning from the unit
It is important you do not lose your workbook. Keep a copy of your workbook at all
times and make sure you also keep an electronic backup (cloud or on a USB drive).
TIP: In an emergency, send your workbook as an email attachment to yourself, and
leave the email on the server, or send it to a family member to download on to their
computer.
Name:
Topic:
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Activity 1: Initial Reflection
(400 words, no referencing required)
a. What are your initial thoughts and opinions about your assigned topic?
(Complete in week 1)
My initial thoughts and opinions about my assigned topic was that binge drinking is an issue
amongst teenagers in society. I had always thought and had been of the opinion that abusive
drinking is a social evil. I had also been of the opinion that binge drinking should be
considered a significant threat to social, physical and emotional wellbeing of individuals.
Therefore I had associated binge drinking in teenagers as not only illegal, but also immoral.
b. Describe your current level of knowledge about your assigned topic. (Complete
in week 1)
My current level of knowledge about the assigned topic has mostly been from the news media
and articles about binge drinking among the young people. I have known about the effects
that binge drinking can have on an individual in terms of health, especially the damage it can
cause to the liver and kidneys. Besides that, there have also been several reports on how
people commit crimes as well as run into accidents in an intoxicated state. My knowledge
about binge drinking has therefore been mostly about the issues that binge drinking causes to
the society as well as the young people.
c. Reflect on your learning from the unit (Complete once you have finished ALL
workbook activities)
Upon completing this topic and learning from the unit, as well as completing the youth issues
workbook, I have understood that the issue of binge drinking in young people is not a one
sided factor but there are several associated factors like cultural influences, economic
pressure, mental health and depression as well as intentional behaviour that contributes to
the development of a detrimental habit. I have also learned that there are several
complications associated with youth in Australia when it comes to leading a normal life. Most
youth in Australia suffer from some kind of issue that hampers their wellbeing. I have
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therefore decided that I will gather better and more in depth understanding of the problem as
well as address them more carefully in my future endeavours.
Activity 2: Theory and Concepts
(3 – 5 sentences each, reference where necessary)
Explain the following terms, discussing how they link to the unit materials.
Zinberg Model: Explores how one’s personal experiences of drug use along with the
environment, dictates how the cultures and social expectations contribute to Zinbergs
model of drug use amongst youth, along with the individual factors of what effects the
drugs will have on the person. Through an understanding of the motivation, experience,
setting and personality structures provides consideration of the drug use experience
(Zinberg, 1975).
Deviancy Amplification: The concept described by Leslie Wilkins (1964) mirrors
“Moral Panic” but is different. The media plays a significant part in shaping fears in
society, it places an emphasis of society’s perception of crime, in particular youth and
can be selective in directing its focus on particular articles. Amplifying deviant
behaviour results in targeting a particular group.
Individualisation: Is a symbol of freedom, endorsing choices and freedom in today’s
modern society amongst our youth. Individualisation in today’s youth indicates new
opportunities but also concerns which place pressure on youth performing and
choosing their identity. Resulting in the capability of having both negative and positive
impacts on the wellbeing of youth in societies (Eckersley, Wierenga & Wynn, 2006)
Misrepresentation: Mainly the basis of the media has misrepresented youth and
young people resulting with distorted images and views of youth. The media portray
youths as delinquent and risk takers which contribute to people’s perception of youth.
Furthermore, these distorted images are viewed as youth being a threat to society and
its social order along with social behaviour resulting in crime. However, research
indicates the opposite and does not support the misrepresentation viewed by the
media.
Boomerang Generation: Parker (2012) defines boomerang generation as young
adults who have transitioned out of home, in particular young adults who have
graduated from college or school and returned back home to share with their parents
or multi-generational households. Majority of the research states that young adults are
feeling good about living with their parents and claim they are satisfied sharing the
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finances. Thus, promoting benefits for both young people and their parents financially
due to economic conditions.
Homelessness: The cultural definition of homelessness has three identified categories
of homelessness “primary”, “secondary” and “tertiary”. These categories are based on
the standard of minimum accommodation in Australia. Primary youth homelessness is
described as living on the streets, utilising cars or structures for temporary shelter.
Secondary youth homeless identifies as moving from one temporary place to another,
such as couch surfing or emergency accommodation. Tertiary youth homelessness
identifies youth may be housed medium to long term in accommodation such as
boarding housing (Chamberlain & MacKenzie, 2006).
Social Construction: A sociological theory which challenges the perception of the
meanings placed on objects by society as true and natural. Social Construction argues
that just because there is meaning attached to an object, there is no truth behind its
meaning. It is more of a process where people have given meaning through their
language, resulting in reality of their subjective world (Berger & Luckman, 1996).
Teenager: The age from 13 to 19 is termed as the teen years and the people in this
category are called teenagers. Teenagers are mostly also associated with adolescents
given that the periods coincide. Teenagers are in the age group where the maximum
physical and mental growth happens as well as social and cultural competencies
develop.
Functionalism: Through the sociological lens Functionalism forms parts of society. All
of these parts needs to function together. Some parts may seem more important than
others. However, every piece of society requires a function to function. Functionalism
theory generally do not want to change things in society, the theory exists and prefers
to keep aligned with the social norms that fit the functions.
Adolescence: Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood
where the maximum physical and mental growth occurs. It usually lies in the teenage
years but the manifestations of physical and mental changes may occur earlier or later
depending upon several personal and environmental factors (Erikson, 2006). It is also
the period where maximum deviation occurs in terms of either positive or negative
behavioural traits.
Activity 3: Media Analysis
(1000 words maximum for part B, reference where appropriate)
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a. Choose a current ‘youth issue’ (separate from the one you were assigned for
your panel discussion) prevalent in mainstream media currently. Collect examples of
media stories/reports (10 maximum) from multiple media sources. List the links,
photo’s, or scanned copies of your stories and reports below. You may use ‘social
media’ but only for 2 examples:
One of the key issues in the Australian youth community in the current context is the
overindulgence in social media and online gaming (Petry & O’Brien, 2013). There are
several reports that state that the gaming community in the country as well as on a global
scale, is growing in size at a rapid rate. In fact, it is the global appeal of the vast library of
online multiplayer games that attracts most youth into trying their hands at video games.
Furthermore, the emergence of live – casting as a potential alternative for social media
communication and popularity acts as a fuel for the process driving the youth of the nation
into gaming. Live – casting refers to live streaming oneself doing a variety of activities.
Social media sites like Twitch, is one of the most popular platforms for broadcasting
oneself and the twitch community for e – sports and gaming has a user base of millions.
The Australian Government e- safety Commissioner reports that in the past 3 – 4 years, a
large number of people from the younger generation, have taken up online multiplayer
gaming as a pastime hobby ("Youth and online gaming | eSafety Commissioner", n.d.).
However, it has resulted in a series of intrapersonal and interpersonal issues which can be
said to affect the youth in significant ways (King & Delfabbro, 2014). The report highlights,
given the nature of online multiplayer gaming, approximately 50% of the users, who fall in
the youth category, have played games or matched with people they do not know in real
life, thereby causing significant potential breach of anonymity. Besides, most online
multiplayer games com with embedded micro – transactions which offer lucrative deals to
the users that often become irresistible when global scale competition is involved as an
aspect. Resultantly, approximately 30 - 35 % of the users have made in – game purchases
of thousands of dollars ("Youth and online gaming | eSafety Commissioner", n.d.; Faust &
Faust, 2015). Keeping in mind that these expenses have zero real life implications and
values and only works towards providing the user with in – game benefits in terms of
visual appeal and performance perks, spending thousands of dollars on game purchases
result in weakening personal financial security.
Social media addiction had been identified as an issue some years ago, however, it has not
gone down in terms of popularity or addiction. There are several reports that suggest that
younger community of people are the ones severely affected by social media addiction
(Cabral, 2008). The constant desire to be popular in a virtual world prompts them to share
pictures and content online daily, in order to increase the follower or friends count. This
has been identified, not only as a cause for concern for the families, but also for the overall
society and relevant authorities for Australian Youth. There is also a strong correlation
between gaming addiction and overuse of social media as most people, who view gaming
as a form of content creation, attempt to use social media for publicity and promotions.
Media Sources:
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1. https://theconversation.com/how-to-know-if-your-child-is-addicted-to-video-games-and-
what-to-do-about-it-118038
This article explores gaming disorder as a real life issue in the younger generation and states
the worrisome effects that can occur physically, mentally as well as socially if they continue
playing video games for longer hours. The key point of this article is to educate and inform
the parents about the potential of their children developing addictive gaming habits. The
article refers to research done by the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health
Organisation (more specifically their publication of the International Classification of Diseases
and Related health problems) in order to provide [referential support to their claims. In terms
of claims, the article suggests that gaming as a habit can be detrimental for the children and
the younger generation, physically, mentally as well as cognitively. Thus, it serves as a help
guide for the parents and informs them about different identification symptoms they can
observe, as follows:
To be diagnosed, a person will demonstrate all three of the following symptoms for at least 12
months:
 losing control over gaming
 prioritising gaming to the extent that it takes precedence over other activities and
interests
 Continuing to game despite negative effects on work, school, family life, health,
hygiene, relationships, finances or social relationships.
It also offers possible solutions and treatment for gaming related disorders. The treatment
that the article suggested include primarily identifying the situation and the context of the
gamer and secondly through therapeutic interventions like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
Overall, the article shows aspects of moral panic indicating that this could potentially hamper
the moral wellbeing of the society.
2. https://blogs.unsw.edu.au/thedigitalage/blog/2017/12/how-social-media-changed-
australian-youth-culture/
This blog post looks at how the Australian youth, concerned with their social media popularity,
has been overly dependent on social media, specifically highlighting facets like how the users
would not be able to survive for more than an hour without checking their social media status.
It also looks at the large scale impacts that social media has had on the Australian youth and
although there are certain benefits that has come associated with social media, the harm that
it is dealing to the youth are far more than the benefits.
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