If you were a teenager, what would you be doing now?

[Noonelikesasloppytrifle]

My 16 year old DD is currently sat in her room on her phone and my 14 year old DS is badgering to go on his console. Everyday is a battle to get them off technology. At their age, that wasn't an option for me. I would have generally been reading, watching a bit of TV, hanging out with friends maybe doing some crafty stuff. Technology seems to have robbed them of other (unstructured) interests.

If you were a teen, what would you have been doing on a lazy Saturday afternoon? I want to offer alternative suggestions!

When I was 16 I had a summer job. The rest of the time I read books and magazines, saw my friends, played games with my siblings, wandered round the shops, visited family, watched telly and was actually pretty bored.

My own 16 year-old sleeps a lot, eats me out of house and home, plays video games, goes to the gym, goes to group training for his sport, hangs with his friends, spends hours on his phone, watches films and binges TV series.

You need to ask what posters’ 16 year olds are doing now, not what they would have done years ago.

Depressingly, my 20-year-old is on his Xbox 😢 I think he’s forgotten how to read. He used to devour books.

If I was 16, on a Saturday in summer I would be working in my part time job at Tesco, probably with a hangover and on no sleep after going to the local night club the night before (where no ID was ever required). On any other day during the warm summer after GCSEs, I would be meeting up with friends most days and nights and wandering around town as well as hanging out on the beach with a loud ghetto blaster.

After finishing work at Tesco I would have gone out again with friends and participated in more drinking and perhaps more clubbing at a different nightclub. If I didn't have anything to do (rarely) I would have watched TV or lay in my room listening to records or cassettes mostly illegally copied from other people. If my parents weren't watching TV (unlikely) I might have chosen a VHS tape from the shelf and watched a film.

It was a great summer!

I had horses, so riding or mucking out probably, if not, mooching round the shops.

At 16...if I wasn't helping with the toddler/reception class at my hobby for extra pocket money, probably went shopping into town or the Trafford Centre in the morning with Mum or friends. In the evening, cinema and Frankie and Benny's with friends.

Might have spent an hour or two online in the afternoon.

Listening to music, practicing hobbies, trying out new makeup/hair ideas. Chatting with friends on phone/text/aim.

In summer hols, I started to go to the gym, would meet friends for picnics in the parks, helped in the family business for a couple of hours (unpaid, I just liked being around the staff and other family, and helping out), started cooking meals for my family coming in from work etc. Lots of reading. Trips to the library. "Customising" pretty much anything I could with hot glue and cheap swarovski crystals bought off Ebay and chopping up old clothes/reworking them.

Around this age, I'm pretty sure I'd started to look at uni options, summer schools etc too.

No one told me what to do though. I think it has to come from them. I also slept in till about 12 at any given opportunity.

Reading Jackie and Blue Jeans magazine with my best friend. Eating goodies.

Going roller skating at the roller rink. Although we tended to go in the mornings rather than the afternoons.

Going into town with my Mam to do some shopping.

Listening to Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 on the radio.

I think there is a disproportionate number of horse related activities compared to the norm of the general population.

At 16 I would have probably of been shagging my older boyfriend in his flat or hunt sabbing before going out and getting stupidly drunk in various unsuitable locations with little regard to my safety.

My teenagers however must take after their dad. One has just come back from the stables and is now watching dance mums whilst another has gone off hiking for the day.

I'd have been working on the checkouts of a supermarket, or in Boots where I got a job the following year.

Aged 16 I'd be working at my Saturday job in a local cafe 9-5 before heading home and phoning my best friend on the landline to arrange to go to a party. (1995)

TitusMoan
I think many teens certainly mine) have forgotten how to have time which isn't structured. DD will read. She does a lot of sport but all in designated time slots.

At 14 I would have been sleeping until the late morning, watching hours of TV particularly if something like the Olympics was on and then would have started to read a book about 9pm into the early hours of the morning.

If one of my friends' younger siblings needed to be taken out a park I would have accompanied them.

At 16 I had a Saturday job.

On a sunny Saturday as a teenager I would usually catch the bus into town with my friends, mooched round the shops, tried on make up, checked out boys, etc. Then ice skating into the afternoon/ evening.

It's different for this generation though. Being at home was boring so we had to go out. Teens now have phones, Netflix, games consoles, stuff to keep them occupied that we never had.

I'd be down the riding school - I practically lived there at weekends and all through the school holidays. There were several of us and we'd do all the chores, mucking out, grooming, cleaning tack etc etc etc in the hope of a free ride or two. I got to the stage where I was breaking in some of the young horses, and assisting the instructor in people's lessons, and very occasionally they let me loose to teach a class, which I loved.

If I wasn't there, I'd probably have my nose in a book.

Working. I had a Saturday job from 12.
On the odd day off, I used to go to Kensington or Camden markets with friends, hoping to catch sight of various rock stars😎. Or loll around at home reading.

I'd have been sitting watching Friends or The OC.

Or playing the ps2.

And probably out later trying to get someone to jump in for Ice Dragon and 10 Regal.

Actually this would have been around 14.

At 16 I would have been out with my older boyfriend for the day. A drive somewhere probably. Then Pizza Hut.

I'd have been on the bus into town.
My 14 yo old is currently at crazy golf with their GF (dropped off by her mum).
He's spending a lot less time on devices this summer than he did last summer, mostly due to the GF. Although he did go to the park with mates yesterday and had a sleepover a couple of nights ago.
My 10 yo is a different story. LOTS of device time. Seems to have forgotten how to entertain herself without it.

At 16 I had left school and had a full time job.
At weekends I either worked on the farm or rode my horse. I had surprisingly little down time as a child and I often wished for an hour or two to watch some TV or play video games!
It's a bit late now but people who seem to spend the least amount of time on screens have all consuming hobbies.....be warned though that hobbies cost a lot, both in terms of money and time.

I was a young farmer so either at an event stock judging or helping on a local farm. No technology in those day, fortunately.

I dread to think about some of my antics being filmed for posterity 😳

Saturday morning was school sports fixtures, Sunday afternoon was homework. But on a sat arvo/sun morning I would have been with my two best friends, but we would almost certainly have been either watching dawson's creek or playing a video game.

Even now, if they come round for dinner, we'll have a sneaky game on a console after the kids have gone to bed 🤣🤣

At 16? Drink and drugs in the Amsterdam squat I lived in or at raves. Trying to get a relatively early (drink and drug induced) night before my full time job in a warehouse. Getting raped (twice).

Look on the bright side, it could be worse than just screens!

It depends how young a teen. If a young teen, I'd probably be out somewhere as it is a nice day. A little older, I might be just getting up :-). In fairness, I was usually up by lunch time.

Working at my Sat job from 14. Then maybe hanging out or sleep over at friends or cinema or swimming.
I used to read a lot, watch tv, cook with my DM.
I agree the youth don't always have the same hobbies we had but my 2 DD's both have jobs 14 & 17 and will read and listeb to music as well as the phone scrolling.
They watch films and sometimes meet friends but not as often as I did.

Reading, hanging out in town, being dragooned in to some farm work by my dad, home work, out cycling, visiting relatives.

In the summer holidays - going to the beach, working festivals (my parents ran a fruit stall at various outdoor events and festivals), attending agricultural shows, helping with the harvest.

Frkm 16 onwards my Saturday and holiday job and then mainly going to the pub.

I'd usually I'd be doing LSD or MDMA with my friends or coming down from LSD or MDMA.