What Teenagers Value: Background information when reading The Last Boy and Girl in the World

What Teenagers Value

This article relates to The Last Boy and Girl in the World

Siobhan Vivian's YA novel, The Last Boy and Girl in the World, tells the story of Keeley Hewitt, who is a normal teenager except for one thing: her world is falling apart. Torrential rains are causing trees to crash and houses to crumble, and adults in the community are doing everything they can to protect the place that they call home. Keeley doesn't have time to worry about all of that, though; she has dresses to buy, dances to plan for, and boys to impress. She's consumed with social media, as she constantly takes photos of herself, sends texts, and posts videos. It's not until Keely is directly faced with danger that she begins to question her priorities.

Keeley, for the first half of Vivian's novel, comes off as naive and selfish. But Vivian gives her protagonist an authentic voice. Keeley is like many other people her age. She doesn't understand that danger is imminent because she's never faced any kind of real challenge before. Additionally, she doesn't see that she is ignoring her community because she's never really been asked to be part of it. Her selfishness is not entirely her own fault. Society is partly to be blamed. After all, it's those people and things around her that have influenced her behavior.

Current research that analyzes what teens value the most in their young and evolving eyes proves that teenagers like Keeley aren't unusual. In fact, they are the majority.

Materialism
Research indicates that the majority of teens want things – physical, tangible objects – more than ever. According to an article by Catherine Pearson in Huffington Post, materialism among teenagers is at "historically high levels." Teenagers want possessions, and they also want money; however, they are not interested in exerting themselves to get these things. Pearson blames this increase in materialism on three causes: "societal instability," "disconnection," and "advertising." She does acknowledge that these societal factors are mostly out of parents' control; however, she advises that an open discussion about "costs of items in their lives" could help teenagers understand how they can realistically expect to buy items based on their future salaries.

Fame
According to Pew Research Center, "81% of online teens use some kind of social media." Many teenagers use social media to casually keep up with their favorite celebrities. An increasing number of teenagers, though, are taking this interest to a heightened level. This growing group of young people seeks to emulate their favorite celebrities so that they can achieve the same level of fame. In fact, in a recent USA Today survey, one-third of teenage respondents said "being famous was either somewhat important, important, or very important." Parents are encouraging this rising trend, often, without even knowing it. Posting photos and videos of a child's successes encourage a teen's quest for fame.

Technology
The focus on technology is hardly surprising to anyone who's lived even for a day in the current century. Smart phones and laptops are everywhere, and eyes are certainly glued to those pixelated screens. In a 2014 article for The New York Times, Elizabeth A. Harris and Rachel Abrams discovered that having the latest technological upgrade at the beginning of the new school year is even more important than having new clothes. When asked about the rising interest in technology, one teenage respondent said, "It's definitely more exciting for a lot of teenagers to have a new phone that can do lots of cool stuff than clothing." This teen continued in her explanation, saying, "A phone keeps you much more entertained. It's a better distraction than clothing." The interest in technology is so strong that it's becoming a dependency. In the same article, another teenager admitted her addiction to her phone and its apps. Technology is how teenagers stay current, and, more important, it's how they stay connected.

Materialism, fame, and technology seem to be on the increase in contemporary society. For Keeley Hewitt, in Siobhan Vivian's The Last Boy and Girl in the World, it takes a direct disaster to cause her to check her priorities. Hopefully, it won't take that much for other teens to evaluate the things that they hold so dear.

Filed under Society and Politics

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Last Boy and Girl in the World. It originally ran in May 2016 and has been updated for the February 2017 paperback edition. Go to magazine.