Communication Among Upper Middle Class Suburban Teenagers

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Communication among upper middle class suburban teenagers. What could possibly go wrong? If you answered just about everything, you are correct. Teenagers happen to be one of the worst groups at communicating interpersonally. From verbal fights to internet fights to cat fights to fist fights, teenagers are in a league of their own. There are various factors that contribute to teenagers being ineffective communicators.
A good amount of teenagers feel the pressure to conform to certain social expectations or stereotypes. For teenage guys, it’s a matter of who is the most masculine, who sleeps with the most amount of girls, or who is on whichever sports team. Guys have to constantly strive to be a masculine as possible, fearing to be associated with “acting gay” or being “a girl.” For teenage girls, it’s order …show more content…

This is evident when Mr. Duvall announces that there is a new student that moved from Africa and some students look at a dark-skinned black girl with a short afro sitting among them. The girl corrects them, saying she is from Michigan, creating an awkward atmosphere. After that exchange, the students seemed disinterested with Cady. The issue in this scene is the perpetuation of stereotypes. There is a stereotype that all people from Africa are dark skinned with thick afros. Nobody takes into consideration that there are other races in Africa. Stereotypes can create a great riff in interpersonal communication. As discussed in class, stereotypes can hinder the effectiveness of interpersonal communication. If we look at or treat people according to their stereotypes, we are boxing the person. We are saying that the person is no bigger or better than the stereotypes that were given to them. The black girl and Cady probably felt embarrassed and uncomfortable after that failed

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