What if the strange prudishness and over-the-top political correctness that we see in teenagers these days is actually an evolutionary survival strategy desgined to protect them in an era of ubiquitous video cameras, social media and a ruthless Cancel Culture?
I’ve posed this concept to a few people whose opinions on childhood development I respect, and many of them have argued that teenagers don’t have the emotional maturity to make these kinds of higher-order self-preservation decisions. My counter-argument is that within complex social structures, especially in High School, teenagers are quite willing and able to adopt and obey extremely rigid rules of social behavior, and we have 40 years of High School movies to prove it… from THE KARATE KID to THE BREAKFAST CLUB to CLUELESS to MEAN GIRLS to MOXIE.
Take a look at this scene from THE BREAKFAST CLUB where Claire (Molly Ringwald) explains not only how the rules work, but how they are enforced:
And that was in the 80’s. Imagine how much worse it must be now, where Social Media guarantees that harrassment and social stigmas can not only follow you home… but to another school, and even to another state.
There are always kids who rebel against these social structures, of course. But when you’re living in a closed society where breaking the rules can literally destroy your life and end your dreams, a reality that has not been broadly true for any previous generation of teens, it tends to clarify your decision making in a way that few other things could.
Even a flatworm knows enough to turn away from pain.