I found this while having a poke around on Interconnected today. I read the original Giuardian review and two pieces resonated, one was the same as his.
To enable this, there is a surge of grey matter aptly called an “exuberance”. This overload of capacity and possibility is why teenagers can read a Russian novel a day, hack into military software, steal a car or want to save the world. It also causes a heightening of experience and emotion for which they are not fully equipped - like a rollercoaster setting off before every nut and bolt is in place.
The other still seems to affect me and seems to be my natural order since before I was a teenager to now. Takes me back to when my days precessed. I used to find my natural cycle was to stay awake for 18-20 hours and sleep for about 9. The 8/16 cycle just seems to leave me permanently tired.
There are chemical explanations for why they stay up all night, get drunk, trash your home and drive too fast. A lag in their melatonin cycle prompts them to go to bed at two and sleep until 12. High dopamine levels make them crave sensation and risk. This helps and yet it doesn’t, as we still need to get them up for school and to keep them more or less safe.
September 22nd, 2003 at 7:15 pm
If this is what you belive then I am sorry to disappoint you. The way you speak of teenagers you make them seen carless, ignorant, and anything negative. But that is not so. If you really want to know what a teenagers brain is really like then read this comment. The action brain- No concious thought
The emotional Brain- no concious that
The thinking Brain- concious thought, while those over 21 years of age think with the thinking brain. Teenagers under the age of 21 are still thinking with their emotional Brain which there for has no concious what so ever. A teenagers brain is not developed thinking wise and that is what causes them to think and act the way they do. The belifes you hold about teenagers have a powerful impact on the quality of your communication with them.