Parents reading The New York Times Magazine on January 7, 1945, were in for a bit of a shock. After several articles about World War II, then entering its final stages, and one on the decline of breakfast as an American institution, they encountered on page 16 a document that sounded like a revolutionary call to arms: “A Teen-Age Bill of Rights.” Compiled from young people by the Jewish Board of Guardians, a social service agency, the proclamation enumerated 10 demands, including: “The right to make mistakes,” “The right to have rules explained, not imposed,” and “The right to have fun and companions.” It was addressed to the youngsters’ “bewildered” mothers and fathers, who, the accompanying article noted, had recently seesawed between wondering “‘What is wrong with our children?’ and ‘What is wrong with us?’”

The idea of a distinct period between childhood and adulthood was a relatively new one, and the term teenager even newer. The word really only emerged a year or so earlier, as advertising executives became focused on targeting the 13-to-19-year-old market and publishers launched new magazines, including Seventeen, to help reach them.

Parents reading The New York Times Magazine on January 7, 1945, were in for a bit of a shock. There were several articles about World War II, then entering its final stages. There was an article about the decline of breakfast as an American institution. Then on page 16 was “A Teen-Age Bill of Rights.”  The document sounded like a revolutionary call to arms. It was put together by a social service agency called the Jewish Board of Guardians. The proclamation detailed 10 demands. It  included: “The right to make mistakes,” “The right to have rules explained, not imposed,” and “The right to have fun and companions.” It was addressed to teens’ “bewildered” mothers and fathers. The accompanying article noted that parents had recently seesawed between wondering “‘What is wrong with our children?’ and ‘What is wrong with us?’”

The idea of a distinct period between childhood and adulthood was a relatively new one. But the term teenager was even newer. The word emerged a year or so earlier. It was used by advertising executives who became focused on targeting the 13-to-19-year-old market. Publishers started new magazines, including Seventeen, to help reach them.

In the aftermath of World War II (1939-45), the U.S. experienced an economic boom that empowered the members of this newly defined age bracket as a consumer, cultural, and political force. Gone were the days when children in their teenage years were content to simply obey authority and “do as you’re told.” The U.S.-led victory in the war helped America’s emboldened youth culture spread around the world.

“Teenagers are really a product of the 20th century,” says Paula Fass, a historian and the author of The End of American Childhood. “We didn’t have a serious conception of teenagers before that.”

But in recent years, many of the traditional milestones of teen life in the U.S. have dramatically changed, driven by the rise of smartphones and social media and upheavals from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here’s a look at the evolution of the American teen.

After World War II (1939-45), the U.S. experienced an economic boom that empowered the members of this newly defined age bracket. Teenagers were now seen as a consumer, cultural, and political force. Gone were the days when teenage children were happy to simply obey authority and “do as you’re told.” The U.S.-led victory in the war helped America’s emboldened youth culture spread around the world.

“Teenagers are really a product of the 20th century,” says Paula Fass, a historian and the author of The End of American Childhood. “We didn’t have a serious conception of teenagers before that.”

But in recent years, many of the traditional milestones of teen life in the U.S. have dramatically changed. The rise of smartphones and social media and upheavals from the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in major changes
in teen life.

Here’s a look at the evolution of the American teen.

In the early days of America, teenage life wasn’t too different from adulthood. In 1775, about half of the 2.5 million people living in the 13 Colonies were 16 or younger. Only teens (and mainly boys) born to wealthy families received formal education. Otherwise, from as young as age 5 they helped run their family farm or household, and from age 12 apprenticed in a trade or worked in someone else’s home. By 14, they were typically considered adults. When Americans rebelled against the British, teens were called to fight in large numbers.

The same lack of distinction between adults and teenagers still prevailed nearly a hundred years later during the Civil War, with teens fighting on both sides of the conflict. Historians estimate that up to 20 percent of both Union and Confederate forces were under 18.

As the nation industrialized in the decades following the war, teenagers were sent to work in factories to earn money for their families. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, many Black teens were still shut out of service or industrial jobs, and worked as sharecroppers on many of the same plantations where they had previously been enslaved.

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that people began to think about the period between childhood and adulthood as its own distinct life stage. In 1904, psychologist G. Stanley Hall was the first to define adolescence as a separate period, characterized by “storm and stress.”

A confluence of social and economic changes in the U.S. soon helped popularize an institution that would define the American teenager: high school. As immigrants, predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe, entered the country in great numbers, educators and policymakers viewed high schools as tools for assimilation, Fass says, and immigrant families began to see the schools as important for economic advancement. During the 1920s, the middle class was also expanding, and parents became more likely to keep teens in school instead of relying on them to work and contribute financially.

Then, in 1929, the stock market crashed, the Great Depression hit, and unemployment skyrocketed, which made high school even more important.

“By the ’30s,” Fass says, “because there are no jobs, kids stay in school.”

In the early days of America, teenage life wasn’t too different from adulthood. In 1775, about half of the 2.5 million people living in the 13 Colonies were 16 or younger. Only teens (and mainly boys) born to wealthy families received formal education. Otherwise, from as young as age 5 they helped run their family farm or household. At the age of 12, they were apprenticed in a trade or worked in someone else’s home. By 14, they were typically considered adults. When the Revolutionary War between the Americans and the British started, teens were called to fight in large numbers.

The same lack of distinction between adults and teenagers was still true nearly a hundred years later during the Civil War. Teens fought on both sides of the conflict. Historians estimate that up to 20 percent of both Union and Confederate forces were under 18.

The nation became more industrialized in the years after the war. Teenagers were now sent to work in factories to earn money for their families. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. However, many Black teens were still shut out of service or industrial jobs. They worked as sharecroppers on many of the same plantations where they had previously been enslaved.

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that people began to think about the period between childhood and adulthood as its own separate life stage. In 1904, psychologist G. Stanley Hall was the first to define adolescence as a separate period, characterized by “storm and stress.”

A confluence of social and economic changes in the U.S. soon helped popularize high school. It was a place that would define the American teenager. Immigrants, predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe, entered the country in great numbers at the beginning of the 20th century.  Educators and policymakers saw high schools as tools for assimilation, Fass says, and immigrant families began to see the schools as important for economic advancement. During the 1920s, the middle class was also expanding. Parents became more likely to keep teens in school instead of relying on them to work and contribute financially.

Then, in 1929, the stock market crashed. The Great Depression hit and unemployment skyrocketed, which made high school even more important.

“By the ’30s,” Fass says, “because there are no jobs, kids stay in school.”

By 1940, 73 percent of American youth were enrolled in high schools, compared with less than 10 percent in 1900. A culture of teenage consumption and entertainment was also expanding. Spaces like dance halls, soda fountains, amusement parks, and movie theaters offered teens places where they could spend time away from adults and develop their own sensibilities and points of view.

“Teenagers have the opportunity to hang out and form peer groups,” says Gary Cross, a historian at Pennsylvania State University. “They’re no longer surrounded by adults all the time.”

In the 1950s, the invention of the portable transistor radio allowed teens to play their own music in their bedrooms, where they could crank up songs by rock ’n’ roll provocateur Elvis, or artists they saw on the hit TV show American Bandstand. The nation’s growing wealth meant that working kids didn’t have to give their money to their parents, creating a new class of young consumers. A surplus of cheap cars and kids with money to spend meant that getting a driver’s license and a car became a rite of passage for many American teens, along with car-focused entertainment like drive-in movie theaters.

By 1940, 73 percent of American youth were enrolled in high schools, compared with less than 10 percent in 1900. A culture of teenage consumption and entertainment was growing. Spaces like dance halls, soda fountains, amusement parks, and movie theaters offered teens places where they could spend time away from adults and develop their own feelings and views.

“Teenagers have the opportunity to hang out and form peer groups,” says Gary Cross, a historian at Pennsylvania State University. “They’re no longer surrounded by adults all the time.”

In the 1950s, the invention of the portable transistor radio allowed teens to play their own music in their bedrooms. They could turn up songs by rock ’n’ roll provocateur Elvis or artists they saw on the hit TV show American Bandstand. The nation’s growing wealth meant that working kids didn’t have to give their money to their parents. This created a new class of young consumers. A surplus of cheap cars and kids with money to spend meant that getting a driver’s license and a car became a rite of passage for many American teens. Car-focused entertainment like drive-in movie theaters thrived.

“There’s a coming together of a whole series of entertainment formats . . . that are all about giving young people autonomy,” Cross says. “They get cars, they get their own music, they get their own movies.”

While the prevalence of high schools helped mold teenagers into a particular consumer market with specific tastes, the schools also provided a space for students to exchange ideas and join together in protest.

“Young people are . . . looking to each other for how to think and approach issues,” says Rebecca de Schweinitz, a historian who studies youth activism. “They have communities like clubs and sports teams that allow them to organize and influence each other.”

“There’s a coming together of a whole series of entertainment formats . . . that are all about giving young people autonomy,” Cross says. “They get cars, they get their own music, they get their own movies.”

High schools helped mold teenagers into a separate consumer market with specific tastes. The schools also provided a space for students to exchange ideas and join together in protest.

“Young people are . . . looking to each other for how to think and approach issues,” says Rebecca de Schweinitz, a historian who studies youth activism. “They have communities like clubs and sports teams that allow them to organize and influence each other.”

In the 1950s and ’60s, it was teenagers, especially Black teens, who helped push the civil rights movement toward direct action tactics like walkouts, sit-ins, and marches, says de Schweinitz. For instance, in 1951, 16-year-old Barbara Johns was so fed up with the poor conditions at her segregated Virginia public school that she organized a student walkout. Her protest helped lead to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In 1960, four Black college freshmen started a national sit-in movement when they sat at a Whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. And in 1963, civil rights leaders recruited more than 1,000 students in Birmingham, Alabama, to take to the streets to protest segregation in the city. Over the course of two days, hundreds were arrested, and others were sprayed by fire hoses or bitten by police dogs. The news coverage of the protest shocked the nation and helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation nationwide.

“Teenagers and young people were the first to participate in these protests because the adults were afraid for their jobs or of possible arrests,” says V.P. Franklin, author of The Young Crusaders. “Then you’d have the mobilization of the entire community.”

In the late 1960s, the U.S. sent more than 2 million young men, many of them just out of high school, to fight in the Vietnam War (1954-75). Youth-led protests against the war swept college campuses and many high schools. These protests helped spur discussions about lowering the national voting age from 21 to 18, the age at which men could be drafted. “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote,” became a common rallying cry. The protests on college campuses received a lot of media coverage, which helped them spread to schools across the nation.

In the 1950s and ’60s, it was teenagers, especially Black teens, who helped push the civil rights movement forward. They started direct action tactics like walkouts, sit-ins, and marches, says de Schweinitz. For instance, in 1951, 16-year-old Barbara Johns was fed up with the poor conditions at her segregated Virginia public school. She organized a student walkout. Her protest helped lead to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
In 1960, four Black college freshmen started a national sit-in movement. They sat at a Whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. And in 1963, civil rights leaders recruited more than 1,000 students in Birmingham, Alabama. They took to the streets to protest segregation in the city. Over two days, hundreds were arrested. Others were sprayed by fire hoses or bitten by police dogs. The news coverage of the protest shocked the nation and helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation nationwide.

“Teenagers and young people were the first to participate in these protests because the adults were afraid for their jobs or of possible arrests,” says V.P. Franklin, author of The Young Crusaders. “Then you’d have the mobilization of the entire community.”

In the late 1960s, the U.S. sent more than 2 million young men, many of them just out of high school, to fight in the Vietnam War (1954-75). Youth-led protests against the war spread across college campuses and to many high schools. These protests helped start discussions about lowering the national voting age from 21 to 18, the age at which men could be drafted. “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote,” became a common rallying cry. The media coverage of the protests on college campuses helped them spread to schools across the nation.

“The demonstrations that come with the Vietnam War bring out very large numbers of teenagers and make them a political force,” Fass says.

The youth activism of the ’60s and ’70s also helped give rise to a hippie counterculture that rejected the more conservative, traditional values embodied by adults. Lawmakers increasingly viewed teenagers as an important and energetic voting bloc, and hoped that granting them the vote would encourage them to work within the system. In July 1971, the states ratified the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

“It changes the dynamics of politics,” de Schweinitz says. “You’ve got parties forming committees on how to engage this youngest voting cohort and thinking about how they are going to tap and mobilize these young voters.” Yet today, 18-to-29-year-olds remain an elusive voting bloc, going to the polls at a lower rate than the nation as a whole.

“The demonstrations that come with the Vietnam War bring out very large numbers of teenagers and make them a political force,” Fass says.

The youth activism of the ’60s and ’70s helped create a hippie counterculture that rejected the more conservative, traditional values embodied by adults. Lawmakers increasingly viewed teenagers as an important and energetic voting bloc. They hoped that granting them the vote would encourage them to work within the system. In July 1971, the states ratified the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

“It changes the dynamics of politics,” de Schweinitz says. “You’ve got parties forming committees on how to engage this youngest voting cohort and thinking about how they are going to tap and mobilize these young voters.” Yet today, 18-to-29-year-old voters go to the polls at a lower rate than the nation as a whole.

Many of the markers that initially defined teenage life have changed over the decades. The number of 18-year-olds with driver’s licenses decreased about 20 percentage points between 1983 and 2023, according to the Federal Highway Administration. And face-to-face socializing among teenagers has dipped more than 45 percent between 2003 and 2022, according to the American Time Use Survey.

Experts attribute these changes to smartphones and social media, which make it far easier to do pretty much everything online, and the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic, which temporarily shuttered the in-person institutions, such as schools, that had defined teen life for more than a century.

Many adults worry about how these technological changes are affecting today’s teens. In 2024, 69 percent of parents (and 44 percent of 13-to-17-year-olds) said they think it’s harder to be a teenager today, according to a Pew Research Center study. But, historians say, these fears aren’t anything new.

“Adults have worried about teenagers for a very long time,” says Cross, the Penn State historian. “To some extent, it has to do with the fact that they don’t recognize their own teenage experience in [today’s] teenagers.”

Many of the traits that initially defined teenage life have changed over the decades. According to the Federal Highway Administration, the number of 18-year-olds with driver’s licenses decreased about 20 percentage points between 1983 and 2023. Face-to-face socializing among teenagers has dropped more than 45 percent between 2003 and 2022, according to the American Time Use Survey.

Experts attribute these changes to smartphones and social media. Now teens can do pretty much everything online. The Covid-19 pandemic also changed teen life by temporarily closing the in-person institutions, such as schools, that had defined teen life for more than a century.

Many adults worry about how these technological changes are affecting today’s teens. In 2024, 69 percent of parents (and 44 percent of 13-to-17-year-olds) said they think it’s harder to be a teenager today, according to a Pew Research Center study. But, historians say, these fears aren’t anything new.

“Adults have worried about teenagers for a very long time,” says Cross, the Penn State historian. “To some extent, it has to do with the fact that they don’t recognize their own teenage experience in [today’s] teenagers.”