A few months ago, Slate published a review demolishing Stephanie Brown’s book, Speed: Facing Our Addiction to Fast and Faster—and Overcoming Our Fear of
Slowing Down. Here
is a typical put-down: Brown “offers a portrait of a
generation of teenagers 'holed up in dark, locked bedrooms, hooked to the
computer, smoking dope and taking uppers and downers to regulate their
attention and mood, when actual trends in teenage behavior are
overwhelmingly positive. Today’s teenagers are less likely to smoke cigarettes, less likely to drink to excess, less likely to use cocaine, and less likely to get pregnant than previous cohorts.” It may be me, but I
somehow fail to see the contradiction here. By the way, the cover of David
Siegel’s latest book, Mindsight, suggests
that “adolescence” now lasts until age 24.
