The teenage operating system is fairly primitive. Want to stop them from doing something? Just tell them their parents are doing it.
A series of studies on recreational drug habits that were recently conducted in the U.S. — after nearly 30 states and territories legalized marijuana — revealed an interesting phenomenon. According to a New York Times report, usage increased across all age groups. Sometimes, the increase was significant, for example, among older adults — signaling the adoption of new habits or the result of massive pharma-backed campaigns. But in one demographic, there was a dramatic decrease: teenagers under the age 19. One of the researchers, Dr. Ryan Vandrey, was quoted in the Times saying, “This just shows that teens will always do exactly the opposite of what we think they’ll do.”
From our own experience with the kids living under our roof, we think we’ve figured out something Dr. Vandrey may have missed. It’s not that teenagers are unpredictable and capricious, which is why quantitative studies fail to anticipate their behavior. Quite the opposite, Doc! Teenagers are actually highly predictable: they will simply not do anything their parents are doing. Ever seen teenagers show up to school in sneakers or, even worse, in socks-and-slides with the socks pulled all the way up to their knees? That’s exactly it. If knee-high tennis socks were considered “dad socks” back in the day, and we insisted on ankle socks that barely peeked out of our shoes — Gen Z is doing the exact opposite: They’re rocking the socks we hated (don’t believe us? Just take a look here).
Teenagers and kids rebel against their parents using a reverse-negative logic, and that’s precisely why they’re not smoking weed. The recent studies didn’t seem to pick up on that. But that is exactly the kind of insight that could help anyone planning a campaign to steer teenagers in a certain direction or discourage them from specific habits.
Imagine, for example, a campaign aimed at getting teens to quit porn. You could try explaining to them how the industry exploits and enslaves vulnerable young women, many of whom meet tragic ends. You could also tell them that porn presents a warped image of intimacy that will harm their sex and relationships in adulthood. But on the other hand – hear us out – you could just say: “Porn? we, the parents? Oh, we love porn. We wake up every morning to the sweet smell of porn, take a midday porn break, and finish off the evening with a little dessert porn. Porn is basically our middle name.” Tell them that, and they’ll flee to the hills screaming, we promise.