A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don't have nearly enough options. "I feel bored like all the time, 'cause there is like nothing to do," said Shannon Carlson, 13, of Warren, Ohio, a respondent who has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal but can't ward off ennui.The article goes on to demonstrate how multi-tasking as well as boredom defines the lives of teenagers. What I found interesting, though, was the age-old human desire for relationship revealed by the survey respondents. Despite state-of-the-art marketing campaigns that duke it out for teen dollars, the Times reported that "good old-fashioned word of mouth — with a tech twist, thanks to text messaging — continues to be one of the most important factors influencing the choices that young people make." And when respondents were offered a "desert island" choice of one item, the majority picked computers or cellphones -- the technologies that connect us to one another.
No wonder our teens are bored stiff. Despite their race to acquire the next hot-ticket electronic item, what they're longing for is connection, intimacy, community, relationship. If you offered "collapse on comfy bean bag chairs with a cross-generational group of interesting and loving people, bantering and laughing the summer nights away as the crickets chirp in the background" as a choice, a North American teen might think you were nuts. But I think that's exactly what they need to cure their lonely ennui
