1 . Fragile. Oversensitive. Glued to their phones.     1     While there may be some truth to these stereotypical (刻板印象的) features, there might be more to this generation of teens than what is generally observed.

Never before have the lives of any generation of teens been as flooded with mobile technology and social media as the teens of this generation.     2     This is in contrast to the more village spirit or community-oriented attitude of their parents’ and grandparents’ days. We have teens who may not know about who lives in the unit next to theirs, much less offer a friendly nod or wave when they happen to cross paths with a neighbour.

    3     Arguably, the very connectedness that social media brings about has led to an opening of minds and a flourishing (繁盛) of dialogue among people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Logging onto platforms where people of all walks of life meet means that one is exposed to those people and their distinctive ways of life. In comparison, the parents or grandparents of this generation of teens probably did not have the same opportunity to get to know people outside of their social circles at their age, and are thus more likely to have fixed, stereotypical opinions of people different from them. This generation of teens, on the other hand, has the chance to use this technology to learn more about and attempt to understand the variety and diversity out there.     4    

To conclude, the teens of this generation differ in many ways from their predecessors (前辈), in some ways more positive than others.     5     Therefore, this generation of teens differs from past generations, with the changes around them.