Have We Always Had Teenagers?

Human beings have been on the Earth for an extremely long time. A couple hundred thousand years have passed since humans first appeared on the Earth. Over this amount of time multiple roles have changed as progression has occurred. Early roles included hunting for food and protecting the group from forces of aggression. This was typically a masculine role, but more importantly, it was a role that those of all capable ability took part in. Children were cared for until they could fend for themselves or assist the group. These early humans did not have the same luxuries later people would possess and this limited the activities that those of different ages could partake in. Through these lack of luxuries coupled with the natural need to survive, the societal role of the teenager did not always exist throughout human existence.

 There were a very minute amount of luxuries able to be enjoyed by early humans. An example of a possible luxury they could have enjoyed would be killing a particularly good tasting piece of game and being able to enjoy eating it. Apart from the example, they enjoyed little luxuries when compared to today’s society. A prevalent luxury modern society enjoys is an ample amount of free-time. This free-time allows people in our society to relax and take a break from the world around them for some time if they choose to do so. This amount of stress free time contributes to the creation of teenagers. Early humans had barely any free-time. Their lives were lived in a constant state of doing. They were either hunting, traversing from place to place, or constructing shelter. This forced the jump from childhood to adulthood to be very quick. There was not enough free-time in early human life to allow for idleness or taking a break. Another luxury they did not enjoy was relatively consistent safety from the predators that could have harmed them. In modern society, it is often taken for granted the fact that there are things in place to protect the community. These things range from governments to emergency services to a house someone might live in. Older societies of people have not always had these luxuries. They constantly had threats encroaching upon them. This life of constant threats furthered the need for people to make the quick jump from childhood to adulthood. As soon as they no longer needed the care of someone older than them, they were expected to help contribute to the group, if they were with one, or to fend for themselves. If these early people had teenagers in the same way modern societies have teenagers, they may not have survived because a portion of the group they might be with would not be contributing hardly at all. This would have also caused the length of time spent caring for an adolescent to increase which would have taken time away from other activities such as hunting or protecting the group.

Humans also have a natural need for survival. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs places physiological needs above all else in a person’s life. This was the main need early societies of humans were attempting to achieve. For this reason, childhood often jumped straight into adulthood. The reason for this could have been to ensure that there were always enough people considered adults to provide for others. This jump to adulthood can be observed in many different societies. For example some use the child killing their first animal as a part of an initiation into adulthood. This is in effect, an example to the child of what will be expected of them now that they have been adults. Another example can be observed in a tribe in Africa who place bullet ants into a pair of gloves and require the child to wear them for an extended amount of time. These reasons for skipping the teenage years are so that the person can become a productive member of their group sooner than if they were teenagers as modern societies view them. 

Throughout all of human history, there has not always been teenagers. The reason behind this is because early groups of people did not have an ample amount of time to have teenagers be a part of their society. If these people did have teenagers, they would not be nearly productive as an adult and would most likely cause the group a problem. They also had many forces of aggression acting upon them. Having this occur to them made it so they had to have as many adults as possible at any given time. They needed the adults to be able to protect and provide for the tribe. If they had extended childhood longer, they may have put the tribe at risk because there would be a large number of people to provide for.