Up until the mid-20th century, there was no such thing as a “teenager.” You were a child, and then one day, you were declared an adult. There was no official in-between period. In fact, the word “teenager” didn’t appear anywhere in the English language until 1913.
Four things created the teenager. First, the rise of compulsory education got more adolescents off the farms and out of the factories into schools. That’s when young people were divided into age groups as they furthered their education. The second thing was the economic boom following World War II. The kids born then had more free time and more money, turning them into a demographic desirable to advertisers. The third thing was the adoption of cars. A car gave a 16-year-old a sense of independence from parents.
And the fourth—which came with all this independence and extra spending money—was the rock’n’roll of the 50s, which helped coalesce and standardize the teenage experience.
© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Ad Choices
