In 1950, there were approximately 6 million televisions in the United States by 1960, that number had soared to more than 50 million - almost 9 out of 10 households had one.
#SOCK HOP BALL TV#
Determined to wring the most out of life, and often spoiled or neglected by parents who had lived through such hardships and were now working hard and prospering, the fun-loving teens of the '50s (and to some extent, the '40s) burst onto the scene with a vengeance.Īnd while the aftereffects of the Great Depression and World War II undoubtedly affected the generation coming of age following those social upheavals, one can't underestimate the importance of TV for defining trends.
Some historians believe the modern teenage mindset was born out of attitudes prevalent following the Great Depression and World War II, as 20th century consumerism and the search for the American Dream took shape. To read about 1950s America is to witness this giant generational muddle in an extreme, with the older folks often baffled and horrified by the ways of the youth (despite their own Jazz Age teenage years), while at the same time helping to trigger the transition. Īs a demographic, young people's priorities, perceptions and practices typically tilt wildly from generation to generation. The characteristics we often associate with today's teens, however, like rebelliousness, obliviousness and gravitation toward cliques, didn't really go mainstream until around the time of the sock hoppers. From then on, society treated teens as a group psychologically distinct from children and adults. That started to change, though, when psychologists began recognizing adolescence as a concrete life stage near the start of the 20th century. Historically, the teenage years didn't exist, at least not to the extent that they required an appellation all their own. Michael Ochs Archives/Universal Pictures/Getty Images
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