The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday what many have suspected for quite some time: today's teens don't even know how to wild out. In fact, the teens of 2016 use fewer drugs, engage in less fights, have less sex, and (this one seems like a no-brainer) watch less television than other previous generations.
The trends were uncovered in the CDC's 181-page report on the behavior of American teens, a massive undertaking the feds embark on every two years. The chart below, put together by Vox, shows that both the percentage of teens who said they've lost their virginity and those who described themselves as "sexually active" have taken a noticeable dive:
41.2 percent of teens said they had lost their virginity, down from 54.1 percent in 1991, the first year the government conducted the survey. The total percentage of sexually active teens has fallen from 37.9 percent in 1991 to 30.1 percent in the 2016 report.
However, when today's teens do engage in sexual activities, they're now more likely than ever to use some form of protection. Though the feds have only been posing the birth control since the 2011 survey, the number of teens who reported using protection has increased 15 percent in the past four years alone.
Though drug use (ecstasy, heroin, etc.) in general is down, there's still a whole lot of vaping going on. 44.9 percent of teens admitted to using a vaping device, once again proving that people are still, many months later, ignoring the advice of Detective Ray Velcoro.
Some of these trends were hinted at in previous studies from 2015, including a planet-shattering revelation from the University of Texas at Austin in July. Over the past 11 years, teens between the ages of 12 and 14 experienced a 25 percent decline in marijuana use. Older adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 also saw a decline, dropping from 26 to 22 percent. Damn. Today's teens don't even like weed anymore.
The latest CDC report also shows that teens today are also safe AF, with nearly 94 percent of them dedicated to the art of wearing a seatbelt. Pretty awesome.
The bad news? These same teens are spending a seemingly unreasonable 9 hours a day in front of a screen.
