Teens have always been seen as rebellious, unrestrained, and sometimes overtly sexual in the eyes of adults. And of course, adults seldom miss an opportunity to reprimand us for our less than innocent behaviours. Yet actual attempts to decrease teen sexual activity and pregnancies have been at best meagre, and at worst ineffective.

In a society in which sex is plastered on magazines and constantly exposed on T.V, and teachings of abstinence at school simply aren’t convincing enough—are teenagers really at total fault for being sexually active?

In general, the idea of teen sex is unsettling to adults. It certainly does not paint a picture of responsibility and safety. Add in the statistic of rising numbers of teenagers engaging in sex, and it becomes understandable that adults have difficulty placing trust in us.

After all, many teens do have sex for not-so-great reasons—to experiment, to be accepted, and to boost their self-esteems are only a few examples.  Given these points, it is easy to assume that we teenagers are liable for our own recklessness. But are we, really?

Studies from York University and the University of Wisconsin reveal that teens who are more likely to engage in sexual activities at an earlier age had lower self-esteem, poorer relationships with their parents and were more exposed to adult media content, as compared to their peers. Something else many sexually premature teens share? Growing up in an environment that is less open about the issue of teen sex itself.

Notice that most of these underlying factors are external and not entirely controlled by the teens themselves. After all, a distant relationship between a teen and his/her parents can lead to the teen feeling neglected and isolated. The young individual may start looking for stability, comfort and acceptance elsewhere—and being naive and impressionable, the teen can often fall into the wrong crowd. Seeking approval, the person can make mistakes and poor decisions he/she is not ready for, including that involving sex.

Teen sex is not a simple black-and-white issue in which one side is at fault for everything. It is a complex and sensitive issue, so much so that some people deem it to be a lost cause.

It is not. It feels like a losing battle because society is not tackling it with the right tools. On the education level, hammering abstinence into the minds of youth has been done for years with little positive results to show for it. A recent Statistics Canada study showed that Canadian teens have lower rates of sexual activity compared to their American counterparts, and attributes the differences to each country’s sex education curriculums.

While teenagers in Canada were given more information about sex and pregnancy, including emphasis on practicing safe sex, most American teens were told that abstinence is the only way to go. Ironically, these celibate lessons have led to riskier sexual behaviours.

How to account for this? Perhaps many teens just tune out when adults start preaching the benefits of abstinence. However, when provided with information in way that is acceptable to the young mind, teens are capable of making better personal choices, leading to better personal health.

At the end of the day, it is the teenager’s decision to have sex. But there are a multitude of factors that drive that teenager to do what he or she does, especially if he/she is not ready for it. A fractured household, a lack of love and comfort in a teen’s life can send the person searching in the wrong places; the media certainly doesn’t discourage promiscuity.  So the next time somebody wants to cut the blame pie for rising trends of teen sex, you can be sure there will be more to share.

There’s a revolution occurring right this very moment, and you could be a part of it without even knowing. In fact, this could be one of the most important revolutions ever initiated, but the implications have yet to show their true potential. This technological revolution is changing everything we thought we knew about information and communication. It’s taking established communication and media models and turning them completely upside down. It’s forcing governments and corporations to adapt to this new model, or forever be outdated. And it puts the power entirely in your hands. So what is it? What could possibly be this powerful, and how can you be a part of it? The answer lies in one simple word: Twitter.

Absurd, right? I must be crazy, off my rocker, way out of line to even suggest that a simple (and frequently useless) website such as Twitter could be the first step towards a revolution of such magnitude. I mean, come on, how can it even compare to other revolutions we’ve experienced in our short time on Earth? Where would we be without milestone advances like the agricultural or industrial revolutions? Why would I even propose that something like Twitter is as important as being able to efficiently feed the planet, or mass-produce countless items of importance for use around the world? Well, to put it simply, it can be- once we figure it out, that is.

In order to continue, we need an explanation on what constitutes a revolution. According to dictionary.com, a revolution (among other things) is a “sudden or momentous change in a situation.” From a sociology standpoint, a revolution is “a radical and pervasive change in society and the societal structure.” Given these definitions, a revolution can occur in different fields, such as government, agriculture, industry, media, culture, and even fashion. Simply put, a revolution is something that changes the norm, often drastically, and in effect becomes the norm until another revolution occurs. For example, the invention of the printing press was a revolution in literature, communication, and media. Before the printing press, books and letters had to be handwritten, and copies of books were very limited (as were the number of people who could even read). Those who had access to books were those who could afford it, and most people couldn’t. After the printing press was invented, however, literacy rates shot up around the world, and books could be copied a thousand times over and printed in many different languages. Without the printing press, literacy and education would still be extremely limited and many people would still be illiterate and uneducated. Keep in mind that this is a very general account, and there are obviously many factors at play concerning literacy and education (government, resources, etc.), but my point here is that societies changed when the printing press was invented, and this particular revolution caused an inevitable shift in the way the world worked.

And so it goes for most revolutions we’ve experienced in history. Some, like the printing press, can be peaceful and beneficial for everyone, while others can be violent and politically motivated, like the French Revolution, for example. In any case, if a revolution is successful, it creates a fundamental shift in how people live, usually for the better. And in the case of Twitter, we’re starting to see just how fundamentally it’s changing the world.

Let’s take a look at the history of global communication to get a better understanding of where we’re at currently, and then I’ll discuss how Twitter (and social media) is revolutionizing the current model, and making it better.