History Main / TeenageWasteland

* ''WebOriginal/TheInnocent'': This is a result of a WorldWarIII [[KidsVersusAdults between children and adults]] [[TheShortWar that only lasted for mere months in total.]] The children [[MadeASlave turn all adults into slaves]], as they [[AdultHater dislike all forms of authority from adults]].
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* The Georg Kaiser play ''The Raft of The Medusa'' [[note]]not to be confused with the Joe Pintaura play of the same name about the AIDS crisis[[/note]] centers around a group of British children on a lifeboat after their ship is destroyed by a German submarine during World War II. At first they attempt to avert this trope, as they've seen the destruction that conflict can cause, and they want to do better, to model the behavior they would like to see in the world at large; eventually, however, fear and superstition win out over their better instincts, leading them to commit a horrendous -- and largely needless, as it's based in superstition -- act in the name of survival. In this case, at least one character is adamant that this breakdown isn't because they're young and don't know what they're doing, but rather that they've already learned and internalized ''too much'' of the adults' mentality.

* The Georg Kaiser play ''The Raft of The Medusa'' [[note]]not to be confused with the Joe Pintaura play of the same name about the AIDS crisis[[/note]] centers around a group of British children on a lifeboat after their ship is destroyed by a German submarine during World War II. At first they attempt to avert this trope, as they've seen the destruction that conflict can cause, and they want to do better, to model the behavior they would like to see in the world at large; eventually, however, fear and superstition win out over their better instincts, leading them to commit a horrendous act in the name of survival (based on little more than superstition, no less). In this case, at least one character is adamant that this breakdown isn't because they're young and don't know what they're doing, but rather that they've already learned and internalized ''too much'' of the adults' mentality.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS4E16TheWackyMolestationAdventure The Wacky Molestation Adventure]]", when the kids cause all of the adults in town to be taken away by social services by claiming they were molested. A couple then comes to the town and finds it in ruins and overrun by children. By this time, they've split into factions, developed communities, and created bizarre religions. Later, we find out that [[AndManGrewProud it's only been ten days since the parents were arrested.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/ChildrenOfTheNight'', Luna transports orphaned foals into a colony far away from adult ponies. One of the ponies is shown as a happy adult in the intro, so presumably everything turned out fine.

* ''WebOriginal/TheInnocent: This is a result of a WorldWarIII [[KidsVersusAdults between children and adults]] [[TheShortWar that only lasted for mere months in total.]] The children [[MadeASlave turn all adults into slaves]], as they [[AdultHater dislike all forms of authority from adults]].

* While it doesn't get focus in the main story, during the events of the prologue and starting chapter, the students of Peterheim Middle School are rounded up and left trapped in the school by a member of Reunion (dialogue indicates that it was [[CreepyChild Mephisto]]). ''Children of Ursus'' goes into more detail and focuses on the survivors of the incident: [[spoiler:the noble faction, lead by Rosa, ended up hoarding all of the food, leading Zima, the leader of the commoner children, to try and kidnap Rosa to use as a bargaining chip. Zima accidentally set the food store on fire, causing the situation to devolve into a free for all. The Ursus Student Self Governing Group are the only survivors, having banded together and fled the building when an opportunity presented itself]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* An interesting case was that of China when the Communists first took over. For a society that had always relied on an extremely rigid age-based hierarchy, suddenly teenage and young adult members of the Communist Party were given life-or-death power over their elder family and community members. Some of them went a little DrunkWithPower for a while. Curiously, many of those who were members of the original revolution as well as the UsefulNotes/CulturalRevolution are now leading the Chinese government. Considering that they seem obsessed with keeping things orderly, one wonders if it is a case of a FullCircleRevolution or [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone a result of lessons learned from an anarchic period]]. YMMV of course.
* Post-Stalinist USSR. After the collapse of the Stalinist regime and the large post-WWII cohorts coming to age, they proved almost impossible for the Soviet system to control. The so-called ''stilyagi'' gangs practically ruled the Moscow and Leningrad underworld.
** The droogs and the [[FutureSlang Nadsat]] slang in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' are modelled after the ''stilyagi''. Creator/AnthonyBurgess witnessed them while in the USSR. He himself was mugged by hoodlums known as the "teddy boys" in UK.
* Parts of the UK for complex reasons. If you take high youth unemployment, a society that runs on rampant consumerism, and then an unarmed man is shot by police, you have a recipe for social disorder. At first it was supposed to be a protest against the shooting and then it became a case of "want, take, have".
** During the 2011 England riots, entire city centres became teenage wastelands of looting and ultraviolence for about 4 nights. Not all of them were teenagers but many were under 25, including one 11 year old girl arrested for looting.
* Given the demographics of prehistoric times, it wasn't unusual for a Neolithic community -- especially a newly-established one, or one recently struck by contagion -- to consist almost entirely of young adults and small children.
* Communities of children who lack sufficient parental nurturing bond with each other instead, leading to the formation of gangs, violence, drug addiction, etc.
* Many social media sites, Twitter in particular, are [[SocialMediaIsBad often stereotyped as being these.]]
** Inverted though with Facebook, which in recent years has become more associated with baby boomers and the elderly.
* All too often the case in schools, boarding schools, conscription armies, etc. where a lot of young people are together with few adults to rule over them.
* Many parts of southern Africa that have been ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which produced an orphan crisis as adults died of the disease. In some areas, the population pyramid is so skewed towards the young that it has compromised the basic functions of government and society, as there are precious few people with the skills needed to keep things running who aren't HIV-positive. One nation, UsefulNotes/{{Swaziland}}, has been hit so hard that the United Nations Development Programme seriously suggested that its very existence as a country may be at risk, although that country has a few compounding factors (such as rampant corruption and an arrogant and all-powerful king).
* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particularly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. The post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Baby Boom generation were reaching their teens and early adulthood and were asserting themselves like young people hadn't before, with their weird new ideas and [[TheNewRockAndRoll their weird, loud rock music]]. This caused a lot of anxiety among older generations that society was falling apart and fueled the growth of social conservatism in reaction. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon won a massive victory in 1968 on a "law and order" campaign. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era and were often from authors who were middle-aged and older at the time.
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* A more mild example: the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic disproportionately impacted the elderly. While everybody was susceptible to catching it and falling seriously ill, its most life-threatening symptoms, and by extension mortality rates, were heavily concentrated among older people. Once this became clear, some young people, especially those who weren't particularly sympathetic to the older Baby Boom generation, began calling the virus [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/boomer-remover "boomer remover"]] and jokingly hoping for this scenario to play out in real life.

* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particularly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. The post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Baby Boom generation were reaching their teens and early adulthood and were asserting themselves like young people hadn't before, with their weird new ideas and [[TheNewRockAndRoll their weird, loud rock music]]. This caused a lot of anxiety among older generations that society was falling apart and fueled the growth of social conservatism in reaction. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon won a massive victory in 1968 on a "law and order" campaign. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era.

* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particularly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. The post-UsefulNotes/WorlWarII Baby Boom generation were reaching their teens and early adulthood and were asserting themselves like young people hadn't before, with their weird new ideas and [[TheNewRockAndRoll their weird, loud rock music]]. This caused a lot of anxiety among older generations that society was falling apart and fueled the growth of social conservatism in reaction. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon won a massive victory in 1968 on a "law and order" campaign. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era.

* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particularly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. The post-UsefulNotes/WorlWarII Baby Boom generation were reaching their teens and early adulthood and were asserrting themselves like young people hadn't before, with their weird new ideas and [[TheNewRockAndRoll their weird, loud rock music]]. This caused a lot of anxiety among older generations that society was falling apart and fueled the growth of social conservatism in reaction. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon won a massive victory in 1968 on a "law and order" campaign. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era.

* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particularly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era.

* The late 1960s felt like this to a lot of older people, with all of the civil unrest, particuarly the student revolutions around the world in 1968 alone. There's a reason that a lot of the fictional examples on this page date from that era.

** Inverted though with Facebook, which in recent years has become much more associated with baby boomers and the elderly.

** Inverted though with Website/Facebook, which in recent years has become much more associated with baby boomers and the elderly.

* Many social media sites, particularly Website/Twitter, are [[SocialMediaIsBad often stereotyped as being these.]]

* ImageBoards, particluarly Website/FourChan, are often stereotyped as such.

* Adults simply do not exist any more. They are gone, either because the children have instigated a teenage revolution and enslaved/killed all the adults (e.g. ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheCorn''), or because of something that was OnlyFatalToAdults (''Literature/ShadesChildren'').

* A society where the young and the old coexist, but the young call the shots (e.g. ''Literature/LogansRun'').

This is not to be confused with ThereAreNoAdults, though types 1 and 2 probably overlap with that.[[Type 1 due to setting, and type 2 because the adults are actually gone.[[/note]] Also not AChildShallLeadThem, in which only one youngster has authority. Depending on the structure of that society, he might be their RoyalBrat.

This is not to be confused with ThereAreNoAdults, though types 1 and 2 probably overlap with that. Also not AChildShallLeadThem, in which only one youngster has authority. Depending on the structure of that society, he might be their RoyalBrat.

* Music/TheWho's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqeYrNYGzJc/ "Baba O'Riley"]], sometimes even called ''Teenage Wasteland'' [[note]]It recycles lyrics from a different song existing as a demo that ''was'' titled "Teenage Wasteland", but that's not the one everyone knows.[[/note]]

* The Georg Kaiser play ''The Raft of The Medusa'' [[note]]not to be confused with the Joe Pintaura play of the same name about the AIDS crisis[[/note]] centers around a group of British children on a lifeboat after their ship is destroyed by a German submarine during World War II. At first they attempt to avert this trope, as they've seen the destruction that conflict can cause, and they want to do better, to model the behavior they would like to see in the world at large; eventually, however, fear and superstition win out over their better instincts, leading them to commit a horrendous act in the name of survival (based on little more than superstition, no less). In this case, at least one character is adamant that this breakdown isn't because they're young and don't know what they're doing, but rather that they've already learned and internalized ''too much'' from the conflict-prone adult world.