Analysis Of Growing Up In America By Martin Gitlin

Growing Up in America, written by Martin Gitlin, has been teaching me a lot about the culture and what a typical day in the life of an Australian would look like. I was able to draw more similarities between what an average day would be like in America, especially in Oshkosh to that in Australia. Throughout this section of the book, I discovered and learned more about some social issues that the country faces. Similarly to American kids, Australian kids are constantly playing sports, on their phones or computers, and doing homework on a typical day after school. Dylan Burke, an Australian teen, goes to basketball practice, does his homework, and spends about 45 minutes pursuing the Internet. The amount of time spent online is drastically different.

They have a sit down dinners with their family almost every day which rarely happens in America any more as everyone is too preoccupied and busy to do so. Families also “sit down and talk … watch a lot of movies together, [and] have dinner,” (Gitlin 20). They also like to go on family vacations to have quality bonding time. I personally wish this is how Americans would live all the time, as everyone is always too busy to do anything with their families anymore. Where and how many citizens live possesses many similarities and differences. Similarly, major cities such as Sydney have a high cost of living, as expected. The price of living in Sydney is “similar to those in San Francisco, which has some of the highest prices in the United States,” (Gitlin 23). As a result, many people are downsizing from a house to an apartment in order to save money. Those who live in apartment complexes in the city typically view their living arrangements positively as everything is mostly within walking distance. They do sometimes wonder how different their lives would be if they lived more towards the countryside, but the ‘grass is always greener on the other side’. This is also very common throughout the United States, mostly in big cities but it is also spreading into cities that aren’t as major, as the price of houses has been on the rise recently. The size of the house also greatly affects the price.

Teenagers such as fifteen-year-old Georgia Boonen rise “early, rise to create a liquid breakfast consisting of kale, banana, blueberries, and almond milk … Eating healthy is definitely something that’s admired,” (Gitlin 25). While I can’t speak for everyone in the United States, majority say they eat healthy while many fall short of getting key vitamins and minerals that indicate a legitimate healthy lifestyle. Many people from America, especially children, would rather have McDonalds or any fast food restaurant, than a healthy dinner or salad. Although many Australians say they eat healthy, there is still a major obesity problem. After conducting further research, I came to a conclusion that around twenty six percent of children and adolescents were overweight or obese in Australia, while nearly thirty percent of people under twenty years old are obese or overweight in