Congratulations! According to a University of Michigan survey, we’re smoking less pot (by about 15 percent), smoking fewer cigarettes (by about 13 percent) and drinking less (by over 30 percent) than our parents did 30 years ago!

Today’s teens seem to be getting the message that drug use and abuse only hurt us in the long run. Perhaps our parents know what to caution us against because of their experiences, and it’s an “I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did” type of thing. Or perhaps our educational system has succeeded in showing the negative effects of drug use despite the media’s obsession with cigarettes and alcohol.

But the good news doesn’t stop there. In the 1980s, about half of boys and about two-fifths of girls (from 15 to 17) reportedly had experienced sex, but today those numbers have fallen to less than one-third for both genders according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults may freak out about shows like Gossip Girl or Teen Mom, which they may think make teens look like sex-crazed smokers and drinkers, but the numbers definitely tell a different story.

Photo by Mykl Roventine/Flickr