Pressure. Whether to fit in or to have our 50-year-plan by thirteen years old, there is an awful lot of the stuff drowning in our hormones. The fear of being a failure is constant; we are encouraged to map our life out ahead of us whilst tentatively teetering around the downward spiral that is the compass.
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Teeth whitened and smiles brightened we are pushed to conform to society. We must wear a certain brand, have a certain waist size and act a certain way. Living in a material world is far from “too easy” as everybody is urging us to grow up at 100 mph. Along with all this new technology there are new, harder expectations to meet. If anything, the lessons young people must learn are parallel to the time passed and therefore are more than ever at this very moment.
With all these innovative apps and websites, arrives new opportunities for teenagers to make mistakes. For instance, twenty years ago had someone slipped up in their speech it wouldn’t be dwelled upon forever. Let’s say somebody were to make a similar oversight but using social media. The content is then available to family members and future employers alike, despite the lack of context. This reinforces my point: although mistakes are seen as “learning curves” no person, it seems, can make one without it being photographed or documented.
Ironically, most stress young people suffer is from the sources closest to them. School is the teenager’s arch nemesis. We have targets to aspire to for all our subjects, and a truck tonne of homework to help us get there. We are told to be healthy, concentrate at school, concentrate on helping your community, continue concentrating for homework, get a decent night’s sleep and still have some seconds spare for a social life. So much for a “lack of challenges”, don’t you think?
On top of all the expectations to get great grades we also have the displeasure of enduring a withering future. We’ve inherited a whole lot of horrid from our predecessors. Take global warming, that is something this generation of teenagers have been burdened with. If we fail to stop it, experts say the earth will destroy humanity due to catastrophic climates. Although we may not have to ask for the right to freedom of speech or the right to vote, we do have to “fight for” the future of the human race.
Everything is getting bigger, better and brighter in our world today. As this happens, adolescents must adapt to compete with the ever-changing society. Negative press like the statement above is mostly narrow-minded and doesn’t consider what else we have to cope with; even a minor burden can become the straw on the camel’s back. This is why the numbers of young people living with depression is multiplying. The media’s promotion of “the perfect body” endorses dreadful diseases such as anorexia and bulimia. If anything, these facts prove that the life of a 21st century teenager is too hard.
This was a homework so don’t worry I haven’t suddenly developed depression or anything.
productive procrastinating 