If you are a parent of a teenager, then you know the craziness and challenges of dealing with a moody teen on the day-to-day. Teenagers want their space, TikTok, personal freedoms, and to live a life that blends what we remember as kids with a digital world where social networking means the use of an iPhone. Like all human beings, they want to feel loved and protected, but they also have a deep desire for likes, comments, followers, and acceptance from peers.
I remember when I was a teenager and everything that I was warned against is what I wanted to try whether that was eating an endless amount of junk food, smoking marijuana, or speeding in a vehicle. Getting into trouble was simply part of life at that age. I think this is the case with every teenager regardless of the era they are born into. I wanted to hang out with my peers, talk with the opposite sex, and explore a life beyond my hometown. Although things may change, they also very much remain the same in many aspects.
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When you compare the different generations, millennials, Gen Z teens, and even baby boomers, there are a lot of differences. However, there are also many similarities in regard to the challenges, such as peer pressure, a need for acceptance, and a desire to feel like an individual. Unfortunately, the advancements in technology, and other aspects of life, have compounded the difficulty of being a teenager. Yes, being a teenager is hard, it always has been. But even with all the conveniences, we have today, teenage life has never been more challenging. Here are some of the reasons why being a teenager is the worst today!
Teen Peer Influence
Teenagers face unique challenges when it comes to associating with their peers given the ubiquitous nature of social media. Teens are relentlessly exposed to their friends’ TikTok, Instagram stories, and other social media activities that leave them feeling of being left out. This can have a negative teen peer influence, especially if the teen’s friends are going to concerts or parties where there is no adult supervision.
Peer influence in most cases may come with negative behaviors, inner struggle to fit in, poor performance in school, and even being viewed by the parents as an outcast in the family. When this happens, it brings other series of problems that would be overwhelming for a teenager to handle. That is the reason you find many cases of suicidal tendencies among teens.
Most teenagers who tend to get carried by their peers may have had issues with their self-esteem and they want to be accepted for fear of backlash. They do things that peers are doing without questioning them and can even engage in harmful behaviors such as drug abuse, smoking, and vandalism among other vices.
Increased Teen Depression
It would be difficult to imagine that a 13-year-old can get depressed. What has life turned to these days? Of course, the millennials perhaps were better off since they spent most of their time with their parents, and there was not much external influence. With the evolution of technology, teens have been exposed to the world. They want to experience the world that they see on social media, and they want to be like the celebrities they like.
The more external pressure, the more the teenagers succumb to it. Most teens have become frustrated with life since they feel pressure and become inadequate with themselves compared with what they see on social media. They thus may engage in activities such as betting and which may rob them of their future ending up in depression.
Depression also sets in when teens fail to achieve what their peers have achieved, and they thus develop negative thoughts about themselves. These even worsen when they experience other issues in the family such as neglect and abuse from the parents, poor performance in school, and poverty.
Reduced Parental Involvement
Parents are the primary caregivers and a concerned parent would want the best for his or her children. However, it is not the case nowadays. Most parents have been carried by office and work responsibilities to the extent that they don’t interact with their children, they don’t know what they are going through, and even who their friends are.
During our teenage days, a parent would want to know who your friends are, what you eat while you are away from home, and basically everything that you get involved in. It is sad that most parents no longer even care about how the child or children are progressing in school, and this has contributed to a lot of teenage problems.
Perhaps parents have also been carried by the media and technology such that the little time they get after work, apart from interacting with the children is consumed by the internet; movies, social media, and entertainment among other things that technology has made available. When this is the case, teens also get the freedom to immerse themselves in all manner of things without the fear of consequences.
It is also important to note that we are living in a world where parents have become reckless with their children. There are no more limits at home and even communicating with the children and instilling good morals has become a thing of the past. Children, therefore, draw lessons from their peers, whether negative or positive and that is what contributes to their life struggles, misbehavior, lack of direction in life, and lack of self-assurance.
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Bullying
You must have become a victim of bullying at some point in your teenage. It is not something you can smile about. When you are bullied, especially by your peers, you feel like the world would end, and you feel dejected and valueless. Of course, every child or teenager would want to be accepted by their peers. However, it is always the norm for peers to ridicule, bully, and cast all manner of issues to the point that a victim feels helpless.
It may start with the way you dress, how your parents dress or show up in school with oversize clothes and torn shoes, and even things that you may not be aware of. Therefore, experiencing bullying as a teenager may feel like the end of the world and is the worst thing that can happen to you since you can easily lose your confidence and self-esteem.
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Social Media & Online Exposure
The evolution of technology has left teenagers at the mercy of social predators. Most teens that access social media for instance may find it difficult to quit and to focus on other constructive issues, and of course, it comes with negative influence since it affects their performance in school, give them unrealistic thoughts about life, and they thus may develop a careless life that doesn’t care about getting into trouble.
Apart from the social media influence, the internet has unlocked everything that teens of the yester years did not have access to. That is why moral decay is part and parcel of our teens today. Teenagers get access to pornography and other vices that may hold them captive for years. Therefore, when teens consume all manner of information from the internet, they may end up being hostile and ruined by what they consume.
Huge Expectations
Teens often struggle to meet the expectations of their parents, teachers, and society. It is expected of them to excel in school, get good grades, go to the university, pursue a prestigious course, get a good job, and start a good family.
According to Psychological researcher Dr. Thomas Curran, the rising expectations from parents have contributed to teens pursuing perfectionism over anything else, and this has contributed to a lot of issues such as depression, eating disorders, anxiety, and even self-harm.
Hormone Changes and Puberty
Hormone changes in the body also come with its struggles. Teens often experience these changes between the ages of 7 and 13 years, and 9 and 15 years for girls and boys respectively. This is the beginning of puberty and comes with teenage issues such as mood swings, nervousness, anxiety, emotional changes, and physical body changes.
At this stage, the teenagers feelings also change and they become more aggressive to explore the world, and they get confused, angry, or even scared without reason. Therefore, teenagers deal with all these issues at this stage and it is also a defining stage for them.
Need For Love and Assurance
Teenagers need to be loved. They need assurance from parents that they are worthy and valuable whether they are making good progress in life or not. When this fails, they may feel worthless and may end up being frustrated in life or get engaged in toxic behaviors and habits.
An area that suffers most when parents fail to acknowledge their teens is self-esteem. A child who doesn’t receive parental assurance can easily lose their self-esteem and confidence and this may make them become objects of ridicule by their peers. Therefore, as a parent, you should always learn the tips for raising a teenager so that you don’t fail your parental responsibility of acknowledging them and showing them love.
Final Thoughts
From the issues I have discussed, it is evident that being a teenager is hard nowadays due to the reasons that I have explained. In fact, it is the worst compared to a few decades ago when good morals defined society unlike currently where teens get too much exposure and freedom to do what they want.
Therefore, this should be a clarion call for parents to up their game in handling teens and children so that they can help mold and guide them in the right paths of life.