Dear adults,

In everyday life teenagers are faced with challenges that separate them from everyone else, but why is that? Have you ever noticed that teens are basically doing what adults did but because you have “matured” you identify their actions as a rebellious act towards everyone else, the common perspective towards teenagers is negative (90%of the time) but there is a reason for this, I am here to dispel some of the reasons why teens act this way.

 

Firstly WE ARE ALL HUMAN. When we are between the ages of 13-19 our minds are very open and we find different ways of expressing feelings. Even when these ‘expressions’ result in injury, most teens will take the risk. Even though this is bad this is not always the case, in fact there are many successful teenagers out there who have got their success from taking risks such as facebook; one of the biggest social media websites in the world, the website created by a teenager who wanted to keep in contact with everyone, little did he know that a local website would go global. Some of the most talented people are teenagers and holds some of the worlds most interesting records, teenagers aren’t always perceived as bad but a large majority of people do not like the way that they act because maybe they were brought up differently or it could be that it is just the people who have had bad experiences with them give them a bad reputation.

 

Jealousy. I know what you are thinking but its true, certain adults get jealous of teenagers because they have had better advantages than you. Think about it, if adults would have spoken out to a higher being then your words may have affected them in in some way that there would of been a change in what thing you had access to during the time of which you needed it, but wouldn’t you still be jealous? Those advantages you could of had when you were younger would of just been improved in the future so in the end you’ll just have to accept the fact that technology is improving and electronic devices and equipment are just going to keep getting better.

 

Stereotyping. This plays a huge factor in why teenagers are outcast from everyone else. trends are what influence what teens do, say and wear and nowadays there is a lot of influential content in the media and in the news, and teens either think this is “cool” or “dumb”. If teens think it is cool they’ll start to do similar things to what that person has done or speak in the same dialect as them. This will affect the people around them, as you know first impressions are important ,and if you are walking down the road with your trousers halfway down your legs, hoodie with the hood up, then everyone around you would want to try and avoid you because you present a negative image. On the other hand if the same person, wearing the same clothes (but properly), with trousers where they are supposed to be and hoodie un-zipped with the hood off, then people will react differently.

The final fact is that because the media shows teens doing bad things, it does not necessarily mean that they are ALL bad. Like I said before teens take risks and sometimes those risks pay off leaving them with a good reputation. However, when the risks become too extreme then that is when things get out of hand. Some teens may just only want attention, but they get none so they start a riot and try their best to get attention but in the wrong way. You might be living in debt and you try to find a way to get money and you end up selling drugs or robbing a bank in order to survive. Teens, like all people, react to their changing circumstances and hardships. What’s different is the extent that people, including teens but not exclusively, will do to survive. Perhaps it is true that teens are more susceptible to bad decisions, but they are young and should be forgiven.

 NEVER trust what the media says, they can always put lies into your head to make you think otherwise. There are over 7 billion people in this world, 3 billion of them being teenagers and you’re going to let 1 individual make them all look bad.

 

Think about that.


Dontaye hudson-francis