Teenagers face real concern on a daily basis as they are exposed to some overwhelming external and internal struggles. They experience and are expected to cope with hormonal changes, puberty, school pressure and more. Certain teenage struggles will be explained as follows.
In the first place, teenagers may face depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 4.1 million adolescents in the US will have at least one major depressive episode in 2020. That means 17% of American teenagers may experience depression before reaching adulthood. The cause of depression can be personal as well as academic and relational. Teenagers may not know how to deal with depression and this increases the magnitude of the problem more. For example, once, I got a bad result in an exam and it made me feel depressed. I cried a lot but this actually does not help solve the problem. The depression among teenagers is not a good sign as it can ruin their future.
Besides, teenagers may experience bullying. In the US, 30% of the teenagers have experienced bullying, either as a victim or a perpetrator. Teenagers do not know the seriousness of bullying, sometimes they just think it is a prank but it can in fact hurt someone badly. Victims may suffer from fear and in severe cases, they may hurt themselves or resort to suicide. Also, the Internet and social media platforms allow teenagers to bully their peers anonymously, and this worsens the bullying problem. There are several types of bullying, including verbal, physical, social and cyber. Common bullying behaviours include unwelcome teasing, pushing, isolating, disseminating private information and more.
Last but not least, most teenagers are addicted to technology. Since the 21st century, electronic devices have become an indispensable part in the life of teenagers. Spending a lot of time online becomes a problem when it interferes with teenagers’ daily routines. The time that teenagers spend on study, sleep and family and friends has been greatly reduced. Moreover, teenagers feel extreme anxiety when separated from their electronic gadgets. They cannot focus on things that they should deal with in reality. I was once addicted to a video game, which occupied me, making me neglect my academic study and even my health. I was not aware of the negative impacts until my results sounded an alarm. So, addiction to technology is something to be cautious of.
To conclude, teenage depression, bullying among peers and dominance of technology in teenagers’ life are common. Parents and teachers have the responsibility to support the teenagers in handling these struggles and be alert to their problems before they loom large.