Teens, Tweens, and Why We're Not Just Being Drama Queens

With all of the technology that is so readily available to us nowadays, it's easy to assume that life is significantly easier than in the past. This theory is particularly applied to teenagers, with adults saying that "They have it so easy now," and, "They never had all of that technology when they were young." But do we ever really stop to think about the negative side effects of this technology-focused upbringing? Yes, in a practical sense, life is easier for teenagers in today's world than it has been in the past, and technology has played a huge part in that. However, is the rise of technology having a psychological impact on young people, and, if so, why does it go over-looked?

I know that we're all aware of the dangers of social media: that it can stop us from having real, human interactions with our friends, that it opens up a platform for bullies to be anonymous, and that it puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on young people. We always talk about this "pressure" but what kind of pressure are we actually talking about? We know all about the pressure to look a certain way and how detrimental that can be to people's body confidence and mental health, but is there another kind of pressure that we're not talking about?

The pressure to succeed. Surely success should be a good thing. We equate success with happiness and fulfillment, which are things we all strive for, but social media has redefined what success really means. Social media constantly presents us with people's success stories, people getting promotions and awards, and people traveling the world and buying designer everything. Our generation seems to be obsessed with this idea of the "grind" and constantly working in order to achieve our goals, which should technically be a positive thing, but it can also put a lot of unwanted pressure on young people to strive for unattainable goals. Of course it is good to succeed, and success should in no way be viewed as a bad thing, but will we ever be satisfied? Will there ever come a point when we will just be content with what we have, and stop striving for more. Young people are constantly being made to feel like they are failures because they are comparing themselves to these "perfect" people on Instagram. When our parents were 13 they were just content playing with their friends and going to school, but now there are 13-year-olds with their own businesses, tv shows, and albums. And these are the people we're comparing ourselves to! It is unrealistic to think that every teenager is going to own their own company by 16 and be a millionaire by 18, and yet this kind of unattainable standard is what young people are holding themselves up to. It creates a toxic environment where young people feel as though they can't just relax and have fun with their friends because they're always having to be "hustling" and moving towards their goals.

As a society, we have lost all concept of just being content with where we are and what we have. I think it's time we reclaim the word "success". Success means different things to different people and if your version of success is living a simple life and having fun with the people you love, as opposed to making lots of money and being famous, then that's okay. Stop letting social media tell you what you should be doing in order to succeed, and start working out what success really means to you.