I’m in my 50s and my teenage children tell me that generally teenagers of this generation face a much more stressful existence than of my generation. Apparently, due to the internet, academic expectations and having to excell in all areas, among others.
Anyone agree or have any thoughts on the subject?
2nd teenager in my small town just committed suicide
Do teenagers today face more stress than previous gen’s?
High School Running
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Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
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ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I agree. More stressful now. School and homework and academic expectations are out of control.
That said, kids now are less resourceful than before in my opinion. Parents and “the system” control every aspect of their lives. -
I think the answer is very geo-dependent, but overall yes, big time.
I think as parents, it behooves us to guide our children on how to find peace despite the enormous pressures placed upon them. It's understandable that you didn't get this until your kids mentioned it and were witness to teen suicide since it's not immediately obvious.
I'm lucky to have been born in the early 80s and lived through *some* of these societal changes first hand in my very late teens and early 20s so I kind of get it.
Good luck.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140/ -
ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Take all this and add to it the enormous social pressure that being connected 24/7 brings, not to mention to permanency of Internet. There's just no room to be yourself, find yourself, or f up even a little bit. -
maffeboner wrote:
ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Take all this and add to it the enormous social pressure that being connected 24/7 brings, not to mention to permanency of Internet. There's just no room to be yourself, find yourself, or f up even a little bit.
100% true -
Please pleaseAre wrote:
(...) teenagers of this generation face a much more stressful existence than of my generation. Apparently, due to the internet, academic expectations and having to excell in all areas, among others.
How does that square with the dumbing down of the SAT’s and AP courses, rampant grade inflation even at the Ivies, and helicopter parenting?
As for the internet being a cause of stress, I’d say it’s only if all you use it solely for social media. If your teenagers have academic goals, here’s one idea for your next family evening: “Library card catalogue system vs. Google Scholar: compare and discuss.”
Being a teenager is inherently stressful, sure. But we were all angsty at that age. -
I believe social media has a lot to do with stress today. This feeds into a whole egocentrism of today's culture (mostly in developed countries). Social media has manifested into a whole "look at me, I'm successful because of X" or a whole "no look over here because I accomplished Y" today's generation is over exposed to so much "hey look at me" that they have a hard time at truly identifying themselves and how to express themselves due to so much pressure of being judged not by just their inner circle of peers but by everyone who is 'following' them from around the world. Teenagers already have an "imaginary audience" (that feeling as a child when it felt like everyone was looking or judging you based on your hair style that day or perhaps you have a minor blemish on your face and everyone is talking about or exclusively focusing on that hair style). This imaginary audience is amplified by engaging into social media. The stuff kids do to one up each other or create new inventive ways to get "likes" or "views" is far different now. I could on and on about it, but to people who think that social media has nothing to do with anything has to be kidding themselves.
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maffeboner wrote:
ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Take all this and add to it the enormous social pressure that being connected 24/7 brings, not to mention to permanency of Internet. There's just no room to be yourself, find yourself, or f up even a little bit.
There is an easy fix for this. -
well actually wrote:
maffeboner wrote:
ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Take all this and add to it the enormous social pressure that being connected 24/7 brings, not to mention to permanency of Internet. There's just no room to be yourself, find yourself, or f up even a little bit.
There is an easy fix for this.
Yeah, really. The social pressure of being connected 24/7? The lack of sleep? All sounds self-induced. Take control over your own life and don't be a sheep. Parents, step in here & help these kiddos out, will ya? -
Early baby boomer males (men who are now in their 60s and early 70s) grew up with the knowledge that as soon as they reached age 18 they would be shipped off to Vietnam and likely come back in a body bag or missing vital parts of their anatomy. I think that's a little more stressful than not getting enough likes on social media.
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kmaclam wrote:
well actually wrote:
maffeboner wrote:
ACL Thief wrote:
Yes, for the most part. I personally think most of it has to do with a lack of quality sleep. Many kids are living off 3-5 hours of sleep or less every night in high school. Add to this the overwhelming work in both academics and extracurriculars to aid in the increasingly competitive college application process, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Take all this and add to it the enormous social pressure that being connected 24/7 brings, not to mention to permanency of Internet. There's just no room to be yourself, find yourself, or f up even a little bit.
There is an easy fix for this.
Yeah, really. The social pressure of being connected 24/7? The lack of sleep? All sounds self-induced. Take control over your own life and don't be a sheep. Parents, step in here & help these kiddos out, will ya?
Pressure and lack of sleep... Too be fair those are problems most adults face at at least some period in their life and they are problems that come with responsibility. In the passed kids had such simple lives with no responsibility. Now days their lives are much more complicated with so much more to worry about. Under different circumstances this might help them mature faster in life but with how babied to and pampered they've become it just turns into a huge mess of angst and other emotions. Basically society is producing softer kids who lead more stressful lives. -
Or those in the early 1940's that were off fighting a major war or knew they were going to be sent off to fight it pretty soon. That was probably pretty stressful
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Yes they do face lots of stress, it gets harder and harder to succeed every year.
I went to a horrible HS, and even there the average ACT score a decade ago was 20, now its 26. At higher tier high schools competition is even worse. Kids get smarter and the competition gets stiffer. Academics are what most people are judged on. -
being a teenager is gay i cant wait till im a big boy
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I think yes, for sure. I'm in my mid 30s and looking at my sister's kids, it's a very different playing field from even one generation ago. I actually was thinking about this the other day, I have no idea how kids these days are doing it. In some aspects, they have a lot more to deal with and a fewer job prospects/housing opportunities await them later.
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amkelley wrote:
Early baby boomer males (men who are now in their 60s and early 70s) grew up with the knowledge that as soon as they reached age 18 they would be shipped off to Vietnam and likely come back in a body bag or missing vital parts of their anatomy.
mr_marbles wrote:
Or those in the early 1940's that were off fighting a major war or knew they were going to be sent off to fight it pretty soon. That was probably pretty stressful
Yes, because living through 9/11 plus constant domestic terrorist attacks plus another 'Cold War' going on with North Korea and conflicts on and off in the Middle East have been really easy on kids' mentalities too.
This wasn't the case in my generation, I'd say they have it way more stressful than I did.
maffeboner wrote:
There's just no room to f up even a little bit.
I would say if I were a teen again, this would be one of the more stressful factors. You literally cannot make a mistake (or at least get caught on camera) for fear of extreme retribution, be it social or by the law. The consequences these days are a lot more extreme than they were just 30 years ago. -
Because WW1, WW2 and Vietnam were cakewalks compared to mean old Trump.
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If we had social media when I was growing up, I’m not sure I would have made it out.
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Yes, and the scary piece with social media and technology is that, even if you don’t really engage, someone can be taking a photo, video, or audio of you and post it somewhere.
Kids seems obsessed with the concept of snitching (we called it tattling when I was in elementary school and I honestly forget what we called it in high school) yet they all just endlessly incriminate one another via the digital realm.
That whole lens with the amplification of constant stimulation allows these kids to not get to truly be at peace ever.
I can tell that there are still kids who read books and play outside. I don’t know how these unicorns exist, but it allows me to cling to hope.
I agree with posts saying it starts with the parents but that is a whole nightmare I don’t have the space to cover in-depth here.
