The idiocy of a teenage perspective

“Teenagers have more difficult problems than adults do.” – Discuss

This may seem like an exaggerated statement, and though, in some ways it is, there is also an underlying truth as to teenagers’ perspectives of the world. We may stress over not having a new phone, being excluded at school, but how many adolescents have, realistically, considered the complexities of adult life?

The painful truth is that people within our age group are simply in far too much of a rush to grow up. The perfect example is the choice between fourth and fifth year. It astounded me. You would be utterly shocked by the amount of people who chose fifth year, not because they felt ready to, or because they didn’t want to get into bad habits, but for a desire to “get out of this s***ty school”.

For this reason I wonder, how do they expect to get jobs within an economic climate such as this? Do they realise that even people with 3rd level educations are unable to hold down jobs? It is a constant wakeup call as to the blatant immaturity idealistic notions of this generation; it worries me. How many transition year students spend their afternoons researching college courses and the points system? I do. How many teenagers worry about moving out and needing to be able to sustain their own lifestyles? I do. What about children? Mortgages? Bills?

On the other hand, it never ceases to amaze me the number of teenagers who sincerely believe that the world revolves around their problems, or that their parents may as well be cash machines. Granted, we do deal with peer pressure, etc, and realistically, our entire society, globally, regardless of age, depends on conformity. We are the products of our generations.

It can be argued, that within a teenager’s own mind, their problems may be seen as more difficult. However, there is no more subtle way to point this out than to say this is because we tend to overdramatize our issues. We can put this down to hormones. We can put this down to a yearning for attention. My personal theory is that it is learned behaviour.

For instance, if you see your friends all veering towards a certain type of music, whether you recognise this as a peer pressure or not, you are very likely to chose this music genre for yourself. It has become subconscious; conforming is the new automatic reflex.

As such, we make a big deal of the smallest thing. If a friend double-crosses you, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a solution; talk it through, work it out, or don’t be friends. Yet, generally, adolescents would view this as more difficult than working to feed your family, or worrying about the price of your child’s phone bill.

Though arguments can be made in favour of the statement “Teenagers have more difficult problems than adults,” it may be firmly concluded that they only believe that they do.