If you know anything about ten pop culture, you know that adults and the American culture itself send many mixed messages to teens. You may not see the messages, but many teens identify with what I say here.

One of the largest mixed messages I see is the portrayal of sex. We are constantly being bombarded with subliminal and blatant messages about sex. According to the media, you need to sleep with someone, but if anyone finds out or the girl gets pregnant, the girl is labeled as a s*** by society. Now, how does that add up? Quite simply, it doesn’t. When you send out the image that sex is fine, even almost a requirement, you do not then call the girl who followed your message as a w****. Can you see how teens are so confused? If not, keep reading.

Another big contradiction is the live in the moment/think of the future mixed message I see in culture and adults quite often. When we are being told so many times to just do it, you are only gonna live once, live in the moment, how can we be reasonably expected to plan and think of the future all the time? The answer is simple: we can’t.

The last mixed message I’m going to discuss here involves appearance. Since teens are being told to express ourselves with our hair and clothes, we naturally want to do so. However, strict school dress codes and parents tell us many times that something is “too outlandish”. When someone tells the average teenager to use how they look, they naturally want to. But when society or that same person turns around and tells them to express themselves in the way they prefer, it gets quite confusing. This leads to rebellion and a “Screw you” attitude.

So now you see how teens assailed with incessant mixed messages, and how it’s no wonder we rebel the way we do.