Dear Readers:

According to American Psychological Association “Despite the impact that stress appears to have on their lives, teens are more likely than adults to report that their stress level has a slight or no impact on their body or physical health (54 percent of teens versus 39 percent of adults) or their mental health (52 percent of teens versus 43 percent of adults)” (Bethune). Many teenagers will wake up and check their phones, see the new trends or see a new rumor spread about them, then they go to school to try and learn and still be cool enough and smart enough and potentially deal with drama that occured. Teens often don’t talk about their problems and keep it tucked away, and this affects them heavily. Teens are also often told they don’t know real stress even though many deal with loads of stress daily from maintaining good grades to keeping a high profile on social media.

One reason teens are stressed out because of school and their jobs. For example, teens at school or work may be confused or struggling with an assignment or a task at work. Those teens are also too scared of feeling like an inconvenience or seeming dumb so they stress out about not getting the best grades from being confused. In addition, at school there tends to be a lot of drama especially with friends. With this drama they can be very upset or angry or stressed on top of trying to succeed in school causing a snowball of drama. According to npr, when a highschool student found out she didn’t have a 4.0 both her and her mother were confused and she was upset she didn’t receive the grades she deserved from the very hard classes she took (Neighmond). Teens work extremely hard and stress themselves out over homework and classwork but still don’t receive the grades they believe they earn hence causing more stress to do better and better. Some people may say teens don’t know real stress until they are in the real world but they clearly do feel anxious and stressed from trying to be and do their best to set themselves up for the career that they want.

Another way teens are very stressed out because of social media and trying to keep a good reputation and positive digital footprint. In particular, teens try so hard to keep up their social media facade. Everything a teen posts online needs to be the best thing they could post in order to  be liked and shared the most, and they need to also know that what they do right now online still affects them in the future. In addition, teens feel the need to have the most likes and followers and views to try and prove themselves. Teens want to show they’re the most popular and if they lack then they aren’t seen to be the best or most popular.  According to Usable Knowledge website , “One study found that 48% of teens who spend 5 or more hours per day on electronic devices have at least one suicidal risk factor compared to 33% of teens who spent 2 hours a day on electronic devices” (Shafer). These teens try so hard online and on social media to be perceived as the best and it’s emotionally draining and seriously affecting teens health.

Teen are also often told they don’t know real stress even though many deal with loads of stress on a day to day basis from keeping good grades to pursuing a high profile on social media. Teens are generally very stressed out, they have a lot going for them that they don’t want to lose and it can get hard sometimes. Just because they don’t talk about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect them greatly.

Sincerely,

Brittan