Looking around the world today, there are so many things and reasons why teenagers should feel happy and secure with so many resources that are available to them. The way teenagers can stay connected with one another with incredible technologies they possess, such as smart phones with the ability to communicate on many different levels or even the huge efforts that the United States goes through to ensure they have a good education and the higher education that is available to them after high school. The sky is taught to be the limit and for some that is exactly the case. So why are so many teenagers in the United States feeling so depressed these days and why can horrible news be seen on television about such useless acts of violence or suicide many times a year? Some reasons are harder to understand than others but here a few thoughts of what I have come up with that could answer the question.
Cell phones, computers, laptops, digital camera's, digital video cameras and even cars are all looked upon some of our teenagers as things they need to feel like they have are worth anything. Such material items are only dreamed of by other teenagers and if they do possess such items, they are usually older models that were found in the United States years ago. Cars are usually owned only by parents and are used when necessary.
The term, "News travels fast" has been giving a whole new meaning by the social networks that are available also. Social giant Facebook ensures that everyones business is spread faster than ever before. If something significant happens in ones life, they can be sure that everyone will know about it the second it is typed into the status bar of the website. Privacy has become almost impossible. The only way to have privacy is to not take advantage of what the world is offering to teenagers today and to not take advantage of it means having a feeling of being left out, which no teenager wants to feel, so one thing takes precedence over the other and privacy is out the window.
Having said that, the driving factor that makes these teenagers feel like they need these things is due to the media. Whenever they turn on the television to there favorite programs, which usually include MTV or a show with lives for other teenagers to be full of money and beauty. Celebrities have the lives and popularity that every teenager wants and each one strives for the attention that these stars have on a daily basis. Trying to reach for such high goals is very hard on the mind of a teenager and when they are not even getting attention they want from their peers at school, it does make them depressed that they cannot even have it there.
Beauty is another reason that lots of teenagers are depressed today. They see the images of super-models and pop stars and feel if they do not look like them, that there must be something wrong with them. It's always harder to be young and unattractive then it is to be older and unattractive. As we get older, we put less emphasis on what we look like and more on who we are as a person and what we have learned. As a young person who is trying to find out who they are, they always start by trying to be their favorite star or celebrity. Most of these celebrities are beautiful and shiny and full of life. These young people don't realize that they may be beautiful, but they have people who are paid lots of money to make them look as good as they do. Professional makeup artist, hair stylist and designers get paid and pay a lot of money for these stars to wear their products. Models are a lot of time even computer enhanced to make them seem flawless to catch the eye of the youngsters who are becoming depressed because they cannot look like them.
Following right along with that, teenagers today are more over weight in the United States then they have ever been. A teenagers diet is made up mostly of what is fast and convenient rather than what is good and healthy. It is estimated that over half of our young people today struggle with some sort of weight issue and its not getting any better. Being over weight can cause not only physical issues but also mental issues, such as depression. The effect of bad health has a physiological effect on a persons brain which causes uncontrollable feelings of depression. Being heavy can also cause a person to have no energy or desire to get up and do things to make their situation better.
Being a teenager is tough. It's the first time you try to find out who you are by expressing your personal beliefs and trying to remain part of the social circle at the same time. Most teenagers try to stay with what is popular even if they don't believe in it and this causes them to get confused about who they are in trying to keep up with the popular kids in school. The only advice that I could give to the young people growing up today, as cliche as it is, is to be yourself and the rest will be figured out in time.
