They Say, I Say 2

They Say, I Say

            Adults might say that teens have all the time in the world to do what they want or to become the person that they want. That teens are these crazy beasts that do whatever they want, whenever they want, just because they can. They see this new generation of people as kids who are lazy and just sit around getting drunk and/or high on the weekends and then they do nothing during the week except skip class. There is a huge gap between this newer generation and the last one, and an even bigger gap between the one before that. The millennials are seen as childish and greedy and kids that get handed anything that they ask for. Isn’t that expected though?

            Angela Avery, a licensed professional in counseling for marriage and family and a trained therapist, states some interesting things that give insight on why teens act the way they do. She has a great metaphor for this all. “Would you work a highly demanding, fast-paced job Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., take a small break, then work another job that requires intense focus both mentally and physically from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.? Let’s say the pay sucked. Advancement was dependent on performance, and your coworkers were sometimes enemies. In addition, you had only 20 minutes to eat lunch in a loud, chaotic environment. Sound appealing? I didn’t think so. But yet we ask our children to do it. Welcome to high school 2015” (8 Ways Parents Can Help Teens with Academic Overwhelm). What this does is compare a regular high school student to that of an adult that has to work two jobs. What it shows is that teens these days have no time for themselves. Between having to be at school for 6-7 hours a day, not including if a student has any curricular activities, then having to go to a part time job so that they have money for the college that they so desperately need to go to in order to better their future, they have no time to discover who they really are or to enjoy life as a teen. Then on top of all of that stress, there is homework that they need to worry about. It’s no wonder that teens these days are depressed.

            I say that I can see where both of these things come from. Yes, this generation is very different from the previous ones, but what can you expect? No one works for anything anymore. It is just given to them without having to put any work forth. Yes, there is a lot on teen’s plates with everything that goes on in their lives. Teens think that they can’t figure out what they want to be or who they want to be, but I think that is a false statement. Through all this struggle and criticism from others is where you find yourself. You think you don’t have enough time? It’s how you react to that that makes you who you are and defines you. You think that taking the easy way out is the best way? That is also a defining factor. You find yourself in what you do that the struggles you endure. It’s no wonder why older generations see us the way they do.