20 Teenagers’ way of life

TEENAGERS´ WAY OF LIFE

The lifestyle of a teenager is often defined by the way they look at themselves and how they think others see them.

They learn how to cope with life, develop mentally, physically, and emotionally as they grow into independent and self-reliant adults. Teenagers are expected to go to school, interact with their peers, build relationship, learn to take responsibility for decisions they make, learn to communicate effectively, and learn to make distinctions between right and wrong on their own.

Most teens live their lives according to things that are popular at the time. The style of clothes they wear, the music they listen to, the games they play, TV shows, hair styles, and popular foods are all a part of teen life. We tend to avoid discomfort and failure, but it’s good to be different and push ourselves from our comfort zone these days – we can wear what we want, what we like, because it can represent who we really are and things we like to do. If we try something new we can learn a lot of things about ourselves, we can find out we are good at something, what makes us feel good and confident and things like that.

• free time, typical activities – hobbies, spending time with friends, schoolwork, trying to figure out who we are, doing sports, favourite activities, travelling, listening to music, making new friendships and relationships, ...

• jobs (part-time jobs, summer jobs to make some money – a cashier, a shop assistant, working in a fast food, …) volunteering (in a shelter, some event/social occasion, …)

• the way they live – teenagers have hopes, dreams, and a desire to be loved and respected, understood and appreciated, and they want to be given the opportunity to be who they are. They have same problems as their peers, are trying to be successful, learn new things, make new connections with people, first love, they are affected by social medias and internet, everyday activities – school, free time, part-time jobs, …

• what changed during life – our thinking and approach to different things has changed, our opinions (we used to be affected by our parents´ opinions and decisions), our attitude, our identity has changed and is always evolving and by identity I mean a combination of all the things that make us “us” - our passions and interests, our character, who are we surrounded with, our decisions, our morals, how we treat others, …

• friendships and relationships – relationships with family (more open, better and deeper relationship with parents, more communicative x misunderstandings, fear of judgment, fear of not living up to some expectations, more lies, worse relationships with parents or siblings, no communication), good and healthy friendships (surrounded by people we trust, we like to talk to, we spend a lot of time with, good relationships because we have the same interests, we are the same age, we have the same problems, same opinions, …) x bad and toxic friendships (talking behind someone´s back, judgment, bullying, harassment, …)

• problems – teenagers are always under pressure from their peers, family members and society. They are concerned about how they look, what they wear, who their friends are, and what other people think about them, but the truth is that nobody really cares, nobody is paying that much attention to what do we do and wear and things we like. They have problems like misunderstandings in communication with others, adults, parents, time management (school, studying, free time activities, part-time job, housework, …), fear of judgment, not understanding, going on parties – an opportunity to drink alcohol, take drugs (smoke weed), smoke cigarettes, be surrounded by people who have bad influence on us, teen pregnancy, …

• social media – pros (communication with friends, finding new things, meeting new people with same interests, sharing our experiences and memories) cons (sharing a lot of personal information, photos, cyberbullying - cyberbullying is when someone, typically a teenager, bullies or harasses others on the internet and other digital spaces, particularly on social media sites. Harmful bullying behaviour can include posting rumours, threats, sexual remarks, a victims' personal information. Bullying or harassment can be identified by repeated behaviour and an intent to harm. Victims of cyberbullying may experience lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and various negative emotional responses, including being scared, frustrated, angry, or depressed)

• generation gap - a difference of attitudes between people of different generations, leading to a lack of understanding, a difference of opinions between one generation and another regarding beliefs, politics, or values. In today's usage, generation gap often refers to a perceived gap between younger people and their parents or grandparents.