Adults, Teenagers, and Society

There has always been an ongoing battle between people and society. Whether we are involved in it or not, whether we choose to ignore it or not, it's there and it's not going away. We see it in the media and in real life. It's everywhere.

The other day, a new commercial aired featuring a gay couple. Soon after, conflict broke out between those who supported and did not support it.

Yesterday a plus-size model walked the runway at a fashion show. The moment she walked out on stage for everyone to see, another conflict arose.

Today someone writes openly about suicide on their blog and an uproar of unhappy comments and posts on other sites start up, adding to the list of conflicts we already have going on. What is going to happen next?

These are only examples I thought of to bring across my point, but they all have happened at some point in the past and will continue to happen in the future. There are many conflicts in this world but the one I believe, in my personal opinion, that is ignored the most is the conflict between adults, teenagers, and society.

I am 15 years old. The society I have grown up in is not one that I take full pride in. As children, we are unable to bring together our own opinions. We rely on our parents and our surroundings to teach us moral reasoning: the thinking process in which we learn what is right and what is wrong. When I was finally old enough to have my own views and opinions, I thought things would change. I thought I would have a voice in my life and in the society I have grown up in. But I didn't.

In fact, everywhere I looked, whether I saw it in the media or right in front of me, it was like society was telling me I couldn't have my own views or opinion.

I want you to think about something honestly. Whether you are an adult or a teenager, older or younger. What does society tell you about teenagers? What have you read or heard about and how much do you actually know?

Have you heard that teenagers are young? They don't understand the world yet and they haven't experienced everything for themselves like adults have. Teenagers believe they know everything. They will tell you that they understand, but how can they if they haven't experienced what adults have?

Have you noticed teenagers want to control their own lives? The moment they realize their parents love them no matter what, they're going to take advantage of that. It's important to set rules and restrictions for teenagers. As long as they live with their parents, the parents are in control and it's their job to protect them.

Did you know teenagers will rebel? Don't think that setting rules will stop them from doing things parents won't want them too. They're impulsive and reckless. They are emotionally driven: unstable. They shouldn't make big decisions on their own. They can make small decisions, but parents should make the bigger ones.

Oh, and we can't forget about how addicted to teenagers are to electronics and social media. They use Snapchat to talk secretly and send nudes. They use online dating apps to hook up with strangers and apps like Sarahah to bully other teenagers anonymously. And worst of all, they waste hours and hours on their phones, day and night, doing nothing but scrolling through different feeds. Social media is all but poisonous. What they see and read can put ideas into their heads and-

Do people ever stop and wonder if teenagers read everything society says about them? Do they ever read over what they write about teenagers and think:

"If teenagers read all these negative things about their generation and what little faith society has in them, what ideas would these writings put into their head?"

Believe me. I know that there are teenagers out there who are just as "bad" as society depicts them. It's true that we are young. We haven't experienced a lot and we can't understand everything. We are growing, and we will continue to grow for a long time. There is so much teenagers have yet to learn and there is no limit to what we can learn. And it's true that we are still developing mentally and physically, meaning it's true that we are emotionally and impulsively driven.

But parents should not limit us. Society should not label us.

Our society is large and I'm not saying there is only negativity, but there is so much of it that it has become hard to find positivity. As I have grown up, I have seen so many negative things about teenagers—about myself—that is has become hard for me to love being a teenager. It is hard to be the young adult I want to be when society is constantly telling me that I'm someone else.

Teenagers are not the only ones who have seen the messy and misinterpreted picture that society has painted of them. Parents have seen it too. We all know how badly parents want to protect their children. Parents care about their children more than anyone. And if they lack the connection with their teenager that they wish they had, they might look to society or the media for help.

To tell you something personal, I do not have a good relationship with my father. He doesn't know me as well as he used to and we lack that very connection that all parents and children need. He looked to society. He read about teenagers in media. And he has labeled me, just as they have.

I like to think I'm a good kid. I have never done anything wrong. Yes, I've made mistakes like any kid has, but I have never done anything wrong. I have a good hobby (writing obviously), I'm social and have good relationships with my friends, I take care of my responsibilities, and I stay out of trouble. If you knew me, you would call me a goody-two-shoes! And you would think that would be good enough for my father. Every parent wants a goody-two-shoes, right?

Even though I have never given my father any reason to put me down, society has given him every reason. My father believes in the label society has placed on teenagers. And a lot of my friends' parents believe in this label too. I can not tell you how many teenagers I have encountered that struggle with the label society has placed upon us. And I can not tell you how many of them have given in to the label because everyone already believed them to be someone they weren't.

I wrote this because I believe the conflict between adults, teenagers, and society is an extremely important topic. This is not just my opinion. It is my life and many other teenagers' life. It is something teenagers struggle with daily.

I did not write this because I'm a teenager who hates adults or society. I did not write this to point fingers or downgrade adults either. I just want to shed some light on a topic I think is often pushed into the dark any time it surfaces. I don't know if writing this will help. I don't know if anyone will even consider my views on this topic for the same reason I wrote about it. But I hope they do.

Parents should not limit their children for fear that their child is someone they are not. Teenagers should not feel doomed to become someone they are not.

Society should not label teenagers. We do not all share the same fate.