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Inescure teenagers. *note, not a poem
I believe society’s recent, current and newest generation has and is painting a more vivid image then anyone before on how to act, primarily through the use of the media. A stereotypical “healthy” personality has been constructed; this type of person is commonly referred to as an extrovert. Someone who is extroverted is generally described as being social, friendly, charismatic, outgoing, and ultimately confident. The opposite of an extrovert is an introvert, (I don’t think I need to explain the qualities of an introvert because they are relatively the opposite of the ones I just listed of an extrovert).
I believe we as a society have become more superficial in our ideals, we have drifted from understanding people to being more critical of them, especially if they do not meet the normal criteria we subconsciously set when we judge people (I believe my generation and the newest one have been bred into this criteria set by society, so it is nature).
Why are a lot of teenagers insecure with themselves? It is because they are uncomfortable with themselves, but that is obvious. The bigger question is why people are uncomfortable with being themselves; you would think that since confidence derives from experience you would be most confident at being yourself because who else would you have more experience being? While people are encouraged to be “individualistic” in their thinking and to just be “themselves”, we are constantly fed societies standards of what is normal and people recognize that if they’re qualities don’t mesh with societies standards of acceptance, then they must be “weird” and this thinking leads people to shape their personality around the traits considered desirable, even if these qualities are unnatural to them and leads them to act out of their comfort zone. This all formulates into an unhappy, self-conscience, socially inhibited person; generally.
Think, why are there so many teenage suicides and self-abuse these days? I believe a good portion of it is due to the fact that they feel neglected and unwanted by their peers and are labeled as “weird, loser, awkward, outcast, freak, and etc.” just because they don’t harbor these “desirable” traits. And I don’t believe suicide and cutting were just as prominent amongst teenagers as they’ve always been, and that people are just simply more aware now because we can publicize more readily via the convenient available source of the media.
I’m 17 and I live in this type of environment and I witness firsthand how people are mistreated or negatively stereotyped just because their different.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are other factors that lead to people feeling insecure, but I believe this reason is one of the more prominent reasons especially amongst teenagers, and that is what I’ve keyed on.
