Adults always say that your teenage years are the best years but I think they're wrong. Everyone judges you for just being yourself, you're constantly under self-construction. Words are said, frowns are thrown, and that'll stick with you for life.
Many people say it's the hormones that drive teens to make horrible comments, but I think they know exactly what they're saying; They know the damage they're doing, the walls of confidence they're knocking down and it's not fair. Sure, we all do stupid things, make mistakes, but I have a right to make the choice on whether I'm going to forgive someone or not and they need to understand the weight of their words.
One of the main influencers to this is parents/guardians; They need to understand that we are young adults, that soon we will be out in the world, with only the guidance that they've provided. They also need to wrap their heads around the fact that we pick up on their mannerisms and opinions. It frustrates me when adults wonder why their child/teen is acting in such a way, when a majority of the time, it's how said child is perceiving the adult; making them believe that it's okay to behave like that. When adults say things like "I need to go on a diet." Or "I'm so fat." it makes us self-conscious about our own bodies.
Another contribution to this would be social media. Even though I am an avid user of things like Instagram and Snapchat myself, it really does impact your mindset. You see all these "perfect" people and their "perfect" lives when majorly it's false. We spend hours on different platforms comparing ourselves to others, and it's not healthy. It makes you feel down, like you're not good enough, pretty enough or talented enough; Changes need to be made, and that's something we need to tackle ourselves. One solution that comes to mind would be to have time limits set for each day, but that's something we will have to look into in due course.
Something that I'm sure annoys other teenagers and not just me, is that we're either treated like children or the weight of the world is put on our shoulders. We just want to be treated kindly and with respect, and as I like to say, respect goes both ways. Also, it frustrates us when people don't listen to our opinions or voices. We just want to be heard, so please stop ignoring us and dismissing our feelings (because those are important too).
This is only a small portion of the problems but thank you for listening,
Grace Kettle