The Toxic Teenage Culture – Are We To Blame For It?

Coming from a 16-year-old teenager, this might seem ironical but someone had to zero in on the vicious culture that had been perpetuating between young boys and girls lately. Here I have provided a list of those lethal mores that this generation preaches and passes unabashedly.

The Pretentiousness

The first and foremost is this entrenched dogma of pretending. Pretending to be opinionated, pretending to be messed up, pretending to be perfect, pretending to be imperfect. 99.5% of these teens feel that they are doing or writing or uploading what they want to, but only 0.5% of them realise that it’s just an indistinct spin-off of (say) Maya’s post.

The second thing that gets under my skin is the deceitful frame of mind that we youngsters possess. At one time we’d be sugarcoating about how excellent your idea of becoming a YouTuber is and in the other moment, we’d be the judgemental pessimists listing the cons of stepping into such an uncertain field, in the most appealing way possible.

The Short Forms

The third point from my endless list is an excessive obsession with hearts and acronyms. FYI: By heart, I mean the little one which is there on the left-hand side of every post and it begs you to double tap to complete it. Well, coming back to acronyms, IDK what is the problem with writing complete sentences. It was all smooth sailing till we had LOL and ROFL as the go-to ones. But it started getting into my nerves when we were served those unpalatable abbreviations like ICYI, SMH, TBH, TTYL, GTG Et cetera.

The Validation

The fourth thing is something more serious. It is Validation, that each one of us knowingly or unknowingly do seek. Be it about filters, About the brightness of your picture, About your body or about YOU!  It’s wasn’t wrong until we decided to give more gravity to other’s comments or views rather than our opinions.

I am not at all left untouched from this poisonous maze. I am a part of it, it’s just that I have realised that this part is not the best one to be in and many haven’t. They are still running after likes or views, validation or acceptance. I just want them to take a moment and breathe and realise.

If this is what they actually want, this web of inevitable rules bounded with moral (to be precise, virtual) obligations.

If this is what they actually want, this circle of approval and comments, of views and reposts.

It’s high time, Pals, you need to know that you are more than 12 likes, you are more than your friend list, you are more than your clothes and your Instagram profile.

You really are.

You have your own race, your own path. Don’t trip down on anyone else’s path and hope to win.

Image via Pixabay

Tasneem Khan

Student/Writer.

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