“You have no clue what is going on with me, you just don’t understand what I’m going through” 

If you have been on the receiving end of a statement like from and emotional teenager, then you know how much raw emotion and frustration can come with those words.  That sounds like an over exaggerated statement spoken out of severe frustration, but if your adolescent child is saying that to you, it is probably one of the most truthful things that have come out of their mouth since they turned thirteen. 

Here is a common statement you may hear from the general public about teenagers; “it’s so difficult to be a teenager today.” While that is an accurate statement, most people stop there in their analysis because if we are honest, we really don’t know why it’s so hard exactly. We all agree that things are getting tougher for teens seemingly every day, but very few of us have spent enough time in that world to really unpack what makes it so tough. We tend to project our own adolescent experience on to a generation that has had to deal with a barrage of social media platforms and influences, Covid-19 shutdowns, unprecedented social change, and a world that is constantly communicating that their worth is tied to who they are socially.  

One of the most important things you must keep in mind if you are a parent of a teenager is, the social pressure that young people are facing today is 100 times harder than it was when we were growing up. Social media threw gas on an already pressure packed dynamic. In this podcast we take a look at what’s really going on in that world.