This Teenage Life

By This Teenage Life

What's This Teenage Life about?

This Teenage Life is a podcast made by teens about their ideas, stories, and unique perspectives in the middle of their own growth as humans. Please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected], we love hearing from listeners.

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This Teenage Life episodes:

04.22.2024
Youth Climate Innovation: Symbrosia
In celebration of Earth Day, we made this episode about a person who, in the face of climate change, chose to take a risk and make something new. In partnership with UNICEF USA, This Teenage Life teens speak with Alexia...
04.14.2024
5 Years of This Teenage Life!
This past March, TTL celebrated its 5th birthday! In this episode, the teens share stories of how they joined TTL and what the community has meant for them. All our current participants used to be listeners. If you want to...
04.02.2024
Stress Management
How do we stay resilient in the face of procrastination shame and test anxiety? When our bodies are in fight and flight and our brains are not thinking straight, what should we do? In this episode, the teens teams up...
03.25.2024
Group Chats
In this episode, the teens discuss their experiences on group chats — sharing stories about social dynamics and feelings of inclusion and exclusion. This episode features the amazing work of Emily Weinstein and Carrie James at the Center for Digital...
03.23.2024
Grown Daydreams
In this episode, the teens chat with Aleeza and Fonzo, the hosts of The Moth’s teen podcast, Grown — here on Apple podcasts and Spotify. We discuss our daydreams and anxieties about growing up and becoming people we want...
03.13.2024
Reflecting: 4 Years into the Pandemic
In this episode, TTL participants reflect on their varied experiences throughout the pandemic, from its beginning to what things are like now. The teens discuss anxiety, social changes, and dealing with complex grief. Some of the participants featured in this...
03.09.2024
Eco-Anxiety & Optimism
This week's episode is about climate and eco-anxiety. The teens discuss their grief about the climate emergency and other environmental crises. They then talk about transforming their feelings into shared action. Thank you to UNICEF USA and Anya Kamenetz....
03.03.2024
Hidden Disability 2
Inspired by one of This Teenage Life's newest members, this episode is about one young person's experience navigating identity development and middle social dynamics while also grappling with her experience of autism. If you are interested in sharing a story...
02.16.2024
Crushes 2.0
Yesterday was Valentine's Day in the U.S. and so it feels apt to revisit a topic from a previous episodes: crushes. In this episode, we share our thoughts on having crushes (or not), what it feels like, how and with...
02.16.2024
I'm Confident that I'm Insecure
In this episode, TTL participants explore their own insecurities and interview Gracie and Clyde Lawrence from the amazing band, Lawrence— here on Youtube + Spotify—about how music can serve as an outlet for reframing past and present insecurities. This episode...
02.16.2024
Dealing with Being Bullied.
This is an episode about two teens who have experienced being bullied and who are working to overcome it. Being bullied can take a toll on self esteem and mental health. It can feel like you're the only one...
02.16.2024
What Poetry Means To Me.
In this episode, Rani, one of the teen contributors to This Teenage Life, shares about her relationship with poetry. She describes how it became an important outlet for creative and emotional expression. Overcoming criticisms, she has stuck with writing, and...
02.16.2024
Throwback Episode — One Year, One Word
The holidays are a complicated time for many people. They bring up all kinds of feelings — nostalgia, cozyness, goals for the future, and anxieties about those left behind. Two days before the commencement of our next cycle around the...
02.16.2024
New Year, New You?
For many folks, January is a theoretically a time of goal setting and self-improvement aspirations. Of course, many of us want to grow and change, but do we have to do it in a particular way in a particular way?...
02.16.2024
Throwback Episode — Productivity Culture
Is the idea of productivity helpful? Harmful? How does it affect our mental health and well-being? How do the teens relate to productivity culture? In the midst of New Year's resolutions and goals, we revisit this episode about...
12.21.2023
Learning from Animals
In the fast-paced, tech-driven world we live in, it can be easy to become self- centered...specifically human-centered. In this episode, we hear from the teens about animal-friends who keep them grounded and inspired. We also hear from the prolific naturalist...
12.10.2023
Overthinking and Self Talk
For many of us here at This Teenage Life, how we talk to ourselves influences how we connect with others. In this episode, teens and experts share about their experiences and understandings of self talk, along with strategies for shifting...
12.03.2023
School Stress Rx: Healing Our Relationships with Learning
From tests, to essays, to the constant pressure to be productive...many teens at This Teenage Life are expressing how academic stress is overpowering their love of learning. How can teachers and students come together to change this — to foster...
11.19.2023
Religious & LGBTQ+
Here we’re responding to listener emails requesting an episode on how to navigate being queer while also living in religious communities where it’s stigmatized to be LGBTQ+. To explore this tension, we interview LGBTQ+ activist, Chaim Levin, who speaks about...
11.07.2023
Friend Breakups
Whether it be drifting apart from old friends, having a friend move to a new place or school, or severing ties with toxic friends, losing touch with people can be difficult and painful. In this episode, we're talking about the...
10.30.2023
Just checking in.
When teenagers feel seen and heard as whole people by teachers, it makes a huge difference in their experience at school. In this episode, we hear from teens and educators from across the U.S. about how teachers can foster strong...
10.27.2023
Compassion to Action
The world is heavy right now. The wars unfolding are tragic and many of us feel devastated and helpless. In this moment, what are some small things we can do to cultivate compassion and kindness in ourselves? How can we...
10.21.2023
To Our Friends Affected by the War in the Middle East
Our hearts are broken for those affected by the conflict and violence going on in the Middle East right now. We call to TTL community members to be the peace and humanity the world desparately needs.
09.26.2023
Seeds of Peace: Meeting The Other Side
This summer, Molly, the adult who works on This Teenage Life, visited the Seeds of Peace Camp, which brings together youth from regions of conflict including teens from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, India, Pakistan, and the U.S. She spoke with...
09.13.2023
Periods 2.0
It's been a while since our last episode on the topic, so after many requests, we're making another episode on periods. In this one, teens share stories and reflections on getting their periods for the first time, navigating the logistics...
09.05.2023
Transitioning Back to School: Feelings & Strategies
Social and academic dynamics are especially complex during the transition back to school. Some students are entering new schools for the first time while others are reuniting with friends they haven’t seen in months. In this episode, the teens discuss...
08.26.2023
Processing Parental Absence
In this episode, one of the amazing teens who works on the show shares her story about how she's navigating and processing the absence of her mom in her life — the ways she has struggled and grown, and how...
08.22.2023
Making Friends in College
Universities in the U.S. are starting up again. For many students, espeically freshmen, there's a lot of feelings around making friends. How do I connect with people? Are the people I'm meeting the first week going to be my foregver...
08.09.2023
Barbies, Toys, & Childhood Nostalgia
With the new Barbie movie recently released, we're feeling nostalgic for childhood. On this episode, we're discussing our favorite toys, what they mean to us, what we think about letting them go (or not), and how each of us keeps...
08.09.2023
Walking & Mental Health
Walking may seem like a simple, everyday activity, but for many TTL participants, it's a way to destress and find inner peace. In this episode, we discuss the important role that walking plays in our mental health.
07.30.2023
Sleep
We need sleep to stay healthy, and grown-ups often talk about how we should sleep more. But falling asleep can be hard. Between smart phones, overthinking, and FOMO, there’s a lot that can get in the way. In this episode,...
07.04.2023
Loneliness 2.0
One of our most popular episodes is our first episode on Loneliness. But many of our episodes center around this feeling, and This Teenage Life basically exists so that we can authentically connect with ourselves, each other, and the natural...
06.19.2023
Summer Reading
Over the summer, we have the opportunity to dig into books that reflect our tastes, interests, and which transport us to other worlds. In this episode, we explore how we choose summer reading books, what we like to read over...
06.12.2023
Internet Generation
Teens on the internet — it's a hot topic. At its worse, there's the youth mental health crisis, phone addiction, and cyberbullying. At its best, there's emapthic online friendships, creativity, expanded perspectives, and deep knowledge seeking. In this episode, we...
05.22.2023
The College Process
Applying to college in the U.S. is an multi-step, often emotional process. It can be challenging to write personal essays that construct neat narratives. And while we often try our best to get accepted to universities we like and can...
05.07.2023
Social Anxiety
Many of us struggle with social awkwardness and anxiety about social interactions. In this episode, inspired by listener emails, we discuss our relationship to social anxiety and how we deal with it.
04.26.2023
Nostalgia
Growing up can be confusing. It's easy to look to the past or future and fantasize about "when we all had it figured out." But for many of us, looking back can feel bittersweet, especially when we think of the...
04.15.2023
Where the boys at?!
This Teenage Life currently has four dialogue groups. This May we want to start a group specifically focusing on teens (ages 13-19) who identify as boys since most people in our other groups identify as girls. We’ll be running it...
04.04.2023
Writing Part 1: Journaling
For many of us, writing is an outlet — a way to create and access other worlds or express our feelings. On this episode, we're exploring our relationships to journaling and how it helps us be ourselves.
03.13.2023
Popularity & Cliques
This Teenage Life has teen contributors from dozens of countries. While we may have different languages and cultures, we've all had the experience of feeling excluded. In this episode, teens from across the world share their reflections on navigating cliques...
02.26.2023
This Teenage Life's Playlist
After many emails from listeners requesting an episode on music, we've finally made one about the songs we're listening to and what they mean to us. The episode shares our reflections. The link below is the playlist with the tunes:)...
02.12.2023
Dress Code
When you're in middle or high school, dress code can be a big part of your life. It can free you from thinking about what you have to wear, or it can make you incredibly self-conscious about your body. In...
01.30.2023
How Teachers Can Make Us Feel Safe
Many of us have or want adult in our lives who make us feel safe, seen, and heard. When teachers take the time to get to know us, they often transcend their role as subject guides and become more like...
01.23.2023
Exploring Feminism & Masculinity
What does it mean to be a feminist? How can men support the feminist movement? Can men be feminists? In this episode, 17-year-old Stella, explores these questions. She interviews three men about their relationship with feminism and masculinity in an...
01.06.2023
Hobbies
Hobbies and passion projects are not only fun, they're powerful. They can restore us and serve as outlets for stress relief and creative expression. In this episode of This Teenage Life we share our diversity of hobbies and how they...
12.28.2022
One year, one word.
On this episode, we reflect on the past year, using one word to sum it up — a great idea from one of the teens. Then, we set intentions for our next revolution around the sun together:) We are so...
12.21.2022
"Theater Kids"
In this episode, some of the teens share about their adventures in the theater. We discuss what it feels like to perform onstage, different lessons learned from theater, and what makes the theater community so special. We also chat with...
12.01.2022
Academic Pressure
In this episode we talk about our experiences of academic pressure and academic validation and how it makes us feel. This episode is sponsored by the XQ Institute. Check out their journalism challenge for 13-18 year olds based in...
11.24.2022
Finding Your Style
In this episode that (inspired by a listener), we discuss what it has meant to us to find our style — how it can be connected with self expression and our own relationship to our values and our identities.
11.15.2022
Overthinking & Intrusive Thoughts Part 1
Thoughts are just thoughts. They're not "real." But the meaning we make of them and power we give them can cause them to feel much bigger and more powerful than "just thoughts." In this episode, we talk about our own...

What's This Teenage Life about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

This Teenage Life episodes:

Youth Climate Innovation: Symbrosia

5 Years of This Teenage Life!

Stress Management

Group Chats

Grown Daydreams

Reflecting: 4 Years into the Pandemic

Eco-Anxiety & Optimism

Hidden Disability 2

Crushes 2.0

I'm Confident that I'm Insecure

Dealing with Being Bullied.

What Poetry Means To Me.

Throwback Episode — One Year, One Word

New Year, New You?

Throwback Episode — Productivity Culture

Learning from Animals

Overthinking and Self Talk

School Stress Rx: Healing Our Relationships with Learning

Religious & LGBTQ+

Friend Breakups

Just checking in.

Compassion to Action

To Our Friends Affected by the War in the Middle East

Seeds of Peace: Meeting The Other Side

Periods 2.0

Transitioning Back to School: Feelings & Strategies

Processing Parental Absence

Making Friends in College

Barbies, Toys, & Childhood Nostalgia

Walking & Mental Health

Sleep

Loneliness 2.0

Summer Reading

Internet Generation

The College Process

Social Anxiety

Nostalgia

Where the boys at?!

Writing Part 1: Journaling

Popularity & Cliques

This Teenage Life's Playlist

Dress Code

How Teachers Can Make Us Feel Safe

Exploring Feminism & Masculinity

Hobbies

One year, one word.

"Theater Kids"

Academic Pressure

Finding Your Style

Overthinking & Intrusive Thoughts Part 1

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