VENTURING INTO THE LIFE OF A TEENAGER
What are Teens?
According to Merriam Webster, a teenager, or teen, is formally defined as a person belonging to the age group of 13 to 19 years old. In less technical terms, the teenage years are seen as a period of transition and development, both physically and mentally, from being a dependent child to a young adult. The most observable development, however, is the physical change children undergo in their teenage years. This is also known as puberty, wherein children experience significant growth spurts, as their bodies mature into adult ones which are capable of sexual production.
Source: https://www.verywell.com/teen-teenager-2608827
YOUTH
You might be confused right now?
What you might do in your life.
But you don’t really know how
To make your life different from mine
But remember that you are still young
You have time to play and run
You have the energy to do a lot of things
So don’t worry about anything
There will be a time when you’ll grow up
You stop playing and start paying bills
So as long as you are young right now
Choose to live, and choose to have fun
Emotional and mental
5 Reasons Teenagers Act the Way They Do
For everyone who is or was a teen, here are some scientific explanations for why they behave that way.
- Risk Taking - All teenagers take stupid risks that they one day look back on and wonder what the heck they were thinking. But studies have found it is not because teens aren’t thinking about the risks involved—it’s because they think about them longer than adults. Our brains take a lot longer to fully form than was previously thought. In teens, the frontal lobe (where our decision making happens) is not as connected to the rest of the brain as it is later in life. This means teens literally cannot come to a decision as fast as an adult. Teens take an average of 170 milliseconds longer to go over the consequences of a decision, which in turn makes them more likely to decide the risk is worth it.
- Giving in to Peer Pressure - Adding friends to the mix makes it even harder for teens to avoid taking risks. One study using MRI scans on adults and teens showed that their brains reacted very differently to the presence of friends when making a decision. It found that teens who would not take risks when alone or with an adult were far more likely to take risks when their friends were watching. The scans showed that the reward center of the teen brain became much more active in the company of their peers.
- Lack of Concentration - When scientists looked at how teenagers’ brains functioned while they were distracted during an assigned task, they found a large amount of activity in that darn frontal lobe again, far more than they would in an adult. Teens have too much active grey matter in that area, something that decreases as we get older. This means their brain is trying to take in and process everything going on around it, literally overloading them. The more streamlined adult brain works more efficiently, making concentrating on one thing much easier.
- Overly Emotional - If teens seem to not care about other people’s feelings or seem to flip out over nothing, it might not be because they are drama queens. Studies have found that teens have a much harder time correctly interpreting vocal inflection and facial expressions from other people, and so they sometimes react irrationally to emotional situations.
- Getting Dumber - All the extra grey matter we talked about starts to die off as you get older. When you are young, that grey stuff has lots of extra synapses that help your brain store and process information. But as you age, your brain starts killing off the bits that don’t get used as often. Scientists used to think there was only one major “surge” of synapse “pruning” when we were children, but brain scans of teens have shown that one just as large happens at the beginning of adolescence. This makes sense biologically; why should your brain waste energy remembering things that aren’t very necessary to your day to day life? If there is a subject they didn’t concentrate so hard on, like math, suddenly they start forgetting things they used to know because the brain is deleting that information.
Stress: Level 999999
(Article on School)
“Ayoko na! I give up on school!” Have you ever told these words to yourself due to the overwhelming and huge amount of workload in school? Well, I hope not. Have you ever experienced sleepless nights or having not enough time for sleep that you feel that your eyebags are more ready for school than you are? Have you ever felt like a failure just because you didn’t pass a test? Have you felt like giving up but you’d tell yourself “Bes, kapit lang!”? It may seem funny but it happens; it happens to a lot of people, and it’s something that shouldn’t be neglected.
Insecure. Depressed.
(Article on Insecurity)
Being a teenager, we often find ourselves contemplating on our life. At a young age we often think that our problems are big, when sometimes they really aren’t. In our teenager years we are introduced to a number of things like insecurities, self-confidence problems, and depression.
I was 12, stepping into the 13th year of my life, I was in grade 7. Technically high school, before K-12 came in. I, I thought to myself, am finally a teenager. When you young and little, you tend to be excited in growing up. But now I think I want to be younger, back to the days where all I ever thought about were toys and games. Now my mind is full of things that really bother me.
“WHY DOESN’T HE LIKE ME?”
“WHY AM I NOT THAT PRETTY?”
“MAYBE I AM JUST MADE TO BE UGLY”
“I SHOULD EXERCISE TO BE SEXY LIKE THEM”
Insecurities, they are those voices in our minds that make us feel unwanted, alone, and unlucky. Here we develop different mind sets, we can overcome them or go along with it. Some delve into depression, a land where no person would ever want to go in. It suffocates you, it makes your sadness twenty times hurtful. But why? Why do you have to experience this, I think we should understand that it’s different for everyone but at the same time kind of the same. We have to overcome this, think that there’s more to life that our selfish thoughts, there’s more to life than just comparing yourself to others, there’s more to life than being sad all the time.
i'm confused
(Article on Sexuality)
there will always be points in your life where you'll question the status quo. you'll challenge the standards set by society. it's inevitable for you, and everyone else, to at least want to escape THAT box.
most people say that the time of adolescence is the time where you discover yourself and develop your identity, including your sexual orientation. this is the time when you put away the training wheels. you try to recognize and make sense of your feelings. inconveniently, i transferred to an exclusive school during my time of adolescence. before transferring schools, the number of intimate feelings & thoughts i had about people who i shared the same gender with were close to zero. so once i started feeling attracted to people of the same gender, i felt very confused and frustrated. for a long time i questioned & denied myself of what i really wanted. coming to terms with and creating a positive lgbt identity is something a lot of people, including myself, may find difficult. i often thought that i only felt that way because of the environment i was in at the time. i always thought that whatever i was feeling was either invalid or downright wrong since that was what society taught me. i was afraid of the ostracism, hurtful jokes or the violence i would face afterwards. luckily i was in a very supportive environment so eventually i accepted my identity.
it's still hard to admit sometimes, especially if your preference changes from time to time. you'll feel lost, different and confused but it'll be fine, just keep in mind that you're not experiencing it alone. and besides, we're young, we have all the time in the world to figure ourselves out.
Time's Up
(Article on Wasting Time)
“Life is a one shot deal.” It is short so live your life to the fullest. They say teenage life is when you experience new things. It’s that time when we have a bunch of questions on things about life, a time when we are bound to venture into something we never did before. This is when we say a lot of yeses, nos, maybes and what ifs, a period of curiosity and adventure, a moment of enjoyment yet also of fear, a phase of failures but of growing up, a stage of fulfillment and regrets. But, WHAT IF time ran on a spur of a moment, what would you do? Would you … ?
Tick tock, tick tock the clock ticks
Didn’t think that it’d be that quick
Like a lightning, it travelled so fast
Unceasing does each moment pass
Each memory I tried to held dear
But time goes by and I need to break free
Trying to reminisce all of our memories
That for you we're all just silly stories
I fought, I cried, I held on
But you said, “Let go and move on”
What should I do to make you stay
When your pride is pulling you away?
Others said I’ve been selfless,
How can I not when you’re priceless?
Tick tock tick tock, the clock ticks again
It’s time to let go and put this to an end.
_____________________________
10 Reasons to Travel
- Teenage years are years to build your life principles. Travelling can open your eyes to the values and principles you will or should hold on to for the rest of your life.
- Interacting with different people, personalities, and cultures can build people skills.
- Seeing attractions and destinations can help you be more appreciative of the beauty of the world.
- Availing different specialties, products, services, and cuisines inspire you to improve your own talents, capabilities, and strengths.
- Travelling can help you relax and recharge from the stress of teenage life.
- Travelling with friends, family, and even strangers will equip you with priceless memories and memories to cherish forever.
- Seeing the concerns and problems of the world will make you more socially- oriented, environmentally-aware, and morally responsible.
- Exposing yourself to different industries and professions gives you an idea of what you want to do in your own future.
- Travelling allows you to appreciate the blessing of life, freedom, and possibilities.
- Just because!
_____________________________
social
How being teenager affects our social preferences
Alongside the physical changes experienced by people throughout their teenage years, social development is likewise present.
First of all, teenagers develop a significant interest in peer relationships during this stage. While kids rely mostly on their family, teenagers begin to depend more on their friendships, since most of them tend to seek independence from their parents. The issue of peer pressure, or influence from friends, arises because of this, as teenagers change how they act, think, or feel in order to conform and experience a sense of belonging to their peer group.
Second, the teenage years are often the time in which rebellious behaviour is first seen. This risky behaviour can first be detected when teenagers and their parents start having arguments and fights over trivial subjects. As they grow older, their attitude may significantly change that they begin wanting to get tattoos or piercings as a means of expressing themselves. Furthermore, teenagers may grow to possess different personas and undergo several phases, as their interests will likely shift during these years.
Lastly, throughout adolescence, teenagers advance in their ability to have empathy for other people. Because of this, dating and romantic relationships often become a key element for a teenager in this specific period of his or her life.
Source: https://www.verywell.com/normal-middle-adolescent-development-ages-14-to-18-2609051
Life as a Teenager - Family
(Article on Family)
For the most part of my teenage life, I have always dedicated more time and efforts on my friends than on my family. I swear – if there exists a Guiness World Record for the fastest person to think of excuses from family events, that would be me, hands-down. Then, about a year ago, I changed.
Just to provide a little background, I am part of a (severely) broken family. When people asked me before how many we were in the family, I always joked that I have about four mothers, four fathers, about a million half siblings, and that if I explained the situation, I’ll finish in about sixty years. Family, for me, was synonymous to drama. Adding that to the raging hormones and rebellious urges of the teenage years, and I got myself a recipe for life mistakes.
Seatmate
(Article on Friendship)
What do we often say if we're asked of what thirteen year old kids do? Most would probably react, "Ofcourse! Study and play. They're kids, they haven't done so much in their thirteen years of existence." Others would say "Having fun and enjoying their sweet childhood". Some might have said deeper thoughts, that these kids are still exploring and needs to discover a lot more. And others might not want to answer for some sensitive reasons. But what does a kid with an age of thirteen actually do? What can he do?
_____________________________
if I were to call you a color
you are as red as the stoplight
that i disregard each time i run towards you.
as yellow as the first strike
of sunlight your skin kisses.
(you would be by far the most vibrant color, i think i'd have to close my eyes.)
you are as green as how grass looks like
when tended to.
as brown as your skin
that i never expected to look great.
(you would be as colorful as the nature laid out before us, but unlike mankind i wouldn't
bring you to waste.)
you are as blue as the sky,
whenever the weather was good, whenever the weather was bad and whenever the weather was good enough
and you are as purple,
whenever purple,
seemed to look as much like violets
as purple looks like pinks.
(you would be the most peculiar color, that crayola with the weird name.)
lastly, you are as black
as my personality.
but that wouldn't be exact.
since everyday you are the white that makes
my shade
just a little bit
lighter.
(if you were a color, you'd never be one. i'd never limit you to a color when you're an entire rainbow.)
_____________________________
Parties, Cigarettes, and Alcohol
(Article on Peer Pressure)
“This is the life.”
We tend to think that during these happy times. Partying, smoking, drinking these are the things that make teenagers cool. Can we even define cool? If not, what makes these things cool?
On a Friday night after school, the school week just ended and it’s time to relax. To some it’s to stay at home, to others it’s to party and got out. I’m going to talk about the clash of both, a story of how one person changed.
A girl, she was a very lovely girl, she was nice, sweet, quiet and smart. She is, as people call it nowadays, a prude. But then her personality changed, right after she hung out with a different group. She started to drink, and she said “it’s normal, all teens do it.” Just then she started to smoke, she then said “I want the experience.” Then she did all kinds of things, things that we all see kids do in movies. But now she says, “I don’t know how to stop.” It changed her. The moment she drank the first shot, the moment she took the cigarette, the moment she gave in to what her friends were doing. That moment she was lost, she did it because of peer pressure, she did it so her friends would stop bugging her, and she did it because she wanted to be cool. And now, she regrets everything.
DREAMS
Dreams are the thoughts that make us live
We dream these dreams to find hope in our tomorrow
For when we have dreams, we have a will to carry on
Every person has a dream,
To be a doctor, a nurse, an engineer, or a lawyer
We choose what we want to become
For we are young and we have all the time to think of our future
But as we grow are dreams fade because of the stroke of reality
So now, keep these dreams. And hold onto it, don’t let go.
So dream, dream and make your life a path to that dream, don’t let reality change that.
ALL ABOUT THE MAGAZINE
SPRINGTIDE (noun.)
an early and flourishing stage of development; YOUTH
This magazine aims to enlighten teens, as well as adults, about current situations of teenagers. Ranging from love to depression. This magazine will showcase articles on real life situations and experiences of teens and also scientific data to explain natural occurrences in a teenager's life.
Authors of the Magazine
Editor in chief: Micco yabut
WRITERs: charina badana, andre abellon, chelsey pua, ayna dimanalata, fran poblacion