Being a teenager in 2021 is awesome. There are so many amazing aspects to being a teenager in today’s world. They can get their license, start thinking about life after highschool, and even become an adult and register to vote! Oftentimes, people believe that teens get into a lot of trouble at home and constantly fight with their parents and siblings. However, recently teens have portrayed maturity, good decision making, and have shown to have a firm handle on their lives. Through the pandemic, teens were able to strengthen their relationships with their family since everyone was home for months with nothing to do. 

They also have plenty of opportunities and people all over the world care and listen to what they have to say. People even believe that they should take charge and start running the country. For example, Greta Thunberg who is an environmental activist proves just this. She has successfully spread awareness and informed people about the changes that need to be implemented to help our environment. Since teens are starting to use their voice more and speaking up about problems they wish to change, people have started to respect teens more and believe that what they have to say is valid. 

Below is a continued list as to why people have found a new respect for teenagers.

The Covid Pandemic
The Covid Pandemic has affected the majority of teens positively; especially in the beginning stages. Over the past few years, people’s mental health has been declining drastically. Fortunately, the pandemic really helped some people get a better handle on their thoughts and anxieties. Since Covid put everyone’s lives on pause, causing stores, restaurants, social events, and even school to shut down, they had plenty of time to make some change and work on improving themselves. There were no more distractions, so those who were previously stuck in negative mindsets could now focus more of their attention on those thoughts to try and turn them around. 

Online School
As time went on, schools started implementing online school via zoom and other video sites. Teens could now attend school from their bedrooms. They could now do everything from their computers and work independently on all of their work! They also proved to the world their ability to teach themselves things. Most teens would spend hours in their rooms trying to teach themselves through youtube videos the next best way to graph a line. Don’t worry though, the headaches didn’t last too long. They would only last from about lunch time until it was time for bed, so when I started school each day I was able to think clearly! 

Learning how to drive
Learning how to drive during the pandemic was for sure the easiest time one could learn. There were very few cars on the road which allowed the process to be less stressful. No worrying about people honking at you for going too slow or drearing too far to the right of the road. However, lots of people believe quite the opposite. They believe that booking lessons with an instructor was absurd and extremely challenging. Don’t get me wrong, it was difficult, but it wasn’t that bad. We only had to stay up until midnight about 3x a week to try and book a time slot. Also, driving with the instructor wasn’t nearly as bad as people thought. Yes, the car was like a big plastic bag with the divider between you and the instructor and the layers of plastic separating the front and back seats, but the instructors could still manage to grab the wheel when someone was about to run over someone’s lawn. Don’t worry, there were only about 4 accidents a day due to the instructor not being able to get a hold of the steering wheel in time.

Social media
Another thing that we as teens don’t understand is why adults think social media is harmful to us. It helps us to stay informed about the latest trends and events going on in the world. How else would we know about the viral trends happening like stealing a soap dispenser from a school bathroom?! It also helps us become more aware of our flaws and gives us ideas on how we can change the way we look to fit in better with society and how we can pose in pictures to make our bodies look a certain way. Another positive from social media is that we can see all the amazing places people travel to. It gives us another idea of what to add to our already floor length bucket list. 

Sleep Cycles
Why is it that doctors and adults ask us so many questions about our sleep cycles? Yes, sometimes we go to bed at 5 P.M and sleep until 6 A.M or take naps throughout the day, but we still get all of our work done. Sometimes we just need a nap after school to get us through our hours of homework. Then, once we do our homework we can take another 30 minute nap, so we then have the energy to binge watch our new favorite show! It makes sense. We sleep a little bit at a time, so that we grasp just enough energy for our next activity. 

The teenage diet
We also have the best diet. Consisting of donuts and a large iced coffee for breakfast, chick-fil-a’s 8 count nugget with a large fries for lunch, a big mac for dinner, and a large blizzard from Dairy Queen for dessert. Most people view this diet as unhealthy, but in my eyes it’s food that will give me all the energy I need to get through my dreadfully long day. It’s especially helpful since I try to sleep as little as possible. Most people frown upon this diet because of the loads of fat, sodium, cholesterol, and processed garbage that’s in it. But, they give me loads of carbs which I need for energy and really boosts my serotonin levels. The chicken and big mac also gives me protein which I need for my muscles, and I stay extremely well hydrated, so it’s actually one of the healthier diets.

So, overall teens have really proven to step up and take control of their lives for the better.