# Teens and Self-Destructive Tendencies



## Scarlet_Heart (Oct 11, 2014)

I don't know what you would label their generation and it's irrelevant to my question.... but why are teenagers now so self-destructive?

The Tide Pod Challenge, The Deodorant Challenge (spraying aerosol deodorant continuously on the arm until it causes 2nd degree burns), [countless other "challenges"], also I'm not sure if the rate of teen suicide has spiked in recent years but it sure seems like I hear about it a lot (often related to cyber bullying and such).

What gives? Does it seem to you like this is a thing? Or has it always been this way and I am more in tune to it now that I'm an adult with kids. 

Would love to hear a variety of perspectives; adults and teens alike.


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## Tyche (May 12, 2011)

Kids always do stupid shit. 

"In fact, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part, but teens process information with the amygdala, the emotional part. And it’s the prefrontal cortex that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences." 
http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=understanding-the-teen-brain-1-3051


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## Scarlet_Heart (Oct 11, 2014)

Etherea said:


> Kids always do stupid shit.
> 
> "In fact, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part, but teens process information with the amygdala, the emotional part. And it’s the prefrontal cortex that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences."
> http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=understanding-the-teen-brain-1-3051


I get that. I know that's always been the case, but what I'm asking is, does this rise above?


I wonder if, because everything is so public these days, do they feel like nothing is sacred? Like they have nowhere to go with their feelings because who knows if it will end up on the internet -- so then they just hurt themselves?


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## Tyche (May 12, 2011)

Scarlet_Heart said:


> I get that. I know that's always been the case, but what I'm asking is, does this rise above?
> 
> 
> I wonder if, because everything is so public these days, do they feel like nothing is sacred? Like they have nowhere to go with their feelings because who knows if it will end up on the internet -- so then they just hurt themselves?


I think the internet makes their behavior more visible, so not only can we hear about it, but other kids can repeat it. So I don't think it's worse, just that kids are doing the same dumb things.


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## Conscience Killer (Sep 4, 2017)

I agree with Eth. It's not a matter of _most_ things in society being more (damaging/destructive/crazy/chaotic) it's just a matter of media visibility. We are more connected than ever before. We can hear about crazy shit going on in Uzbekistan just by clicking a button. In the 70s and 80s this was unheard of. I was born in 1991 and I remember a period of time where we didn't have the internet like we do now. I think most people around my age (26) don't _truly_ understand what it's like to be raised in the _internet era_ because we weren't, we were on the cusp, but kids now are all online and posting their dumb ass antics for the world to see.


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## Cal (Sep 29, 2017)

Everybody, especially teens, do stupid shit, but unlike back then our society tends to use and post a lot on the internet and because of the rise of social media we end up making stupidity a lot more easier to see, and allows for stupidity to be spread across for the whole world for teens to both see and try.


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## Mrblack (Jul 9, 2017)

It only effects 2000+ borne not a big deal our generation arrogant


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

It's probably from the isolation. :/


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## Hollie Beth (Apr 15, 2018)

I like to act like an old curmudgeon and say "Hurrumph. Teens these days are ridiculous," but honestly the teens I graduated with were pretty stupid too. One kid in my 8th grade year went car surfing, fell off, busted his head, and suffered permanent mental damage as a result. I would say that was just as stupid as, if not more stupid than, eating tide pods. 

Kids in my neighborhood would also spray paint the yellow lines on speed bumps black to try to make them less visible, would steal stop signs just for the fun of it. One kid streaked naked across the football field at the homecoming pep rally. 

Teens do stupid things. The only difference nowadays is that kids are no longer limited to challenging friends in their immediate area to take up with the stupid shenanigans. Now they can go online and challenge all the teens inclined toward making stupid decisions to do all the stupid things.


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## Leeli (May 12, 2018)

I am a young teenage female who is homeschooled (therefore 'socially awkward' MYTH!) and a Christian.

I would say that the teenagers that I know can be imature sometimes, but they can be mature most of the time if they want to. All of my friends are some of the best people ever. 

However teenagers just do some dumb things sometimes. Whether they did something like interrupting the teacher in class or trying to comite suicide. They are most of the time just struggling with something. 

We can do dumb things, but that does not mean that we are stupid. People need to stop steroyotyping teens. 

Not to forget that even "adults" will do the exact same things that teenagers do.

I hope I did not come off as offensive or mean or angry, but I feel that teenagers are just tossed aside as imature people who don't know any better.

I feel that I must defend my age-groul. No matter how stupid they can be.


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## Leeli (May 12, 2018)

And even if our frontal lobe are not fully developed yet, does not mean that we cannot think rationally.


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## Mrblack (Jul 9, 2017)

Leeli said:


> I am a young teenage female who is homeschooled (therefore 'socially awkward' MYTH!) and a Christian.
> 
> I would say that the teenagers that I know can be imature sometimes, but they can be mature most of the time if they want to. All of my friends are some of the best people ever.
> 
> ...



Ik.. it tough living in this awful century and corrupt millennium but we just gotta accept when we reach adulthood the world going to be worse and by now our 2010s borns could possibly be influenced by now


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## Tyche (May 12, 2011)

Leeli said:


> I am a young teenage female who is homeschooled (therefore 'socially awkward' MYTH!) and a Christian.
> 
> I would say that the teenagers that I know can be imature sometimes, but they can be mature most of the time if they want to. All of my friends are some of the best people ever.
> 
> ...


But, by and large, they are immature and they don't know better. There are always exceptions. I was a pretty mature teenager, but looking back, I know I've grown, changed and become a better person. That's how aging works. Teens aren't stupid, but they are young and immature. But don't worry, I know plenty of immature adults too.


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## Tyche (May 12, 2011)

Leeli said:


> And even if our frontal lobe are not fully developed yet, does not mean that we cannot think rationally.


Just as not all teens aren't participating in the tide pod challenge, I wasn't talking about all teens doing stupid stuff. Of course teens can think rationally. But they also can be irrational, like misunderstanding a post that is specifically about teens doing stupid things to be about all teens.

Trust me, one day you will look back at who you were as a teen and shake your head and laugh. Growing up is fun. Don't waste it by being upset by my post and things like it.


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## SilentScream (Mar 31, 2011)

Yeah. Looking back to when I was a teenager, I feel like I was genuinely mentally ill lol. 

Some of the shit I did, think, and feel all just seems like a surreal nightmare observing some other self just being a total idiot.

Funny thing is I do remember that it all felt totally rational at the time.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

Etherea said:


> Kids always do stupid shit.
> 
> "In fact, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part, but teens process information with the amygdala, the emotional part. And it’s the prefrontal cortex that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences."
> http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=understanding-the-teen-brain-1-3051


Another view on the subject:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-myth-of-the-teen-brain-2007-06/

Furthermore, people born in the 1990s and 2000s don't seem particularly attracted to either Boomer-style countercultural rebellion or gen X-style hooliganism. Violent crime, alcohol use and smoking have been declining for some time in most developed countries.


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## Mrblack (Jul 9, 2017)

RoseTylerFan said:


> Etherea said:
> 
> 
> > Kids always do stupid shit.
> ...


I wonder why 90s and 2000s born became school shooters and soon 10s borns..

Should of broken the cycle a long time ago


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

Mrblack said:


> I wonder why 90s and 2000s born became school shooters and soon 10s borns..
> 
> Should of broken the cycle a long time ago


The media overreport violent crime. Statistics say it has definitely declined since the 1990s:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/477466/number-of-serious-violent-crimes-by-youth-in-the-us/
(This is about the USA because school shootings are an exclusively American phenomenon)


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## SilentScream (Mar 31, 2011)

There are also different kinds of school shootings that most people don't differentiate. 

There's gang violence and then there's the mass shooter. Most statisticians tend to include the two together which confuses the issue and creates the impression that all school shootings are the same i.e. one of two shooters who went on a rampage.


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## Mrblack (Jul 9, 2017)

RoseTylerFan said:


> Mrblack said:
> 
> 
> > I wonder why 90s and 2000s born became school shooters and soon 10s borns..
> ...


Their was literally a school shooting yesterday and on Thursday it was avoided..

:https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cb...dimitrios-pagourtzis-latest-today-2018-05-18/ 

I’m not just gonna walk next month on the last couple weeks of school with a walkout protest..


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