I’m Just Sayin’ #2
I was at a meeting yesterday with a very good therapist friend of mine. She has spent a lot of time examining the teen suicide epidemic that we are currently experiencing. She asked a teen in the meeting why teens feel so hopeless. The teen at the meeting really could’t articulate the reason and considering the brain development in the teen years I wouldn’t expect them to.
But the fact remains, they do feel hopeless. I’d like to offer a couple of ideas that may point to an answer to this question. First if you look at the popular culture I think you get a read on the social fabric of our youth. The current slate of TV shows that are popular with the teens contain a great amount of disrespect towards people and makes this look like that attitude is fine. Sex is just part of life, mom get over it. In the political world the message is horrible. Our current president promised “Hope and Change” and the youth swarmed to him. Now the teens see there is no Hope with the current financial crisis. Obama has framed so many issues as a “crisis” that during the time he’s been president even I feel like I’m on a leaking submarine. I’m more than certain teens feel everything is truly in crisis and no hope in fixing it. I’m just sayin’.
Even commercials represent a pathetic life style being lived by our young adults the same as with teens including relentless social media creating isolation and emotionless communications. I hear about “Facebook Stalking” and races to accumulate huge numbers of “friends” even though you don’t know 98% of them.
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Creativity is spurned. The arts are the first thing to be cut out of school budgets. Yet creativity is what brings not only art, plays, and movies; it’s also the well where innovation lives. Innovation in products, services, medical advances, new drugs, our clothes…
Half our brain is devoted to creative thinking and when combined with the problem solving skills of the left brain we have a whole person. All we currently do is teach to tests in our schools and we don’t teach critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and the like. You don’t think our teens feel something major is wrong?
Teens may not be able to express the reason for their hopelessness but it’s there nonetheless and it is time for the responsible adults in the room to get a grip and start fixing this mess we have created. If we’d do that I truly believe hope would make a comeback.
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