SARAH SAYS
How to deal with toxicity
16 THE SHIELD • OCTOBER 2020 16 THE SHIELD • OCTOBER 2020
Meghan W
From the perspective of a teenager, I know this is not reality. It takes hours to study for tests and loads of stamina to go to club meetings and sports practices. Teenagers live off of caffeine and two hours of sleep to make everything “perfect.” Sometimes those clubs and sports do not even interest us and we are there only because “it looks good for college.” As a senior, I feel extreme pressure to look good for college admissions. I have had to step back and ask myself if I really want to go to a certain college or if it is simply what everyone else is telling me. This behavior has the ability to destroy a high schooler’s mental health, causing depression, social anxiety and even eating disorders. It is hard enough to not slip into episodes of feeling inadequate, but overwhelming stress from parents and the media make it hard to not have that feeling. Nearly 20% of teenagers develop depression by the time they reach adulthood, according to suicide.org. Therese J. Borchard, author of “Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety,” says this is because of the domino effects of stress; some teenagers do not get enough time to be teenagers, hang out with friends and relax. We are so busy trying to map out
Graphic by
E
very time I open TikTok, I see a video of a high schooler putting herself down because no one wants her or she is not who everyone wants her to be. This toxic behavior is amplified by a TikTok trend in which teenage girls, and even guys, compare themselves to a “Heather,” or someone who is lovely and likable. It is killing me. When I think of toxicity in real life, I normally think of Gretchen Weiner’s relationship with Regina George in “Mean Girls”: “you can’t wear that” or “that’s stupid, you shouldn’t say that.” Because social media has become a constant platform of toxicity, teenagers feel the pressure to look a certain way, act “cool” and be up-to-date with the latest trends, and the criticism that goes along with it only makes that pressure stronger. If you scroll through Instagram you will see pictures of the ideal body type for a teenage girl or boy, according to the media. The slim hourglass figure and buff torso and legs is something that most teenagers will go to extremes to achieve. Teenagers are expected to have perfect grades, participate in clubs and sports and still maintain a social life. We are expected to follow everyone’s demands without batting an eye.
illiamson
Sarah Roberts | Managing and Business Editor
The TikTok
trend of
our adult lives and appear cool on social media that we do not have time to be the teenagers we want to be. If you use social media to promote a business or your lifestyle, that’s great, but social media is also used as a means to cyber bully teenagers, by hiding behind a screen and insulting someone. Constructive criticism is not telling a girl that her new skirt isn’t in style, or teasing a guy who gets excited about reading; it’s just rude, and the effects of these insults
le pictures. nterest profi
ows off Pi ‘Heather’ sh
are damaging. If a teenager is doing what he or she likes and isn’t affecting your life, please let them be. Wear that neon green shirt you have been dying to wear since quarantine. Blast that classic rock song you absolutely adore on the radio. Do what makes you happy. It is your life, and you shouldn’t live it by anyone else’s standards of what is cool. You can be “unapologetically you.”
