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Jira Caesar-Hester

Ms.Wilson

English 2 Honors

15 December 2019

Teen Problems

Teens face many problems on a day to day basis. These problems aren’t recognized as

often as they should be. Stress is a leading factor of what causes things like anxiety, depression,

and eating disorders. Teen girls are largely affected by these things because they face many

conflicts. A main problem that teen girls have are societal problems that can eventually lead to

stress. This is a problem because it can mess with them physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The worse it gets, the more it will begin to affect other things like school, work, and

relationships. It is important that this problem is addressed because it’s becoming a bigger issue

now than it ever has and no one realizes it. It not only affects teen girls now but also later in life.

They’ll start to lose important things like self-confidence, self-control, and determination.

Specific issues associated with this problem are social media influences. Social media

confuses a lot of people by what’s real and what’s not. Social media makes life look perfect, it

distracts you from reality. For teen girls, it can make them insecure. The Broadway Article says,

“These “role models” can give off the message that the reflection a girl sees isn’t good enough,

leading to detrimental effects on her self-esteem”. This quote shows how social media is sending

out the wrong message to girls and how it has a negative effect on them (“Riehle”).
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There’s always a bunch of editing apps to reduce or enlarge your body size, make your teeth

whiter, or your hair lighter. The basis of it is to try to get you to change into something else.

Another issue that goes along with this are stereotypes, especially in highschool. For example, a

common stereotype is that the athletes are always the popular ones. A lot of the times, these

stereotypes aren’t necessarily true. These things bring down a girls confidence and it eventually

leads to stress, anxiety, and depression. They begin to wonder why they aren’t like other people

and what they can do to change themselves. Acceptance of someone’s true self is hard, but this

doesn’t make it any easier if there are things that question that. The Washington Post says that,

“unhealthy perfectionism has surged among young adults, with the biggest increase seen in those

who feel pressured by the expectations of others”(“Simmons”). This quote shows how the

pressure of perfectionism is a leading cause of why teen girls struggle with acceptance of

themselves.

Obviously, something needs to happen in order to fix this problem. Solutions that can be

identified are to give them knowledge. Show them that they are more than what society sees

them to be. Take a break from social media, if you’re not always so attentive to it, it’s easy to

stay away from the negative. Other solutions that are identified is that social media websites need

to stop putting out all these ads about hair, makeup, and body. Also, a pro of getting the social

media websites to quit advertising fake things is that girls wouldn’t have to see things like that

every time they open their apps would be that if more people know about it then the more you

would be able to do something about it. A major con of this would be that companies get lots of

money from ads, commercials, and products relating to stuff like that because their intended

audience is teen girls. So this solution definitely won't be easy. Getting more knowledge has
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many good things for it to be a possible solution. More knowledge may equal a better outcome.

Essentially, parents that lack any knowledge about what’s actually going on just end up lost.

Social media and stereotypes break teen girls down, physically, mentally, and

emotionally. The best solution is to get more knowledge about it. This is the best solution

because once they know about it, they can decide what to do about it and how to fix it. Mainly

parents since they don’t really know what happens behind a screen or know what some of the

stereotypes are. Taking time away from all the social media influences also gives them a chance

to focus on the positive things about themselves. If this solution was carried out, teen girls could

make their way to breaking those stereotypes and showing the real them instead of what appears

they should be.

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Works Cited

● Ickovics, Jeanette R., et al. “Urban Teens: Trauma, Posttraumatic Growth, and Emotional

Distress among Female Adolescents.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,

vol. 74, no. 5, Oct. 2006, pp. 841–850. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ746544&site=eds-live&s

cope=site

● Nojiri, Matthew. “Focus Turns to Adolescent Health and Social Media.” Reading Eagle

(PA), 15 Mar. 2016. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=2W63448970797&site=eds-

live&scope=site.

● Reffner, Julia M. “Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in

Girls.” Library Journal, vol. 144, no. 1, Feb. 2019, p. 77. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=134419385&site=eds-live&s

cope=site.

● Riehle, Madison. “Teens Feel Pressure to Be 'Perfect'.” ​The Broadview,​ 13 Feb. 2014,

broadview.sacredsf.org/6731/features/perfection-pressures/.

● Simmons, Rachel. “Perspective | Perfectionism among Teens Is Rampant (and We're Not

Helping).” The Washington Post, WP Company, 29 Mar. 2019,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/01/25/lets-stop-telling-stressed-out-k

ids-theyre-putting-too-much-pressure-on-themselves-its-making-things-worse/​.
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