A brick dropped into a backpack is what being a teenager in the digital age can feel like. 

Students deal with all aspects of being online plus the traditional aspects of growing up, like building relationships and going to school. Social media can make one compare themselves to someone else, and academic school stressors that come with higher-level classes can make one question self-worth. It’s no secret that college is just around the corner and that highschool “counts”. Young people also have to deal with their sometimes difficult home life, while trying to figure out who they are. It’s hard for older people to really understand what is really being carried around in the backpacks of “Generation Z”.

On social media, one can meet new friends, find things that make can make one laugh, and stay current with trends.

On the contrary, it can be a stomping ground for cyberbullying. Any single person has the ability to say something to anyone without having to face you. Just one rude comment can ruin someone’s day. Young people tend to internalize just about everything bad that happens to them.

An additional weight of social media is that in just a few scrolls you are bombarded with the “perfect” life. Millions of teenagers are exposed to this and it’s just natural they compare themselves.

Who doesn’t wish they had a perfect body, perfect relationships, perfect job? It can quite obviously make one think are good enough and that can drag a person down.

Schools are institutions where young people come to learn and grow, but that can be difficult when one person has to deal with 1000 others. High school life is filled with did you hear what happened to her?, look at what he did, they are so annoying. One side look or snide comment is always taken personally by the admittedly sensitive generation and it can last forever.

Beyond fellow students, grades are a massive pressure in a student’s life. The North Allegheny school environment pressures students to do their very best and take the hardest classes that they can. This is a good thing on one hand, but bad on the other. The pressure to succeed takes a toll on mental health. A single grade can determine a student’s self-worth.

Sally Cho, a Sophmore says “I feel like it’s a never-ending cycle of wanting to prioritize my mental health and happiness but also wanting to succeed and be the best I can.”Anything other than an “A” is viewed in a negative manner because instead of reflecting on how well they learned they reflect upon what percent they got and how it will affect their grade.

Sophomore Zoë Tracey says “I feel so much pressure, mostly from myself, to do perfect on every test and if it’s not 100% on ever grade I will never be satisfied.” Parents now have the ability to get an email when a student scores any lower than 90%. One “B’ is similar to the end of the world so it’s no surprise that it feels like a massive duty to fulfill, especially with college around the corner.

There is no denying that college preparations are always in the back of a highschooler’s mind. Every project, quiz, and test score may propose the question: Is this going to affect what college I get into? It likely will not, but one can’t help wondering.

Sophomore Lorenzo Zottoli says “It seems like how you do in high school affects what college you get into and the rest of your life.” The reality is that most students don’t even know what they want to be, but that doesn’t relieve the pressure of it, it adds. It seems like an impossible task to decide which colleges to apply for and that’s not all. One has to get into them too and pick what to do for the rest of one’s life. It is a daunting reality that runs in the back of any high school student’s mind.

Home-life is a completely different brick weighing down a student’s backpack. Family can be an often confusing and complex reality for many teenagers. Parental divorce can completely upturn a teen’s life, and since there are nearly 3,000,000 of them per year in the U.S., it’s quite common. A young person is trying to grow up and find themselves, while their family unit falls apart, and that can be a very difficult thing to do.

Teenagers are between adulthood and childhood and the transition between them can be difficult. Teens are expected to have the maturity of an adult but without being one. It is no easy task from one school to the next and be an “adult”. And in this digital world, it can be hard to find yourself.

In the Twenty-First Century growing up is hard, and it can feel like the weight of the world is on one’s back while they are trying to get through it.