Angst: Every Teenager has it

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin D. Roosevelt. The coming of age process is a unique experience for every individual. We begin our lives with virtually no responsibility, with all our needs fully taken care of. Before we know it and are able to understand it, we become young adults with evolving minds, bodies and emotions. All of these changes contribute to the angst prevalent in the transition from adolescence to adulthood. As we mature and grow, the way in which we deal with the stress of our newfound responsibilities and how we strive to determine our place in society is different for each one of us. This journey through one's development is affected by a multitude of factors. Peer pressures, our upbringing and family values, our socioeconomic background, our sexuality, and the cultures and religions we are introduced to are some of the many contributors and causes of the variations of teenage angst.

We, as young people, frequently try to fit into the mold that society expects of us as we desperately feel the need for acceptance. Simultaneously, we are each searching to conform to our inner guides, what we feel and judge to be best for us. For example, many young students with successful parents are often pushed by their need to please their parents and try to pursue their same path, often at the expense of their own actual desires. This type of dilemma can often increase pressure on the young adult, as he grapples with the internal struggle not to disappoint his loved ones while simultaneously trying to satisfy himself. Just as Albert Einstein once said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

Social media adds an additional component to this anxiety in that it allows young adults to follow their role models. Often unknowingly, putting them in the position of trying to live up to impossible goals of beauty, intelligence, or fame. This leaves the young adult feeling as an underachiever setting them up for failure as only a small minority can actually succeed to the same extent as their heroes. 

In the stressful, technology driven and fast paced world we live in, social media puts us on display for the world to see, and to judge us. Just as young adults are in the process of getting to know and understand themselves, the social ramifications of mediums such as Facebook and Twitter do not allow for errors in judgment, as the postings are permanent. In an age where young people should be experimenting with experience, making mistakes and growing from their errors, social media is a very unforgiving tool which often compounds the angst of this coming of age process.

All adolescents in this journey of self-discovery will experience angst in one form or another. Whether internal or on display for the world to see, angst is an inevitable fact of the stages of adolescent life.