Torsey's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Friends’

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

It has often been said that the teenage years are the “best
years of your life”. However, anyone who says that does not
remember what it is like being a teenager. Between school, life,
parents, friends, and the fact that all of them want all of your
time, there is no way to get away from the petty concerns and
strains that can lead to serious stress. However, nobody seems
willing to give up any of the time they demand from you, so you
find yourself torn in a thousand different directions with
nowhere to turn to for help. Fortunately, you do not need to
deal with stress all on your own. Rather, you can find plenty of
help, just as long as you look for it. Unfortunately, teenagers
rarely look for help and many of the assets available to them
are simply ignored. Thus, your teen stress keeps getting worse.

The first place to look for relief from teen stress is at
school. There is a certain class of people who desperately want
to help teens get through their problems and find solutions, but
they usually sit in their offices waiting in vain for someone to
talk to them. These people are guidance counselors and they are
there to help you. However, it is very rare for someone to avail
themselves of this prime opportunity for assistance, so actually
sitting down with somebody is a treat for them and they will do
all they can to help. True, most people think that guidance
counselors are really just lost souls who can’t seem to get out
of school, but that is not the case. Guidance counselors decided
on their career because they want to help others. Which means
that they want to help you.

As well, you can get help for teen stress through your teachers.
True, most of the help you get will probably be for your work in
the classroom but, strange as it may seem, teachers are actually
human beings. They want to connect with their students so that,
when you go to see them, they will be happy to help you. If you
go to them in order to get help with your schoolwork, they will
happily give you assistance. They can help you through any
issues or difficulties that you may be having and you will can
learn more from them after class than you will during class.
Such one-on-one sessions can help them narrow down issues in a
way that they cannot while they are lecturing to a room full of
students.

Additionally, once you sit down with your teachers, you may
actually discover that you enjoy talking to them. After all, to
repeat a point, they are people. And because they spend so much
time in the company of teenagers, they understand teen stress.
However, they also understand it from a philosophical
perspective that can breathe some fresh air into the problems
that you are confronting. Though you may not always enjoy the
answers they can provide, they will be worth thinking about and,
in the fullness of time, you will probably discover that they
provided a very good insight into your problems.

Another excellent source for teen stress is with your parents.
This is because of a simple fact that you may not want to
accept. This is the simple fact that parents tend to have
children who are very similar to them. No, it’s really not
pleasant to think about, since that means that you may turn out
to be like your parents. But, let us put that aside for now.

Your parents were once your age (strange as that may seem) and
teens often have to go through very similar problems. Thus, your
parents have felt teen stress and they know what it is like.
Sure, they may not want to admit that it was anything special,
but they will, hopefully, remember that it was not easy at the
time. So if you really need to get some sort of advice or help,
sit down and talk to your parents. Not only will you get some
sort of help, but you will also make their day. After all, how
many parents get the chance to really connect with their teenage
children?

Teen stress is one of the hardest things to get through, but you
can rest assured that it has been done. Billions of people in
the world have all had to go through the travails of the teenage
years and they have through to the other side. So prepare
yourself, get help when you need it, and look for help when you
can. By relying on people who have “been there, done that” you
can see your way clear to the other side. Then, you can safely
look back on your teen stress and say stupid things like, “the
teenage years are the best years of your life!”

There is one very important aspect among the teenagers is the feeling of competition. Today’s teens want to show off to the society their existence. In a time and age where social status is everything for teens, they feel that MySpace is the only way to really make themselves feel like they mean something in their group. The teenage years are crazy times and MySpace provides space to explore craziness. Consistency works but creativity prevails. Businesses need consistency while people need creativity.

Youth are not creating digital publics to scare parents – they are doing so because they need youth space, a place to gather and see and be seen by peers and this space is provided by www.myspaceprofiles.org.

Furthermore, MySpace’s messaging is better suited for youths’ asynchronous messaging needs. They can send messages directly from friends’ profiles and check whether or not their friends have logged in and received their email. Their use of MySpace is complementing that practice.

In this context, there are three important classes of space: public, private and controlled. For adults, the home is the private sphere where they relax amidst family and close friends. The public sphere is the world amongst strangers and people of all statuses where one must put forward one’s best face. For most adults, work is a controlled space where bosses dictate the norms and acceptable behavior.

Teenager’s space segmentation is slightly different. Teens feel a lack of control at home; many don’t see it as their private space. Teenagers look for a space to which they can say that its “Myspace” and where they can have no indulgence of adults. They want to become free and want live their life in their own style. To them, private space is youth space and it is primarily found in the interstices of controlled space. These are the places where youth gather to hang out amongst friends and make public or controlled spaces their own. Like Bedrooms with closed doors, a space where they can talk independently etc.

The bigger challenge is that, online, youth publics mix with adult publics. Adults see the space as theirs and are not imagining that their acts are consumed by teens; they are certainly not targeted at youth. Of course, there are adults who want to approach teens and www.myspaceprofiles.org allows them to access youth communities without being visible, much to the parents. Likewise, there are teens who seek the attentions of adults, for both positive and problematic reasons. No doubt, teens love to live free but that also depends upon the attitude of particular youth. Some teens need adults support for such activities while others want no interference of adults. They think that they are grown up and can decide what to do and how to do.

However, neither the adults nor teens have any desire to mix and mingle outside of their generation, but digital publics slam both together. Moreover, most teens want to get rid off the adults, focusing only on the people they know or whom they think are cool. Yet, both of these exist in high numbers online because youth are exploring identity formation.

Without impetus, teens rarely choose to go private on MySpace and certainly not for fear of predators or future employers. They want to be visible to other teens, not just the people with whom they are aquited.www.myspaceprofiles.org fulfill all these desires of today’s youth. Myspace is a place where teenagers can spend their time and find online friends and can establish new relations.

While the potential predator or future employer doesn’t concern most teens, parents and teachers do. Reacting to increasing adult surveillance, many teens are turning their profiles private or creating separate accounts under fake names. In response, many parents are demanded complete control over teens’ digital behaviors. This dynamic often destroys the most important value in the child/parent relationship: trust.

MySpace is undoubtedly cool. It’s an amazing way to connect and hang out with friends, find new music, pose, preen, and generally be cool. Teenagers can get all the facilities what they desire for. Of course, this is a age when teenagers are more ambitious and have feeling to achieve their desires without any interference of others. This is the age for them when they enjoy the life most. So teenagers can visit www.myspaceprofiles.org and can have fun by expanding their group and challenge others.

MySpace combines just about every new technology that kids love and parents distrust — instant messaging, blogging, chat rooms, music downloads — and melds them into a busy site that offers quick gratification for input junkies. MySpace is becoming part of the scene at school, so it’s only going to increase as kids head back to school. So become a part of www.myspaceprofiles.org and show your existence and talent to the whole world.