What a Teen to be Alive

Posted on Thu 07 October 2021 in Opinion

Photo from PxHere
Photo by Yingchou Han on Unsplash

By Aniemeke Isioma Prisca

"You" refers to teenagers and youths.

Being a teenager (youth) is quite tough, especially being a teenager of this generation. It's like being stuck in between two worlds- childhood and adulthood. You are not a child and you are not an adult. So, you don't get the respect given to adults and you don't get the privileges that come with being a child.

When you were younger, you did not expect life to be difficult this early. Maybe when you get married and have kids, yes, you will be allowed to complain about how exhausting life is. Or when you get a job or when you become a boss. Basically, when you become an adult (about 30 something-ish), is when life can deal with you. Before then, what could possibly go wrong?.

You did not see this coming. Waking up in the morning already tired. Thinking of how you need to please a hundred different people- those you know and those you do not. Wishing you were someone else. Feeling like you are not doing things the right way. You did not see it coming.

This life does not come with a guide. No matter how prepared you think you are for what is coming next, life is at the corner, ready to shout, "Surprise!" Nothing prepares you for this in between. You are not here and you are not there. No one teaches you how to survive in this space.

It's even worse that we allow what we see on social media define who we are.

Take away Twitter, take away Snapchat, take away Instagram, take away WhatsApp. What's left of you? Who are you outside of these spaces?

The Internet has become an integral part of our lives. Almost everything we have to do is tied to the Internet. You stream events online, you attend meetings virtually, you get invitations to parties, you meet new friends, you even attend classes.

I often wonder how our parents lived as youths and young children. What did they do for fun or when they were bored? How did they get to know about trending news? Where did they meet new people? How did they survive? There was no Facebook or Google when our parents were children. Not all of them even had televisions at home. Then, how come they were happier youths than we are now?.

We compare our bodies to the flawless bodies of Instagram. We tweet lies just to feel among on Twitter. And on Snapchat, everyone wants to keep streaks.

Hmmm, that wig! You have to get it. That 21 year old guy just bought a house. Why are you still in 200 level anxious about an upcoming test? Why can't you have that body? Why is your relationship not that perfect? Now you think something is wrong with you because those girls! Their legs are so long and their faces so smooth. Such perfection seems unattainable.

Social media presents the yardstick with which you measure your life. What you have is not enough if Instagram or Twitter does not validate it. These days, there is a thin line between what is good and what is not. We want to "normalize" everything. People who know nothing about you are creating standards for you to live by. Normalize going out dressed however you want to. Normalize calling off plans you have made, if you feel like. Normalize ignoring your friends. They lie in their beds and type these things and you are here "carrying it on your head" and making yourself unhappy. These people do not know who you are or care about you.

Also, there's this vain competition among us. We want to use the latest phones, want to wear trendy dresses, we want to drive cars even our parents can't afford. We are in this never ending race where there's no winner so, we keep running.

It's war out here. You want to make it. You want that dress. You want to blow. You want to get that job. Just so you can show them you can actually do it. Just so you can write a long Twitter thread on your success story.

Your goal is to "pepper" them. Isn't that why you are looking for quick ways to make money? Your coursemates are driving cars, so you cannot wait till you graduate. You beg them to show you the way. You are willing to give up anything. You do not want to be left out. You would sell your soul if you could. You just want that car.

The competition is so vain it is softly killing you. Life is a game, no one said it is a competition.

We run and run until we become tired. And, we begin to fall slowly until we are face down on the ground. When a runner falls on the track, do their fellow competitors stop to help them up? Definitely not.

Lauv sings in the chorus of Modern Loneliness, "...we're never alone but always depressed." When do we talk about how lonely you are, even when you are among your "gees"? When do we talk about how tired you get in this struggle? How you often realize that it is all pointless and nobody really "sends your papa".

You do not want to get caught up in a race that you cannot finish. Because when it happens, these people do not really care. When your WhatsApp status becomes too depressing, they either mute it or swipe past when it comes up. Or they tell you to man up. Or worse still, they say, "You'll be fine".

You'll be fine? Really? That is not going to help you. So you should not get caught up in the first place. Walk if that is what you can do, you do not have to run. You are young, do not drain out the energy, in your youth, that is supposed to last you a lifetime.

But the thing is we never learn. When we're back on our feet, we still don't back out of the race. We continue running and then, we fall again.

Maybe it is the only way we can survive- running. Maybe it is part of our existence, a necessity of the age and time we live in. Maybe it is the price we have to pay for the luxuries we enjoy. Our mothers did not have Androids in their youth, so they were not threatened by Naomi Campbell's beautiful melanin. We have Androids, iPhones, the Internet, social media.

You stayed away from Instagram and Twitter for a month thinking it will keep you away from the buzz and pressure social media brings with it. You saw on Twitter that social media breaks should be normalized. It did not work for you. You had friends updating you about everything going on online. Every trend, every gist, every scandal, you knew them all. You have realized that there is no helping it.

What a time to be alive. What a youth to be alive. What a teen to be alive. What an age to live in where there are so many things that push us to run.



Aniemeke Isioma Prisca is a student of English at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. She is a campus journalists, a writer and the owner/host of the Naija-ish podcast. Many of Prisca's stories and articles have been published on various websites. Connect with her on LinkedIn and on Twitter.