What if everything you have heard about teenagers is wrong?
Teenagers are getting a lot of airtime lately, and it’s oddly polarised.
Particularly since the release of Netflix’s Adolescence, there's been a surge in panic about how vulnerable, lost and dangerous young people are. Yes, adolescence can be a time of fragility, confusion, and change. But the series leans into a narrative that casts the whole year group as broken or difficult, and that's simply not true.
They’re either the generation that will save the planet, the Greta Thunberg effect, or they’re lazy, unmotivated, and entitled. They’re either “snowflakes,” supposedly too soft for the real world, or they’re radicalised, blindly following influencers like Andrew Tate, with no clue about the impact their clicks or ideologies might have.
They’re told they don’t know enough to have an opinion, and yet expected to be the generation that fixes everything: the economy, the environment, politics, society, tech addiction, the housing crisis, and AI. No pressure.
Now more than ever, they can’t do right for wrong. And their goals are a broken economy, a master’s degree for minimum wage, and fingers crossed that the planet doesn’t drown. Whoop, live, laugh, love.
And all this while navigating the often brutal world of adolescence itself: exams, social complexity, shifting identity, relationships, increasing independence - all in a world of 24/7 news, comparison culture, and pressure to be "doing well" at all times.
They are growing up in an era of disinformation. But young people are campaigning for change, challenging broken systems, brought up in a world of ‘fake news’, studies show they are more likely than older generations to question what they read, ask for sources, and spot bias when they see it.¹
Of course, teenagers will make mistakes. Of course, they’ll take risks; that’s developmentally appropriate.² Risk-taking, boundary-testing, and emotional intensity are part of adolescence. These traits aren’t flaws or even problems; they’re features of a mind and body still in the process of becoming.
They are learning. And learning, whether you're 15 or 50, is messy.
We don’t expect new parents to have all the answers on day one. We don’t expect immigrants to adjust instantly to a new culture, system, or language. We don’t expect someone retiring to know who they are now. These are transitional, vulnerable stages — and so is adolescence.
Yet we often treat teenagers like problems to be fixed, or worse, ignored, rather than people to be supported.
As a therapist working with young people, I see how thoughtful, creative, and self-aware they can be. They ask big questions. They notice everything, especially double standards. They challenge broken systems and often see things more clearly than adults who’ve learned to stop looking.
Yes, they dance on TikTok, sometimes it’s self-expression, sometimes just joy.
No, most of them are not joining cults.
Maybe it's time we move beyond the panic and start listening.
Not because they’re perfect, none of us are, but because they’re human.
And because they deserve to be understood, not just managed.
Sources for the curious:
Pew Research Centre & Ofcom reports show that younger generations are more digitally literate and more likely to question online content than older adults.
Steinberg, L. (2014). Age of Opportunity: The prefrontal cortex — responsible for reasoning and decision-making — continues developing into the mid-20s.