Introduction
Have you ever been told that youth is the most enjoyable time of life? While it may be so, numerous factors negatively affect the lives of many young people. Social stigmatization and pressure, financial uncertainties, dependency on technology and others’ opinions, and burnout contribute to several interconnected challenges that the youth face today.
According to the Mental Health Foundation (2022), the first major barrier young adults struggle with is their poor psychological state. This problem contributes to and is facilitated by the second challenge, which is inadequate time management skills (De-Juanas et al., 2020). Thirdly, James (2019) notices that social networks’ availability and essential role negatively impact young people’s lives, and this concern is also interconnected with the previous two. Overall, poor mental health, unmanaged time, and technology addiction significantly worsen most young individuals’ lives. In my speech, I will highlight the severity of these concerns and prove they need to be addressed simultaneously.
Poor Mental Health
To begin with, older adults’ unempathetic attitudes and current global and local challenges make many young individuals suffer from reduced psychological health and its long- and short-term consequences. Unfortunately, instead of supporting their children, offering them timely therapy, and understanding that they struggle with many issues, most older adults tend to underestimate the threat (Amone-P’Olak et al., 2023). While denying the presence of depression, anxiety, stress, or other conditions, they refer to younger generations’ laziness or lack of awareness and responsibility. According to Amone-P’Olak et al. (2023), this is why many people in their twenties do not seek psychological help. They fear judgment, and their current mental issues deteriorate, making it more difficult to address them.
Furthermore, the modern conditions in which young adults live do not benefit their psyche. For example, because of the poor economy, they often struggle to pay their student debts or rent while seeing examples of young social media influencers earning millions of dollars. The youth have to multitask on a daily basis, choose their career path immediately after graduating from school, and contribute to society, and these expectations burden them.
Healthcare threats also contribute negatively, so “the diagnosis rates for most mental health conditions continued to rise in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic” (Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, 2023, para. 3). Fearing for their lives and the health of their families, young people were still forced to continue studying or working but lost many social connections, which again deteriorated their mental stability.
It is essential to mention the impact of the discussed challenge. According to the Mental Health Foundation (2022), social isolation, sleep deprivation, and low self-esteem are the short-term effects of depression or another psychological condition. However, the long-term impacts are scarier, including suicide, asocial behaviors, addictions, unemployment, and unnecessary disabilities, which proves the urgent need to address the identified problem.
Inadequate Time Management
A challenge that contributes to and is also worsened by poor mental health is inadequate time management, which makes the youth face difficulties with their studies, work, and daily activities. Many teenagers and young individuals often hear their parents or educators saying, “Work harder,” “You can’t rest because you have things to do,” or “Your weekend is not for friends, but for studying.” Unfortunately, instead of making adolescents more responsible and hard-working, these statements only worsen their perception of time and the relevancy of tasks. This pressure from older generations stresses young people and makes them want to spend more time procrastinating (De-Juanas et al., 2020). Thus, higher anxiety levels prevent them from managing their hours when studying and working.
Another factor that contributes to inadequate time management is the education system itself. Nowadays, colleges tend to keep up with the fast pace of life without considering students’ poor mental health and reduced concentration due to technology. Numerous tasks, activities, exams, and loaded schedules increase young individuals’ desire and need to rest more, while the latter results in missed deadlines or failed tests (De-Juanas et al., 2020). The stress they experience further reduces their time management skills, and even a minor mistake can demotivate a young adult, leading them to procrastination.
Although some might underestimate this challenge and be certain that time management can be improved easily, this is a severe concern interconnected with the two other problems. As mentioned earlier, the inability to control one’s working or resting hours increases anxiety and stress levels, and the person can no longer manage some parts of their life. Decreased academic achievements and chronic tiredness may prevent young students from receiving education (De-Juanas et al., 2020). What is more, completing family tasks on time, keeping one’s house or room clean, and working successfully can become extremely difficult as well.
Addiction to Social Media
Lastly, the role of social media in the lives of young adults has to be highlighted as well. Some people may notice that the availability of social networks improves the experiences of the youth, allowing them to communicate and share more. While this is true, only a small number of teenagers and persons in their twenties do not experience the severely negative effects of social media. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2023), “adolescents who spent more than 3 hours per day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety” (p. 6). Believing that social media influencers live way better than they do, young adults struggle psychologically and have decreased self-esteem and self-worth.
To connect the availability of gadgets to poor time management, one can refer to an activity that a majority of the youth prefer instead of reading books, walking outside, or studying. Thus, young individuals can spend hours unending TikTok or scrolling on Instagram without realizing how much time they have lost. According to James (2019), posting, liking, and scrolling on social networks for several hours per day results in increased laziness, avoidance of responsibilities, procrastination, destruction, and time frame confusion. Therefore, it becomes almost impossible for the youth to enhance their time management skills, and they get into a vicious circle.
Eventually, the fact that most young people cannot imagine living a day without accessing the Internet highlights the severity of the problem. They get addicted to posting, liking, and replying, constantly checking their accounts (James, 2019). This dependency worsens their quality of life, and while young users can make new social connections on the Internet, many real-life friendships end because they fail to support them.
Conclusion
To conclude, I do not intend to state that previous generations have never experienced these or similar challenges. However, modern young adults are the first to experience these issues at the same time and suffer from their interconnection. Therefore, the youth’s poor mental health has many short- and long-term consequences, often not allowing them to be in control of their activities.
Teenagers’ inadequate time management is another serious threat that may result in reduced quality of life. In addition, increased use of social media prevents young individuals from improving their mental health or time control. To address any of these issues, the impacts of the remaining two have to be considered, and older generations are recommended to treat the youth more empathetically.
References
Amone-P’Olak, K., Kakinda, A. I., Kibedi, H., & Omech, B. (2023). Barriers to treatment and care for depression among the youth in Uganda: The role of mental health literacy. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. Web.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. (2023). New research underscores mental health challenges facing American youth. Web.
De-Juanas, Á., García-Castilla, F. J., Galán-Casado, D., & Díaz-Esterri, J. (2020). Time management by young people in social difficulties: Suggestions for improving their life trajectories. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(23). Web.
James, C. (2019). How social media affects students time management. News Anyway. Web.
Mental Health Foundation (2022). Long-term physical conditions and mental health. Web.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023). Social media and youth mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory [PDF document]. Web.