Quarter-Life Crisis: Recent Episodes
Leo
This is a podcast for teens by teens and is dedicated to making people feel comfortable with their own fears about growing up and heading to college. In the world we live in today, teenagers encounter a large amount of stress on a day-to-day basis but are not given an avenue where they feel comfortable airing out their problems. This podcast seeks to remedy this problem by making teenagers feel comfortable with their anxieties and worries about the future.
Finding meaning in life is one of those things that everyone talks about but no one really seems to have an answer to. All the time people ask the question, "what is the meaning of life," and no one ever knows what to say in response.
The University Conundrum of University Part 2
Ok, so you got into college. Maybe it was your top choice, maybe it was your safety, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Because now you have to pack up a uhaul and leave home for the first time while stomaching the fact that either you and your parents are going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars less rich after four years in many cases.
What I want to start by talking about, and what scares me a little bit is leaving home. As someone who has lived in the same house with the same family their entire life, the thought of that normal routine being disrupted and exchanged for a completely different way of living is lowkey terrifying. I mean how will I get my groceries, or do laundry, or use the bathroom without my parents around? Not only that, but I will have a roommate that means that I can just throw my clothes on the floor of my bedroom like I normally do. I have all of these fears, and I’m not even in college yet, I mean- what happens once I actually am.
According to a survey by the UCLA Higher Education Institute, 69 percent of first year college students report feeling homesick. So its not like those feelings are just going to magically disappear once you walk through the gates of your college, so what can we do now to prepare ourselves.
First, start trying to be more self-sufficient. Getting used to things like doing your own laundry, shopping for your own groceries, and making a budget are not only skills you will need in college but for the rest of your life, and you can use the resources of those around you so that you can make mistakes now and not when it matters so much.
Another good idea I got from the moneyboss.org was to start managing your own money. One of the things we don’t learn in school is how to take care of our financials (but luckily we learn calculus which is super useful). Anyways, doing something like getting a job or opening a checking account can expose you to a part of life that will very important later in college and once you leave college.
One of the most important parts of the transition to college, maybe more important than everything I’ve mentioned before from an emotional perspective, is the fact that you’re not going to see your friends or family everyday like you have for the last 17 or 18 years of your life. You’ll go from being the kings of campus at high school to the bottom of the totem pole at your next destination, and all of that stuff combined is pretty scary for me and I’m sure a lot of you out there. This problem is compounded especially if you leave your homestate and move halfway across the country as many kids do. Even though I often lament living in the same city my whole life and going to school with the same kids my entire childhood, I have never really had to leave home and enter an unfamiliar place to any extent like I will in a few months. So I did what I always do, and I researched. The first article I found was entitled, “Why you’re not going to see your friends after high school.” by year13.au. Turns out people in Australia deal with the same problem. And it turns out that there might not be a snap your fingers magical way to stay in touch because the idea that you’re barely going to see your high school friends once you walk out of the door is something pretty much every article I could find on this topic says. Sure, you’ll eventually make friends in college I say to myself, hoping that’s more fact than hope. Hopefully I will be different than most people and talk to my childhood friends for my entire life, but I know that that’s going to be a tall order. I mean, heck, I don’t even talk to some of my best friends from middle school anymore because they left to a different school, and they at least still live in the same city that I do. Even with the avenue of social media providing a way for peop
The Universal Conundrum about University Part 1
If you’re anything like me the very word, “college” makes your heart rate spike. We live in a world where teenagers are defined by that very concept, college. The reason you do well in middle school is so you can succeed in high school so you can go to a good college. You stay up late at night studying for that calculus test because if you don’t get a good grade, your hopes of getting into your dream school fly out of the window. You spend a year and a half studying for the SAT or ACT because that same school has a score range you wouldn’t be able to achieve if you went in cold. This school has a 12% acceptance rate, and this one has an 18%. The average ACT score for this school is 32. You have to have at least a 3.5 GPA for this one. It’s overwhelming and it’s neverending. Everyone around you is doing essays and applications, everyone is stressed just like you are, and everyone knows they’re going to be judged, whether to their face or behind their back, based on where they end up getting accepted to and going.
I was sitting in my History class a few days ago, and I saw a sight that was very common for me. The person in front of me was scrolling through their computer, and the article that was on the screen was the quote, “US News and World Report Best Colleges”. If you are of a similar age to myself, you know very well all that this website holds. A simple list starting at number one, Princeton this year, oftentimes Harvard or Yale other years, and the list goes down from there. Whatever college you apply to, you HAVE to know what spot it holds on this article. After all, could you imagine the embarrassment of going to a school that was past number 150 on the list? Before you hit that apply button on the common app, you have to know where it falls and what other people will think about you applying to that school. Frankly, it’s a bit ridiculous.
This might be around the time where you ask yourself, “Well then why do we care about where we go to college so much?” And the answer is, well I’m not really sure. I don’t like speaking on issues I’m not completely familiar with and the psychology of the college admissions process is one of those things, so I will leave you to your theories. But the actual question you should be asking yourself is, “Does where you go to college matter?” And that’s what we are going to be exploring over the next few minutes (unless you leave of course, in which case you will be left wondering for the rest of your life.)
What I’m going to do is present to you both sides of the argument on whether where you go to college matters or not, then I’m going to tell you my thoughts, and then I’ll let you decide for yourself. With that said, let’s DEBATE!
We open with our defendant. Those who believe where you go to college matters. Here are their opening arguments.
“We, of the where you go to college does matter side (An article by ivycoach.com entitled “sorry where you go to college matters, and another one called When it does matter where you go to college by the Washington Post, combined with my thoughts since I am the podcaster) are here with an important message. Stop lying to yourself. The idea that it doesn’t matter where you go to college is a very nice and amicable thought, but we need to live in reality, and in reality, where you attend college does matter. For starters, and this is a quote from ivy coach.com, “The fact is students who attend elite universities have higher earning potential.” NBC says that, “More than 50 percent of women and more than 80 percent of men on Forbes’ Most Powerful list attended elite schools,” Also, according to WaPo, “ the harder-to-get-into colleges that they studied had higher graduation rates for all types of students,” so if you care about gra
Episode 2- What did COVID do?
I have spent the last few months trying to convince myself that the last few months didn’t happen. The world that we lived in has turned into a gelatinous mush of confusion and fear. And if you are like me, these feelings have had detrimental effects. Even before COVID, 20% of teens health with major depressive episodes. Taking away any connection to your friends and the outside world for a few months, completely derail our social lives and way of living for even longer, and it’s not surprising that the already high 20% figure increased dramatically. The truth that I and many others have to accept is that COVID did happen, and now the question is what do we do with ourselves in the aftermath.
My answer starts with doing things that you couldn’t do. One of the detrimental effects that rona had was that people lost interest in activities they once had an interest in. This is a common sign of declining mental health, and it likely was felt by a huge chunk of the teen population because we literally couldn’t do those things that brought us pleasure before. Unicef reported that 46% of teens currently have less motivation to do activities they once enjoyed. So my answer is go do em. You’re likely not alone in your disinterest in the things you used to love, but go and give it another try. If you liked to go for hikes outside, but now you just want to stay in bed like we all do, go and try a hike out. If you liked to go thrift shopping before all of the stores closed down, or you tried different foods for fun, go to a new restaurant and give it a shot.
You’re not alone in feeling a lack of motivation to get out of bed and do something besides watching Netflix. Science literally says that a huge percent of teens feel this way, but you’re only punishing yourself through this behavior. Now that the world is open once again, go outside, feel the breeze, smell the roses, and live life.
Another way to remedy anxiety or depression caused by COVID is to get off of your phone. For instance, if your scrolling through Instagram while listening to this, STOP. The Child Mind Institute has reported that there is a correlation between social media use and depression use. And trust me, I know the feeling and the temptation. And even for my preaching, I average around 3 hours a day in screen time. But the results are in, and they say the less social media, the better. The mindless scrolling that happens on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok is actually damaging, as they don’t bring fulfillment, can lead to unrealistic expectations, and expose you to hostile situations.
I think it would be a fun time to play a game I like to call: What’s wrong with that social media?
Our first contestant: Instagram
According to Forbes, Instagram has been proven to increase not only depression and anxiety in its users, but also the chance of having an eating disorder, having lower self-esteem, desire to have cosmetic surgery AS A TEENAGER, and in addition to all of that, using Instagram frequently leads to an increase in suicidal thoughts.
To be clear, I’m not saying to not use Instagram. I love Instagram, I get all of my best memes from it and love watching sports highlights, but it is essential not to fall into the trap of social comparison and not to spend too much time on the app because overuse leads to negative effects.
Our next contestant: Twitter
In the article, “Twitter is eroding your intelligence. Now there’s data to prove it.” By the Washington Post, that every like and retweet you do on Twitter destroys brain cells. Twitter not only doesn’t improve your intelligence in any way, it actually hurts it. Twitter, to put it simply, is making you dumber.
There is also an
Episode 1/ Intro
Intro
“Why?” “Just Why?”
If you are like me, a teenager in the midst of a quarter-life crisis, that word, “Why” will pop into your head so often that there is no choice left but to question everything in the world. The inevitable endpoint of the Why conundrum is the unanswerable question, “why is the world the way it is?”
“Why do I have to sit at a desk every day for eight hours?”
“Why do I stare at Instagram for hours every day?”
“Why does everyday feel like a never-ending Groundhog Day of depression”
“Why does life feel like a meaningless void?”
“Why do I feel like things will never get better”
“Why? Just… why?”
“Why is the world the way it is?”
I wish I had the answers to these questions, truly I do. I wish that at least someone out there had the answers, but I don’t think anyone does.
In the end, we are left with the universe shrugging its shoulders at us, an overwhelming indifference to those questions we grapple with on a daily basis.
But here’s the silver lining: here’s why I’m talking to you right now.
You are not alone, and I’m not alone. We’re all a little terrified for what the future holds. Every teenager is unsure of themselves and the reality they live in. To make matters worse, the time we live in is one where the world is changing in front of our eyes every day.
But let me say it again, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Over the next five episodes of this podcast, I will explore those problems that so many people face in their young adolescence. For people who are scared about growing up, terrified about leaving home and heading to college, don’t know how to find meaning in their lives, and are unsure of the world they live in, you are in the right place because we’re all in the same shoes.
We live in a time where social media defines us and our friends, Twitter turns the world into a battlefield, a pandemic that ravages not only the physical health of millions, but also the mental health of similar numbers, and that’s just the beginning. We are caught in the meat grinder of change in every sense of the word.
As I said, I don’t have all the answers to life’s questions, and to be frank, I’m pretty far away from answering even a few of those important queries. But I think that together, we might be able to discover a little more clarity and develop some tools that will make the future a brighter and more prosperous place.