Teenage problems

Last week during the awarding ceremony of the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards, two high school students gave a decent number in front of the audience supposedly portraying the problems of their generation.

The first girl who went up on stage wore a yellow cocktail dress, she started to sing a tune from a popular Cebuano song. She then recited a poem coupled with tears narrating her pain due to somebody that she used to know, a boy probably. Her poem revolved around how she was hurting because of an early relationship. The second girl sang what seemed like an original composition speaking of her secret relationship with a boy in school. She said that they shouldn't be obvious, or else their parents would go after them and that their relationship was true.

I couldn't help but scoff and be sad at the same time. It seem like the generation of today has problems that shouldn't be a concern at their early age. Last week, a 17-year-old female senior high student took her own life leaping from the 7th floor of their school building. According to the school's official statement, she was having erratic behavior before the incident. The police ruled out that the student had a family problem, thus her strange behavior.

According to a psychologist based in Cebu, Tina Espiritu, it is important for parents who are raising teenagers to spend time with their children. They should talk to them and be their support system. Without a strong family behind them, they are most likely to experience depression or vent out their emotions into the wrong things like early relationships. Espiritu also stressed that a teenager must also have a set of friends that they can trust, which they parents should also know about.

Sometimes I cannot help but feel sorry for the teenagers who are currently experiencing pain because of the chaos they feel at home, plus the pressure in school. It makes me question where the previous generation went wrong. Have we failed to deliver in inspiring them or is there simply something going on that we cannot decipher?

I, too, am a product of a broken home but I managed to cope with the stress inside the house and in school. I have learned to be with a group in a church so I can manage my problems, and I am grateful for their presence. It makes me wonder, how hard is it to enter the world of the teens these days?

Pop culture has a big role to play. What media puts out is usually what the people in the society portray. It boils down to regulation and checking of what is going on, not just on mainstream media but also in social media. Recently, teens have been vocal with suicide by documenting the whole incident live on Facebook. This should be put to a stop. I'm calling on those of my generation to be a friend to those younger than them. Most of the time, they just need a listening ear.