Challenges That 21st Century Teens Are Facing and How to deal with it

When you’re an adolescent, you feel like you have the energy to do anything. You don’t have the responsibility of looking after a family or a child, that’s why you can use all your time to do the things you want. You can travel anywhere with your friends, eat whatever you want and ride on whatever bandwagon society presents you with. All you have to think about is passing school, and, generally, just enjoying life. For the most part, you don’t have to stress yourself about what to eat for dinner or where you could find money to pay for monthly house bills and expenses. Yes, this kind of lifestyle might seem like all play and no work, but on the other side of the coin, 21st-century adolescents are also facing challenges. These challenges are something which might be unique to them or something which they’re more prone to experience. If you don’t have any ideas about what challenges millennials might currently be facing, read on to know more.

If you are unfortunately victim to one of these challenges, this article may also give you some insight as to how you can combat it in a legal sense. However, if you find yourself dealing with anything listed below, it may be best to talk to a licensed attorney who has experience with situations similar to yours.

Challenge #1: Cyberbullying

Everyone can do a lot of things through the internet. Everyone can communicate with different people wherever they are, acquire reliable answers to their concerns, and they can even purchase items online! However, not all people are using the internet for the greater good. Some are using the internet as an avenue to bully an adolescent. Sure, these might be mere words but these words can ridicule someone in the online community and can have adverse effects on the victim in the long run.

The solution: There are a lot of things which you can do to prevent cyberbullying. Here are some of the ways:

• Think before you post anything online. Yes, you might have a small circle of friends in your social media platforms, but once you post anything online, it can remain in the virtual world forever. You might have deleted this post after seeing how wrong it was, but other people might already have copies of what you posted.
• Educate yourself on the cyberbullying law. Know when someone is bullying you online and report these to the authorities. Once you notice that someone is making you feel uncomfortable by embarrassing or shaming you online, don’t wait for the situation to get worse. Intervene and defend yourself using the cyberbullying law.

Challenge #2: Sexual Harassment

Contrary to popular belief, sexual harassment doesn’t only happen when another person forces you to have sex with him/her. Throwing offensive jokes which are sexual in nature can also be considered as sexual harassment. And because adolescents love to mingle with other people and explore unfamiliar places, their chances of being harassed are higher.

The solution: Sexual harassment doesn’t only happen to females. Sexual harassment can happen to anyone, anywhere, regardless of their sexual orientation. And once you feel that you’re in a hostile environment, take legal actions immediately.

• Sexual harassment comes in many forms. And as an adolescent, you should take the time to be familiar with all of these. You don’t want to be in an environment where people are sexually harassing you, especially without you even noticing it. You should know when you’re violated and should not let instances like these slip.
• Once you’re certain that you’ve been sexually harassed, you can file for a lawsuit, especially if the occurrence was traumatizing or repeatedly done. The entire duration of the lawsuit can be taxing, but if you have strong evidence, you have higher chances of winning.

Challenge #3: Leaked private photos

Sure, everybody loves taking selfies and pictures, but when you’re an adolescent, may love to take things to the extreme. Aside from taking pictures of different poses in different locations, adolescents are prone to peer pressure which drives them to do things they don’t usually do. Examples of these are by taking sexy photos and private photos of themselves or with another person. And there will be instances when these photos are leaked to the public. Situations like these can bring devastation to any adolescent.

The solution: No one would ever want their private photos to be leaked publicly. And if you’re the victim in this situation, you can handle this challenge by asking help from the law.

• A lot of laws are on your side once your photos are leaked. For one, privacy laws will help you get through this. You can file a lawsuit against whoever was responsible for leaking and sharing your photos publicly. It’ll be easier for you to sue a defendant because of the laws in your favor.

Adolescence is basically the stage where you have the freedom to be creative and open to anyone and anything. This is the time of your life where you usually don’t listen to pieces of advice because you think that your own decisions are better than anybody else’s. All of this might be true, but it doesn’t exempt you from experiencing challenges. Even if you’re still young or you don’t have any major responsibilities in life, challenges will always be there. Some of these challenges might seem taxing and stressful for you, but you can always look at the brighter side of things and remember that all challenges have solutions. There are always options available for dealing with anything adolescence may throw at you.

Thalia Mott

Thalia Mott has had a decade’s worth of experience as a law writer, which she hopes to share through her works. She is an avid sports fan and loves watching games if she has free time.