As a teenager throughout the second half of the 2010’s myself, I have to say things were difficult. I understand that generations older than us found their teenage years to be awful because of many different things but each generation is different in most respects.
My experience as a teenager in that time was good for about the last two and a half years of the decade. 2015, 2016 and 2017 were difficult as back then I was a very quiet, introverted kid who only kept a few close friends and didn’t like to go anywhere.
The negative sides of social media were affecting me in typical fashion which I wasn’t thrilled about, mainly because I got enough ridicule off the screen anyway. I hated everything and was approaching goth territory around the time I was 15. Around June 2017 when I was finishing second year things really changed as I and old friend whom I’d had a falling out with years prior and he convinced me to go to my first teenage disco. I went and had an amazing night. It turns out it took me no time at all to get out of my shell and just enjoy myself for once. I had a job from when I was thirteen to when I was seventeen so thankfully I was able to go to a hell of a lot more discos over the Summer and I like to think I changed for the better. Everything changed after that. I didn’t feel like an outsider in school, people started to understand me and I wasn’t getting picked on nearly as much. At least by the people in my own year. 2018 and 2019 were fantastic years for me. I was a new person and had a much more positive attitude and wasn’t nearly as timid as I used to be. This was to the point where I stood up to the older kids who enjoyed giving me grief. Teenage years are formative and in my generation, the social media aspects and the treatment I got in school weren’t enjoyable in the slightest but I ended it on a positive note. I became happy and thankful that I grew up in the 2010s era.