Hidden in a teen's mind

TEENAGERS are crazy. No, they have crazy minds, at least in the eyes of “big” people. But there are things which occupy teen minds that even adults can’t fully comprehend. MALCOLM BIGYEMANO takes a tour of the teens’ mind Not everyone has been here.

The headteacher’s office, I mean, with either one of your parents having been called in over your bad behaviour or poor performance. Not everyone has been here, but most know what I’m talking about.

There’s always that moment of silence when all attention is focused on the man (or woman) of the moment and they all seem to be thinking: “What in the world goes on in your head?”

They’re pondering the mystery that is the teenage mind. God forbid that they should be able to see through your skull and
read your thoughts. You think you’re in trouble now? When they get older, people, for some reason, forget what it means to be a teenager. Well, let me remind you.

Picture a roller coaster on the craziest possible track; going up and down, this way and that, up side down and the right way up - all at dizzying speeds! Now imagine being on said ride for 5, 6, 7 years straight.

It varies from person to person, depending on lots of factors, but that’s what it’s like for most teenagers. Crazy AF. So while hormones and an underdeveloped brain (no, I’m not just saying that.. “Don’t throw stuff!

Safety, man!”) take you on the ride of your life, there isn’t much else in your world but that roller-coaster. All that occupies your mind are your friends, music, movies, cars, clothes, sex and occasionally, the whole school thing everyone, but you, seems so very enthusiastic about.

As far as your parents are concerned, your head is, more often than not, not in the right place. (see: The
Priorities Lecture you probably get every time your parents and teachers meet … and then some). Whose fault is this? I believe you can blame it on the fact that our teens are spent straddling the divide between being children and being adults - leaning more to one side than the other.

You know how babies and toddlers seem to live for nothing more than to play and be jolly (with commercial breaks for food, drink, sleep and waste disposal before they get right back to it)? Well, a few years later, you’ll find that not much has changed - we still live for thrills, except that we’ve outgrown some of the toys that got us there before and moved on to … well … more adult means.

Tom & Jerry’s farces and fights are abandoned for gorier, bloodier, more extreme movies and series. Hide and seek doesn’t cut it anymore. Playing Mummy and Daddy? Well… Where does school and all that other important stuff come in? Images of the brain from the age of 5 to the age of 20 show that well into the teens, the brain hasn’t fully developed until one is in their 20s. No, guys, we’re really not there yet.

The bits of brain still missing are at the front and most responsible for making judgements, organizing and planning. This part
of the brain is also responsible for controlling the need for thrills and risks i.e extreme experiences.

Realistically, we can’t be expected to have the same organizational capacity or ability to make sound judgements as our parents (are assumed to) do.

Our parents are usually standing behind the barricades watching their kids ride the roller coaster. They watch us flip and spin and climb and swoop and barrel back down only to take off again in a seemingly never ending cycle of madness, with our hands in their air, screaming our heads off.

They see it, they imagine it must be crazy on there, buuut “Aren’t you kids over-doing it just a little?”, they think to them selves. Ofcourse we’re not going to use the underdeveloped brain thing as an excuse. Try saying that out loud to yourself and imagine it sounding 10 times sillier to your parents and other authorities (“I’m sorry for getting up to all that foolishness, madam, but it’s not me, you see… it’s my brain… it’s not really all there yet”).

The only reasonable way forward is for us to try to be responsible. We need to, every once in a while open our eyes, look around and realise that there’s a whole world outside of our roller-coaster and so much more to life than the present. The future is potentially just as awesome, if not even more so, and being responsible ought to help us get there.