Do you think being a teenager today is better/ worse than when you were young?

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Worse with the pressure of social media, having to look good. Better for minorities, hopefully the population is less predjudice against gays, ethnicity and cultural differences. Still so much room for improvement though.
I feel I had more freedom and obtainable goals.

I was a teenager in the late '50s, educated at a convent boarding school so sex and periods did not exist.
Only a small percentage went to university- I chose a profession which on the whole I enjoyed and did well
.
Jobs were easier to find when one left school- I could have been a journalist or a librarian and chose the latter but I did not start the course.

I was sexually abused by two members of the family but I did not dare to say anything because I would not have been believed and physical violence was rife in my house for little reason.

Today's teenagers seem to have the weight of the world on their shoulders coping with school, bullies and social media.

I'm the odd one out on this one as I think they have it easier. The age of responsibility has increased and is proposed to increase yet again to 14 so youngsters get away with just saying 'they didn't understand'. A child until 18 years and even then circumstances consider them to be immature until 24 in criminal context. There is an expectation they will have a car at 17 years, holidays abroad with friends from 16 years old and I think its easier to obtain alcohol nowadays even when identity needed. Amazing all the false documents can be produced with a printer. Once they do leave school if not going to Uni and they go to a job they are given exceptional conditions re hours, responsibility albeit at a standard rate of remuneration as laid down in law but then that also applies to adults in many cases. Housing is difficult for more than just the young. The sale of council housing has benefited many through inheritance when, before the give away at ridiculous discounts many families would have nothing to inherit. It's a knock on effect. Contraception has never been as good so the liberal attitude to casual relationships thrives with sometimes unexpected and expensive consequences! Illegal drugs have been around for decades. I feel we smother teenagers not expecting much from them by way of accepting responsibilities for actions. I would also add that the generation of parents of teenagers nowadays leave a lot to be desired in the way that they place no expectation on them It's just too darn hard to be a parent when you have to attend to a mobile phone every few minutes! Children know their rights and boy do they use them.

I wouldn’t swap my teenage years with those of today’s youngsters for anything!!! Enormous amount of freedom to learnt to become independent very early, fantastic adventures and a rich social life. And I am not putting a gloss on it.....

Not sure. There were some good things about life in the past and there are some good things about life now.
In the 60s and 70s both my brothers were incredibly bullied at school - cigarette burns on their arms, physical and mental bullying. One teacher punched my younger brother in the stomach for being cheeky. That brother was small for his age, a glasses wearer and had double hearing aids. Both my brothers left school as soon as possible because of the bullying. This would never go on today as bullying is now known about and hopefully dealt with.
I knew nothing about sex and hadn't the words to use about an attempted rape.
Unmarried girls who became pregnant had a terrible time when I was a teenager, but now it's an accepted part of life.
Families weren't as spread out as they are now, so there was more support for teenagers and young adults.
Yes. Social media has some very great disadvantages, but with a mobile phone my grandchildren are able to tell their parents where they are and if they need to be collected. During the pandemic, social media has meant that young people can stay in touch with their friends and continue some sort of schooling.
So - teenagers and young adults have better times than we had and they have worse times. All part of life's rich tapestry.

I remember when I had my oldest son I said to my mother that the world was such a dangerous place I feared for him growing up. She said she felt the same when her children were born but that children always seemed to be able to cope with their 'time'. Well, my brothers and sisters and I did, and my boys did but the computer age was just dawning when they were young. Now it's a monster no one can control and I really fear for my grandsons.

I think that every generation has its own challenges.

It was probably easier to get a job without qualifications when I was in my teens, or you could go to university without saddling yourself with a huge debt. When I started work at 15, I suddenly had to become a grown up. I can't imagine any of my DGC with the responsibility of a full time job at 15. Whether being treated as an adult when you were barely a teenager made life better or worse, I'm not sure.

The job market today is hard. More people have degrees but it also means that a degree is less likely now to get you a job. So you end up with university graduates competing to serve coffee in Starbucks.

We also grew up under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Now young people face climate change disaster, not as a threat but a certainty.

Women have greater opportunities but are under greater pressure. There are laws against discrimination, and more acceptance of diversity, but you still have disadvantages if you are not a straight white able-bodied man.

Social media is a double edged sword. Now you can bullied in the privacy of your own home as well as at school. However, you can also make friends, even if they are on the other side of the world.

We definitely had the best music, though.

Jaxjacky

I think it’s swings and roundabouts. I’d have been grateful for the internet and computers rather than lugging loads of books to and from school/college. Drugs were easily available, particularly heroin, I too knew people who died from overdoses. Violence was around as much, if not more, football riots, armed robberies and beachside brawls, mods and rockers anyone? Contraception was more hush hush, as was most sex education, unwanted pregnancies and enforced marriages far more prevalent. Yes it’s more difficult to buy a house now, maybe we’re moving more to the rental model, the holy grail still seems to be a mortgage, not so in many parts of the world. There was no Childline, more sexual abuse hidden behind family doors, not spoken about, children today are more aware of what’s not right. Increased media again is a double edged sword, we are more informed but more spied upon. I don’t know if it was better or worse, certainly different.

I agree...different good stuff and different bad stuff, There was no media until I was in my late 20's. I have no kids but am often shocked at how little care some parents seem to take to know about and control what their children do online.

Yes, think it's harder now. IMO the internet (especially access to pornography, and all the implication of this, plus the minefields that are social media) are grounds enough for this statement, even before taking everything else into account.

I agree probably 50/50
My teenage grandchildren are so much better informed than I ever was, not for them crying in a school toilet because they think they are bleeding to death, no lack of information about drugs, sex, contraception, all the information is out there for them, anything can be talked about.
Just the other evening I was telling my twelve year old granddaughter, that she can ask or tell me anything, I will never be shocked, and I will never judge her. How I wish someone had said that to me. We live in a multi generational household, and no subject is off the table.
On the other hand, I dislike the TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat world they’re growing up in. My granddaughters all follow really dreadful ‘celebs’ I really want them to understand that there’s more to life than looking pretty in a TikTok video.
I also fear the virtual bullying that we hear so much about, as someone said, there is no escape.
All in all, I’d like another go at it , knowing what I know now. But I can’t see myself embracing a world of technology.

Definitely worse! I would hate to be a teenager now.They have lots of material things but real friendships are rare and social media rules seems to be the norm.

Social media is terrible how people look what size you are my 8year old granddaughter said one day I can’t eat that I’ll get fat she is super skinny so somebody put the idea in her head

much worse, Back in the day there were no teenagers. You finished education wether at 15 yrs as I did or after fuerger education. Whichever it was you were then classed as adult and expected to conduct yourself as one.

I think life must be hard for girls nowadays. I admit to a very privileged background - am 88 - and see all around me struggling. Fortunately my children are ok, and for that I am immensely grateful - I just hope things will become easier but somehow I doubt it and I am sad for my grandchildren and g/grandson - I doubt life will get much easier - sorry to be so
depressing..

I feel that in general things are better now. My teenage years were rather a non event. I was brought up by a loving but extremely strict father and wasn’t allowed to do anything. No freedom and so much control. Also absolutely no awareness of what growing up involved.

I think it's much better now. Yes there are problems in society but there always have been.
Young people have so much more freedom today. My parents were loving but very strict and they would never have allowed me to have a gap year. Both my sons worked to earn the money that they needed for travel and took off. They chose their own degrees.
I always wanted to be a farmer. Can you imagine a farmer who was a woman in the 70s? I was a happy enough podiatrist most of my life. Now I own my own farm and breed Wagyu cattle by embryo transfer and wish I'd stared years ago.

I’m sure it is much harder now. I was a teenager in the 1950s, admittedly a rather privileged one. I left school at 18 and went to university, which was expected by my family and my very academic girls’ school. We had the usual concerns about appearance, but there were not the pressures there are now, and of course no social media. There was no particular pressure to have a boyfriend. I didn’t go out with a boy until I left school. The only boys I knew were my brother’s friends, and I certainly didn’t fancy them! As for marriage, that was something in the distant future. The few who married young were to be pitied.

I think it was much harder for my brother, who went to a rather brutal minor public school. He hated it, was very unhappy.

The lack of sex education was a bad thing, but luckily I had sensible parents so was not ignorant. I had a friend whose first period was a total shock to her. She had been told nothing, and she thought she was dying. I don’t think that could happen now.

Sounds like you've had the worst of both worlds

If you were a gay, black or autistic teenager back in the 70s I imagine you probably encountered a lot more ignorance and discrimination than you would nowadays.

But in other ways it was easier being a teenager in the past. Less pressure to grow up too quickly, to look good, to go to college. Easier to find work, shorter commutes, just worked your contracted hours and usually home in time for tea. Also rents and house prices much lower.

i am 73 so some would say that i am old fashioned , out dated etc and it could well be true, all i can say is that living in the 60s was amazing, we loved the music, the clubs with live bands , never really heard the word racist or woke, maybe there was a lot wrong and i`m looking through rose coloured glasses and universitys were not the norm, there is such a problem these days with social media and trolls , i suggested to someone who was getting abuse on twitter etc , i said why dont you just switch off, shock, horror, you cant do that even though she was so upset and depressed, back in the day we had things like, Till death us do part, full of shocking talk about , well, about anything really, were we being so bad in enjoying and laughing at the sit com ; who knows ,