Given how the world is now in our grasps, teens these days can get their hands on anything. Thus, teen trouble factors make their lives difficult since they are not aware of what they are doing. Do we need to explain how that is dangerous? Well, to help you look out for them, we have listed some broad classifications of sources of teen trouble factors. As parents never overlook these factors. You must take immediate steps to eliminate these teen trouble issues.
7 Teen Trouble Factors That Lead A Teenagers Into Danger
Mental Health Issues
It is one of the most underrated symptoms of teen dangers, one of the teen trouble issues. Since talking about mental health issues has not been wholly normalized, most teenagers tend to keep things to them. Worse, many don’t even recognize they are suffering.
Examples of mental health issues include –
1) Anxiety (GAD, SAD, OCD), personality disorder,
2) ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,
3) PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),
4) Depression (“sadness” that lasts longer than six weeks),
5) ASD (Autism spectrum Disorder),
6) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
7) Schizophrenia, and many more.
Why may they happen? Reasons are endless. For example – hardships in school, bullying, events at social meetings, sleep deprivation, relationship issues (romantic or regular), childhood abuse, etc.
What Precaution Should You Take To Eliminate Such A Teen Trouble Factors?
A great way to know if your child is falling into one of these dark pits is to understand their lives in the virtual world; that life often tends to leave clues and symptoms.
Child Abuse
You might be providing your children and teens with the safest and healthiest lifestyles; however, they might be in danger in other ways. Unless you keep your teens well informed and in knowledge about how to recognize abuse and how to react to them, chances are, they are unknowingly exploited at the minute.
Child abuse does not refer to physically hurting the child. It, however, relates to any maltreatment act and imposes a potential threat to the teen. On the other hand, child sexual assault or abuse refers to an act when the teen or the child suffers from sexual predators or the pedophile.
As per a recent report by RAININ, 7% of predators for child sexual abuse by strangers and 34% by family members. On the other hand, shockingly, 59% are from acquaintances!
What Should You Do To Prevent Child Sexual Abuse And Assault, A Teen Trouble Factors?
Make sure your teens are well educated about these situations. And they know what to do if they fall into any. That is why it is essential to talk about child sexual abuse with your teen. Besides, they should know who to contact other than you.
Social Media Is One Of The Wells Of Teen Trouble Factors
It is no mystery why social media can be so addictive. Obsession over social media is where most potential teen-dangers lie. Children start permitting anyone to “follow” them on social media, allowing everyone accesses to information they share. This way, predators might track the personal data.
There have been countless recorded cases of unusually insane stalking and even attack many teens. Older predators target young, naive teens for a business like a child trafficking, organ collection, kidnapping, threatening the entire family, raping, getting them into drugs, etc. The predators start slow. They create fake accounts and gain teens’ trust before attacking. It is indeed hard, especially for a teen, to identify a potential predator behind the curtains of the virtual world.
Other than these, teens tend to constantly compare themselves to all the other filtered “perfect images” that crowd social media. It has, however, led many to suffer from insecurity, identity crisis, and even depression. Obsessing over social media, many teens have allegedly suffered from clinical anxiety.
What Should You Do To Prevent The Teen Dangers from The Social Media?
Educate your child on how social media may turn into a trap and make his/her life endangered. On the other hand, you should keep an eye on their online activities.
Teen Trouble Factors: Screen Addiction
Mind you. Screen addiction is not the same as social media addiction. Your child could be doing perfectly productive work on their devices – like graphic designing, reading an e-book, coding, etc.; and it still may affect them terribly. A report issued by common sense media found, 50% of teens are addicted to their screens, and about 1/3rd parents and teens say they argue daily about screen time.
How come you can stay off your phone, but your teen can’t? Study shows that the dopamine released in the “pleasure center” of the brain when we get new information and look into our screens is most activated for kids and teenagers than they are for adults.
Many MRI scans of the brains of teens who spend 25 hours or more per week on an addictive item like social media, or video games, have been compared with brain MRIs of people with severe addictions like alcoholism or drug use. The results? Very similar brain scans and patterns. To sum up, the effect of excessive screen time is not just psychological; it gets physiological as well. Apart from these, some noticeable side effects can be apparent, like laziness, procrastination, etc
Another concerning yet underrated side effect is sleeplessness. According to doctors’ explanations, melatonin (sleep controlling hormone) is produced significantly less when exposed to artificial blue light at night. The effects of lack of sleep are shocking. Apart from damaged brain cells, it is also harmful to the body’s natural cell recovery system and hormone cycles.
What Should You Do To Avoid The Screen Addiction Issue?
To know more about how you can help your children win over the phone addiction and screen addiction issues, you can read our article titled: Let’s Recognize Child Phone Addiction and Find out Remedy.
Addiction
It is no new news that the cases of teen addiction to harmful substances – like drugs, steroids, alcohol, etc. – are at a peaking rise. Drugs like GHB (gamma Hydroxy Buteroic acid), Benzos (Benzodiazepines), and Amphetamines give users a short-lasting boost in mood, energy and temporarily increases focus, which gets the users craving for more whenever they feel low.
Starting as “being cool” and as sheer entertainment, then becoming a need, and finally a LIFE SUPPORT; it is notoriously known as the ultimate life ruin-er. Mental problems, academic problems, difficulties in relations with loved ones, the list of harms it can cause for ANYONE is endless.
How Can You Eliminate Teen Addiction Issues?
First of all, educate your child from a tender age on how addiction makes life miserable. Secondly, monitor their online activities to check out whom they are talking. After all, keep in mind, the drug dealers target the teen online. Thirdly, if you find that your teen is in addiction, without delay, consult the healthcare or a psychotherapist. For further information about such teen trouble issues, please read our article: Teen Drug Addiction Symptoms, Remedy And Parental Role
Bullying
It is not an act limited to schools and playgrounds only. The hands of bullies extend severely in the virtual world. Cyberbullying has gotten excessively dangerous in the recent era. No one is afraid to post hurtful comments and posts behind the masks of anonymity.
The effects of bullying start from “hurt feelings” to insecurity and, ultimately, even suicide. The feeling of “loneliness” affects teens more than adults. They quickly become depressed and start accepting peer pressure to escape from this, to “fit in.”
How To Check Back Bullying, One Of The Severe Teen Trouble Issues?
The answer is simple. Not only educate your children not to bully others, educate them also how to avoid bullying. Moreover, monitor their social accounts to help them immediately if they become victims of cyberbullying.
Teen Trouble Issues: Peer Pressure
Human beings, by nature, are vulnerable to be influenced by their social environments. During teenage, most of the activities have their friends affiliated. It would be abnormal of them NOT to be influenced by them.
However, this “influence” often turns into pressure. Teens are often forced to do harmful things in the name of “fitting in” or “looking cool.” We can see the problem with that. They usually end up making decisions they usually wouldn’t; opening a social media account at too young an age, for example, worse, going into drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy life habits.
How To Check Back Peer Pressure, Another Severe Teen Trouble Issues?
Teenage is a sensitive part of life where the child can be molded into any form of a human being. Being around the right kind of people is crucial. It is therefore essential that guardians are well aware of their teens’ whereabouts and peers.
Bottom Lines
Today’s teen is the next future leader of this earth. The globe will march ahead with the leadership of today’s teens. We have already discussed the teen trouble issues in detail. You know what? The best and the easiest way to eliminate such teen trouble factors is to educate them properly. Both parents and teachers have significant roles. But as per the parents’ role, it is always wiser to monitor your children’s online activities. If you can observe their online activities, you will be able to help your child when they need it, for example, peer pressure, bullying, drug addiction, screen addiction, mental health issues, social media, etc.
How to supervise or monitor their online activities? Use the best Spyware, the Spouseware.