Teens say age no bar for experience

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Justin Bieber recently lashed out at critics who said he isn’t “experienced enough” to write songs about love as he’s only 16. While the allegation may or may not have some truth, the fact remains that teens’ experiences or opinions are often not given the weight they deserve. The reasons range from “what do you know about life?” to “you’re just not old enough” and teens say striving to make their voice heard among all the naysayers can be tough.

Eighteen-year-old Ambica Sharma offers a unique perspective on the issue. “Why is it so easy to accept that teens know a lot about stuff like social networking sites and technology, but not about other important things?” she wonders. “Just like teens can teach their elders about the intricacies of Facebook, isn’t it possible that elders can learn about other things as well from us?”
Priya Adivarekar, 19, believes the problem stems more from the assumption that teens are simply unaware about what happens around them. “We aren’t any less aware of life’s happenings. People forget that we have sometimes been through experiences that even people older than us have not,” Priya asserts.
She adds, “Adults need to recognise that we may not know everything — but we do certainly make some sense.”
But Nascimento Pinto thinks that the laidback attitude some teens have gives the world license to label them unfavourably. The 18-year-old says, “If we really want to do something, we can do a lot and surprise many people. But at some level, we give our elders the excuse to label us losers.”
Experts say that teen angst over being denied the weight of their experiences is traceable to parental attitudes. “At times, parents make conflicting statements like ‘you are not a kid any more’ and then ‘you are still a child and don’t know what’s right and wrong’,” says counsellor Shachi Juthani. “Most of the times, teens have ‘seen more life’ than their parents. What needs to be remembered is that no one is right all the time. Teens may be misinformed at times but they are aware of many things.”