The teenage years of a person’s life commence the peak time for discovering oneself and one’s community. During this period in life, teenagers commonly become increasingly sociable and can easily build relationships with others. Unfortunately, certain teenagers may face mental health issues due to the stressors of growing up, resulting in the phenomenon of teen seclusion.
Loneliness refers to mental anguish resulting from feeling socially isolated and disconnected from the world. Social media and the COVID-19 pandemic serve a prominent role in this phenomenon. Social media can prompt individuals to feel lonely due to prolonged doom-scrolling, which limits social interaction and increases self-comparison or fears of missing out (FOMO). Similar rhetoric exists on the topic of the 2020 pandemic, which led to the isolation of millions of now-teenagers and caused decreased social skills. Although these factors increase possibilities for teenage seclusion, other components, such as moving schools or bullying, remain strong for contenders of forlorn feelings.
Uprooting entire lives and starting anew can disrupt the developmental process of finding personal identity. Leaving behind friends and breaking down a community that a teenager builds can cause a feeling of isolation to arise because, within this stage of life, finding a personal identity relies heavily upon healthy friendships. Likewise, seeing friends gain romantic partners can feel secluding, as entering relationships for the first time becomes exceedingly common amongst high schoolers. Teenagers who do not engage in romance during this time, though, may feel they missed out on an important milestone in life, further isolating feelings.
Loneliness within adolescence may lead to mental and physical health problems such as depression, anxiety or trouble sleeping. Adolescents dealing with solitude could also take detrimental hits toward academics due to these teens’ decreased rates of participation in extracurricular activities. Additionally, teenagers who lack extracurricular activities can potentially hinder future opportunities, since universities look out for them. Luckily, solutions exist for adolescents suffering from isolation.
“I feel like social media is a big factor in teenage loneliness, due to the fact that people will see their friends’ posts hanging out with their friends, and they feel worthless and have none. Every day on my Instagram feed, I see people posting pictures of their friends at concerts, pumpkin patches, just like, everywhere. I do not feel lonely, not a lot anymore, now that I have a partner and I can annoy him. But I used to feel lonely, especially during COVID,” magnet sophomore Macey Collins said.
Methods to help manage loneliness remain accessible. Self-care, reaching out to old friends and trying new experiences could help manage the problem extensively. During self-care, teenagers can increase exercise or engage in a day dedicated to rest. Journaling about feelings also acts as a coping mechanism. By journaling, teenagers accurately understand their own feelings and the world around them. Another approach to self-care exists through helping others.
When helping others, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin are released within the brain: These chemicals create a positive mood. Acts of kindness could present as checking up on a friend, smiling at a stranger, gifting friends snacks or even holding the door for others. Furthermore, acts of kindness can create new or strengthen existing relationships, thus decreasing feelings of loneliness.
Reaching out to friends from people’s past presents an especially daunting challenge. Numerous adolescents feel disinterested in reconnecting with old friends, citing concerns surrounding whether the old friend still wants to hear from them. Nevertheless, rekindling previous friendships restores emotional support, and because people’s characters change over time, they could provide new perspectives and help navigate personal challenges.
Trying new activities also helps with combating feelings of seclusion. Joining extracurriculars in and outside of school helps build a sense of community. For high schoolers, participating in extracurriculars takes on countless forms. Finding a club based on favorite hobbies or subjects exposes people of similar interests to one another. Joining a new sport also builds strong relationships, and remaining involved in the community could expose individuals to new people. Community service, on a milder scale, increases a sense of self-fulfillment and happiness amongst teenagers by creating a stronger connection to individuals’ local community.
“I feel like people grow up around certain people, and they just tend to stick around with those people. People just develop a sense of conservatism, I guess; they want to keep what they have, they don’t want to add to it. Like, if they have a friend group, they don’t want to add new people. They just want to keep that friend group,” magnet sophomore Adina Binai said.
At the end of the day, the world can seem vast, empty and lonely to millions of teenagers, cultivating a sense of alienation. Luckily, opportunities exist to connect and bond with innumerable people. Teenagers cannot fight feelings of seclusion by themselves, so to fully combat this issue, adolescents can work together.
