growing up is hard

why is being a teenager so weirdly frustrating sometimes?

one minute you're stressing over exams, the next you're overthinking why no one's replying to your texts (or worse, left you on read)

and just when i thought i had teenage life all figured out, i came across a Netflix series called Adolescence — and honestly, it cracked my brain open.

it's not a typical rom-com, it's not a documentary, it's not even a horror film. it's a 4 episode limited series based on a 13 year old boy called Jamie who is arrested on suspicision of murder. yeah, a kid on suspicision of murder.

and no, before you think it's a classic who-dunnit. it's not. it's not a who-dunnit. it's a why did he do it?

think about it: just 4 episodes all shot in ONE FREAKING TAKE EACH.

the first episode is about the The Arrest. the whole series starts off by him being arrested by the police for murder. throughout the episode, he is in denial. "it's not me". "i haven't done anything" he repeats. 

the second one is about The School. the influence of technology in teenagers really showcases in this episode. you can see how disturbing and horrible the environment in the school is. each student is taunting the teachers and it's as if no one cares it's a school.

the third episode is about The Boy. the person he kills is a girl, she's his age. the episode follows him and his physicatrist, and this has to be my favourite one. the acting is remarkable.

the fourth one is about The Family. Jamie lives with his 2 parents and an elder sister. This episode melts my heart.  

every teenager should watch this web series. not because of it's amazing acting or the remarkable cast. but because even it's 16+ there is no blood, no violence, because that is not what they aimed for. they wanted to show where the GenZ world is going now and what will happen if this continues...

not just this, all around the world there are cases about teenagers murdering and abusing through social media. 

i'm sure you must have heard about the Piper Rockelle case. Piper, a 17 year old is a kid influencer who's youtube channel is managed by her mom. ever since she was small, her mom seeks out people who want to be famous and make them join her daughter.

that's how The Squad was formed. each member of this group figured out how Piper's mom- Tiffany is using and manipulating them by sexually and verbally abusing each of these kids. their parents had no idea about this. they later left The Squad and the consequences were terrible. their individual channels lost millions of subscribers and the entire world started hating on them.

'Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing' is the name of the Netflix documentry about this case.

watching Adolescence made me realize that the scariest part of being a teenager isn’t the exams or the awkward phases. it’s how quickly things can go wrong when no one’s really paying attention. when adults ignore, when kids stay silent, and when everything is just filtered through a screen.

even the Piper Rockelle case shocked me — not just because of what happened, but because it’s real. this stuff isn’t fiction. it’s happening.

so yeah. teenage life is frustrating. not just because of mood swings or math tests. but because we’re growing up in a world where the lines between real and online, safe and unsafe, are blurrier than ever.

maybe we can’t fix everything overnight, but talking about it? watching, learning, sharing? that’s a pretty good start:)