Beyond the Surface: Exploring the Depths of Teenage Identity

 Beyond the Surface: Exploring the Depths of Teenage Identity

Teenage years are one of the most exciting years of our life, as they are a process that allows one to head on an onward journey of self-discovery, and find out who they truly are and what they want to be. 

Even as our identities are shaped by a lot of factors, including sociocultural and familial dynamics, as well as our engagement with media and our friends, teenage years help shape the personality of an individual, in terms of helping individuals figure out their preferences and desires. 

Towards this end, teenagers make a variety of active choices, with varying degrees of autonomy, which help them develop a sense of an autonomous self. Examples of this include, what music and movies they watch, the kind of friends they make, the hobbies they pursue, and the environments they place themselves in. Based on their engagements with and experiences of these contextual factors, teenagers begin to condition themselves. Herein, feedback and response play a huge role in fleshing out the identity of individuals.

Some of the pressing questions that teenagers navigate to help them develop an identity for themselves include interrogating their desire to assert themselves outside their family, forming kinship relations with peers, and forming a cluster of personal values to help them make their decisions.

As teenagers augment their cognitive skills and become capable of abstract thought, they move beyond shallow attractions. Often, this development is marked by a desire for authenticity. Teenagers navigate this quest by experimenting with different interests and expressions, not just in a superficial way, but in a way wherein they seek to engage intellectually with these different areas and interrogate them using their burgeoning critical thinking faculties. It is thus that teenage years can often feel empowering, because individuals begin making, at least some, decisions for themselves, instead of their parents making all their decisions for them.

As social media introduces new dimensions to the contours that form teenage identity, teenagers are exposed to an unlimited degree of new experiences, avenues, and opportunities. While social media can pressure teenagers to emulate their idols and their seemingly perfect lives, there are also pervasive counter-narratives that inspire students to seek authenticity and depth.

Precisely because teenagers are on the cusp of their development, these years can be convoluted and challenging. This is precisely why it is important for us to develop holistic structures of support to enable them to develop a unique personality through sustained self-reflection. 

Sources

https://parentandteen.com/developing-adolescent-identity/

https://pdx.pressbooks.pub/humandevelopment/chapter/identity/