Persuasive Essay for October 22, 2013

The teenage brain is in a very different state of development than an adult’s, and that is why I chose to research it a little more. There are many things that are going on in today’s society that we do not know, or only know the basics of. When it comes to teenagers, look around you; what are they doing? Are they on their phones? Are they playing video games? Are they on social networking sites? The answers to every one of those questions are probably the same, yes.

Since most teenagers are playing video games in their spare time, maybe we should look into that situation a little more. For starters, the majority of the teenage “gamer” population are playing violent games, whether they are on a mission to kill others, or stealing from someone and running from the cops afterwards. Regardless of how exactly the games are violent, they are. Studies have shown that the teenagers that are playing these violent games, or watching them being played are becoming violent themselves. The brain changes do not seem to be permanent, but for the short period of time, the changes are similar to those with destructive sociopathic disorders.

Another major subject for teenagers would be the internet and social networking sites. Are teenagers that are frequently involved in social media more likely to be involved in risky behaviors? I feel like the internet is one reason that teenagers are the way they are today. When it comes to taking risks, if a group of people are bragging about doing something and someone sees it, chances are, they are going to want to try it too. For example, drugs, if a teenager or a group of teenagers are talking about getting “turnt up”, more teenagers are going to want to experience that feeling as well.

In today’s society, it seems like teenagers are only as smart as everyone they are around. For some reason, teenagers do not want to acknowledge that this is the real world, and that they need to grow up. Everyone wants to be exactly what they are not, and it just does not make sense. If you know you have the potential to get an education, and do something with your life why would you throw it all away just to be with your “friends”? teenagers need to realize that there education is the most important thing in their lives at this point.

The last, but not least important topic would have to be about starting school later than it is now. No, I am not saying that it should start at 12 and end at 2, or something off of the wall like that. What I am saying is, I believe that school should start around 10 and last until 4. I feel like that is plenty long enough to go five days a week for an education. As a teenager, you are expected to have around 8 hours of sleep, but the majority of the, do not even get half of that, yet alone close. It is natural for a teenager to stay up late and of course wake up late, so why would the schools not compromise and start and end later? I feel like there would be a higher graduation population if school systems would compromise even the slightest bit. This is only my opinion though, so take it as you please.