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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago

So, teenagers. I was one once. I'm 27 now but I still think about my teen years all the time. It's a tumultuous, overwhelming time https://t.co/RywsAiwgyo

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago

Tomorrow I shall twete about the fascinating world and nature of teenagers, those odd halfling creatures and their mysterious, shifty ways

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I pay very close attention to teenagers whenever I can. They fascinate me. Humans in transition, figuring out who they are + what's going on

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

The paradox(?) of teenagers: they aren't yet fully developed, aren't fully in control of themselves. Yet they crave independence/sovereignty

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Once you become an adult with Real Serious Responsibilities - it very quickly becomes easy to laugh at their trivial concerns and struggles

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

But what is trivial to you is not trivial to them. Each heartbreak, betrayal, mistake burns 100x more intensely. Easy to forget this

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

A dumb thing some well-intentioned adults try to do is to participate in TeenWorld. I suppose it might be a remnant from playing with babies

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

But TeenWorld is practically by definition a liminal space away from both children and adults; it goes into hiding when adults show up

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Teens often seem inscrutable, but this is by design. They're constantly working to create their own language, their own world, own rules

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Trying to speak a teen's language will always be a losing game; they'll always be several steps ahead. Adults should recognize + accept this

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I still remember what I wanted from adults as a teen: to be taken seriously. To be treated with respect. Teens know when you're BS-ing them

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Could argue that teens haven't earned that right. But it's not binary; it's a dialectic. We should challenge them to grow w/o condescending

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I still fondly remember every single adult (handful) who treated me well as a teen. They inspired me. I really, really appreciate it, still

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

What frustrated me as a teen: not being in control of my life. Being forced into school-jail. Having too few opportunities to do real things

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Teens do drugs, get tattoos, have sex to exercise their autonomy. It might be a shitty decision but it's MY shitty decision. Sovereignty

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

One of the tragedies of teenhood is falling for a peer group and mistaking it for autonomy. I think every adult has a story abt living this

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Shitty friends SEEM to truly love you for who you are, but eventually you often learn they care about the group, not you as an individual

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

A common tragedy is adults trying to warn teens about this. But you can't insulate them from it entirely. They have to learn it themselves

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

What you can do is try to provide a judgement-free context where you help them think better about what's going on and what they really want

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I got invited into a whatsapp group of intellectual teens recently, arguing about anarchy and libertarianism. Soooo tempting to shit on them

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Their models of reality, understanding of people, complexity, difficulty, etc are all obviously simplistic. And yet... why discourage them?

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

The naive idealism & confidence of teenagers is an asset to humanity, if only we manage and nurture it properly. They really ARE our future

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Which brings me to millennial-bashing. Why is every generation so eager to bash the next? Why don't we listen, challenge, nurture?

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

I hope to live long enough to see millennials treat their successors with the kindness & grace that they've been denied. I'm naive like that

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Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 8 years ago
Replying to @visakanv

Btw if you want something good to read about teenagers, I enjoy this. Written with genuine interest, love, empathy https://t.co/vc4jMVzcrw

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