The Teenage Pursuit of Individuality is Essential
When children become young adolescence, they realize that everyone looks and acts fairly the same. Adolescents become more pragmatic about being different from their peers, peers with whom they share the same values and outlooks on life. The ambivalence of such conflicting emotional attitudes and ideas wade into the adolescent’s mind. These ideas make the adolescent question themselves and cause the adolescent to deviate from the common rule of things. All of this is one long struggle to help teens discover themselves. Therefore, the pursuit of individuality is essential to the teenage experience.
Adolescence or teens in general relate to individuality in this day more than adolescence related to individuality in the 1960’s. Around the 1960s, individualism in America was basically focused on the idea of freedom of mind, religion, and location. By the 1980s, the ideas of individualism grew into a national preoccupation. (Yankelovich) Even Paul Blaum speaks of the developmental ideas in adolescence,
"As early as late elementary school, U.S. students are expected to stand up for their rights, show they have a mind of their own and display
their individuality[...] Although the chief forms of individualism are religion, ethical, and political, teens tend to lean towards the self-fulfillment sides. Individualism is the belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence. Middle school adolescents are expected to demonstrate maturity and responsibility in their quest for self-determination."
In life today, individualism is basically something that everyone experiences to define themselves for who they are, both inside and out. It is the unit of which goes above and beyond the expected.
Individuality is essential to the day-by-day life of a teenager. It defines the concept of duty by placing value on what one owes to others. Some basic duties are social conformity, respectability, social morality, pluralism, sacrifice, the environment, technology, sexuality, family, health, and self-fulfillment. Social conformity does not require the well being on being socially accepted. Less respect is required for other individuals and property under the concept of respectability. In social morality, an ascending respect is forming on society’s rules. Pluralism requires a greater acceptance of differences in ethnicity and lifestyle. Sexuality is where less moral value is placed on "morally" correct sexual behavior. There is more value placed on technological solutions to a number of problems and challenges. The environment requires a greater value placed on respecting and preserving nature, while a very high value is placed on one’s family life and lifestyle. One’s respect towards one’s health is also very important too. Women’s achievements of self-fulfillment by paths of their choice are a primary duty and idea of individuality. (Yankelovich)
Individualism also is a concept that every person is an end in himself. While thoughts and reasons are the basic attributes to the idea, challenges help him/herm acquire that responsibility.(Stata). Their bodies or properties are their own and it gives them the decision of how to treat them and acknowledge them. (Peacott) Each and every day, teens face these duties and obligations. They like to respect and adopt these duties to make them different from the norm.
"Individualists feel that the way to maximize a human freedom and happiness is by abolishing not just the state, but all other involuntary relationships and organizations as well."(Peacott n.p)
They feel the need to do this to experience individuality. Therefore, individuality is essential to the everyday life of a teenager.
Some recent examples of teens and adolescent individuality are shown in our everyday lives. Some examples are graffiti, clothing, and art. Graffiti is mainly a sign of creativity or a mark of expressive independence. It is essentially the signature of individualism.
"It’s a way of retaliating, of making your mark on the institutions that have made a mark on you." (Dr. America n.p)
While graffiti falls under the duty of social morality, it can also be categorized as self-fulfillment. Because it is not respecting society’s basic rules of living industrious lifestyle and respecting private property, it is basically showing acts against social morality. Graffiti is also self-fulfillment because individualism shows the individual as fulfilling his own self-desires to express himself. Teens really express their individuality through clothing. It’s amazing how they do it, mixing up the latest trends with the old trends, or being a jock and a Goth together. People try to define themselves by a particular style, but mostly these styles have been branching out to numerous other differences. Skater mixed with ghetto, punk mixed with prep. It’s a major sign of individuality. These styles can also help convey one's emotions, just as one would do through art. No two art pieces created by hand are alike. That, in itself is individuality.
Teenagers are constantly on the verge of trying new things to be "cool." While "cool" is not defined to a certain norm, people think it is and they try to play the part of being "cool." For example, being "cool" would require any individual to perform in better ways than everyone else. They could do this mostly be displaying an individualistic act and coming up with something new and "cool." Or maybe it’s just being the individual or displaying an individualistic act that makes one cool? Whatever it is, individuality plays a big part in it. And individuality is mostly the base of everything in a teen’s life.
Basically, individualism defines characters as well as enhances one's morals and values and free thinking. If people in this world never experience a sense of individuality, then every two people would be alike in one or many ways. Normally, the only thing that separates teens apart from their friends is being an individual. More people should respect individualistic acts because without these acts everyone would be the same. And teens realize this. They choose to experience the acts of individuality. Therefore, that pursuit of individuality is necessary.
