- More teen brain facts to help us learn more about teen brains.
If you haven’t read Teen Brain Facts You Should Know: Part One, click the link to see it. This is part two.
Dopamine Spikes
When we want something, we get a spike of dopamine telling us to “go out and get it.” Whatever that anticipated reward is.
For a teen brain, the dopamine spike is higher. This means that almost any experience, new thrill, flight, party, new outfit, a date will never feel as exciting as it did as a teen.
The three teen traits risk-taking, novelty seeking, and peer relationships, are all combined. When around friends, the potential rewards of the risky things seem so much more rewarding.
For teens, it’s not just about getting to that “high” but more about actual changes in the teenage brain.
Be Yourself
As kids, we’re told to be ourselves. But as teens, we start to see that simply being yourself comes with risks.
Around age three, we have a sense of gender. Around eight or nine years old, we begin to have a sense of romantic love.
The thought of being watched and judged constantly really makes you rethink things like dolls, or imaginary friends, the things of our childhood.
We have this imaginary audience for the rest of our lives but for teens, the “audience” is a lot louder and berates them for things that could jeopardize the standing they have with their peers.
Reproduction
On a primal level, teens have a new priority.
The teen brain has a hypersensitivity to reward and peer obsession pushes them to get out there and chat up a mate.
We aren’t the only species that reacts this way. With some animals, they become more rowdy, and with others, they are more cognizant of their grooming habits.
In a study done with rats, adult rats drank in moderation and the adolescent mice didn’t, but only when around other mice their same age.
Unlike other animals, human mating habits evolved a lot faster than our biology.
With all the Tech..
Lots of new risks for teens today, with a fast hit of dopamine for their teen brain. (Think social media.)
Because of intensity of emotions and need for acceptance, teenage years are uniquely vulnerable to developing a mental illness. This is also the age group with the most risk of committing and/or experiencing violence.
The teenage brain wasn’t built for this environment but still, their traits are valuable they just manifest in different ways.
Crazy but true, 2/5 people on earth right now are teenagers, creating the biggest youth boom in history.
Strong Ideas
Teens don’t think of themselves as lazy, but as the ones that are most eager for change. Teens are seen as some of the leaders of histories most iconic acts of courage.
Teens aren’t as afraid to take risks and they are more open to change.
Life sentences for teens are now very rare, citing diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change.
Brains become specialized depending on what we use or don’t. This pushes teens to get out and experience things. Big or small, those experiences save and strengthen more connections in the brain.
Adult’s jobs are to be prefrontal cortex for teens when theirs is still developing, shaping the person they’re going to be.
Do you remember much about being a teen? Does any of this resonate with your experiences, or those that you see in your own teens?
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