Leave the Kids Alone

Social media may be the elephant in the room, but it is not the sole evil we are making it out to be

- Meenakshi Jha

A lot has evolved between the belief that the brain ceases to grow after puberty—to this essential and significant realisation—and that the human brain only fully matures past our mid-20s. With the limbic system (origin of emotions) and prefrontal cortex (in-charge of emotions) taking more than a decade to complete their respective growths, the human mind navigates the challenges of adolescence (between 13 and 19 years of age) through umpteen clashes, conflicts, and raging hormones. The enormity of these challenges is often seen in risk-taking behaviour, the scant regard for consequences and an irrational need for adrenaline wherever they can find it.

Interestingly, this cardinal phase of growing up wasn’t even psychologically recognised till the early 20th century. The first president of the American Psychological Association, G. Stanley Hall, credited this new phase of human development to social changes humanity started witnessing, and, therefore, nascent attempts were made at incorporating these changes at the time. Access to education and child labour laws left teenagers with abundant time as the obligations of an erstwhile period weren't thrust upon them any longer. Hall iterated that it then was incumbent on society to come together and “burn out the vestiges of nature”.