How do stereotypes affect teens for the worse

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say STEREOTYPES? 

According to the Oxford dictionary a stereotype is, ‘a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.’

Or in simpler words, stereotypes are  just ‘boxes’ that people try to place you in or set sky-high expectations for you to reach.

These boxes could be something as simple as getting straight A’s being equated with being ‘smart’ and anything less than that as ‘average’ or maybe even ‘mediocre’, being a lil on the heavier side implies that you are unhealthy, or being labeled a rebel if you have tattoos or coloured hair. 

Infact, I would go a step further to say that  when parents compare their kids to ‘role models’ they are unknowingly setting unreal standards for their kids.  While this may not be a ‘stereotype’ in the strict sense of the word, but in terms of outcome it is very similar.

Take for example, Sundar Pichai- an Indian-American business executive and the chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. His achievements are , no doubt, commendable, to say the least, and to most of us, he is an ideal role model. But there is a fine line in choosing a good role model to emulate and using a role model to set a ‘benchmark’. When parents compare their teens with people like him they set unrealistic expectations and expect their kids to reach them. 

And another example at the top of my hat is , Tilak Mehta- a 16 year old entrepreneur and  the founder of an app-based courier service in Mumbai, ‘Papers n Parcels’. He is inspirational and possibly a role model to many. But when teens are constantly compared to him and his achievements become the new benchmark to compare the achievements of other teens it is a problem. 

This unrealistic benchmarking  because of the comparison, teens do things or don’t do things that they want to do, and they also choose career options that they don’t wanna opt for. 

Sometimes teens are stereotyped by the people around them; the people that they know and love. Some include: 

In middle/high school teens have been told that being a geek is ‘uncool’ and to be thought of as ‘cool’ they change who they are and hide their real personality. This can lead to people not know who they really are (Physiological problems)

Or, teen parents expect them to get straight A’s and when they try to hit the goal they study all the time which in turn messes with their social life and possibly their social skills. It also leads to a child resorting to just mugg up their notes to achieve a short-term goal  at the cost of actual learning. And sometimes, the worst of all, teens set exceeding expectations for themselves by taking inspiration from elder siblings, friends or celebrities.

Teen movies for instance have stereotyped high school so much. This ‘reel life’ picturisation of ‘what high-school’ should be can potentially mess it up for a teen in’ real life’.

Based on these unreal picturisations, high school can be either the worst or the best four years of your life depending if you are “Popular- who in the movies are the cheerleaders and the football players.” or the “unpopular- who are the geeks or people who walk in braids.” So they change themselves, they mask their real self and personality.

There are some who would argue that stereotyping might be good; for instance, Indians are said to be very left brain oriented, intelligent, and sharp. Which can be good because it can force young Indians to focus on academics. But that also implies that Indians are nothing if not smart. 

Stereotypes can ruin a teens childhood and when the society, parents, friends or even them set up silly expectations for teens which can lead to depression, psychological issues, masked personalities and even suicide.