Is it in a teenager's nature to take unnecessary risks?
When I was in high school, in the 70’s, we had a smoking area where we could smoke during our lunch break. However, many of us took that chance of “Smokin’ in the boys room, yes indeed!” anyway.
Got busted by my volleyball coach once. She told me if she ever caught me doing that again I was off the team. I never did it again.
So why do teens do stupid shite like that?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
13 Answers
A teenager’s brain is not yet fully developed.
This includes the part dedicated to assessing risk.
The overwhelming combination of feeling invincible and that you know everything.
Does it have some sort of evolutionary value?
1) The willingness of the teen-aged male to rush around with his spear when a neighboring tribe invades.
2) The eagerness of the same boy to attack very large moving lumps of meat and fabric.
Science said it best.
I was merely the conduit for it.
I have never (in my opinion) taken “unnecessary risks”. And as a teen I never took risks of any kind. Once I was on my own I’ve calculated the risks and that others thought were “unnecessary” and after lots of research I became convinced that what others saw as risky wasn’t risky at all. Rather it was the other way around, and my peers were doing the risky stuff. After a lifetime of “risky” behavior, I believe I’ve proven my point.
Interesting question. It’s all in how you look at life.
I didn’t take unnecessary risks as a teen, and I know many of my friends would say the same.
Teenagers, particularly testosterone loaded boys don’t think they’re going to die, a mindset which has provided an unsurpassed boon to military recruiters since the dawn of the bronze age.
I was bulletproof at that age, or so I thought, I knew everything, and I loved adrenaline. Guess who took some serious wild risks?
Ultimately, we don’t know that a risk is unnecessary until we have enough life experience to evaluate whether a risk is necessary or not.
It’s a tightrope, mostly beginning in your teens. The vast majority of us are somewhere between taking delicate steps and making steady progress, or swinging our feet wide, even pirouetting.
It’s a wonder that Robin Williams lived long enough to take his own life.
Teenagers are in the awkward phase between full reliance on their parents and being crushed by the machine of civilisation. They are independent, or so they think, so they act as they wish without a great deal of thought about the wider implications.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
