Does everyone around seem to suddenly hate life and everything about it? You might be noticing the sudden wave of depression taking over the nation. Here are a couple reasons why teens seem so down nowadays.

1. Everything is on social media. Not only are people Instagramming everything they eat but they’re tweeting and Facebook posting about every detail of their day. People seem so sad because they’re letting all of their followers and friends know about every blip in their lives. If you ever find yourself only making a post when you’re in a terrible mood, then you might be one of these people. 
2. It’s been winter for a long time. Seasonal depression is real. Every student that has had a psychology class knows that. The technical term for this is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months causing you to feel quite moody. People usually break out of this when the weather warms up, but thanks to Global Warming, we have been experiencing winter temperatures for longer than usual. 
3. The music we listen to reflects it. Some of the most upcoming and popular artists for people our age are Lil Uzi and XXXTentacion. These are artists who tend to make music on the darker side. An iconic example is Lil Uzi’s ‘XO Tour Lif3’. The chorus of this song goes, “All my friends are dead, push me to the edge.” This lyric implies that Lil Uzi will do anything even if it risks his life…and young people are jamming out to it. Teens everywhere can be heard blasting this song at parties and other social events. It may reflect how we feel inside or show that we are into very weird music. 
4. It’s not cool to be happy. It’s common to find people being  ridiculed for being happy on social media or through art. Recently, there was an interview between Joe Budden and Lil Yachty  that portrayed this. Lil Yachty said that now that he has fame and riches he has no reason to be upset with life. Joe Budden, known old-head, attacked with the point that no human being can be happy all of the time. People similar to Joe Budden make happier individuals feel insecure or self-conscious about their upbeat personalities. 
5. We are growing up entirely too fast. Teens in this era are taking on more than what they can handle. Whether it be responsibilities or hobbies, it’s more than what we can handle. The stress of all of these extracurriculars lead us to being overwhelmed, introverted and upset. We close ourselves off from society which makes us look depressed when in reality we simply need to prioritize all of the aspects of our lives. 

Of course, teens really do experience depression, but today people really mistaken bad days and darker senses of music with it. Don’t be one of those people.