Tag: teenage

Aggressive Driving and Road Rage

For a long time, aggressive driving has been an issue on our roads, and it appears to be growing worse. Screaming, unpleasant gestures, and even violence have become commonplace on our highways, to the point where it has gained its own name: road rage. Find out what causes road rage, if you’re prone to it, and how you can help keep our roads safe by refusing to give in to it.

Photo by JESHOOTS.com on Pexels.com

Definition

After a series of shootings on many motorways throughout the city, local television station KTLA popularized the term “road rage.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines road rage as when a driver “commits moving traffic offences so as to endanger other persons or property; an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger of one of one.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration distinguishes between road rage and aggressive driving, the former being a criminal offence and the latter a traffic violation, according to the NHTSA. The driver is held responsible in this definition.

Road Rage Factors

Here are some of the most typical circumstances that lead to road rage or aggressive driving behaviour.

Delays in traffic
Heavy traffic, waiting at stoplights, seeking for a parking spot, or even waiting for passengers can all contribute to a driver’s rage.

Late for a meeting
Drivers can become irritable if they are late for a meeting or appointment.


Anonymity
Drivers may feel more comfortable engaging in risky driving behavior’s such as tailgating, cutting people off, excessive honking, or making rude gestures if they believe they won’t see other drivers again.

Ignorance of others and the law
Some motorists may believe that the rules do not apply to them.


Learned or habitual conduct
Aggressive driving may be the norm for some drivers.

Forms of road rage

  • Tailgating
  • Yelling
  • Honking in anger
  • Making angry gestures
  • Trying to block another vehicle from changing lanes
  • Cutting off another vehicle on purpose
  • Getting out of the vehicle to confront another driver
  • Bumping or ramming another vehicle on purpose

How to avoid road rage

To protect yourself from aggressive drivers or if you become a victim of a road rage incident, make sure you have the right car insurance policy.

Take your time. Allow yourself plenty of time to get where you want to go; you’ll be less likely to become impatient and take unnecessary risks if you do.


Allow yourself to cool down. Take some time to relax if you’re upset.

Photo by Benjamin Suter on Pexels.com

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not list road rage as a mental disorder (DSM). The behaviours commonly associated with road rage, according to an article published by the Associated Press in June 2006, can be the result of an illness known as intermittent explosive disorder, which is recognised by the DSM.

Between 2001 and 2003, polls of 9,200 adults in the United States yielded this conclusion. The National Institute of Mental Health provided funding for the surveys.

Road rage is a serious offence that may be considered a threat to public safety. However, because it is not always feasible to determine purpose by external observation, “road ragers” who are caught by police may face additional charges such as careless or reckless driving, as well as a fine.

Road ragers are potentially criminals.

Things to do in your 20s

Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com

This is the time when you start becoming more independent and truly begin the journey of self- discovery. A time for many big decisions and experiences and certainly is one of the most important phases of your life. Here are few things that one must learn to make the most of this period in life

LEARN FINANCES

Financial education is one of the most important subjects but yet ignored by many young adults. The sooner you start saving, investing and managing, the sooner you will learn and see the results. Since you are young, you don’t really have much to lose, this will help you practice without lasting consequences and will give you a leg up in regards to your peers and provides you with experience. So start planning for the future.

MAKE MISTAKES

Do not fear making mistakes, take the risk, take the chance. Our mistakes are what helps us grow and learn. So, for your 20s, embrace the idea that you will make mistakes and lots of them! But always learn the lesson that it has taught you, or else it would be an effort in vain. These lessons must be the push on your journey towards a better self.

LEARN HEALTHY HABITS

In 20s, health is at its peak, so this creates an illusion for many young adults that they can eat junk and drink anything for pleasure, but these choices have severe long-term consequences on body. So, this time of your life is a good opportunity to establish life-long healthy habits.

Consider your diet, learn to cook, and find a way of exercising that works best for you. Starting early on to build a healthy foundation is likely to improve your well-being significantly and will be one of the best investments for future.

TRAVEL

Even if you are short on your budget, travel your city and neighboring towns, because traveling can add value to your life. When you travel, you learn how to adapt to new situations, it takes you out of our comfort zone and allows you to test yourself. You learn to live with people, often without a common cultural ground or language. It gives a new perspective about life and boosts confidence.

Ways to a fruitful life for teens

TEENAGE IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS A BURNING AGE” because this period is of the uttermost importance in an individual’s life as one goes through physical , social, emotional and mental changes through this period. The transition from a child to adult is not easy. It brings with itself many sets of complications.

While 00 to 14 years are categorised under children , the age group between 15 to 24 is categorised as youths. Teenage takes the age group between 13 to 18 years i.e the individuals going through this age are treated at times as children and other times as youths. Now this is a very confusing period, not knowing sometimes when to be a child and when to be an adult. Along with the physical changes that body experiences, comes its own set of insecurities. “Puberty hits everyone differently” is a famous line, and is very true . some elongates in height some in weight, some faces skin problems while some have clear skin. Some experiences hairfall while for others it grows in a lustrous manner. The matter of dressing becomes important in this period and leads to people feeling inferior as they do not set in the standards of “fair, clear skin,lustrous hair and “good height’ categories” set up by the SOCIETY and hence starts feeling lowly of themselves.

It is also a transition from secondary to senior secondary levels to that of college. Which in turn includes more exposure to electronic devices, meeting new people , SOCIETY expecting you to behave “maturely” without actually clarifying what “maturity ” means. People move, shift places to pursue further education meet new people, come out of the protective circle of the family.

all these changes affects the mental as well as emotional development of an individual . The ones good in study lack behind because the generation gap portrays parents more as villians and friends as well wishers. In some cases, these “well wishers” turns out to be actual villians, and to keep up with the company and portray themselves as “cool” and not “old fashioned” along with the lack of maturity that is the difference between right and wrong leads people to take some wrong step whether, it be a career decision, getting addicted to something, getting in wrong relationships. It is okay to commit mistakes but what is important is to learn from them. As the time passes, the past seems distant but the baggage continues. The various changes lead to stress which in turn causes delaying food habits, getting more addicted to somethings like social media which leads to low productivity.

“I FEEL LOW TODAY” is the case with most of us. The actual reason we never know. It can be any one of the above mentioned or something else also. Here are a few tips which will help you to come out of the low phase by yourself because if you succumbed to this phase then you will loose some of the most precious years which included young hearts full of energy and passion

  1. WAKE UP EARLY– One of the major happenings in the low phase is not being able to sleep at night. No matter how late you sleep torture yourself with blazing alarms or asking your family to pour water on you to wake you up but do wake up. Go outside see the sun. It doesnt matter if you dont excercise or jog, just simple rounds while seeing the sun illuminating the sky with its glorious rays, birds flying in groups, calm atmosphere of mornings will give you HOPE that this is a new day , a new beginning. It will refresh your mind and soul which is the best start to the day.
  2. EAT HEALTHY- Do not skip your meals no matter how low you feel. Because if you do, the body will not get required amount of nutrients which will affect the normal functioning. So the body will go to the stand by mode where its priority will be the functioning if essential parts such as heart leaving behind other things. This will lead to lethargy , hairfall , acne and many more problems which in turn will make you more like a panda.
  3. MOVE SOME MUSCLES – Doesn’t matter whether you workout or not, but just some brisk walk or helping in housework using the traditional means to mop and broom the floor will make your body move and will give you energy. The body will feel light and it will increase your productivity.
  4. REDUCE YOUR SCREEN TIME– I don’t think there is any explanation needed to this point. The more you get stick to your screen more you will waste your time and more you will regret.
  5. MEDIATE- Only for five minutes but do it. it will calm your racing mind.

The effects of video games on a child’s behaviour

Video gaming has become a popular activity for people of all ages. Many children and adolescents spend large amounts of time playing them, although no one should have more than two hours total of screen time in a day. Video gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry, bringing in more money than movies and DVDs combined. Video games have become very sophisticated and realistic and some games connect to the Internet, which allow children and adolescents to play online with unknown adults and peers.

While some games have educational content, many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes. They promote the killing of people or animals, the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, criminal behavior, disrespect for the law and other authority figures, sexual exploitation and violence towards women, racial, sexual and gender stereotypes, and foul language obscenities and obscene gestures. Examples of video games not acceptable for children because they have these themes include the popular ones Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Mortal Kombat.

There is growing research on the effects of video games on children. Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become immune or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see and show more aggressive behavior with greater exposure to violence. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. Children and adolescents can become overly involved and even obsessed with video games, leading to poor social skills, time away from family time, school work and other hobbies, lower grades, reading less, exercising less, becoming overweight, and having aggressive thoughts and behaviors.

So how can you, as a parent, protect your child against these types of video games? First, you can check the Entertainment Software Rating Board ratings to learn about the game’s content. Every video game will actually have a label on the front to tell you what type of game it is. If it says M for mature, it’s not for your child.

Play the video games with your child to experience the game’s content and know exactly what your child is playing. Set clear rules about the game’s content for both playing time in and outside of your home. Strongly warn your children about the potential serious dangers of Internet contacts and relationships while playing online. There are a lot of online predators that will look for children specifically playing video games and this can lead to them meeting in real life. Finally, remember that you are a role model for your child. Make sure the video games you play as an adult are ones that you would want your child to play.

If you are concerned as a parent that your child is spending too much time playing video games or your child starts becoming obsessed with aggressive or violent video games, make sure you set some limits. You’re not allowed to play games for one hour after all the homework is done and encourage your child to participate in other activities so they’re not drawn to those video games. By being aware of what games are out there, you can help your child make appropriate decisions about gaming no matter where your child plays.

Why current Generation are more vulnerable to Mental Illness than their predecessors?

Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com

It is one of the inevitable topics of the millennial generation and that is, “Mental Illness”. It has become one of the terminal topics of all yet it’s high time to focus on our young minds!

So the question here is, why every fourth out of seven has a mental illness? Is it due to a new way of living life? Or is it the society? Well, we can’t blame society for every cause, right? Instead of living in a society, it is us who should be blamed.  Yes, the destruction is due to unawareness which we didn’t appreciate.

These young minds are an asset to our bright future, but what they are suffering from is the worst disease of all. Medically, there is a cure to all sorts of diseases but the question is, where is the essence of this disease? Why is this happening in excess amount to our young buds? Here are some of the elements which can be the reasons for the illness present in our young  minds :

  1. Giving more priority to the unrealistic world of social media: Teenagers are the most popular groups of all ages who dedicate most of their time to social media and thus, for them, it’s ‘The second home’. They dwell so much in these media platforms that the unrealistic world makes them feel like it is reality.

Specially they tend to create fake personalities in front of their friends and colleagues and when they are avoided or not popular then they think of themselves as ‘worthless’.  

It is highly observed that teenagers are dwelling so much into the ocean of social media life that; they start to judge themselves based on; number of likes they got, followers, and people’s comments. This makes them feel depressed and their minds start to break down in this fake world.

Many times, these youngsters are targeted and bullied on social media through certain comments and unknown threats that they don’t even communicate with their parents to provide no harm to their parents.

  • Fractured child-parent relationship: Contemporary parenting can be one of the elements which lead to their child to depression. Since parents are working 24/7, they don’t give much emphasis on their children and often there is a barrier of communication between the parent and child. Due to the unavailability of the parent’s presence, the child feels more ignorance and often lives in his/her thoughts which leads them to have a mental illness.  

We can also see that; these ignorant kids are often lured to follow the wrong path which leads them to devastation as a result.

  • Academic pressures and Moral dilemmas: Kids these days are often pressurised by their parents to score high marks, study in a decent university, and earn pounds which will raise their status in society.

Often, due to this academic pressure children don’t feel themselves and rather they are distracted and even take difficult steps at a tender age. As we can see those suicides are due to academic pressures is in high rates which are also one of the common factors on the mental health in millennials.

  • Pandemic – A Misery to the Millennial generation: This is one of the latest reasons why kids these days feel depressed about the new normal. The social interactions which made them feel positive are gone in the realms of social distancing and quarantine.

Attending online classes is one of the tiring jobs also several factors for them not being productive and lack in the concentration of academia. This leads to a very high amount of stress as we are humans and when we are clutched or burdened in result we act opposite to it, so the impact of online classes makes them vulnerable when they are facing so many pressures at the same time.

  • Addiction leads to depression among youngsters: It is very unfortunate but a fact that the present generation youngsters face different types of addiction in different platforms and therefore they tag themselves as ‘FREAKS’; notably, these addictions vary from one kid to another, some are addictive to social media, some with games, some mislead their minds to pornography world and some are highly addictive towards drugs and sedatives, etc.

There are endless reasons why kids are being addictive but one of the central reasons is due to the exposure to technology at a very tender age. Often, they are misled by their friends and colleagues and due to fewer interactions with elders, they indulge themselves in these forms of bad impact on themselves.

  • The cure to the sickness among youngsters:

Every disease has a cure at its end and to find this cure is that we should look into the core or the root of the disease. As rightly said, love and acceptance is a human need. The kids these days need parent’s support and guidance and a sense of belongingness so that they wouldn’t feel they are alone.

To bring them to their right place it is the elders who can try some old traditions to introduce among the young minds and let them know about the authenticity of their predecessors. As being together, loving each other and living in harmony can make youngsters feel accepted and so the cause of this disease can soon end.  

Youngsters on the other side can also sense their responsibility by being positive and having a good relationship with their family and creating kindness more instead of hatred.