“The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.” Do you agree?

“Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.” These were the words of the late Irving Berlin, one of America’s most prolific songwriters in history. Indeed, one’s perception on his or her best years of life would largely depend on how he or she regards life. In my perspective, the idea of the best years would be the years where one experiences the most happiness, where the years are filled with love and laughter, while teenage years refers to the age 13 to 19 period. To many, the teenage years are without doubt the best years of their life, however to that many number of people, there are many more out there who do not agree. In a general overview, there are many cases that supports or contradicts the statement, so let us go further into this issue and take a stand.

The teenage years have often been considered as the carefree years, free of worries and responsibilities. Being carefree has also been cited as one of the reasons that made teenage years the best years of one’s life. However, to what extent is that true? In my opinion, the best indication of being carefree is stress levels. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, American teenagers experience their highest level of stress on an average of 6.5days per month. This is considerably low compared to countries like China and Singapore, where the competitiveness resulted in teenagers experiencing high levels of stress more often. Comparatively, studies have shown that people in their childhood or retirement years experiences far less stress than teenagers. However, despite these facts and figures, statistics cannot account for the truth as different people have varying perspective on the definition of being carefree. In truth, the fun and relaxing lifestyle that we all endear for is becoming increasingly unrealistic, especially in our teenage years where education and qualification means everything. Therefore, the teenage years does not make the cut for being the best years of one’s life in this perspective of being carefree.

Based on my definition of best years, it would also mean that there has to be a lot of, in fact the most happiness experienced compared to the rest of one’s life, but do the teenage years really offer that much happiness? In a survey by the local National Youth Survey, out of a total of 393 Singaporean teenagers surveyed, 92% considered themselves to be happy, but are they really as happy as they perceive themselves to be? Most probably, they only achieved the first level of happiness, where happiness is easily satisfied by materialistic means. The teenage years are considered too young an age for one to be fully aware of what happiness truly means. The adolescent years are where one undergoes a surge in emotional changes and maturity, which confuses teenagers to a point that a simple trigger could put one into a state of euphoria or depression. This would mean that the best years for experiencing full happiness would be in the early twenties, where one is mature enough but not be fully suppressed by the cruel financial and psychological grip of the working world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of America’s greatest orators in the 19th century once said, "So much of our time is spent in preparation, so much in routine, and so much in retrospect, that the amount of each person's genius is confined to a very few hours.” This relates specifically well to teenager years and is especially evident to Singaporeans in this modern age. For example, with some calculations involved, an average teenager in Singapore, with a week of 168 hours, spends roughly 50 hours at school alone, excluding transport time. Then, when one factors in the time spent on co-curriculum activities, homework, meals, bathing as well as sleeping, one would find that there’s barely 30 hours left for leisure. Considering that the 30 hours is split between the seven days of the week, with majority focused on the weekends, there really isn’t sufficient time for one to actually enjoy the teenager years fully. I do understand that there are holidays within the year that do provide time off for teenagers to go out and have fun. However, these holidays are often cut short too because of the piles of homework and extra classes that are heaped onto Singaporean teenagers. With such little time to spare, there is scarcely enough opportunities for teenagers to enjoy life to the best, therefore, I would definitely think twice before even considering the teenage years as the best years of one’s life.

On the contrary, there is one aspect of the teenage years that would live with us right through to old age. Research has shown that the teenage years are when teenagers commonly form peer groups, where a survey by the National Youth Survey showed that 44% of the teenagers surveyed would turn to friends to seek solace. Friends play an important role in everybody’s life, be it that you are 10, 20, 40 or even 70 years old. They are the key to one’s psychological well being, playing a part as a powerful form of emotional support. In fact, it is very difficult to imagine a person’s best years without friends actively playing a role in it. Evidently, the teenage years are the years where one makes the most friends, where some of them remain your friend throughout your lifetime. It is certainly a joy to make one true friend, even more when you have a whole group of them. Indeed, where friendship is concerned, the teenage years would certainly be regarded as the best years, for many friendships are forged in those years.

To sum it up, I agree only to a small extent that the teenage years can be the best years of one’s life. The teenage years are a time full of obstacles and barriers, be it psychological, emotional or physical. It is to a large extent possible for one to regard his or her teenage years as the best years, however in this increasingly realistic world where meritocracy plays a large role, teenagers are having an increasingly difficult and stressful time to enjoy the teenage years, which further emphasize on the importance of friends for the emotional support that one needs to pull through the tough times. However it is not plausible to support or be against the statement as there are just too many instances out there with many varying perspectives on it.