How do today's teenage stresses compare with the kind of things that stressed you out when you were a teen? Talk to the National Citizen Service and you could win a £300 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at NCS, the country's flagship youth programme for 16&17 year olds, to find out about Mumsnetters' opinions on the kinds of things that stress your teenagers out and how this compares to the trials and tribulations of growing up when you were the same age.

How different is life for today's teenagers? Do you think young people today are under more pressure to keep up with trends and technology? Or perhaps academic expectations are more stressful now than they were when you were young? Are you glad that social media wasn't as important when you were a teenager? What about things that really stressed you out that don't feature in modern teenage life at all?

Natasha Kizzie from NCS Trust says: "The start of the new academic year is particularly challenging for 16 and 17 year olds today. They are not only dealing with the day to day pressures of social media, coursework and exams, but they're also tasked with laying the foundations for their future after school or college. With pressure growing, it can be difficult for both teens and their parents to take a step back when it comes to making decisions."

"NCS is a truly unique experience that takes teens out of their comfort zone with lots of new experiences, an away from home stay and the opportunity to make lasting new friends friendships. It is an invaluable opportunity to gain confidence and develop the skills they need to follow their dreams."

Share your thoughts on this thread and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on NCS's pages on MN, their social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks & good luck,
MNHQ

I think to much is expected of teenagers today, they seem to be under a lot pressure to achieve good grades at school.

I think there are more pressures and stresses for today's teenagers due to the exposure and judgements from social media plus the increased competitiveness due to Globalisation

My 16 year old is doing GCSEs this year and my other son is a year off doing them. Both are quite stressed about it already. I don't remember being particularly worried about 'o' levels as it was then. There seems to be so much more emphasis on doing well academically, with no option there to leave school at 16. Also those with average or above average intelligence are expected to go to University, when perhaps they'd be better doing something else for a while..

Social media is the big difference, additional pressures and exposure to the world

I think they're equal but different- it's really easy to minimise our stresses with the benefit of hindsight. I was 18 in 1993, so I suppose 1988-93 were my "teenage years". I was majorly worried about AIDS, being uncool as I didn't smoke (and just wasnt cool to be fair) and never getting a boyfriend. The early nineties recession was also worrying at the time and we had much less information available to us to make decisions about things like where and if to go to University and what careers were open to us. I also think there was pressure to be good looking and thin, but it was through magazines rather than the social media. There was also pressure to conform around fashion, music etc- it was very tribal. Before the internet, our worlds were much smaller and teenagers were more influenced by their immediate peer network which isnt always a good thing, depending on who they are. I think I might have benefited from a wider circle (i.e. people who didnt consider getting an A a crime against coolness). Basically I should have been Chinese

Exams were the only real stress in my days. Now there is the fact you can't go out and wander around as I did, Facebook and other social media ... thank goodness I'm not a child now!

Teenagers these days stress out if they're parted from their phone & other technology. They would never have coped back in the days when technology was so basic

I would hate to be a teenager in todays social media led world. When I was at school the worst you got was a bit of name calling to your face or people talking behind your back (still not nice) but nowadays people have a way to contact you or talk about you to a wide audience 24/7. An argument is no longer witness by a handful or on lookers in the playground but hundreds of people on Facebook and it gives attention seekers or bullies a platform to perform on and play up to.

The same issues are there e.g boyfriends, girlfriends, fashion, looks, do I fit in but with social media these issues are amplified.

Posting pictures & the speed at which information, good & bad, is shared makes these insecurities worse.

I feel there's more pressure on teenagers now more than in my day.

I think the main difference is social media. It just didnt exist when i was in high school. You used to be able to go home and switch off from school now school kids have access to technology 24/7.

Oh my goodness- I would not be a teenager in this era for all of the tea in China. I have 16 year old twins and the pressure they, along with their peers, are under, is immense.
When I was at school/ college- you went in, did your work, caught up with friends and went home. You were only contactable on your landline or if you chose to go out with friends. Nowadays teenagers 'have' to be contactable 24hrs a day. They probably have more contact with their peers outside of school/ college than they do when they're there.
They're constantly scrutinised for what they're wearing, what they look like, what phone they have, whether they were invited to the latest party, who snogged who. Their private lives are 'snap chatted' or 'instagrammed' for all the world to see- leaving them wide open to criticism and bullying.
They've got to look the best, be the skinniest, be the smartest, have the best things - just to fit in. All I cared about as a teenager was my grades, my household chores, my Saturday job and the latest episodes of blind date and baywatch.
It's a sad world when teenager's dreams and aspirations are no longer aimed towards working hard and forging a useful, rewarding career- they're aimed towards being the latest YouTube hit or a football WAG.

I cannot remember having much stress in my teens, maybe what to wear on a date night. Without all the gadgets that around today life was so much simpler and straightforward. Work seemed easier to get, and Mum & Dad were there to keep you on the straight and narrow.

The biggest difference, and the one I fear the most, is the pressure of social media. It doesn't seem to be getting any better, and the online bullying stories which have been featured on Radio 1 this week are absolutely heartbreaking. People hide behind a keyboard and say things to people they would never say in real life. I think the influence of the American high school movies hasn't helped - there were no "mean girls" or "queens" who would hang around in groups and say spiteful things all the time. There was, of course, a desire to be in the popular group, but nothing like the definition I see in today's teens. I think there is more pressure on teens to be sexually active, and the rise in availability and strength of online porn is something that I find truly frightening.

I had a pretty carefree teenhood. I was allowed to go where I wanted as long as I phoned my parents regularly, though that meant finding a pay phone. If I wanted to learn about something I had to go and find an encyclopaedia, and the learning would stick. Nowadays there is so much pressure academically and we are no longer educating our children, just teaching them to pass exams.

I'm grateful that my daughter won't have the pressure of SATS.

Selfies!!!! Vanity used to be something frowned upon. I cannot have a conversation with my son without a hair flick or a glance in the mirror. I would have been mortified be so openly conceited. I dread to think what my daughter will be like when she reaches that age.

I think the pressure is more to keep up with technology and to do well at school now. My biggest worry was if my parents allowed me to use the telephone!

I would hate to be a teenager in today's society. In the last 2 years alone Child and Adolescent mental health issues have risen by nearly 50% according to psychiatric sources, many of them linked to self-image and cyber bullying via social media. We all know how conscious you are during adolescence which includes peer pressure. With social media acting as a portal for photos, throw away comments, all those insecurities etc, it also become a prime playground for spite, criticism and bullying

I think the world has changed completely since I was a teenager in the 80s! I think absolutely every aspect of it is incredibly hard and I'm glad I'm not in that position now! The job market, the housing market, all things social, and the unsettled state of the world too! I think most teenagers are exposed to an incredible amount of pressure!

When I was a teenager I had to use dial up internet and wait til after 6pm to use it because it was a cheaper rate. And there was no danger in getting into trouble talking to boys I liked as I had to use the landline in the kitchen!

I think there is more stress in regards to social media i.e. if your child is on the outside or being bullied... but apart from that, things are no different from my days.

I would hate to be a teenager nowadays with all the technology and facebook. They have so much more to deal with such as online bullying and having the latest gadgets available to them. Also the pressure to look good is far greater these days with girls wearing make up so much younger - its not easy!

I think it's so much harder nowadays. There's so much pressure being online on how to look and how to act. There's also the bullying and the fact that you just can't seem to get away from it. We used to leave school at the end of the day and that would be that - now, teens spend all the rest of their time online and it can go on and on.

I don't think they compare.I keep hearing teenagers have nothing to do these days but it seems there are so many pursuits to follow.All the technology expands chances/horizons/opportunities too.When I was a teenager it was just School/Homework/a bit of Sport and a rare trip to the nearest ' big ' town to see a 'proper' big shop ! They don't know they are born these days !

Social media is something that just didn't exist when I was growing up and todays teenagers can face huge pressures due to it - pressures to update to have someone "like" your selfie - I even heard my niece say that everyone at school gave peoples pictures marks out of 10! Awful! I think it was easier back in the 80s when I was at school...but then I am not a teenager now and will never see it through their eyes....

When I was a teen, I had REAL friends that I socialised and interacted with face to face, whereas, today's teens have hundreds of so called 'friends' on social media sites!

My kids love the Internet, good and bad.
On the whole I think they're much happier more stable people than I was.
I don't see how Social Media is any different from hanging on the phone long hours, conference calls too, which my lot did in the 1970s-80s.
I'm foreign, though, so NCS probably not interested in the differences of my youth.
My kids are quite selfish so I don't think time spent with NCS would interest them.