Tag Archives: youth depression

Exam Stress

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Exam season is here again, and there is no doubt that exams can reveal how well you are doing and pinpoint areas where improvements are needed. Exams are also a means of accessing further education and university, but not all people are suited to a university education. There are other avenues that can be explored such as training and apprenticeships, so you should not pin all your hopes on examination grades.

The period after exams is a bit of an anti-climax. You may feel flat and exhausted. You want to know your results but realise that you have a long wait. Feelings of dread can start to sweep over you as you contemplate the possibility of failure.

This is often a difficult time and you may feel unable to cope with the delay between examination and result. You may think you have failed and cannot face the humiliation. Now is the time to confide in family and friends as they can often help you to put things into perspective.

Too much emphasis is placed on exam grades. There are so many other assets and qualities that each of us has. Even if your grades are lower than expected, you can learn from the experience. You are not a failure. There is really no point in getting good grades through cramming, cheating or guessing. If you are confident that you did your best then you have no reason to feel a failure. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you and there is plenty of time to do re-takes, look at other courses, consider training etc.

While exams are a worthwhile part of your education they are by no means the be-all and end-all. You have many other options open to you so take advantage of them while you can.

Here are a few useful tips for successful studying:

  • Make a schedule – organise your time well in advance (perhaps months before)
  • Set yourself goals
  • Pace yourself . For every 50 minutes of study take a 5 minute break. When you return, spend 5 minutes seeing how much you can recall and jot down some notes. Now have a quick revision of the material before you go on to a new section. After 3-4 hours take a longer break. Go out and visit friends. Play some music. Take the dog for a walk. You will then feel refreshed enough to continue your studies
  • Have a quiet place to study which is free from distractions. Turn the TV or radio off
  • Make use of your public library for peaceful studying periods or research
  • Get together with friends to test each other
  • Do not try to cram in everything the week before (or even worse – the night before!)
  • Above all – stick with it. Stay calm and talk to your parents and teachers about any worries you have

Youth Depression, New Technology and Social Media

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According to research by the charity Mindfull, nearly three in 10 young adults have harmed themselves on purpose before they were 16 and almost a third (32%) said they had thought about or attempted to end their own life when they were younger. What is wrong with society that our young people feel this way?

I grew up in the 1970s when life was a lot simpler. Don’t get me wrong – we still had pressures to deal with, but nothing like the pressures heaped on youngsters of today. Much of the stress attached to modern life comes from pressures at school, bullying, exam stress, family break-up etc. But I also believe that some of the responsibility lies with the colossal amount of new technological gadgets that we surround ourselves with and the way in which we use social media.

When I was young, I’d see my friends at school. If I wanted to see them after school or at weekends I could always go to their house or they could come to mine. If I didn’t want to see them, I didn’t – pretty simple really. But today, with the internet, our friends are ‘in our face’ 24/7. With smart phones and tablets, there’s no escape from anyone, and for young people it’s as if they have to be on show every minute of every day. How many friends do they have on Facebook today? Has anyone ‘unfriended’ them? How many followers do they have on Twitter? How many parties are they going to this month? Who is popular and who isn’t?

Young people feel the need to create an online persona – they want to be seen to be popular people with busy lives. They are being forced to brand and sell themselves online which is putting tremendous pressure on them. And the fact that young people now communicate online rather than meeting up and talking they way we used to can lead to isolation and loneliness. And this constant pressure to update their statuses, as well as constantly checking other people’s, is not healthy.

There is also the problem of bullying. In our technology-driven world, cyberbullying is fast becoming the bullying method of choice – and there is no escape from it. This type of bullying can be carried out 24/7, and because of the anonymous nature of cyberbullying, it can be difficult to trace the people responsible.

Mindfull is calling for all schools to give students lessons on mental health. This is a good start, but we need something more. We need to equip our young people with the skills to deal with the insidious (for want of a better word) effects of social media. And we need to equip teachers with effective resource packs which enable them to provide young people with the tools to deal with the pressures of modern life.