The society today is so different than even what it was 10 years ago. When living in a culture like today, teenagers have the hardest time handling with the pressures put on them. Nobody realizes how lonely a teenager can get without anyone there for comfort or encouragement. Loneliness in American teens is becoming more of a problem since so many teens think that they can use technology to get friends.

Let us first talk about how a teen can experience loneliness and some of the causes. The biggest thing is not feeling accepted. Nobody wants to be misunderstood or mistaken for. Teenagers strive and live for acceptance by their peers. They will go to extremes just to feel ‘cool’ enough. Rejection, unpopularity, and depression all can cause feelings of loneliness and mistrust. Society itself is a harsh thing and it can isolate a person of any age by saying that they are weird or using discrimination against them by putting them down and saying that they are not good enough. It is possible to feel lonely in a community because you could have dealt with someone that hurt you and your trust for everyone is gone. Technology is a big thing with teens connecting with each other virtually instead of face to face. The cell phone is a big symbol that all young people can relate to. It gives them a sense of false friendship if addicted to. The cell phone can connect friends many miles apart, but it lacks the face to face connection and facial expressions. It is hard to comfort a friend through a phone because you cannot hug them or look into their eyes and tell them everything will be ok.

Technology is of course important, but there needs to be some set of guidelines so teens do not have to feel lonely as much. Also, different communities with people from different backgrounds should come together and work to build up the humanity and tear down the discrimination and cliques.