We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what the media gets wrong about teens. Teens of the BuzzFeed Community offered their perspective in the comments, a reminder that every experience is different! Here are some of their honest feedback and critiques.
1. "Not all of us have cliques at school. Only some schools do."
2. "Almost every cheerleader in anything I’ve ever seen or read is a nasty person. Tell that to my best friends, all three of whom are cheerleaders! They’re actually really sweet and always have your back."
3. "We aren't allowed to just go and randomly investigate a murder or anything. The closest thing we can get is a crime novel."
4. "Yes, we do think about sex A LOT. It is a constant topic at our school, though it may be the fact that we live in a small town and all there is to do is drugs and sex."
5. "When I was in high school, I was too busy working on trying to stay alive through the awful depression to even think about relationships."
6. "DRESS CODE PEOPLE. If any girl showed up with her shoulders out or if she wore ripped jeans. it's detention or a call home for a change of clothes. But it's totally okay for a guy to have his underwear stick out..."
7. "We're not skinny/hot all the time."
8. "Peer pressure is most definitely a thing. In my high school, if you said no, the other person would just keep saying, 'but why?'”
9. "As a 15-year-old, not everyone is interested to be popular in school or be in a romantic relationship or have sex. Most of us have dreams to achieve, big ones. Teenagers are nothing interesting — no Cinderella movie or Lara Jean story. All we do is homework and assignments, trying to be better for our parents every day."
10. "That our life is CONSTANT DRAMA. Honestly, most of us are too busy with school and after-school jobs to care who kissed who behind so-and-so's back."
11. "Half the girls in my high school did get Starbucks every day, and a lot of times the wealthier ones would get it for less well-off girls who were their friends."
12. "Everyone in the movies for characters have some great dream job lined up. I personally want to be an actor because it is my passion. But every teen has a garage band that makes it big. I'm in middle school and most people have given up already."
13. "It annoys me so much when books and movies have characters bully other characters for having braces/glasses. Literally no one does that. Students make fun of other students for stuff they can control, like their fashion sense or whatever. So many kids have braces that it's more of a 'we're all in this together' attitude."
14. "I was one of the kids having sex all the time. Haha!"
15. "We're not that dramatic about who's popular and whether or not the hottest guy likes us back. Were more chill and we like watching Netflix instead of going out."
16. "There’s so much you have to get right to graduate! We could be up at 1 a.m. doing pages of homework because we also have minimum wage jobs."
17. "The kids in the movies/shows are always STUNNING! I think it makes us expect our schools will be like that, but instead we get pimples and braces."
18. And finally — "Why are uniforms so great in teen books and movies, while my uniform is the ugliest thing in my closet?"
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Note: Comments have been edited for length/clarity.