Advantages and Disadvantages of the Youth

     We all know that Youth is the period between childhood and adult age. It is the state or quality of being young. But do you know the advantages and disadvantages of being a youth?

     Your grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles have experienced being young and being a youth. Your teachers have also experienced being young. Even strangers older than you experienced being called a youth. This just means that every person on Earth has his or her stage in life where he or she experiences being called a youth. Being a youth or being young has many advantages. While you’re still young, you have fewer responsibilities and problems. This is because, you still have your parents that are always there to guide you and provide you all the things you need. The only thing that you’ll have to worry about is your studies. You won’t have to worry on how to earn money, how to raise your children and all other problems that your parents experience.  

     Another good thing about being young is that you still have a healthy and strong body. You can do anything you want because your body can still handle activities that need a healthy and strong resistance. You can join running events because your knees are still strong but when you get old, you won’t be able to do these things anymore because getting old also means getting different diseases that can affect the different parts of your body.

     Having the luxury of time is also a good thing about being young. You still have the time in socializing. You can still bond with your friends, rest and relax anytime and how long you want but when you grow old, you can’t anymore do these things because you’ll be busy with your work and if you already have your own family, you’ll be busy with your kids.

     Let’s not also forget that it is in this stage of a person’s life where he or she experiences the ‘firsts’. Many people say that this stage of life is the most memorable one. It is where one experiences his or her first love, first relationship, first kiss, first dance, first heartbreak and other ‘first’ happenings. It is where one’s character is molded because of the different challenges and both happy & sad memories happened.

     Another advantage of being young is that you still can still decide for your own future. You can choose where to study college after you graduate from high school and what course will you take. When you get older, you can’t anymore choose where will you study college and what course will you take because perhaps, you already have a family of your own and you will probably choose where to work.

     Unfortunately, being young has also disadvantages. Youth being weak at times is one of the disadvantages of being young. If a youngster has problems in school, they tend to think that they’ll not overcome that problem. They will just leave it there and do nothing. They usually just flee from their problems which is not good because one should always overcome that problem of his or hers and think that problems will never become bigger than people.

     The youth is also gullible sometimes which is not good. They are easy to be fooled especially when it comes to love. When someone says, “I love you.” to them, they will immediately believe it and will allow him or her to be his or her boyfriend or girlfriend even if the person that said that is not really sincere. The youth doesn't think before they say or do something which makes them be fooled easily.

     Youngsters are also influenced easily. Whenever their friends do something, they will imitate it and they don’t care if what their friend’s doings are bad or not. They always think that what their friends do is good and they always think that their friend’s doings are in or it’s a trend. For example, when a youngster has a friend that says bad words, he or she will imitate that friend of his or hers and he or she will also say bad words.

     I therefore conclude that the youth today has different advantage and disadvantages.

Some of these advantages are: the youth has fewer responsibilities, has healthy and strong body, has the luxury of time in doing activities, experiences the most memorable stage of life and has the time of making decisions for their future. Some disadvantages of being young are: being weak at times, being gullible, and influenced easily.

- Jilliane G. Salayog