Tara strutted down the hallway, with a smile on her face. That’s how it always seemed to be- nobody had ever seen her in any other mood.  She was always cheerful and many people envied her when they weren’t in awe. “You’re so happy all the time!”, Jennifer would tell her, regularly. She’d just kinda chuckle, and try to brush it off.

But there was more to it than being happy all the time. No teenager can be classified as perfectly drama-free. From schoolwork to parental pressure, the modern youth experience frustration at some point or the other, which may be magnified due to hormones.The use of technology increases the chances of the last straw breaking their back, with each and every text.

Zooming into Tara’s (a teenager) house, she was scrolling through her Instagram feed, liking pictures. A notification popped up, and she just stared at the screen, unable to process what was in front of her- completely motionless. “Kill urself...ur teeth are more jagged than ur hairline... why do you high key look like a worn pair of hiking boots... why do u look like alvin the chipmunk with those receding ass cheeks...ur notorious… don’t ever talk to me again or I’ll go Bruce Lee on ur ass...”  This was coming from the person, who had once been her best friend. They met in 6th grade, and were practically inseparable. People would give him a hard time for hanging out with Tara. Eventually, he let what they said affect him, and ditched her for the cool crowd. After a couple of hours, she finally got the guts to reply back. Right after she clicked on his name, it read, “You have been blocked at the request of the user.” From that day onwards, Tara lost all self-confidence. If her best friend didn’t like her, who would? Hours of weeping morphed into days, which eventually turned into weeks. During school, she’d be more distant than usual, shaking off the other friends she had. Before she knew it, the thoughts of giving up started seeping into her mind. No matter how bad it seemed, she wasn’t the only person who was going through this.

A survey taken by 100 teens in California asked whether or not they had ever doubted the purpose of their existence, or thought about hurting themselves- 50% of them said yes. When questioned about depression, 56% of them admitted to having it at some point in their life. A study from MHA (Mental Health America) taken earlier in 2016 indicates that 1 out of every 5 teens undergoes depression at some point in his/her life. However this survey, taken in November, suggests a drastic change in comparison to the research done earlier in the year. The rapid growth of depression is scary- but what’s worse is that since so many people have it, the seriousness is often overlooked.

Comparably, another teenager had a similar condition- she was depressed, but her friends made it worse. At first, it didn’t seem like anything major- she just appeared to be pessimistic, being distant all the time. Nobody really thought it was something major, so they just kind of told her to brush it off. But every time somebody didn’t reply to her texts- didn’t say hi, didn’t “acknowledge her existence”- she’d sink herself between bad thoughts. She tried to drown herself, overdose… but life didn’t want her to give up just yet. Thankfully these were failed attempts- but what if they were successful? Society shouldn’t leave this to chance because the odds aren’t always in one’s favor.

It’s getting worse- every day, more and more people are feeling depressed. In January 2016, Dr. Lyness stated that “17 percent of the population experience clinical depression in their lifetime”. But that’s not taking into account thousands of teenagers who are too afraid to get help- who aren’t officially diagnosed. They tend to keep things to themselves, thinking it’s better than burdening others. That nobody cares. But more so, they aren’t aware that they are depressed. Sadness isn’t meant to be lasting- more than 2 weeks of constant negative thoughts means that something is wrong. Everybody thinks that with teens, it’s normal. It’s hormones. But that’s the thing- it’s not. Being depressed is not normal- it’s not supposed to happen. And the fact that people casually try to blame it on puberty is what often makes it worse.

No matter how happy Tara seemed, she wasn’t. No matter how much the girl who tried to drown herself needed her friends to help her, they didn’t. In order to get the rates of depression to decrease, the whole society needs to work together. When somebody seems to be isolated, ignored, or sad for an unusually long time, people should take it upon themselves to check in with them. Sometimes, all they need to know is that somebody cares. With the efforts of everybody, the new "normal” can be changed.