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Understanding the Adolescent Brain

The other day, through the powers of Facebook, a video was brought to my attention. Not just any video. But a three-minute clip of me from over ten years ago – at my junior prom.

Now, there are plenty of reasons no adult should ever have to look back at such a thing. For one, whatever you wore was ridiculous. Two, the same will be true for your choice of hair style. Finally, a word: complexion.

And while all of those things were glaringly present in this video – I had a cane, for the love of Gandhi – the way I acted was most appalling. Summary: I was heckling a couple of caricature artists, using a string of words I’d surely just learned, mixed with philosophizing below the level of Bill & Ted, and performed with more theatricality than an episode of Glee.

Thanks to the infinite understanding of the man who posted it – one of the accosted artists, no less – it’s since been taken down from YouTube. Though its specter shall echo in our hearts and minds for eternity – seriously, that’s the kind of shit I was saying at my junior prom. Awkward.

Neurology to the Rescue

Good news. Advances in neurology can (sort of) explain all those mistakes you made in high school, from the car accident and sex tape to the wanton vandalism and affection for Everclear. (I mean the weepy band. You’re an adult now, you’re allowed to like a liquor that gives you a reason to keep gummy worms on hand.)

Anyway, it’s all there in David Dobbs’s “Beautiful Brains.” I’ll link you off momentarily – which sounds like more cardio than what I mean – but first, a few bits to tempt the neurons.

On the effect of and the necessity for keeping company with other teens during adolescence:

“Socially savvy rats or monkeys, for instance, generally get the best nesting areas or territories, the most food and water, more allies, and more sex with better and fitter mates. And no species is more intricately and deeply social than humans are.”

On actual, measurable, honest-to-Dobbs changes that happen in the brain during adolescence:

“…our brains undergo a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years. The brain doesn’t actually grow very much during this period. It has already reached 90% of its full size by the time a person is six, and a thickening skull accounts for most head growth afterward. But as we move through adolescence, the brain undergoes extensive remodeling, resembling a network and wiring upgrade.”

And on the way teens interpret rejection:

“Some brain-scan studies suggest that our brains react to peer exclusion much as they respond to threats to physical health or food supply. At a neural level, in other words, we perceive social rejection as a threat to existence.”

Boom de ada, boom de ada. Go get some:

“Beautiful Brains,” David Dobbs’ feature in National Geographic

 

Bittel Me More: Letting Go

Hey, we can’t help being the awful idiots we were. It’s best just to move on and try to be better. But one good way to do that is to remove all evidence from the internet.

 

Image courtesy of www.nextnature.net