Do you ever look back at your teenage years, and laugh at how foolish you were?

I just realized how foolish all teenagers are, especially middle school. School is your entire universe, and every little thing that happens there is either the worst or best thing that ever happened to you. Everyone (especially guys) tries to act like they don't care about anything, except that they care deeply about everything. And despite all that, they think they know everything.

What's also funny is that I thought I was better than the other foolish teens. I thought I was a better driver, most adult-like, cared the least about stuff.....except I look back and I see that I was actually just as bad a driver as all 16 yr olds (though I got my act together quicker than most), very immature, and cared just as much about stuff as others. If only someone told me all that stuff when I was a teen.

Oh wait, my parents did all the time. haha. what a funny life.

My teenage years were my awkward confused crater faced days, yet I was a great driver lol. I think the good driving part runs in the family, but I really had an identity problem. My style was weird and kinda hybrid of different styles, I was on the brink of going from being bummed of being Korean to K-pride, I was quiet and dull. I honestly didn't care about anything, and that included school. Kinda opposite of you in certain aspects idoof. Yeah I don't tend to look back too often. Not the prettiest of times for me.

when i was in my teens, i was fairly quiet. people mistook that for me being mature. i was just a more irrational and emotional person than i am today.

I was more of an introvert so people assume I was a good teen tat time even though I did things all teens does. Thought I was cool was driving carelessly, hated my parents most at tat time for bickering too much about my life. LOL I remember I thought I knew everything about the real world. Now, reflecting on myself I was just as stupid as the next teen.

from time to time, i do.
i never thought that i was better then anyone. there are always someone out there better then me.
it was pretty funny that everyone in my class always thinks i know everything when i didn't.
i always hated my parents for telling me to do this do that. -__-

My teenage years were smack dab in the early 80's: 1981-1986
It's arguably the last generation of teenagers that enjoyed "teen life" much differently than how today's teens enjoy their years.

We didn't have DVDs. We didn't have CDs. We didn't have iPods. We didn't have cell phones. We didn't have personal computers (the way we know them now). We didn't even have the internet.

In my day, it was all about VCRs, vinyl records/cassette tapes, Sony Walkmans, pagers, having either an Apple Computer or Commodore 64. MTV back then played only music videos 24/7. Cable channels only numbered into the double digits. Video games was entertainment to be enjoyed in an actual arcade - unless you happened to have an Atari or the Commodore 64 at home to play with.

Curiously enough, I look back at my teenage years not to reminisce at how foolish I was back then - but how I might actually seem foolish now in the eyes of some because of it. Since I remember how life was back then and retain some semblance of a mindset for those times, I don't find myself valuing today's 'necessities' of life in the same way as later generations do now. I don't own an iPod, but I'm perfectly content with a low-end mp3 player that I have now. I have an old-model cell phone but I hardly use/need it (seriously, that thing is off 5 days of the week). I don't play video games, although I am fairly aware of what's out there and what's all the rage. I don't even have an HDTV and I only recently decided to upgrade my cable service from analog to digital.
It's not that I don't appreciate technological advances of today, but I guess from my perspective and being the product of being a teen during that transitional period left me with a mindset where I live a life unencumbered with independent of all these gadgets/devices that supposedly make life 'easier'.

well it's like a never ending cycle.....i remember being in HS and i was telling myself "man jr high you did some stupid things....should've handled some of the stuff differently"

then as a freshmen in college i'd look back and go "man those missed opportunities in hs.......cant believe i did this, or didnt do that"

then as a sr in college "man my fresh/soph year i couldn't done this instead, doing that was idiotic" etc etc....

I was a horrible driver...I had a horrible teacher I suppose. I look back at the teenager years and realized how much I enjoyed them though. Execpt some simple things like showing off my car and wrecking my brothers car...yeah...I'll never forget stupid things like that. I did care about alot back then...but your right on that...I sure didn't show it. Always thought I'd grow up and start being a video game tester. Haha, those days are sooo gone.

Early on I was a total loser... I simply was a good student and a total prude. Later on, I stopped focusing on school, and I got out of my shell. Had a few good freinds, but haven't kept in contact with some due to different paths. Sometimes, I would laugh on how foolishly ignorant I was.

i wasn't really an outgoing person in middle or high school.
i did actually like learning things, but i didn't like being in school. everyone was always trying to one-up the people around them. as soon as a test was handed back, people asked each other what grade they got, and pulled out calculators to calculate their grades.

in high school, the big thing was: wearing clothing from the gap and later forever 21, having a cell phone, going to house parties and having a car. none of which i had anyways.

the only things i wish i could have done were: to be more assertive and less shy, put more effort into better clothes and having a better relationship with my mom.

IN highschool, I was pretty quiet. I had alot of friends, but only a few close friends. most of my friends went to different schools and lived a little further away.
and I never went to house parties. mainly because I didn't drink or get high then.. Can't fathom why..

but as of today, I'm still just as immature as I was when I was 16 lol

Oh totally, I ALWAYS look back in my teenage years, more so during the times in highschool where I did silly things, or how I looked like back then (GAHHH!!) and also my intellect level, especially in my work.

I had such bad reasoning in my essays!

I look back at my teenage years with fond memory. Life was so simple back then without all the distractions in life these days. If only I can turn back time....

I realize now that I felt emotions in my teenage years like I will never feel them again. Feelings were violent shades of color like crimson or lapis lazuli. Now they are just pale shades of mauve and cornflower.

Well my pre-teen years the whole middle school years..I was quiet but goofy only with my friends but to others they didn't bother to talk to me cause I was quiet .n. I looked imtimdating. Plus when I was in 7th grade I got into a fight with this 8th grader cause she talked about my momma..yes I was in my whole "talk about my momma I'm gonna mess you up" days...LOL so after that everyone in my middle school knew who I was .n. didn't want to mess with me.
Then in 8th grade I got into a fight with this guy (I'm a girl) he kept calling me chocolate factory so I got mad .n. beat him up...LOL
So yeah my pre-teen years was really dumb I got into too many fights..lol

but my Teenage years High school time..man I just got bad grades, didn't care much for anything, skip school to go to the movies or the beach..then go to parties, come to school drunk..but I had fun...LOL

Looking back I did alot of stupid things .n. I do regret alot but also looking back doing what I did, I learn to do it now.

but yea there was some fun times I had.

Back then i was pretty foolish but even though i gained a lot of thing then i keep close till to this day

I hated my teenage years. Back in high school, I was oblivious to everything that happened around me. I had no idea how much drama was involved between my friends until senior year when I finally "opened" my eyes. But before that, I was so naive that I thought everyone got along. Yeah, I was that stupid. I guess that's why I like the "new me" better.

i just recently left my teen years but i can say that i miss high school if that counts for anything..

sometimes when I'm just sitting around doing nothing I remember my high school years with all the good memories ,all the stupid things I did and rebelling to my parents seem sooo long ago but in reality only about 4 yrs ago... it's just not the same in college or as I get older I'm turning into a boring person

i was an extremely awkward teenager. and i was always told that i was mature for my age...
but looking back now, i don't know why people thought that. i was just as immature as any other teen.
back then, being older and more mature was the coolest thing to do.
reminisce about junior high and high school...i really had fun. but i'm glad that i've kind of grew into myself.

now...i try to act my age and enjoy being a 21 year old. i'm in no rush to be older and wiser (yet).
i have my whole life to be old. now, i just want to act my age.

Yeah. It was hard during my teenage years, really.

thinking about back in the days makes me laugh kinda hated though CA 1-6 grade reg kid 7th join a gang 8th to 10th pain full memories and some joy drop out school move to NY year after move to ohio started a new life did some nails save money age 24 move to houston tx work my ass work till 27 the end.

I was just as mature now as I was when i was 15 heck even when i was 10 I was more mature than most of my teachers... I didn't do anything foolish besides have issues with depression that led to some foolish things that I knew were foolish at the time but would prolly still do them today IE Not turning in papers because I thought anything I did wasn't 'good enough'... I look back at those things in shame. But in general I was a goody two shoes who has the heaviest conscience of every single person I know and couldn't so much as walk down the street if I felt my mom would disaprove and yeah... I did like alot of numetal which when i listen to it now sounds soooo juvenile and dumb

oh well, i do think back from time to time. ^^

Well, as for the time being at school, I was very quiet too and it took kinda very long until I opened up to my friends. (but never did completely). (well, in primary school I wasn't as introverted as later on...)
Since I was quiet I didn't attract too much attention but some ppl still tried to bully me but not that much. Also, I didn't get to know much of what bad things they talked behind my back but I knew some were.
Since I pretented they didn't and treated almost everyone in my class the same (except for friends which I had VERY little back then) they probably didn't bother to tell me straight to my face.

I didn't like High school and later on "secondary modern school" that much but I made my way through it. (Well, I was always like an average pupil...)
Later on in "technical college" I had the best class ever, I guess. They were really tolerant (must have been due to we al l were at the "social" branch.) Of course there were ones who never really liked me and vise versa but most of them were like really cool and, well...yeah, more mature. That might have been it.

As for my more private teens...there was a long time those years really SUCKED because of my stepfather...let's just say he's such a HUGE a**hole and I consider him as crazy.
He made those years my mother was married to him being a hell for the whole family! (mostly)

But there were also good times and things I never wanna give up. I guess all the things I lived 'through' (other ppl surely had even worse childhoods, it's not like I'm writing this for sympathy or so) made me to the human I'm now.
To a human I can mostly be like proud of. I feel good now though there're some things about me I would like to change.
But oh, well! Nobody is perfect...

Through the years I got stronger and got to meet many different ppl. It was/is interesting and some of them are now my dearest friends.
I'm glad I became a lot more self confident through the years. Back then being like today was like a thing I never would have imagined.
So in conclusion, there are only a few things I regret.
And yeah, some things I did were most probably foolish. XDD

When I was a teen I looked only for enjoying the present but now I look to the future. High School was awesome, I just wish I can go back and take a bit of time away from having fun and put it into studying.

No!! Much prefer living with my friends and being able to pursue a career! I am looking forward to graduating and everything that could come after that.

Despite being dumber in my teenage years, I'd rather exchange my 20s for the times of then. Back then was a greater time. I'm old school, so I hate change, especially environmental ones. I try not to think back to my teenage years for several reasons though. Nostalgic memories pop up and then swings into a series of depressive episodes, because there simply is no 'going back.' And I guess there are some experiences that I would not like to relive again.

when i am stressed out with work i look back at high school ya... i think wow what a joke that was i had so much free time and i was complaining still. now it is many times worse...

yes i look back at my teenage years
when i was a playa fun days hahaha

lol.. i like the topic starter's sense of humor lots of "Dry sarcasm "

but i dont think teens are foolish.. (im not one.. so im not crazy here )

i think teens are just not as experienced.. they are still pretty darn responsible for their own actions.. i think even kids are often alot more mature than adults are at times...

anyway.. back to the topic: i ALWAYS look back! i wish i was a teen again.. ahhh the benifits of ignorance... :]

Haha, I only started understanding the purpose of essays about... well, last year (junior year of college).

Anyways, I agree with the topic-starter's comment that all teens seem so foolish. I hear echoes of my teenage years when I stumble across some of the topics here in Soompi or facebook or whatever! I have an old livejournal from my early high school years, and it really sickens me to read those entries because they are so sugary and over-emotional and aaaaaaaaaaaaaalways about some crush I had. I was a pretty emo kind of kid... I wrote dark poetry, cried myself to sleep, and ended up cutting myself a few times.

But NOW I can look back fondly at those days and be happy that they're there, but gone. Whoever said that high school is the best years of a person's life must've lived a really unmemorable life. I'm happy to be in my 20's, and the past is there to laugh at and joke about, really.

I find myself frequently looking back and wishing to turn back time. It seems that teens were the best years, young, carefree, fun. So unlike the current "real world" with all the pressure from work, marriage, bills,etc.

I reread love letters and smile at how foolish those days were, but sometimes I wish to experience that foolishness again. Wrong choices made in the past and i'm still paying for the consequences.

Ahhh to be young again.

Occasionaly I do. Usually when something bad hit me and I always think back how easy and carefree I was, spared from the cruelty hands of this world >__<
But the period when I was 16 and 17 was probably the worst in my teenage years, I try not to think of it much. But whenever I do, how I wish I could turn back time and rewrite the history for those years. Well it's supposed to be the primetime of your teen right? lol how I wasted em! *smacks self*

But I guess I'm still a teenage at heart xP Not that much wiser now too haha

I do look back, but just to remember how much fun I had with my friends... I never want to remember all the bullying from guys that I had to suffered though, most guys treated me like trash just because I look ugly and fat, but then again, I treat all the bullying like just another lesson in life

Every time I think back on it, I wish I was more outgoing and "wild". I wish I had crazy piercings and rainbow colored hair. My parents always kept me locked up and pretty much isolated me from people my age. And as lame it sounds, 20 is too "old" to be doing those things. Though I'm considering getting my lip pierced for a week just to know that I did it.

Yeah. I think the times when I laugh at myself the most is when I look back through old diaries and blog entries and whatnot. In 8th grade right before graduation, our social studies teacher had us write a letter to ourselves in the future and promised she'd mail them out to us 4 years later so that we can look at it before we graduate from high school. She kept her word and I was so freaked out when I got a letter from my past self because I'd totally forgotten all about that letter by then. It was the coolest experience ever +_+

I absolutely hated my teenage years. I was a cute kid, awkward tween, and a moody teenager. I was an overachiever until I hit high school and made some stupid choices in friends. I had a terrible relationship with my parents then and never listened to anything they said. I rebelled in every way I could-- didn't go to school/class, didn't come home sometimes, dated people they thought were bad influences on me (which was true). I never did anything I didn't want to do, and my grades were all over the place because of it. High grades in history and english, low grades in math. My high school was pretty competitive, but I didn't want to buy into that because I thought it was BS. Thinking back on it now, I wish I had stopped being so "emo" and just dealt with things, kept up my grades. I didn't think about my future, because I believed I had no future.

So yea, I was crazy and stupid back then. I cringe every time I think of those times.

I look back and cringe at the thought of it all the time. There are some things I didn't sort out properly. Some things I'm ashamed off. Well at least I learned my lesson.

ya... its nice to see how i evolve. D: frum young to old now.

but teenage years was fun. =]