While they differ on the date, historians agree that the idea of the teenager was invented some time in the mid-20th century. Previously a no-man’s-land between child and adulthood, it acquired a name and a definition several decades ago, but every few generations we still need to reinvent this intense stage of life and its emotional tumult.

尽管他们对具体日期存在分歧，但历史学家们一致认为，“青少年”作为一个概念是在20世纪中叶某个时候发明的。之前它是儿童和成年人之间的一个无人研究的阶段，在几十年前获得了一个名称与定义，但每隔几代人，我们仍需要重新认识这一紧张的人生阶段及其情绪动荡。

So news this week that one in four 14-year-old girls (and one in 10 boys of the same age) are experiencing the symptoms of depression should detain us. It may be tempting to dismiss today’s adolescent moods, blithely, as something we have all endured. But the sources of young people’s anxiety seem to have changed quite fundamentally as growing up migrates online.

所以不久前的一则新闻应当引起我们的关注：每4个14岁的女孩（及每10个同龄男孩）中就有一个孩子有抑郁症的症状。人们也许很容易忽视如今青少年的种种情绪，轻描淡写地认为我们都经历过这些。但随着青少年的成长转移到了互联网上，年轻人焦虑的源头似乎发生了根本改变。

The worst cases have serious real-world consequences. One MP told me of a visit from a family who wanted help to move not just out of the local school, but out of London completely. Images of their daughter, aged 13, engaged in what used to be called heavy petting, had been shared so widely that the neighbourhood had become a hostile environment.

那些最糟糕的个案有着严重的现实后果。有位议员告诉我，有一家人曾来拜访他，希望得到他的帮助，他们不仅想离开当地的学校，还想彻底离开伦敦。他们的13岁女儿从事性爱抚行为的画面被传得沸沸扬扬，使他们所在的地段变成一个充满敌意的环境。

Hemmed in like this, closely watched, what happens to the important juvenile process of “finding yourself”? Instead of a range of rebellions, to be embraced or ignored depending on individual preference and character, the teenage years seem to have become an obligatory performance, a high-wire act. No wonder these depressed teenagers have stage fright. One study of the smartphone generation suggests they are even opting out of spending time with their friends. Because they shy away from going out, they are “physically safer but psychologically more vulnerable”.

被这样的事情包围着、被密切关注着，青春期重要的“寻找自我”过程会发生什么？没有一连串的叛逆行为，由于个人喜好和性格而受到接受或忽视，青少年时期似乎变成了一场强制性的表演、一种高空走钢丝般的风险行为。难怪这些抑郁的青少年有些怯场。一项关于智能手机一代的研究表明，他们甚至不愿花时间跟朋友们相处。因为他们羞于外出，他们“在生理上更安全了，但心理上却更脆弱了”。

I remember most of what I did in the 1980s, but it is comforting to know that hardly anyone else will, and not just because of the revolting mixtures of Cinzano Bianco, Malibu and Smirnoff that my friends and I smuggled on to the night bus. No one else cared. Photographs are few.

我记得自己在上世纪80年代做过的大部分事情，但值得欣慰的是别人几乎不会记得，这不仅是因为当年我和朋友们把半干仙山露(Cinzano Bianco)、马利宝(Malibu)和皇冠伏特加(Smirnoff)令人作呕的混合物带上了夜班公车。别人都不在乎。照片也寥寥无几。

This drunken apprenticeship wasn’t exactly backstage with the Rolling Stones - our worst crimes probably involved eyeliner and hair gel. But these experiments, especially with boys, were necessary, and our mistakes, while keenly felt, were essentially private dramas. Not so today, where every triumph and disaster is documented and shared. If each experience has its significance multiplied, you are defined long before you are ready to tell the difference between image and reality. (Is it really a surprise that Instagram is found to be the most pernicious of the social media platforms when it comes to mental health?)

这种醉酒的“学徒经历”并不像在后台走访滚石乐队(Rolling Stones)那样让人大开眼界-我们最严重的“犯罪”可能还包括眼线和发胶。但这些尝试，尤其是有男孩们参与过的那些，都是必要的，而我们犯的错，尽管都被强烈感觉到，但本质上都是私下的大戏。如今却不是这样，每一点成就和不幸都会被记录和分享。如果每一个体验的重要性都被放大，那么在你自己准备好辨别形象与现实之前早就被别人下了定义。（人们发现Instagram是对心理健康最有害的社交媒体平台，这真的很奇怪吗？）

“Teenagers live their life more in public,” ponders Justine Brian, director of schools at the education support network Civitas: “They are always one Snapchat picture or Facebook post away from someone slagging them off.” She and I shared the peculiar frustration of judging a debating competition for secondary schools, supposedly on a motion about fake news. It instead unleashed a torrent of anxiety from the teenagers about managing their online personas. Our attempts to steer the sixth formers back on to the topic failed - they were possessed, as Ms Brian puts it, by “the idea that something terrible might happen online at age 16 and the rest of your life is ruined”.

“青少年的生活更公开了，”教育支持网络Civitas的学校总监贾斯汀.布莱恩(Justine Brian)认为：“他们距离受到别人的贬损，永远只差Snapchat的一张照片，或者Facebook的一个帖子。”她和我在给几所中学的一场辩论赛当评委时，都产生了不寻常的挫败感。这场辩论赛的焦点问题理应是关于假新闻，结果它引发了青少年们倾吐他们对于管理自身在线角色的焦虑。我们俩怎么都无法引导这些高中生回到正题上-按照布莱恩的说法，他们纠结于一个观念而不可自拔，“认为在自己16岁时，可能会在网上遭遇一些可怕的事情，由此毁了自己的余生。”

What if a “frenemy” decides to spread lies? What if an Instagram photo is “stolen” and the poster’s good name ruined by its use to illustrate an article about underage promiscuity? This had happened to one debater’s friend in real life - the anecdote swung the audience.

如果一个“亦敌亦友”的家伙散布谎言该怎么办？如果一张Instagram的照片被“盗”，被用作一篇关于未成年人滥交的文章的配图，因此毁了发布者的名声，又该如何是好？这是发生在一名辩手朋友身上的真事-这件轶事牵动了听众的心弦。

We older judges agreed that our own youthful exploits had been hidden from family, from teachers and future acquaintances. Growing up without this freedom to take risks should be seen as a real deprivation, even for these outwardly articulate and confident teenagers.

我们这些年长的评委承认，我们年轻时的冒失行为躲开了家人、教师及未来的熟人们的视线。在成长过程中没有这种冒险的自由，应该被视为一种真正的剥夺，即使对于那些外表能言善辩又自信满满的青少年来说也是一样。

This week’s report, part of government-funded longitudinal studies, shows that parents are no good at working out what is going on: they overestimate how depressed and anxious their sons feel, and seriously underestimate their daughters’ distress. Teachers also feel ill-equipped when dealing with pupils’ mental health problems, according to a separate study.

不久前有一份报告是政府资助的一系列纵向研究的一部分，它显示了父母们不善于分辨现实状况：他们高估了儿子们感到的抑郁和焦虑，同时严重低估了女儿们承受的痛苦。另一项研究表明，在处理孩子们的精神健康问题时，教师也觉得能力有限。

Paradoxically, miserable teenagers are most likely to seek out help and support from Childline online. Instead of cutting them off from the internet, evidence suggests they need help to develop better digital skills and emotional resilience, rather than an enforced smartphone detox.

矛盾的是，苦恼的孩子们最有可能向在线咨询服务Childline寻求帮助与支持。证据似乎表明，与其让青少年们和互联网断绝，强制他们戒掉智能手机，不如帮助他们培养数字技能和情绪弹性。

Schools have transformed their attitude to pastoral care in recent years, it is true. Where it was once sink or swim, now we have mindfulness lessons and counsellors. But fears of stoking moral panic must not stop us noticing: some of these young people really are in trouble.

没错，近年学校转变了它们对关怀角色的态度。以往它们让孩子们自主沉浮，现在学校有了冥想课和心理辅导师。然而，对于引发道德恐慌的恐惧绝不能蒙蔽我们的双眼：一些年轻人真的深陷麻烦。



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