Why Teenagers Commit Crime

 

I remembered during my school year, there were few of my friends loved breaking the rules. They involved in crime; some a small, some became more serious. Sometimes it makes me wonder why they involve themselves in crime.

Well, I have 6 reasons why they commit crime.

First and foremost, peer pressure. Teenagers mostly spend their time mingle with their friends of the same age. Some want to be part of the gang so they pressure them to follow what they do if they want to be part of the gang.

Second is lack of parental supervision. Teenagers nowadays always stuck their nose to gadgets. Some parents bought gadgets since they were primary school and just let them do with their gadgets as long as they don't cause any trouble. You see, this is the biggest mistake ever because without parents' supervision, teenagers have the "freedom" to do whatever they want and this lead to committing crime by watching any videos that teach them to do that.

Moreover, depression is one of the reason why teenagers commit crime. They think that by committing crime, they can let go whatever they want to express because depression is one of the dangerous mental issues that can lead to unexpected behaviour such as killing people.

Plus, poverty also lead to teenagers in committing crime. As I mentioned earlier, teenagers want to be part of gang. Not all of them are born in silver spoon. When they know their friends can buy whatever they want, they want to be like that too. And when their parents could not afford things that they want, they may involve in stealing or robbery. 

Furthermore, these teenagers are lack of positive role model. TikTok and YouTube are the biggest contributions in influencing teenagers' lifestyle. Sadly to say, teenagers prefer bad role model because it looks cool to them. They will surely follow their idol in whatever they do, even it is committing crime because for them, it is not wrong. And of course, they would also love to show what they do goes viral on the Internet.

Last but not least, physical abuse. This is what I call silent crime. When they are being abuse physically, they tend to have this kind of anger to let it go so that they will feel satisfied and this lead to bully which is part of a crime, especially in boarding school. They will also not involve in physical bullying but mental bullying too because these are the only way for them to let everything out.

So, we as parents should be aware of what our teenagers have gone through. Not all of them have a happy life. Talk to them, mingle with them and don't judge them.

My Dream Job

 

Since I was standard 1 (7 years old), I really wanted to become a doctor. It's not because of the salary. I didn't even know about jobs' salary back then. It's because I loved hospital. I love the smell, I loved seeing the nurses and doctors passed by. I even loved staying in a ward, once.

I really wanted to know the feeling entering the operation theatre!

When I have become a teenager, I still wanted to become a doctor. I loved Medik TV programme back then on TV3. Seeing how the doctors performed the operation made me feel ecstatic and and grow more on to be a successful doctor one day.

I studied Biology and that subject has become my favourite subject, until now. I really enjoyed doing the experiments and I was hoping I could get A in Biology. Unfortunately, I got B3 in my SPM. I was kind of frustrated and my parents told me that I should become a teacher instead.

I think that teenagers should not be selective when choosing a job in the future because it's not easy to get jobs these days. You have to compete with everyone and you have to have a strong determination in doing your job. They should not look at the salary much but the passion that they have.

Favourite Team Sport

 

I used to watch sports when I was a teenager and my favourite team sport is The Red Warriors. They are one of the Malaysia football teams and they used to be the champion back then. I can't remember the year but I think they won the championship 3 years in a row (if I am not mistaken). 

They are my favourite because I am a Kelantanese so I should support my team from my state. Their famous tagline is "Gomo Kelate Gomo" which means fight well in Kelantanese dialect. 

I am not into team sport much; I prefer individual sport. But I love watching football match with my Dad back then. We used to hang out until midnight to watch World Cup in 1998!

Some people choose sports as their career but for me, I play sport to stay fit, not to make money. I have my stable job as a teacher and playing sport is where you kill your time in the evening. 

Traditional Food

 

My favourite traditional food is nasi lemak. I usually eat nasi lemak almost everyday. There are a lot of stalls or restaurant that sell nasi lemak in my place and it is easier to get it.

There are a lot of condiments that you can choose which are fried anchovies, crispy fried chicken, fried egg (or sunny-side-up), shrimp, cuttlefish and also clams. My favourite is ikan tongkol because I grew up in Dungun, Terengganu and they usually serve nasi lemak ikan tongkol (we call it ikan aya).

You can't call nasi lemak without its sambal. Some people prepare nasi lemak with sambal bilis, boiled egg (cut in half or a quarter, depends on the makcik who prepares it), slices of cucumbers and fried beans. The most delicious is when it's served in banana leaves where you can smell nice aroma of nasi lemak.

For me, traditional recipes should be passed on to the next generation especially Malay kuehs because not all people in this generation can cook all these things. I admit that I am not a good cook but I really want to learn to cook traditional food from my mother since she's an excellent cook. We need to preserve our traditional food if we don't do it, who will?

Foreign Language

 

I love learning new languages. Japanese is the one that I really want to learn and master because I love watching anime and J-Drama so I could understand what they are saying without looking at the subtitles. Plus, I wish I can go to Japan one day so I need to master speaking Japanese first before going there.

I plan to learn Japanese through YouTube and TikTok because it is much easier than reading the books. Besides, there are a lot of Japanese teachers do their online teaching through these two platforms.

There are some challenges in learning new language. One of them is the pronunciation. Some languages need to be learned in face-to-face classes because we can practice the pronunciation with the teachers. For example, Mandarin. For me, Mandarin is quite challenging because of the pronunciation.

Another challenges is how we are going to practice in real life situation. Native speakers tend to talk fast and we need time to process what are they saying and it is hard for us to reply them back. Furthermore, there are dialects that the native speakers use and this is very hard of us to understand.

In my opinion, teenagers should be multilingual because it is good for their additional knowledge and learning foreign language is fun. Being a multilingual shows that you are genius and have good brain because not all people can be multilingual. 

Social Media Influencer

 

My favourite social media influencer is Azfar Heri. I knew about him when I was scrolling on Twitter where I caught a short video of him doing the 'wiping out' that was going viral at that time. So, since then, I followed him on the Instagram and YouTube.

I like the way he nags about his days in his IG Story and the way he talks is funny. He is very spontaneous and the most important is he cares about his family especially his handicapped brother, Afif. Even though some people said that he is very annoying but I like his style. I don't really care about the way he coloured his hair or whatever he bought (most are expensive stuff). I never been influenced on certain things that he did (shopping or going to any events).

You see, kids nowadays idolize influencers. Some give good influences for example, Khairul Aming; some give bad influences (I am not going to mention names!) They are easily influenced by the current trends such as fashion, the way they talk (slangs or whatsoever), hair style and money spending. Some want to have what these influencers have even though that thing is pricey, as long as they want to be in trends.

Parents should tell and advice their children not too obsessed with the influencers because not all of them are good people. Besides, not or influencers have tons of money in their pocket!

Staying Safe Online

 

Most people nowadays use Internet 90% in their life. Well, some depend on the Internet 24/7 because of work or just play games.

Internet can be good and can be harmful too. I love scrolling on my favourite social media but I always be aware not to give any information especially the details. Back then, I heard a lot of news about people scamming others; some did something bad to others like stalking and robbing their bank account. So, I always be aware and tell myself never reveal anything about me. I even put other name so that people don't know who I am in the real world (except for Instagram where most of my family, relatives, friends and my students know me there). I even put account into a private account.

We should stay safe online because anything can happen these days. With the advance technology, not all people use it in good ways. Plus, people are getting rude especially teenagers where they become keyboard warriors to give bad and rude comments to others. This is one of the causes of cyberbullying.

So, all of us need to be careful when you log in to any social media account and always remember, never reveal yourself to strangers!