Students hustle from class to class every morning while also balancing clubs, sports, and an endless amount of homework. Now it seems as if being “busy” is synonymous with being “successful.” Is this actually true? Most of us are secretly worn out from our heavy schedules, adding on to the fact that our society views doing more as superior even if it means sacrificing our mental well-being. In the end, a moment to relax is more important to many teenagers than having free time these days.

Teenagers today are too busy to truly be happy. They’re caught in a constant cycle of productivity that makes them forget to rest, reflect, and connect. It’s time everyone realizes that balance and joy are just as important as grades and accomplishments.

Teenagers today feel the need to fit in and feel accepted through various aspects in life; for some, academic approval is one. Lucia Gaitán, an 11th-grade student at The Columbus School, describes how this pressure to always improve feels constant. “Because of, like, many outside pressures and like social media and stuff like that, we have like the expectation of doing more and more and more, like better colleges, like better universities and just like doing more and being better every single day, which I think is like a double edged sword because it does help you become like better and a better person, but it’s also very time consuming.” Adding on to this, the Harvard Magazine article “Grind Culture and Mental Health” explains the same pressure, noting that 81% of surveyed American youth reported struggling in at least one major life area due to expectations to always achieve more. It also states that 56% of teens feel a “game plan” pressure — the belief that they must always have their futures perfectly planned. Both Lucia’s words and this study show how grind culture shapes teenagers into thinking that constant improvement equals worth, even when it costs them rest and happiness.

Furthermore, having your own “alone” time to take care of yourself, as well as having time to spend with close ones, is always important for everyone — especially for teenagers who care deeply about their social life. Mariana Cortes, a 12th-grade student at The Columbus School, shared, “When a teenager stops having time for her friends, for her family, when she stops to have time for her sports, for her hobbies, when the only thing that she thinks about is school, that’s when you know that something is wrong.” This thought is confirmed by Harvard Magazine, where co-director Emily Weinstein explains through studies that there’s “this feeling of always needing to be productive… even at the risk of your health.” The article also found that more than half of younger teens feel pressured in three or more life areas. When teens like Mariana describe losing time for loved ones or hobbies, they’re living proof of the bigger problem: when everything becomes about achievement, mental health begins to bend around expectations, leaving important people and passions behind.

In the end, the most important aspect that should always be a priority is health. Without this as a priority, teenagers start to take less care of themselves, leading to overwhelm. Lucia also mentioned how the kind of work she does affects her mood. “When I am busy with a class that I love or something that I feel like it’s really helping me with my future career, or something that I really want to achieve in the future… I feel like that makes you feel productive and like, yeah, it helps you overall like grow, but when it’s like schoolwork that you don’t feel like it’s helping you, that helps you feel more stressed.” Besides this, the American Heart Association study “Feeling Loved, Optimistic or Happy as a Teen May Lead to Better Health in Adulthood” found that teens who reported higher levels of happiness and optimism had better long-term health outcomes. This proves that emotional well-being isn’t endless productivity — and that productivity itself doesn’t necessarily lead to real success. Lucia’s experience supports the idea that meaningful learning promotes growth, while meaningless overload harms both mental and physical health.

Some adults may argue that being busy teaches responsibility and time management, but there’s a difference between productivity and being overloaded. Mariana explained, “Teachers have to be more flexible and consider that we also have a life rather than school.” In the Harvard Magazine study, more than half of students reported feeling pressure in three or more areas of life. Clearly, the problem here isn’t laziness but an imbalance in teens’ lives — teenagers don’t need more structure but permission to rest without guilt.

Concluding, the American Heart Association found that teens who feel happy and optimistic have better long-term health. Lucia said it best: “I feel like to be happy for a teenager is just like that balance, like you coming to school but not having like an excessive amount of homework and also being able to go out and pursue hobbies and be productive without being overly saturated.” Let’s value happiness as much as hard work and recognize teens’ struggles, considering they’re just as important.