How did you spend your time as a teen?

[Not Anyone To Care For]

I am curious about everyone's interests and conditions while they were growing up.

What were your hobbies and how far did you progress with them?
How was your school life?
What did your peers/teachers think of you in school?
How comfortable was your home life and how did it affect you overall?

Go into as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

 

[Sinny91]

Conditions: Hostile
Interests: Survival

Hobbies: Reading, drawing, getting physical, fucking with people.

Progress: I still read a lot. I don't draw so much. I try not to fuck with people, I enjoy rolling up my sleeves and building my environment.

School was good fun. I had a brilliant circle of friends, we were delinquent and rebellious. We played by nobody else's rules but our own. Full of adventure and mellow-dramatica.

My peers thought me a black sheep, and my teachers a dark horse. I was never far from trouble, but persistently and consistently earned my position in top class.

I annoyed others by being bound by no stereotypes , and constantly being granted the opportunity to play by alternative rules.

My parents were largely absent and inadequate. I was left free reign to shape my self.

It was touch and go for a few years, but at last I think I've managed to create at least a half functional, half adult, with half a brain to boot.

 

[WhatWasThat]

Hobbies? Music and computer stuff mostly. I ended up knowing probably 80% of the computer stuff I ended up going to college for before I even got there (got to get that degree).

School Life? Bored with the topics, pace, rote memorization, and non-thinking aspects of classes. I was a weirdo that didn't fit into any of the social "cliques" but interacted mostly with the druggies/musicians and computer nerds (probably the only person who had that overlap ). Most people would spend lunch time um...eating lunch and socializing. I would draw, think about music harmonies/modes, or come up with ideas for computer programs/games that I mostly didn't finish.

Math/computer/science teachers probably thought I was smart. All other teachers probably thought I was "difficult" because memorizing random facts was pointless to me. I even got suspended a couple of times for basically "rebelling" ie asking why we are doing something a certain way, saying that doesn't make logical sense, etc. Being suspended was great though, lots of free time and could breeze through the mind numbing busy work in an hour as opposed to the 7-8 hour school day.

Parents were pretty forgiving/understanding. My mom (ESFP) and I never truly "got" each other but she was willing to let me do things in my own weird way. My dad (INTJ) was always pretty easy going also. Above all I think they just wanted me to do whatever would make me happiest and glad I had clear interests (music and computers). About the best parents I could have had I think. My brother and I were never very close but I love him. There is an age gap and we have different interests but our personalities are actually pretty similar. We are just both introverts who avoid starting conversations and think feelings shouldn't be put on display so..

I have heard about a lot of INTPs struggling with their families and clashing personalities/values but luckily mine was pretty great. It was just the rest of the world that I don't think I will ever fit in with, which I of course don't particularly want to fit in with anyway.

 

[Ex-User (13503)]

In a word: boredom. I never felt accountability, which I believe is mainly because I didn't feel respected or valued as a person.

No real hobbies at all. People have to value and understand you to some extent for those to happen, amirite? Consequently, no friends either, not that I minded though. Lots of time wasted on video games/television (stand-in for babysitter/parent). We didn't have internet at home until 2005 I believe, which was junior year. Also when I got my first 2 CDs & portable CD player (Korn's Best Of and Audioslave's self-titled). Don't think I read a single book in high school, tbh. Maybe about half of The Scarlet Letter.

School... a <2.0 high school GPA, and I got expelled twice when my boredom became destructive and resulted in threats, intentionally fucking with people, theft, and sabotage. I also dealt with the suicidal realm.

Generally speaking, my parents were pretty much absent and offered unpredictable and inconsistent punishment/reward.

And then I went to college and discovered science, an interest that existed pretty much entirely because my grandparents took me fishing as a kid and I enjoyed camping trips.

 

[air.ee.yell]

In my teens, there were so many external circumstances changing that I can't answer all your questions. I will, however, try my best.

My home life was always chaotic. It affected me to the point that I had a mental breakdown. I fell into a majorly depressive mood. I was diagnosed with acute agoraphobia.

My school life is probably most unlike any other. I went from public school to home schooling without much social experience from public school.

I know that I had friends who appreciated my presence but I was only in their life out of circumstance. After I left public school, they didn't stick around. My teachers thought I was soft-hearted, but they also thought I was lazy because I never did my homework. But what they didn't understand was that because of my depressive mood, I couldn't function the way everyone else could.

My hobbies didn't include much. I did read. But I eventually found the sway of tv shows. I lost myself in shows like Smallville, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. It was through those shows that I taught myself how to make fan art with photoshop. That's how I discovered my goal to have a career in photography and digital art.

I'd say that I have progressed in terms of being self-motivated and more appreciative of life in general.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sinny91]

Ahh those shows just MADE my teens

Eeek!

(8) You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way?
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does (8)

 

[Creeping Death]

Go into as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

Nice try NSA

 

[WhatWasThat]

intentionally fucking with people

Yeah that was/is pretty much my default method of interacting with people, including teachers. It was so "innate" to me that I don't even think I realized I was doing it back then, so I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. I just couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to.

It is only later in life that I have realized most people don't like to be fucked with, which I sort of understand, but what's the fun in that?

 

[Ex-User (13503)]

Yeah that was/is pretty much my default method of interacting with people, including teachers. It was so "innate" to me that I don't even think I realized I was doing it back then, so I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. I just couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to.

It is only later in life that I have realized most people don't like to be fucked with, which I sort of understand, but what's the fun in that?

I learned that it's really about refining your skills, which involves finding more universally worthy targets and using methods that are more difficult for them to recognize.

There's also a trade-off that comes into play. Stop fucking with people and you lose some fun, but help them instead and you gain their loyalty and service. And of course, if they outright reject your efforts to help them, you can still always fuck with them.

 

[Minuend]

Hobbies: videyagame, drawing, reading, chatting, foruming. I think that's all I did. Never got really good at anything or anything.
School life: I was very emo back then, miserable. Constantly stressed and skipped school frequently. Other students and teachers didn't particularly like me. Except one lady where I remember being surprised when she was nice to me. Had one friend, but spent almost all my time at home playing videogames or sitting at the pc.
Home life: I left them alone, they mostly lefted me alone, I think. They were frustrated I was being difficult. I think it contributed to the general feeling of being misunderstood and isolated.

Things did improve when I started college when I was 17. Some people adopted me into their small friend group and I had more of a social life. Still played a lot of videogames, but I did visit friends more. Talked, played card games. The relationship with my mother improved after I moved out.

 

[redbaron]

Instant coffee and 5+ pieces of toast or a big bowl of cereal before 20 minute walk to get the train to school. Best part of the morning since I would leave the house about 8am and then had 45 minutes of music on my mp3 player until I met up with friends before school started.

Smartphones weren't a thing really yet so we actually interacted. Usually played sport or just talked about stuff we were going to do on the weekend. Basically alternated between sleeping through classes or being really engaged. Favourite class was by far Physical Education. I picked as many sport subjects as possible.

Got into fights after school and on the weekends. Just seemed to be a thing that occurred. Went to some parties, threw up in parks and backyards. Slept in a playground overnight multiple times. Had a few girlfriends, mostly just happened without even paying particular attention. Typical dumb teenage relationships.

Did many things while drunk. Set myself on fire. Set someone else on fire. Spent New Year's Eve on the roof of a flower shop and belting out whatever song came to mind.

Eventually I spent less and less time with friends as groups got more cliquey and I didn't really care to compete. I got along with everyone, didn't really prefer anyone though. Ended up just going out, taking drugs with some new people on a weekly basis. Got bored after 6 months, decided to get a job.

 

[Rixus]

My teenage years are not something I look back on favorably. I entered High School at 11 (as is the case here), in reasonably good condition despite some unfortunate childhood trauma which we don't need to detail here. However, due to some earlier childhood events that were (at this point) outside of my control, I quickly became a target for the older students to pick on. Younger ones followed suite and within a couple of weeks I was basically Carrie without the prom night. It became a way for everyone else to fit in - beat up and pick on Rixus. And some of them were pretty creative. I have a few scares from that time and once had some sort of sulphur solution poured over me and had to bin all my clothing because the smell wouldn't wash out. I think that's were I really honed my introverted thinking skills. I realised that as little a reaction as possible seemed to bore them so I learned to hide my emotions and appear a psychopathic level of calm in almost any circumstance.

I also spent most of my breaks hiding in the computer labs and learned some useful skills, including creative writing. My home life was pretty shitty at the time as well. My mother didn't really seem to pay much notice or ever ask what my grades were or anything. My step father pretty much hated my guts and spent considerable effort into informing me I was not special in any way, deserved what was happening in school, that my academic abilities were meaningless, and that I was, in his words, "just an arse."

I even reach one point where I was about ready to give up. But as I finished making the noose, still sobbing for the last time in years, I starting thinking about the statistics of teenage suicide. And decided that I didn't want to be a statistic. I promised myself then that I'd see this life thing through to the end, whatever happened.

Star Trek and Buffy mostly offered me an escape and I learned to write by first attempting fan fiction although the results were pretty pour. I also spent an inordinate amount of time playing computer games. I learned throughout this time that I could coast my way through school and still achieve pretty good grades and since no one cared I didn't bother really putting in much effort. Occasionally, a teacher would show some interest so I'd actually put a little in an give them a top grade.

I joined the Air Cadets during the last year or two. And although they tried, and I had some very good times there, I was pretty solitary and had no idea how to interact with humans.

I left school as soon as possible and oddly my step father left at the same time. I spent the next few years attempting to find myself and in process smoked enough weed to fill the a large plantation, became proficient at martial arts (I even have a national gold medal) coasted through college and university while still passing everything, made a couple of lifelong friends and spent that last couple of years working in a night club where I (unsuccessfully) attempted to fit in. By the end of the process, I learned to be reasonable OK with my own existence as anyone I was trying to fit in with didn't fit in with themselves anyway. Plus it's more fun to not conform.

People nowadays are never sure whether I have the skin of a rhino or am some weakling dweeb with no confidence at all. I think both are quite possibly true.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

At home I read a lot of books, did some astronomical observations, played games and wrote stories, novels or designed my own game systems for testing and play. I self-taught myself piano with mixed results and classical archery until I lost or sold off my equipment. I also used to go on long solitary walks to think about 'random' stuff and I sometimes discussed them afterwards with anyone interested.

Socially I had a few friends who shared my fantasy/sci-fi/rpg/anime/philosophy/futurism/martial art interests and we used to skip a lot of lessons to play tabletop rpg's in the library or on park benches.

With the same bunch of nerd friends we created a "Computer Science" club to use it as a pretext to skip lessons to prepare for our competitions. We got our own PC lab and we spent most of that time playing video games or tabletop rpg's. The whole scheme fell apart not long before high school was over and our PE teacher caught us by surprise as he entered our lab and saw us playing. We were denied any future funding and good thing we weren't punished retroactively for all those hours that we skipped. Well it's not like we didn't have good grades, school was too easy and boring for the most part. Very few teachers had anything interesting to say or show.

I wish I had some kind of mentor or role model back then to inspire and motivate me into excellence. I don't regret it, but I know I wasted a lot of my potential back then and I would be in a much better position now if I had taken discipline and consistent work a bit more seriously.

After high school I enrolled on the most prestigious and complex sounding degree I could find which was in addition taught fully in a foreign language, that was actually a compilation of three separate university degrees and this is what screwed me over. There I got to meet more ambitious people who actually planned for their future much before they went to the university. I wasn't taught how to work, how to study and suddenly I had to memorise mathematical theorems, practice for exams, concentrate. It was tough and while I could manage this now, back then I fell into a procrastination-optimism trap and had to cope with depression and had a long setback in my independent life.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Mostly making art and listening to music....
And i read lots of books. Most of it fiction. I think at some point (around the time I turned 16 I think?) I started reading non fiction too
Used to swim and was part of a synchronised (ice)skating group until school graduation
I generally never had any free time I guess. I was always doing something. I got along with almost everyone but during highschool i frequently ended up involved in dumb relationship drama episodes and many times this estranged me from groups of people I used to be friends with

 

[Starfishtea]

What were your hobbies and how far did you progress with them?
I was part of a scouting group until 16. I quit because things took a turn in a very religous direction and I wasn't particularly fond of endless praying/bible study. I just like hiking. I also had a lot of homework that seemed more important.

How was your school life?
Great up until I started the Norwegian equivalent of high school at 16. I developed intense social anxiety and selective mutism. Had to chug liqour before school on the days I had oral exams or other presentations. Think Raj from tbbt. Nearly died from some physical complications (not from alcohol) and had massive cognitive failure as a result but still managed to pass in every subject. Made the biggest mistake of my life and dropped out after just one year.

What did your peers/teachers think of you in school?
I was somewhat bullied in year 8-10 but I had my group of other people that didn't really fit in and the teachers liked me so I wasn't particularly bothered by it. I know most people thought I was weird and it garnered me the nickname Space, because people joked about me being an alien. Could be worse. I don't actually know what people thought of me the one year I went to school after that as I wasn't able to ever hold a conversation with anyone. I showed up to school and just sat in my chair without getting up or talking to anyone at all until we got to go home for the day. I can imagine they thought I was even weirder than people thought in the years before and one of my teachers thought I was in ''hard drug abuse hell''. I didn't make any friends that year.

How comfortable was your home life and how did it affect you overall?
Things were hard but it could have been worse. It affected me more as a child and my teenagehood was more about learning to deal with the consequencecs and weird behaviours and mannerisms I learned as a result of my home situation when I was younger. I like to think I wasn't very phased by whatever was going down after I turned 15.

I basically just loafed around after I dropped out at 17. Was never able to finish school or get employed and I was having problems in the health department that made having a normal life hard for me. I spent all of my teenage years focusing more on socializing online than in real life. It was great, I miss the good ole days of the internet (but not that old because I myself am not old). And I have certainly had my share of alcohol since age 15.

I tried to keep it short and avoid the most personal shizzle

 

[Artsu Tharaz]

Mostly spent on chat sites and forums, tbh. And lots of music listening. About the same as now really, shiiit.

 

[Puffy]

My teenage years are a grey blur to me. They weren't particularly traumatic, exciting, or formative just characterless & defined by melancholy, like my environment had me bubbled into a cocoon-state where I was never truly myself. I've always felt this way whenever I've been in my home-town like it's suffocating me and I have to escape.

I had a very day-dreamy, aloof and clumsy personality like I wasn't totally present. I found tasks that involved physical co-ordination or multi-tasking especially hard, like cooking or physical education. I'd not bathe or wash my clothes often as I didn't notice I needed to, and found other's customs difficult to adjust to. As an example, I remember stopping having my hair cut as I found it inconvenient then being shocked two years later when my hair was well past my shoulders.

It was like I was always having to learn things that others found natural and could do effortlessly, which always made communication clumsy and forced. I felt inferior and that I always had to try and catch up to be like other people. One of my teachers in primary school was especially mean and told me I was mentally disabled and that I'd never be able to go to a normal school. My Mother responded by home-schooling me a lot until I caught up, which fuelled an under-dog mentality in me and a resilience to fight especially hard to overcome trying circumstances. I always have got good grades after then and strived to be the top of the class, and think I've become a resilient person.

I never got into trouble, made enemies or got bullied as I was very polite, and good at avoiding attention. I was surrounded by conflict at home, and my response was to become conflict aversive, shell up from people, and null my own emotions as I didn't feel I had justifiable reasons to be sad in contrast to my family who had traumatic backgrounds. My public persona was very fake. I always had friends, but not people who I really connected with or could be open with. Never dated as intimacy frightened me and made me feel anxious.

I spent most of my time in video-game escapism. The few hobbies from then that stay with me now is a love of nature - I used to love taking long solitary hikes through forests and hills where I'd think, imagine I was in different worlds, and write. And music. I still listen to some bands I loved when I was a teen like King Crimson, Kevin Ayers, Mahavishnu Orchestra (and many others I don't anymore :P).

Overall, I try to forget my teen years as there wasn't anything particularly joyful about them. My development was pretty rapid after leaving my home-town when I was 19, and I'm glad my life is a lot more fulfilling now.

 

[Littlefoot]

High School= Living Hell
I had a very hard time in high school. I had a very hard time making and keeping friends. I liked being alone with my thoughts and to avoid all the drama/bullshit that came with high school. I never really fit in anywhere. I couldn't stand being around other girls because all they would talk about is boys, other girls, and something going on with their favorite famous people. I couldn't understand it half the time and the other half of the time I was tuned out with my own thoughts. Boys were a different story, Yes I got along with them better but it mostly ended the same with them wanting sex or something else in return. I did however find one guy friend that wasn't like that. I really enjoyed his company through out high school.

I did sports and I was also in the band. I played flute and piccolo. I really enjoyed the music because it relaxed me and the band teacher was a teacher I actually liked to a degree. In the hallways my headphones were my escape from the high school drama and social awkwardness I seemed to have with other people. At lunch time I would find the quietest place in the building. I would have my headphones in and would be reading a book or dong homework from a class.

I did date a little bit in high school. I had one boyfriend I dated my freshman and sophomore year. He made me feel alive and actually got excited to be at school cause I got to see him. He was my everything until he left with no explanation. It was just over like that. After that school became really hard and unbearable. I wanted nothing more but to leave every single day.

High school I do not want to relive. It was literally a living hell for me.

 

[Architect]

It was all about music. I wanted to get out of the hell of school and large extended family (actually they're pretty good, but can't help it that every one is a strong Sensor) and so worked on it. Rose to professional level by 18 - loved computers (Commodore 64 was the rage then) but ignored STEM classes. HS went well because I was so accomplished, it gave me status which my Fe craved. Fell in with a group of three other friends who unfortunately were also strong sensors.

The only intuitive in my life are my own family (INFJ wife INTP son), and a INTP friend I've collected. Of course being INTP's he's a shitty socializer, can never get him to plan something in advance or come over to my house.

 

[Niclmaki]

What were your hobbies and how far did you progress with them?
How was your school life?
What did your peers/teachers think of you in school?
How comfortable was your home life and how did it affect you overall?

Go into as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

Hobbies as a teen? Well this little game called World of Warcraft came out when I was a teen.

School life was fine, I slept a lot in school thanks to the aforementioned game. In elementary school I always had a group of friends around me I would rather not have be there. I reguarally told them to leave me alone, but they would not.

Teachers were rather annoyed with me after the first year. Once I learned I only needed 51% to pass that's all I would aim for. (I could get near perfect on exams without much effort so homework/projects were hardly ever done). A few teachers gave me verbal "quick exams"? To make sure I wasn't cheating or something. They would always be surprised and say something along the lines of , "SO YOU DO GET IT, WHY DONT YOU DO IT AND TRY?."

Peers knew of me, but that was about it. Mostly annoyed at me too though, for sleeping in class but still passing while they got similar marks. Had 2 friends that I'd play chess with almost every day at lunch.

Home life was fine. My dad only cared if I passed, my mom wanted me to get high marks though. She only wanted me to get high marks because she knew I could though, and because her sister always bragged about her kids getting high marks. Only thing I had to watch out for was my parents discovering I was using the dial-up at 3am. Hah

 

[QuickTwist]

As a teen I was into Napster... at 56K. I had prolly 1.5 friends at the time and that didn't really bother me much. I did homework at school. I also was into pottery in HS. I also was a wrestler in middle school and HS. I was voted most improved by my peers my junior year for that. To tack on to this, I got the second most take downs and the most escapes my junior year as well. My senior year was not as stellar, but a noteworthy thing to talk about there is that I was certified at I think 115 lbs my senior year. That meant that my body fat was at 7% at 115 lbs. So I had to wrestle at the 119 lb weight class and it was a struggle all year to put on weight so that I actually weighed close to 119 lbs. Most the year I was about 117 lbs. Most people have to do a cut to get down to a proper weight and I had to gain weight. I've never been a big eater. Even now I only weigh about 125-130 lbs at 5'4" and I am on a lot of medication that is suppose to make me gain a lot of weight.

Napster was amazing. I could get all the music I wanted without having to spend a dime. I remember my parents were furious because I happen to have an album from Napster that had a single cus word in the whole album. I think that is when they took napster away from me.

Pottery was something I was always trying to get better at technically. I wanted to be extremely precise in what I made. I always made sure that my walls were thin. For this reason I made more smaller pieces on the wheel.

I mostly wanted to do well in school, but I was not disciplined enough to do homework outside the classroom. This provided an interesting challenge for me in that I had to both pay attention to what was taught in class and do my homework at the same time. I still managed As for the most part with Bs coming occasionally. Senior year I almost failed a class or two though. The big projects that are supposed to take you weeks I always had a big difficulty with. I couldn't both do my regular homework and my class project at the same time AND listen to what was going on in the classroom.

But that's history I guess.