WEBVTT - Teenage Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, you found us. Come on in. Welcome to Deeply Human.

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<v Speaker 1>Today we're talking with and about teenagers, and I'm your host.

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<v Speaker 1>Former adolescent dessay. During the teenage years, there's a rite

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<v Speaker 1>of passage around every corner of our mitzvaha, maybe a

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<v Speaker 1>driver's license or a first kiss, if you're into that

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<v Speaker 1>sort of thing. When I was fourteen, my best friend

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<v Speaker 1>Maria had moved away to Sweden and I got to

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<v Speaker 1>visit her, and I remember that trip so vividly. The

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<v Speaker 1>weird chemical taste of the salt liquorice, the crush I

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<v Speaker 1>developed on a dark haired boy, the way that music

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<v Speaker 1>moved me almost to the point of physical discomfort. The

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<v Speaker 1>discovery that the dark haired boy liked me back, which

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<v Speaker 1>both thrilled and nauseated me. There's a term for our

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<v Speaker 1>heightened recall of adolescence and early adulthood. It's called the

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<v Speaker 1>reminiscence bump. The adventures, both innocent and illicit, of our

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<v Speaker 1>teenage years make lasting impressions. We're branded with the memories

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<v Speaker 1>of our first breakup, fierce arguments with parents, the friend

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<v Speaker 1>who tried to skateboard off the roof, the songs that

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<v Speaker 1>electrified us, the six sweet smell of Swedish wine cut

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<v Speaker 1>with fanta. The general intensity of experience in adolescence is

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<v Speaker 1>due in part to our neuro anatomy. We're going to

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<v Speaker 1>look inside the teenage brain to find out why the

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<v Speaker 1>world burns brighter in your teens. Hi, I'm Piper Wilson,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm eighteen years old. I have been eighteen for

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<v Speaker 1>about a month now. Awesome. Do you think that high

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<v Speaker 1>school turned out to be what you imagined it would

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<v Speaker 1>when you were a little kid. I thought like, once

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<v Speaker 1>I got to be like sixteen seventeen, I would feel

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<v Speaker 1>just like the top of the world. It's like being

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<v Speaker 1>a kid, but with more benefits. So I grew up

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<v Speaker 1>just like imagining that, like my teenage years are going

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<v Speaker 1>to be like just the epitome of fun things like

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<v Speaker 1>staying out too late, or like making bad decisions or

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<v Speaker 1>like partying. Just like if I don't do this now,

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<v Speaker 1>then like when will I get to I've never thought

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<v Speaker 1>about it quite that way, but there can be sort

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<v Speaker 1>of a romantic burden on adolescents, like it's a New

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<v Speaker 1>Year's Eve party that lasts for the better part of

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<v Speaker 1>a decade. Actual teenager them ended up being a mixed

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<v Speaker 1>bag for Piper, with its own set of challenges, including

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<v Speaker 1>some perceived pressure to dress a certain way. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of just like preppy, like the pink hoodies and

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<v Speaker 1>the ripped jeans and all that like, and some new

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<v Speaker 1>social dynamics like talking to people that would like get

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<v Speaker 1>me in trouble um or yeah, like trying to fit

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<v Speaker 1>into a group that like didn't like me and like

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't look like them, but like they were like

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<v Speaker 1>the people. So I'm like I should try at least

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<v Speaker 1>I spent so long like digging around at what I

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<v Speaker 1>should be and of what I really am. So now

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<v Speaker 1>I'm still kind of stuck in that weird limbo where

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<v Speaker 1>like I have an idea, but I'm not sure a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of adults are all too eager to go on.

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<v Speaker 1>When I was your age autopilot instead of really listening

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<v Speaker 1>to teenagers experiences, I spoke to a youth theater group

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<v Speaker 1>based in North London called Company three that received a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of attention for production they did called Brainstorm, a

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<v Speaker 1>play that investigated the teenage experience through the lens of

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<v Speaker 1>neuro anatomy. What you say to me your brain is broken.

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<v Speaker 1>The play was created in collaboration with Dr Sarah Jane Blakemore,

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<v Speaker 1>a groundbreaking neuroscientist who specializes in adolescent brain development, and

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<v Speaker 1>it connected the real life stories of the teens of

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<v Speaker 1>science that provides some insight into their experiences. I say

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<v Speaker 1>to you, my brain isn't broken. It's beautiful. I'm in

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<v Speaker 1>the city have never been to, and I see bright

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<v Speaker 1>lights and new ideas and fear and opportunity and a

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<v Speaker 1>thousand million roads all lit up and flashing. I say,

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<v Speaker 1>my brain isn't broken. What did you find out about

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<v Speaker 1>your brain when you're doing the play? So essentially the

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<v Speaker 1>science goes a little bit like this is that when

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<v Speaker 1>you're younger, your Olympic system is at the biggest point.

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<v Speaker 1>And the Olympic system is like the reward system is

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<v Speaker 1>what we called it. So it's the bit that gives

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<v Speaker 1>you the high like when you're young, um, and like

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<v Speaker 1>every time we do some they knew or exciting, it

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<v Speaker 1>just gets really excited in your reward in your Olympics system.

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<v Speaker 1>So you end up doing more and more naughty things

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<v Speaker 1>or things that are considered naughty and teenage like behavior.

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<v Speaker 1>That's second now in her early twenties, who talks with

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<v Speaker 1>big fluid gestures through a wide smile. Her cast mate

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<v Speaker 1>Jack was only fourteen when he participated in the play.

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<v Speaker 1>Now he's eighteen, tall and slim with girls that fall

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<v Speaker 1>almost into his eyes. The Olympics system is the part

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<v Speaker 1>of the brain that is involved with taking risks. So

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<v Speaker 1>when we're younger, there's kind of a lot more connections

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<v Speaker 1>there and we tend to our proof onto cortex, what

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<v Speaker 1>kind of manages Our decision making isn't as developed yet,

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<v Speaker 1>so like we're kind of a lot more prone to

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<v Speaker 1>taking risks, not doing what we're told to do, um

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<v Speaker 1>kind of pushing the boundaries to try and find out

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<v Speaker 1>what is acceptable and what isn't. We learned that when

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<v Speaker 1>you're young, your synapses are just growing and you're making

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<v Speaker 1>so many connections. It's easier for you to pick up

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<v Speaker 1>things and learn things, and pick up bad habits or

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<v Speaker 1>good habits, and I guess that's where you can learn

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<v Speaker 1>new languages and new talents and stuff like that. So

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<v Speaker 1>that was really exciting. Synapses are the connection points between

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<v Speaker 1>our brain cells, and teenagers actually have more brain cells

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<v Speaker 1>and more synapses than adults do, even though the structures

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<v Speaker 1>of the adolescent brain may be very similar to an adults,

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<v Speaker 1>those structures aren't yet wired together in the same way,

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<v Speaker 1>and the process of connecting our brain regions to one

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<v Speaker 1>another starts at the back of the head and moves

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<v Speaker 1>towards the front, which means that the frontal lobe, which

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<v Speaker 1>is associated with empathy and judgment and decision making, is

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<v Speaker 1>actually the last to connect. Okay, time for a deep

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<v Speaker 1>dive into the science. MH. I'm Francis Jansen. I'm Chair

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<v Speaker 1>of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and I'm also

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<v Speaker 1>the author of The Teenage Brain. Every function or thought

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<v Speaker 1>or memory you have is like a relay race through

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<v Speaker 1>your brain, using probably thousands, if not millions, of synapses

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<v Speaker 1>at times for a single act or a thought or

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<v Speaker 1>a memory. So it's these relay races that get rehearsed

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<v Speaker 1>over and over again. That's the practice effect. So these

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<v Speaker 1>synapses can be strengthened by experience. That's the magic of

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<v Speaker 1>this UM process. And when you repeatedly have a communication

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<v Speaker 1>going from Cela to sell By, we believe that's the

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<v Speaker 1>base of learning in memory. And it takes only milliseconds

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<v Speaker 1>for UM that process to start, and then by about

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<v Speaker 1>an hour you have a stronger synapse. Well, I don't

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<v Speaker 1>what are you going? This is a Billie Eilish track,

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<v Speaker 1>As pop fans will probably know, we at only seventeen,

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<v Speaker 1>Billie Eilish swept the Grammys, winning all four of the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest awards. Mozart was writing opera at fourteen. Mary Shelley

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<v Speaker 1>started on Frankenstein when she was eighteen. Malala Yusef Psai

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<v Speaker 1>and Greta Tonberg have both helped shape major geopolitical conversations

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<v Speaker 1>as teenagers. Teenage years are full of passion and creativity

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<v Speaker 1>and learning, partly because the adolescent brain isn't just a

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<v Speaker 1>brand new adults brain. The creativity of teenagers is not

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<v Speaker 1>to be taken lightly. But it's only in recent decades

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<v Speaker 1>that imaging technology like m r S and fm r

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<v Speaker 1>S has allowed us to look inside the living teenage

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<v Speaker 1>brain to see how it's built and watch it at work.

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<v Speaker 1>So it sounds like the brain doesn't. It doesn't finish

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<v Speaker 1>itself like a like a biscuit rising in the oven. Evenly,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like a building going up part by part. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's what's so fascinating about human development. We are so

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<v Speaker 1>customized to our environments that we believe that scientists, we

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<v Speaker 1>believe that nature intended this so that your brain can

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<v Speaker 1>be sculpted to be customized to the environment in which

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<v Speaker 1>you will live the rest of your life. Right, So,

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<v Speaker 1>all the way through your childhood, skill sets you're learning

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<v Speaker 1>are strengthening certain parts of your brain in one person,

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<v Speaker 1>and then a different skill set and another person, so

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<v Speaker 1>we all end up quite different. The brain is the

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<v Speaker 1>human organ that takes longest to develop, and this long

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<v Speaker 1>window of maturation can actually be an advantage. It allows

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<v Speaker 1>our brains to adapt and optimize themselves to the exact

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<v Speaker 1>demands of the particular lives we lead. In adolescence, our

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<v Speaker 1>brain is being tailor made by the circumstances of our lives.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a period of becoming self aware and creating an

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<v Speaker 1>identity for yourself. I like being outside of my friends,

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<v Speaker 1>I think. So we just liked riding around on bikes

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<v Speaker 1>and you just cycle around, Um, you just get that

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<v Speaker 1>sense of freedom. My friend she had like people who

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<v Speaker 1>she really liked him, who would like to talk about

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<v Speaker 1>And if we didn't know anyone, we didn't want anyone

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<v Speaker 1>to know. I'd be like, so, how's twenty eighteen, how's ten?

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<v Speaker 1>And I'm like, here's your twenty and yeah, it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of an inside joke. No one else has it. Man,

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<v Speaker 1>teenagers are natural cryptographers, folded notes, code words, fresh lang.

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<v Speaker 1>It takes real inventiveness to have a private conversation. I

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<v Speaker 1>can still remember learning how to say do you think

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<v Speaker 1>he's cute? In Swedish Hannard's Sneak. Maybe years from now,

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<v Speaker 1>Kessie I will be drinking tea with friends, referring to

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<v Speaker 1>her partner as her two teenage conversations with parents, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>there is not so much subtext, maybe not even that

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<v Speaker 1>much text text. We were like we really talk about

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<v Speaker 1>in depth, like things. It's usually just like, how is

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<v Speaker 1>your day fine? And if not, I'd be about school.

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<v Speaker 1>And if it's not school, it's just on what's on TV.

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<v Speaker 1>We're in different generations, like we just don't really understand

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<v Speaker 1>each other, and it's just a really restricting conversation. I

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<v Speaker 1>think as a teenager, my relationship with my parents had

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<v Speaker 1>essentially collapsed. It had none of the sweetness and intimacy

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<v Speaker 1>it had in childhood or that it would have in

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<v Speaker 1>my adulthood. At fourteen, I'd cut off my long hair

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<v Speaker 1>and dyed it pink. In the Mississippi River. I've done

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<v Speaker 1>my own piercing in a bathroom mirror. And I was

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<v Speaker 1>writing tortured poetry late at night in the basement, and

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<v Speaker 1>I remember thinking I won't always feel this way, But

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know anything about the neuroscience that underlied my experience.

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<v Speaker 1>Learning about how teenage brains work doesn't only help adults

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<v Speaker 1>understand teenage behavior. It can also help teens understand themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>Here are brothers Arda and bergon fifteen and thirteen. I

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<v Speaker 1>get sometimes angry for some stuff, and I need free

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<v Speaker 1>space and I don't get that space, which gets me

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<v Speaker 1>more angry. And then and you some parts of yourself

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<v Speaker 1>is hidden because there's like some stuff that you you

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<v Speaker 1>still have to find out about yourself. Could you feel

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<v Speaker 1>yourself like, could you feel your personality changing when you

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<v Speaker 1>talk about like being shy at twelve and thirteen, where

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<v Speaker 1>you like, I am becoming a slightly different person. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>because I think when I got to fifteen is when

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<v Speaker 1>I got loads of it. I started to get a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of attention from Mayo um, and like that's when

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<v Speaker 1>you know your crushes start to message you and stuff

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<v Speaker 1>like that, or even just girls always comment in on

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<v Speaker 1>how pretty you look, and everyone's just like the trends

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<v Speaker 1>is appearance, and everyone's focusing on, oh, you have really

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<v Speaker 1>nice hair, your eyes, your smile, and those just compliments

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<v Speaker 1>just made me kind of get more and more confident

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<v Speaker 1>in myself and gave me that freedom to just find

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<v Speaker 1>friends who are because everyone was trying to be friends

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<v Speaker 1>with everyone if you well, if you were pretty, but

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<v Speaker 1>you just have that connection, like we've got the same hair,

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<v Speaker 1>let's be friends. Do you know what I mean? There

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<v Speaker 1>are serious changes in the social terrain. Your own temperament changes,

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<v Speaker 1>and is our neurologist Francis explains, even the clock in

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<v Speaker 1>your body changes. Teenagers and sleep, why do they keep

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<v Speaker 1>schedules of like miniature bartenders. Yes, to make our our

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<v Speaker 1>brains want to go to sleep. We release a protein

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<v Speaker 1>called melotonein. It's a transmitter and it helps make the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of your brain get sleepy. We put it out,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, in the mid evening, eight or nine o'clock

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<v Speaker 1>at night. And teenagers are programmed, as are all animals

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<v Speaker 1>mammalian species, as they go through to this this window

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<v Speaker 1>of juvenile development. It comes out later, so it's not

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<v Speaker 1>even getting released until closer to midnight eleven o'clock at night.

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<v Speaker 1>It takes about an hour and a half for this

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<v Speaker 1>to work. So you can imagine then they don't even

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<v Speaker 1>have the sort of soporific hormone or protein to to

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<v Speaker 1>help them go to sleep, and they're also stimulating themselves

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<v Speaker 1>with all kinds of social media and all kinds of things,

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<v Speaker 1>so it is kind of like the perfect storm. This

0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.320
<v Speaker 1>is very, very challenging in high school especially, and so

0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.720
<v Speaker 1>a lot of schools have actually adapted to doing something

0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:47.080
<v Speaker 1>a bit softer and gentler earlier mindfulness or sports. Several

0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.840
<v Speaker 1>studies even link early high school start times with increased

0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:55.040
<v Speaker 1>rates of teenage driver car accidents. The American Academy of

0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.760
<v Speaker 1>Sleep Medicine has called for communities to adopt start times

0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.120
<v Speaker 1>of eight thirty or lay leader for middle school and

0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.240
<v Speaker 1>high school students. The world wasn't really designed with the

0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.360
<v Speaker 1>teenage brain and mind, and maybe we should rethink the

0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.960
<v Speaker 1>school day and a lot of our public policies in

0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.120
<v Speaker 1>light of what we now know about teen development. Some

0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.360
<v Speaker 1>of those policies have life or death consequences. Should courts

0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.440
<v Speaker 1>punish teens, for example, in the same way as adults

0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:26.280
<v Speaker 1>when they commit serious violent crime. Dr Francis Ginson had

0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.120
<v Speaker 1>an opportunity to submit her opinion on that issue to

0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.560
<v Speaker 1>the Supreme Court of the United States. She contributed to

0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.720
<v Speaker 1>what's called an amicus brief, a document meant to provide

0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.200
<v Speaker 1>perspective or advise the justices, even though the authors aren't

0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.760
<v Speaker 1>directly involved in the case. So I was one of

0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:46.600
<v Speaker 1>many people on amicus briefs about trying to overturn that

0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.520
<v Speaker 1>what had been the law of the land, which was

0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:52.320
<v Speaker 1>mandatory life without parole for capital crimes. So this is

0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.320
<v Speaker 1>people under the age of eighteen that have been bystanders

0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.080
<v Speaker 1>or evolved or you know, under the influence of an

0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.680
<v Speaker 1>older person to do a cry our murder. And we

0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.720
<v Speaker 1>argued that they are so susceptible to peer pressure. I mean,

0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.120
<v Speaker 1>isis knows this right. I mean, they can take young

0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.720
<v Speaker 1>boys and make them do heinous things and that's not

0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.480
<v Speaker 1>what that child would have been like most likely if

0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.920
<v Speaker 1>they'd been in a better environment. They're very easily susceptible

0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.520
<v Speaker 1>to suggestion in that window because they don't have a

0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.960
<v Speaker 1>frontal lobe to say bad idea. But also the peer

0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:28.880
<v Speaker 1>gratification piece is big. In the end, the U S

0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:32.120
<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court did overturn the law of the land. It

0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.240
<v Speaker 1>abolished the mandatory sentencing of life without parole for juveniles.

0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:41.360
<v Speaker 1>Now every case must be considered individually. Francis also recommended

0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.800
<v Speaker 1>that people who had already received mandatory sentences for juvenile

0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.600
<v Speaker 1>crimes should have their cases reviewed to see if the

0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:52.000
<v Speaker 1>punishment was fair. That suggestion was accepted to they look

0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.600
<v Speaker 1>like an adult. They you know, walk like an adult,

0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:56.560
<v Speaker 1>They dressed like an adult. That their brain is not

0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.920
<v Speaker 1>adult like we as adults. We do have our front

0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.920
<v Speaker 1>lobes present and attached. So when I talked to parents

0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.480
<v Speaker 1>and community leaders, I say we should give them a

0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.800
<v Speaker 1>frontal lobe assist being there to support them through this

0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.639
<v Speaker 1>rather rocky part of development, which is magical at the

0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:21.280
<v Speaker 1>same time as a little bit treacherous for some of them.

0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.640
<v Speaker 1>My friend Maria told me that Swedish has a term

0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.240
<v Speaker 1>to convey the particular sort of trashiness that comes with

0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.399
<v Speaker 1>being exactly fourteen years old. People might use it, she said,

0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.960
<v Speaker 1>to describe a group of girls loitering in a parking

0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.760
<v Speaker 1>lot smoking cigarettes. For example. Culture isn't always very generous

0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:44.760
<v Speaker 1>with teens. They're dismissed as vapid hormonal. We call it

0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.520
<v Speaker 1>loitering when they stand around talking as if they had

0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:56.000
<v Speaker 1>anywhere private to go. My brain isn't broken. It's like

0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.560
<v Speaker 1>this full reason. I'm like this full reason. I'm becoming

0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:08.680
<v Speaker 1>who I am, and I'm scared, and you're scared because

0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.760
<v Speaker 1>who I am it might not be who you want

0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:17.200
<v Speaker 1>me to be, well who you are, And I don't

0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.560
<v Speaker 1>know why, but I don't say it's all going to

0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:25.240
<v Speaker 1>be okay. There are so many things I don't say

0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:33.160
<v Speaker 1>to you. I don't know why I want to say them,

0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:38.520
<v Speaker 1>but I can't. I pick up my plate, put in

0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:48.600
<v Speaker 1>the kitchen and go upstairs. I think as you get older,

0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.280
<v Speaker 1>you think that you you remember your teenage life, but

0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.280
<v Speaker 1>you don't. You think that you can say to your child,

0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:58.879
<v Speaker 1>I know why you're doing this. I used to do

0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.440
<v Speaker 1>that too. But the world is always changing. Everything's always developing.

0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.400
<v Speaker 1>So when you sit there and tell me I used

0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.040
<v Speaker 1>to do that too, you're not. You're just telling me

0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.240
<v Speaker 1>that instead of action in okay, I'm gonna let you

0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.919
<v Speaker 1>have the space to make those mistakes so that you

0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:20.160
<v Speaker 1>understand and then we can talk about it. The memories

0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:25.479
<v Speaker 1>of adolescents feel so vivid. I remember the ribbing of

0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:29.040
<v Speaker 1>my favorite pair of ripped tights. I remember the beat

0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.720
<v Speaker 1>up Raiders cap I wore with the brim pulled low.

0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.240
<v Speaker 1>But maybe second is right. Maybe I can't recall what

0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.520
<v Speaker 1>it was really like to experience the world with the

0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:44.080
<v Speaker 1>brain that was in that Raiders cap. Do you ever

0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.720
<v Speaker 1>think about now you're eighteen? Do you think about what

0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.639
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be like when you get older? Is

0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.919
<v Speaker 1>there an age that you think that you're excited to

0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:55.439
<v Speaker 1>be in the same way that you might have been

0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.240
<v Speaker 1>excited to be a teenager. I want to say I'm

0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:03.640
<v Speaker 1>excited to be like twenty four because that's when I'll

0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.840
<v Speaker 1>be done with like my bachelor's degree in college. And

0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.600
<v Speaker 1>I think that by then I'll be married. So I

0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:12.400
<v Speaker 1>really want to do that. I really want to get there.

0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.919
<v Speaker 1>Do you know who you'll be married too? Yeah? Do

0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.639
<v Speaker 1>you my girlfriend? They do? Yeah? Yeah, I want to.

0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.199
<v Speaker 1>She's a little younger than me, so I want to

0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.560
<v Speaker 1>propose to her on her eighteenth birthday and that's like

0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.760
<v Speaker 1>a little over a year. So, M and how long

0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.760
<v Speaker 1>have you guys been dating? Like nine months? Um? And

0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.080
<v Speaker 1>I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but like

0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:42.719
<v Speaker 1>I've literally never felt this way about anybody at all before,

0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.760
<v Speaker 1>like not even close. I don't want to say I

0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:51.479
<v Speaker 1>believe in destiny, but I feel like she's definitely my person.

0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.520
<v Speaker 1>Our culture does presume that teenage love is hyper intense

0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.000
<v Speaker 1>and fleeting and isn't to be considered as seriously as

0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.879
<v Speaker 1>adult love. Do you think that it's definitely perceived as that?

0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.040
<v Speaker 1>And I feel like a lot of the time it

0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.640
<v Speaker 1>is like that, but because of that, a few times

0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:12.600
<v Speaker 1>where it's not usually overlooked, like I want her to

0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:14.879
<v Speaker 1>be my endgame, and I tell it to people and

0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.399
<v Speaker 1>they're like, oh, hi, that's so cute, Like no, I'm serious,

0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.159
<v Speaker 1>Like I want to marry her. It's strangely acceptable to

0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:25.320
<v Speaker 1>mock and even demonized teenagers, and we would never get

0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.680
<v Speaker 1>away with treating other people that way. Do you plan

0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.800
<v Speaker 1>when you're an adult on treating teenagers differently than you've

0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.440
<v Speaker 1>been treated by the adults in your life? Definitely? Yeah,

0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:41.320
<v Speaker 1>how so, like both teenagers and children are treated as

0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:45.000
<v Speaker 1>a very homogeneous group. Isn't like they're young and they

0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.679
<v Speaker 1>don't know what they're doing and like they're not wise

0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.240
<v Speaker 1>or anything, when really, like you don't know everyone's story. Um,

0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.240
<v Speaker 1>So I feel like I would definitely treat like children

0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.399
<v Speaker 1>and teenagers when I'm an adult, with the same respect

0:21:57.400 --> 0:21:59.119
<v Speaker 1>that I would give an adult that I had just met.

0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:02.359
<v Speaker 1>Like they're younger than me, sure, but they're not like

0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.640
<v Speaker 1>a different breed of thing. They're a human being with

0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.280
<v Speaker 1>a brain and a heart. There shouldn't be that big

0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:13.520
<v Speaker 1>of a difference. Adolescents are the way they are for

0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:18.040
<v Speaker 1>a reason. We are teenagers by design. The neurological development

0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.600
<v Speaker 1>that can make the teenagers challenging also lends the adventure

0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:24.960
<v Speaker 1>and passion and the thrill of those years. It's part

0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:28.360
<v Speaker 1>of what makes us feel so fully, almost unbearably alive.

0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:31.879
<v Speaker 1>It's what makes the world burn brighter through our teenage years.

0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.840
<v Speaker 1>Next on Deeply Human, we're talking deja vu? Why do

0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:38.960
<v Speaker 1>you get it? And what could it reveal about the

0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:44.120
<v Speaker 1>mechanics of memory. I remember driving four hours to meet

0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:46.400
<v Speaker 1>with a patient we've not met before, and I turn

0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.239
<v Speaker 1>up and she opens the door and she greets me

0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:55.119
<v Speaker 1>like she knows me. Deeply Human is hosted by Me

0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:58.280
<v Speaker 1>Tessa and as a co production of the BBC World

0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:02.440
<v Speaker 1>Service and American Public Media with I Heartmedia Special Thanks

0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.199
<v Speaker 1>this time around to company three Theater Group in London,