Retelling Teenagers' Experiences with Insecurities Through a Print Issue

Insecurities have been a big thing in my life ever since I was 11 years old, although it got worse when I turned 13. My imperfections started showing, and people would point them out of nowhere, which made me more self-aware of my flaws/insecurities in a negative way. I have insecurities that I'm comfortable talking about, and I have some that I don't talk about that often. The society I live in has very high beauty standards. I'm someone people have high expectations of, and I can't be someone they want me to be. With my insecurities and imperfections, I always think I can never reach the beauty standards the society around me has created.

I researched and conducted a survey about teenage insecurities. So I have decided to make a print issue about the topic, with pictures and the stories of my friends' insecurities because the stories behind teenagers' insecurities should be heard. I haven’t been very open about some of my insecurities, and making a print issue about it gives me a chance to be more open about more of my insecurities. It will help me encourage and help more teenagers to open up about their insecurities and make them feel like they are not alone in this situation. My goal for this project is to research, interview, and photograph the insecurities of teenagers. Then create a print issue that showcases the insecurities of teenagers . I'm hoping by doing this project, I can spread the message to other teenagers that they are not alone and that we're all in this together. Insecurity is a widespread topic to talk about, especially now in this generation, but spreading awareness by sharing the stories of teenagers with the same problem can help other teenagers by letting them know that there are so many teenagers going through the same thing.

Global Context

The global context that I think fits and relates to my Personal Project is Identities and Relationships. It mainly focuses on the individual's (the teenager) health, personal issues or life, and the individual against the society. Since this project is about insecurities that teenagers are going through, I will explore more on identities, personal, mental, and communities. The insecurities that teenagers go through nowadays affect their mental health and their identity as well. It is mostly caused because of the community they are in or who they are around with.

Product

The final product of my Personal Project is a print issue titled Shattered Within. The title "Shattered Within" basically relates to how teenagers are feeling nowadays because of their insecurities. The print issue discusses teenage insecurities told by the teenagers I interviewed. The people I interviewed are my friends. They gave me permission to share their story and take pictures of them for the print issue.

My product responds to the global context of Identities and relationships because the whole print issue discusses teenage insecurities. In the print issue, the teenagers I interviewed talked about their feelings and anger towards insecurities. The book highlights how it affects them, how they feel about their insecurities, and how they cope with their insecurities. They also talked about their relationship with the people they surround themselves with. There are pictures of the people featured in my book embracing themselves and expressing their beauty and pictures representing their genuine emotions. The print issue will feel more or less like a photo book and a magazine.

See my book below!

Reflection

I learned a lot during the process of making the print issue. It gave me some comfort as well that I'm not alone in the situation and that many other teenagers are also going through the same issue. I'm not the type of person to really talk deep about my problems, but making this book has helped me become more open about my insecurities. Making a book about insecurities gave me comfort and made me realize that I have friends that I can talk to and families to talk to. I was so insecure about talking about my insecurities that it has made me stuck in a bubble. "Shattered Within" has helped me realize a lot more.

This print issue has helped me show people that they are not alone and we're all in this together. I learned new skills such as writing skills, making a book, and improving my photography skills. I have never thought of making a book before until I have decided to make a book for my personal project. The book means a lot to me because it gives me comfort that I'm not going through all of it alone. For my first book, I think I did pretty good. I did not know about making a book, which helped me gain more knowledge and learn new skills.

I asked some people to evaluate my work, and a lot said that my book gave them comfort and calmness, knowing that they can be open about it, and it helped them. Those comments made me realize that I did well in making the print issue, and I accomplished the goal I made before making the book. Teenage insecurities are really important nowadays, and it should be discussed more since many of us teenagers are going through it, affecting us more and more. Sharing teenagers' experiences with their insecurities can help many people and educate more people about teenage insecurities.

IB Learner Reflection

As IB learner students, we're all still and are developing our learner profiles. Throughout this whole personal project process, the profiles I have developed are caring, thinkers, risk-takers, and communicator. Those are the IB learner profiles I have developed throughout the PP process.

Being caring is one of the most important factors as an IB learner student. I have to be a caring and sincere person when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing the teenagers' experiences with insecurities. The book is meaningful. It includes deep conversations that happened during the interview I conducted.

Another IB learner profile I need to be a thinker to make a good book or print issue. I have to think of the designs, the ways I can take pictures, how I want to take pictures, the writings, the content, and etc. There was a lot of thinking during the process of this project. Whenever I’m encountering any difficulties I have to think creatively or critically to solve my problems while having some difficulties. Thinking was very important while doing this project because it is something I have to do when I’m solving problems, making the book, taking pictures, and when I interview.

I have never really stepped out of my comfort zone when talking about insecurities to make a print issue about insecurities, something I have been going through for a very long time.I have never thought I’d ever be this open about insecurities. I have never really made a book/ print issue and I tried to make it as good as possible to give teenagers comfort and let everyone know that everything will be okay. I basically discovered new skills and learned a lot more about my friends because of me being a risk-taker.

The goal of my personal project is to make a book about teenage insecurities and share their stories. To make that happen, I had to deal with a lot of communication. As a communicator and have a successful project, I need enough information to share and retell each teenagers' story by interviewing and asking questions. I ask questions when I need some recommendations or comments or any feedback because before printing I have to at least double check or more if I made mistakes or if I need to make my book more appealing and creative.