At 19.5 years of age, I know or know of a staggering number of people who have committed suicide or hurt themselves. I know an even more staggering number of people who have joked about suicide or hurting themselves.

Alongside this, are the people who joke about mental illness or throw the words "depression" and "social anxiety" around like confetti. To all those who have done this, I have one word for you: in the kindest sense, stop.

With the rise of social media, it only seems as though thousands of more teenagers have been diagnosed with some kind of mental illness.

It always terrifies me a little bit with how many of my friends talk about the depression they've had, meanwhile, I walk into my campus center and every person I see is staring blankly into some kind of screen.

I have been told on numerous occasions that teenagers of today's world have the same stress levels as those who were placed into mental asylums in the 1950s, and part of me really does not believe that.

Yes, today's teenagers end up going through a lot of stuff, but doesn't everybody? Mental illness terms are not something that should be thrown around a lot, yet it seems like every problem my friends have is blamed on depression or anxiety.

I understand that social media and the violence the new generation deals with takes a toll on teenagers, but not to the extent that every teenager deals with some sort of mental illness. So, please, only throw the words around if you actually have the condition.