One of the greatest detriments to our society is our diminishing attention spans. The cycle goes as follows:

Some news story blows up on Twitter. We read through the article, get the gist of the situation, and become immediate social justice advocates. We converse among our peers, bounce our opinions off one another, maybe even share the occasional post on Facebook about the event. Within a week or two, the story is pushed aside, overshadowed by the new trending story; the old story forgotten; the once vocal advocates silent.

And one of the greatest victims to this cycle is our awareness of mental health. Mental health appears to be a taboo subject that gets its two-second streak of fame every other month or so,
whenever another tragic story of a teenage suicide circulates the Internet, or another empowering article concerning anxiety or negative body image fills our Facebook feed. But the sad thing is, for most people, those two seconds when they're scrolling down their computer screen is the only time in which issues regarding mental health grab their attention.

I say enough is enough. Mental health deserves more than two seconds of fame, but rather the daily dedication from every individual. Not only for themselves, but also for the good of society.

Now, I understand that mental health is affected by a variety of sources. And I recognize that mental health encompasses much more than I discuss in this article. However, going through high school and now being in college, I feel like I can speak to many of the common stressors that my peers face on a daily basis.

For many, there exists a constant weight on our shoulders. Whether it's the paper due after break, the midterm coming around the corner, the median GPA at your dream university, or that SAT score you've been pushing yourself to get. For many, we embark on a never-ending journey of deadlines, judgment, and expectation. And while it may be easier to conceptualize the level of expectation imposed on us by our parents, our teachers, our admissions officers, and even society -- we neglect to recognize the level of expectation that we impose on ourselves. We fail to acknowledge the negativity that stems internally. The little voices in our head telling us that we are not good enough -- echoing the negativity entangled in our society.

We live in a perfectionist society. One that likes to classify, to label, to sort, and weed through each and every individual. We live in a society in which people will tear you down because of what you wear. We live in a society in which people will constantly tell you that you are never good enough. We live in a society that likes to project unattainable ideals; where our media dictates the perfect woman as flat-stomached, tall, with an hourglass shape along with a running list of adjectives that too many teenage girls hold themselves accountable for; where the college application process has us looking down upon ourselves, instead of celebrating our accomplishments. We live in a self-destructive society. We poison ourselves with negativity and fail to see the seriousness and the implications of it.

I am not going to declare that every human being is a pessimist. But I do believe that our society meets a certain threshold. It only takes a few to permeate negativity. But in another respect, it only takes a few to permeate positivity as well.

We have to stop criticizing each other. We have to stop yelling at our children about missing the goal. It's only a game and the lasting impression of the pressure we impose on our children over something so trivial is not worth it. We have to stop hating ourselves for how we look. We need to stop concerning ourselves about how the media advertises how we should look. We should love ourselves for the things that make us us. Whether it's crazy, goofy hair or extra curves, we are all beautiful. We need to start caring based on merit and we need to stop bandwagoning. We need to recognize the issues that we face and stop pushing them aside until the next trending story. We need to take a good look at what society has become and make a change.