A core developmental task of adolescence is to explore the question, "Where do I belong?" Finding "your people" is central to that journey. This is why peers and peer friendships play such a critical role in the emotional lives of adolescents. Our early social experiences teach us something essential about being human. They help us learn to tolerate discomfort, navigate complexity, and grow through feedback and accountability. The teenage brain is built to learn from these social experiences.
Many adults can remember acting out scenes as doctor and patient, or using sticks and leaves as imaginary currency. Those playful moments were not just entertainment-they were early lessons in empathy and taking someone else's perspective. But as children spend more time with technology and less in pretend play, these opportunities are shrinking. Some educators worry that technology is hindering social-emotional learning.
