What’s the first thing you do when you get home? If you just said “homework,” you’re both wrong and a liar. If I had the time or means to conduct a scientific study on how much time teenagers waste on non-school-related things after school, I would. Except—I don’t have the time. Because I have a job.
And that’s it. Those four dreaded words: I don’t have time. That’s what the jobless fear, but honestly, FOMO is something everyone needs to experience to grow. If you went to every hangout and every party, there’d be no mystery left. Something else—like your grades, your sleep, or your sanity—would eventually fall out of balance.
A job keeps that balance. It forces you to skip certain plans, and to be okay with that. It also deters doomscrolling—a rampant epidemic among teenagers that mostly breeds laziness and stupidity. Don’t get me wrong, I doomscroll too, but it’s after I’ve actually done things with my day. After work. After schoolwork. After I’ve eaten and showered. Having a job makes you prioritize the right things because you literally don’t have time for the meaningless ones.
And when talking about doomscrolling’s downsides, it’s impossible to ignore the social impact. A mix of COVID and constant screen use has fostered one of the most antisocial generations to ever exist.
A study from the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior Reports stated that the long-term effects of doomscrolling on mental health are comparable to “being in a room where people are continuously shouting at you.”
You can’t focus.
When you’re constantly in your room, alone, listening to other people talk, you’re creating a false reality. Go outside. Talk to real people who share real experiences—not just opinions on your For You Page. There are many ways to “go outside,” but few compare to the lessons you learn from working a basic high school job.
A part-time job throws you into real situations. You learn how to handle an entitled customer yelling because their sandwich didn’t have enough sauce. Or a grown woman throwing a fit over a missing sequin. These moments might be unpleasant, but they’re crucial. They teach patience, humility, and how to deal with people who make you question humanity.
You’re not going to be a lawyer or a doctor in high school. You’ll probably be washing dishes or folding clothes—sitting at the bottom of the totem pole. But that’s the point. Everyone should experience it. I don’t care if you spend vacations in Geneva or Tarpon Springs—if you’re a teenager who can breathe and speak, you should have a job.
If you play a sport or an instrument, make time. Being at the bottom is humbling—but it’s also the only place to start. If you try to skip that stage, if you wait a few years and go in blind, you’ll miss out on the experiences that make you grounded. And you won’t stay “at the top” for very long.
Having a job in high school forces you to straighten your priorities, interact with real people, and build the responsibility needed for adulthood. Avoid it, and you’re only setting yourself up for future confusion—and a lot of unanswered questions.
