With the help of social media, the sweeping stress epidemic has never been more prevalent.

#NationalStressAwarenessDay, which is now trending on twitter, is full of people discussing multiple aspects of stress; a topic that was once before seen as a private struggle and something that should be kept behind closed doors.

The hashtag is full of friendly conversation about what makes each of us stressed, how we deal with stress, and what to do when we feel like the world is ending. But are we, as students, really that stressed out?

The topic of stress has grown much more acceptable to discuss, arguably because of its now far-reaching effects. Everyone seems to have some amount of stress in his or her life, and many feel that they’ve become more stressed in recent years than they used to be.

44 percent of adults say they’re more stressed than they were five years ago, according to stress.org. This large percentage of the adult population doesn’t even account for the numerous youth that feel affected by stress just as much, or even more than adults today.

“There is a high pressure on students to do exceedingly well [in school], and sometimes that’s just not realistic. Some students really struggle in certain classes, and it can be very hard to deal with, and therefore very stressful,” Julia Funk, sophomore, said.

Many teens blame part of their stress on the approach to learning that many school systems have adopting. The high emphasis on succeeding on standardized tests, obtaining a high GPA, and being eligible to be accepted into top colleges now weigh heavily on many adolescent minds; something that was a lot less eminent in previous years.

“As time went on, I feel that education has moved more [reliant] on memorizing information rather than applying the knowledge in useful ways,” Sophie McConchie, sophomore said. “School has become a competition of who can memorize the most, rather than a healthy environment dedicated to enhancing students’ intelligence, which is understandably very stressful to a young teen.”

Stress related to school tends to make up a large portion of an adolescent’s stress, and too much academic and extracurricular stress seems to be on the mind of many teens, especially in today’s modern age.

“Lots of people I know go to school for seven hours, then have after school activities until 8pm or 7pm, and on top of that will typically have at least an hour or so of homework at the minimum.” Funk said. “It’s no wonder students are stressed out.”