Browsing Tiktok and Instagram in the past few years felt like you were tumbling into a pile of glitter: Glitter-infused cosmetics, sparkling dresses–glitter everything became the new trend. Everyone’s Sweet 16 followed one specific theme: the Euphoria theme. Although there’s no harm in making everything shimmer, there is something peculiar about every teenager’s obsession with the riotous American drama. HBO claims that Euphoria “follows a group of high school students as they navigate love and friendships…”. This one sentence completely fails to portray the intensity of the show. To sum it up in my own words, Euphoria narrates the story of a group of teenagers suffering from a multitude of issues, like sexual abuse, drug abuse/overdose, and violence (to an extreme degree). These teenagers are definitely doing more than "navigating love and friendship".
 
In 2022, NEON TV gave Euphoria a classification of 18VLSC. This rating means that the show has the highest possible amount of Violence, Language, and Sexual Material. Unlike other shows and movies with a similar classification, Euphoria follows the life of a group of teenagers. This fact raises a significant concern: why does a series centered around underage individuals contain such inappropriate content? Another concern? Euphoria has a very extensive adolescent audience. When physician Delaney Ruston surveyed teenagers about Euphoria, she discovered that "about 80% of teens said they see some type of content regarding the show ranging from pretty often to very often." Additionally, Euphoria’s Season 2 episodes averaged around 16.3 million views each. Despite the numerous amount of viewers, most teenagers find it hard to relate to the show. Need another intense statistic? When I asked my very large and diverse group of friends (around ten people) how comparable Euphoria is to their own life, 77.8% said that they could not relate to any/most of the experiences of the characters, 22.2% claimed that it was somewhat realistic, and 0% stated that it was realistic. So, why is everyone obsessing over Euphoria when it's so clearly unrealistic and wild?

The answer is simple: Euphoria glamorizes the bleak problems the teenage characters go through. One example of this is the character Maddy, who experiences both physical and emotional abuse from her partner and originates from a disadvantaged and dysfunctional family environment. Despite her many issues, she arrives at school wearing a $300 tracksuit and a full face of glittery makeup everyday at 7 AM sharp. When teenagers watch glamour mixed with violence, they may begin to associate the two of them. Maddy's comical flawlessness isn't the only example of glamorization in the show. Ironically, many teenagers who try to justify watching Euphoria to their parents claim that the show actually warns adolescents to stay away from drugs through the depiction of Rue, a teenager suffering from substance abuse. Although Rue's journey somewhat mirrors the reality of addiction, almost every other character also uses a variety of drugs without any negative side effects. The constant drug use and sex gives viewers the idea that it's normal for a teenager to live like the characters in Euphoria.
 
Although we can't completely blame the show for risky teenage behavior, many aspects of Euphoria have been trendy for years now. If you searched "Euphoria outfits", "Euphoria makeup", or "Euphoria parties" on any social media platform, thousands of videos would pop up. Teenagers who are on social media (which is basically every teenager, and if you think your child is one of the special ones who aren't on social media, they're hiding something from you!) need to remember that despite how lively and aesthetic the show seems, there is a whole lot of ugliness that comes with living the Euphoria lifestyle. Use all the glitter that your heart desires, but don't forget that in reality, glitz and glam doesn't mix well with destrutive teenage behavior.