I think these truths are pretty damn well-established:
- People are insecure bastards, young people even more so.
- A consumer economy depends on people buying more and more stuff.
Consequently, the emergence of a distinct youth culture in the 20th century opened up an entire new market: Profitting from young people's feelings of inadequacy by selling them stuff. The clever thing about this is that the stuff never remedies it completely. They promise you a sense of belonging if you buy this or that, it helps for a while but it doesn't last. So the kids buy more stuff. Repeat ad infinitum. They can never be enough.
I have an 8 year old half-sister, the pressure to conform is remarkable even at that age. And it doesn't get better.
Even young political radicals are afraid as hell of being tagged in a Facebook or Instagram photo with the wrong guy or not wearing the customary uniform. A communist kid is afraid of turning up at a meeting and being the only one without a keffiyeh.
I think it's important to realize that you can never be enough, never have enough, never do enough, not that way. You'll always feel inadequate when you view yourself in the imagined eyes of others.
You're afraid of being perceived as weak. You're afraid of being judged by others. You're afraid to open up to others. But if you do open up to someone, you'll soon find that it's not "you". It's WE. And you'll find that the fear is not isolating you from the rest of humanity, but us from each other.