Who’s being impacted?

Teenagers all over the country are facing the reality of the rise in gas prices. Teens have faced many challenges over the last couple of years. Now they are stuck with having to worry if they have enough money to fill their gas tanks.

The rapid increase in gas prices has drained teenager’s bank accounts at a time when they are trying to save up for college and do other things for their future. This huge change in our society is making it difficult to be able to experience being a young adult. Instead of hanging out with friends on the weekend, you must work your butt off to get a small amount of money. What makes it even worse is that it will only pay for some of your gas, leaving nothing left to use.

Usually, teenagers are stuck with low-paying jobs in crappy conditions. Gas is taking huge chunks out of their paychecks. On top of that, they do all this work in an unsanitary place and lose it all filling their car.

“I don’t like the increase in gas prices only because I work for my gas money. We teenagers don’t have the highest-paying jobs. So I make money but have to spend it on gas every week,”(Eli Sytsma, a student at Jenison High School noted).

Who else?

Young adults are also hit by this. Many young people coming out of college begin to start thinking about what they want in the future. They want to start a family and buy a home. Instead of being able to think about that, they have to worry about whether they even have enough money to support these big life changes. Gas prices rising do not help this situation.

“For younger people that are trying to start families, it’s going to affect them more because they don’t have as much money. They are trying to start a family with the money they have and then they’re putting a lot of money towards gas each month,”(Sytsma noted).

What other aspects are being affected?

Not only are the gas prices getting out of control, but the price of groceries has increased. How are people supposed to stay healthy if they don’t have enough money to buy food? It is already hard enough to have to spend a lot on gas, but now food? If something doesn’t change soon this could shut down our economy.

“The price of gas is affecting my daily life because it has increased the prices at the grocery store because it’s costing stores more to get food,”(Erin Moore the Secretary at Jenison High School stated).

Most teenagers that go to school and work, fill up their car once a week. Sometimes you might have to fill it up more which means your bank account is draining even faster. The money adds up very fast and can be pretty stressful.

“I spend about $45 per week on gas, so around $200 per month,”(Sytsma noted).

Although gas prices have started to go down a small amount, teenagers are still harmed much by this setback.

This obstacle is very difficult for most teenagers to overcome. If gas prices don’t decrease soon, what will our country look like?