Perhaps the most surprising revelation during a youth panel on Wednesday at the Wasatch County Library is that some modern teenagers are romanticizing the 1980s.
“What looks so appealing about that is the raw, authentic experiences that were had,” said 17-year-old Amiah Baker. “When you were bored as a child, you’d go out and play outside instead of building something on a screen. … I think boredom leads to creativity. And when you’re not given the opportunity to sit in stillness and think about what you desire, that creativity can’t happen, and you end up feeling a little bit unfulfilled.”
The importance of boredom was just one insight illuminated by panelists from Wasatch High School who discussed topics ranging from AI use to phone restrictions.
The panel was organized by the Live Like Sam Foundation, the Park City-based nonprofit named for Sam Jackenthal, who died in a skiing accident at 16. The organization, founded by his father and sister, teaches youth in Summit and Wasatch counties to live as Sam lived — with courage, joy, self-awareness, kindness and leadership — through preventative programming.
Wednesday’s panel was the second held in Wasatch County after one at Wasatch Alternative High School in January. The panels are part of a broader effort by the organization to establish relationships with Wasatch County youth.
“In Summit County, we are starting with kids in pre-K,” said Programs Director Jessica Parker. “Here, they’re not growing up with Live Like Sam. They maybe bump into us here, see us at a lunch table, but I don’t think we’re as familiar to them.”
Parker said youth panels provide an opportunity for teenagers to gain experience with public speaking while educating the community about their perspectives.
She said what has amazed her about the kids she has worked with is their openness about mental health.
“Kids are like, ‘Yeah, I go to therapy on Tuesdays,’ … whereas, my generation, therapy was if you had a problem,” she said.
Although Parker thought the stigma around discussing mental health had decreased since her generation, most of the panelists agreed that the taboo hadn’t completely dissipated.
“There is kind of an almost unspoken rule. It’s not really a ‘Don’t talk about it.’ It more (so) seems to make people uncomfortable,” said 16-year-old Aubry Schaff.
Even if the mental health struggles are not talked about, there are a variety of stressors impacting teens — for example, national and international news, now more accessible and unfiltered than ever in the digital age.
“I don’t know what news sources I can trust to tell me what’s actually happening in the world,” Schaff said. “And honestly, what I do know is true really stresses me out, and it scares me quite a bit. And I guess the impact it takes on my mental health is that there is pretty much nothing I can do right now, and it kind of makes me feel a little hopeless about our future.”
Kyra Harris, 18, added that academic pressures have been another source of mental health struggles.
“I’ve had many late nights, just super upset doing homework,” she said. “I’m forced to be in this specific box because of expectations put upon me from either my parents, my teachers or leaders of some sort. And not that that’s bad, … (but) it has harmful effects when you are a star, and they’re trying to put you in a circle shape.”
The panelists concurred that adults tend to underestimate what they’re capable of.
Take Jesus Zarco as an example. At 18 years old, the Wasatch High School senior has already launched a business called Clutter Busters. Like Marie Kondo of the Wasatch Back, Zarco offers all kinds of organization services, from garages to pantries (email [email protected] to set an appointment).
While running the business has come with challenges like taxes and time management, it’s also given Zarco a better sense of independence.
“Anyone can do anything at any age if you just put your mind to it,” he said.
Though that sentiment rings true, Harris admitted that relying on AI for difficult tasks was tempting. She said she’s seen peers use AI to cheat on assignments, and said AI is sometimes “more creative than what I could come up with,” which has discouraged her.
“Technology, period, is a tool and a destroyer at the same time, depending on how you choose to use it,” she said.
While the panelists agreed that technology was the root of many of their woes, they could not come to a consensus about how to restrict its use, as exemplified by a discussion about a permanent phone ban in schools.
To the audience’s amusement, Aubry Schaff detailed how she has a phone restriction, intended to reduce eyestrain, that forces her to hold her phone far away from her face. Credit: Christopher Reeves 
Amiah Baker and Kyra Harris were among the panelists at Live Like Sam’s youth panel at Wasatch County Library on Wednesday. Credit: Christopher Reeves 
Kyra Harris, Amiah Baker and Aubry Schaff were among the panelists at Live Like Sam’s youth panel at Wasatch County Library on Wednesday. Credit: Christopher Reeves
That discussion turned out to be timely, as Senate Bill 96, which would restrict use of smart devices by students for the entire school day, passed in the Utah State House of Representatives the day after the panel. As of Thursday, the bill still needs to be signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox.
Schaff said such a ban would make her less focused at school.
“I have a lot of things happening with my life right now, and I’m constantly worried that I might miss something important that’s happened,” she said.
Meanwhile, Harris attended a public charter school in Colorado that had a no-phone policy for the first half of high school and benefited from the ban.
“It was super strict. However, I definitely feel like I was more creative at my other school. You were able to have genuine interaction with other students, and I think it was good for my mental health,” she said.
She said now that she has constant access to her phone, she’s had more chances for social interaction with friends, but it distracts her from learning.
Despite the stressors, the panelists agreed that there are many exciting aspects of being a teen in Wasatch County today, from increased opportunities for self-expression through social media to the wide array of opportunities to gain professional experience through Wasatch High School’s Career and Technical Education programs.
“It’s a fun era right now for teenagers,” Zarco said.
Live Like Sam’s next panel in Wasatch County will be focusing on raising resilient youth. The panel will feature youth, mental health professionals and educators. That panel will be on April 30, though the venue is yet to be determined.