Young women on TikTok are taking part in a new trend that celebrates their improved mental health. The trend involves Gen Zers sharing their post-high school accomplishments as well as the ways they’ve grown in the years since, all because “the world didn’t end when I was 17.”

Featuring the track “Scott Street” from Phoebe Bridgers’s 2017 album Stranger in the Alps, creators, most commonly Gen Z women, are sharing videos of themselves reflecting on how far they’ve come since being 17 years old — a time that’s arguably fraught with a variety of teen drama. While some videos depict a certain happy moment in the near-present, others are a montage of recent memories that have elicited feelings of pride and joy. The sentiment of these videos remains the same, though: Life has gotten better and is worth living.

For Taylor Donoghue (@taylordonoghuee), 23, high school was rife with confusion and self-doubt. She told Yahoo News that she felt a sense of uncertainty with who she was, which was exacerbated by the fact that the people she’d gone to school with since childhood were the only people she had ever known.

“I think it is easy when you are young in high school to feel confused, down, and maybe unsure of who you are. … From my own perspective, high school wasn’t the most enjoyable and definitely not how they make it out to be in the movies, so I couldn’t wait to go off to college and experience a life outside of school,” Donoghue said. “Seeing this trend and everyone’s videos has been cool because you get to see how people’s lives have evolved or changed since they were younger. I think this trend has been empowering and sets a good example of how you can have the life you always dreamed and envisioned for yourself.”

Data obtained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 3 in 5 (57%) teen girls in the United States felt “persistently sad and hopeless” in 2021. This percentage is also double that of boys and the highest level reported over the last decade.

“High school should be a time for trailblazing, not trauma. These data show our kids need far more support to cope, hope, and thrive,” Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science said in a statement. “Proven school prevention programs can offer teens a vital lifeline in these growing waves of trauma.”

Aleaya Duran, 21, a nursing student from Oregon, spoke to Yahoo News about the pressure she believes society places on young women during an already complicated, delicate time of life. The belief, she said, that teenage girls are “young and youthful” and should revel in this “peak” time of their lives, is a harmful narrative.

“After going through a breakup and many mental health challenges at 16-18 years old, I truly did think my life would be over, because my peak was over and everything I thought was for certain had changed,” Duran said via email. “This trend is a chance for [those of] us that have gone through those challenging teen years to reflect back and share with other girls that are actively going through it. When you are in a dark place it’s so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

‘It Gets Better’

This trend, which appears to serve as a hopeful reminder to persist, feels especially significant given the CDC statistic that nearly 1 in 3 (30%) of teen girls have seriously considered suicide, which is up nearly 60% from a decade ago.

“Although we haven’t specifically looked at this particular phenomenon, other similar campaigns such as the ‘It Gets Better’ campaign for LGBTQ+ young people have brought important attention and support to youth mental health,” the CDC spokesperson told Yahoo News. “Any efforts to provide positive connection and support to young people through places we know they frequent should be encouraged. Our research tells us that connectedness to important adults, whether through schools, in communities, or with families, has important long-term impacts on health and well-being.”

‘Tiny notes of love and encouragement’

Kristina Scott, a somatic psychotherapist in California’s Bay Area, spoke to Yahoo News about why the trend has been so popular. Given TikTok’s “bite-size video” format, however, Scott believes it’s difficult to capture the full scope or complexity of being 17 in a social media trend.

“In its own way, it seems like young women are using these videos as a way to create tiny notes of love and encouragement and sending them out — not just to the younger girls who might currently be struggling out there in the world, but to their younger selves as well,” Scott said. “TikTok’s bite-size video format doesn’t lend itself to a tremendous amount of depth in terms of analysis or reflection. … But if we can take it for what it is, it seems like a really sincere way for young women and girls to support one another in what can so often be an incredibly challenging time of life.”

This trend, Scott added, offers young Gen Zers something they lack in adolescence, which is perspective.

“One thing teenagers don’t have is the perspective that time brings,” she asserted. “At 17 years old, almost everything is new, which means there’s little life experience to refer back to when things are really hard to hold as proof that things do most often, get better with time.

“The message is different coming from an age-peer than from say, your parents,” she added. “Having other young women who have probably shared really similar experiences as you have are way more likely to resonate and be meaningful.”

However, an uplifting TikTok trend that validates the experiences of young women shouldn’t be relied on in place of professional help, according to Carlos Escobar, a licensed mental health counselor, in Tampa, Fla.

“It’s crucial to balance this with the understanding that social media also presents a curated version of reality. While such trends can be uplifting, they shouldn’t substitute for professional mental health support when needed,” he told Yahoo News.