That memorable lyric from The Undertones' famous song Teenage Kicks you could say is a very accurate description of teenage life.

This is the point in your life when you have nothing to worry about and having as much fun as possible is the main objective whether that’s getting completely smashed at a house party, high as a kite on drugs or having casual sex with that person you really fancy.

Now to adults this may all seem a bit over-the-top and silly but they tend to forget that they most likely done the same thing when they were that age.

It’s hard to think your mother was once the really fit girl all the guys longed after and your dad was Danny Zuko from Grease.

Today the world is very different from 40 years ago mainly because of the media’s influence and coverage on young people.

Of course our parents done the same things we do now but back then it wasn’t brought to the attention of the public as much, back then the hardest thing you got on the screen was James Dean smoking a cigarette whereas today the story of a teenager dying has become almost normal.

The things we as a generation get up to most members of society would look on in disgust but to us it’s just another day in the office, but what is often forgotten is that it is only the minority who causing the problems that need to be taken notice of.

Just because a few want to give the rest of us a bad name it means we can’t enjoy ourselves and have fun without society having a moan.

Me and my circle of friends are just like any other group of teenagers. We go out and we have a good time but it does not mean we intend to cause mayhem and havoc, we’re living our lives and enjoying the time we have and we're not doing harm to anyone else.

There is a huge difference between having a house party round your friends and actually killing someone and the sooner society realises that the better.

By Joshua Shaw, age 18, from Orpington