How do you make a lot of money quickly and easily? The stock market, of course! More teenagers are investing in stocks today than ever before, in hopes to multiply their birthday and Christmas money.

Now for the essential question: is it a good thing for our generation to take part in the fast paced, sometimes joyful, sometimes heart-breaking world of the stock market? In most cases, my answer to this question is a firm no.

Recently, we have seen something of a revolution in the stock market. Finally fed up with the allegedly corrupt practices of large investment firms, individual investors (largely influenced by the Reddit chain “Wall Street Bets”) poured their life’s savings into several chosen stocks, pushing their prices sky high. The main target of this revolution was Gamestop (stock ticker: GME).

For those high schoolers active in these Reddit forums, and who invested in GME, the past week may have been eye opening. You read the Reddit chain, scrolled through the pages of spam to invest in GME, trusted your Christmas money to these random strangers online, and struck it rich! You are a certified stock investor now. You can probably go ahead and drop out of high school, forget college as well! You’ll make your salary through your intelligence, investing acumen, and genuine ingenuity, because you were able to ride this Reddit hype!

These thoughts have undoubtedly taken over the minds of many high schoolers. Stock trading and finding these shortcuts to quick cash are exactly the goal for teenage investors. And this is the exact reason why most high schoolers should not invest in stocks.

Incidents such as GME serve to breed overconfidence and a general ignorance for reality in high school students. To find success in the stock market requires extensive research, and the only guarantee in the stock market is that not every investment will turn out positive. To just read the Reddit chain and invest blindly is to ignore these truths.

I recommend that high school students find something better to do. When was the last time you read a book? Or did community service? Have you read the news recently? Are you completely satisfied with your grades? You can even just spend time with your family.

For those high schoolers who truly seek to learn about the stock market, and study the investments they make, then I encourage that they continue doing so. I myself manage a portfolio of stocks, and have spent countless hours poring over balance sheets, charts, and listening to company conference calls.

But for those high school investors who are looking for quick, easy cash, I recommend that they avoid the stock market, it will only end up doing more harm than good.