Tiger Talk with Jo Drynan
Who are we, really? Teens today
Let's begin with talking about how teenagers are perceived.
For the past few years, teenagers have been more online than ever. As shown in a study, 96% of 15-24 year olds owned a smartphone in 2020, and nearly all (99%) of 15-24 year olds used the internet in 2022. This is not necessarily a good look!
Many people born before this generation believe that our generation has fallen off, taken a turn for the worse, and are just not ‘smart’ due to the resources we now have. This is entirely not true. Teenagers in this day and age have loud voices, and our voices tend to be cast aside when it comes to prevalent issues, and what we want to say. Teenagers aren’t as unfruitful as people think we are.
According to some Uxbridge Secondary School students, our voices are not always taken seriously and are sometimes looked down upon by those in today's society; they might see us as screen-addicted fools who don’t know anything about today's world, but we actually have the prolific knowledge of the whole world at our fingertips.
Just a quick click and we know how to find anything. This doesn’t stop teens from finding an abundance of rude information and using it in a negative way, but it does allow us to find gems of knowledge that the average adult might not have the algorithm of stumbling upon.
The amount of art, language, wisdom, ideas, and growth a person can find online is truly amazing.
Now, I’m not here to prattle on about how great the internet is; in fact, we know the internet can affect so many people negatively, but in the end, we find that many adults blame our negative traits on the internet’s influence and completely look past how it can help us really connect as people.
The pros and cons of a teen having internet access weigh out pretty evenly, but that doesn’t mean that a teen who does have the internet is ignorant. If you were getting advice from a teenager and an adult who had the exact same experience in a subject, who would you take more seriously?
“I don’t think it's fair at all, I feel like I know a lot, we have the whole world at our fingertips,” says one USS student.
Well, our society has adapted to seeing teenagers as young children for so long.
Sometimes it feels like all that we go through and think about is less important due to the optics of our age. But, the youth are smarter than you might think. Our brains are developing at high speeds, and we take in so much information everyday; we still have knowledge. We are always thinking, growing, and exploring the world around us.
A teenager could potentially complete or figure out a task that an adult could, but do they care or want to see past our age? Maybe. If you know one of us, just ask!
Joanne Drynan is a grade 11 student at Uxbridge Secondary School. She is passionate about the arts, and “wants to change the world one day.”