Social Justice and Our Teens...

In a world where our teens are constantly driven by social media and cellphones, I often wondered if this obsession would over take our teens and distract them from the “real” issues of society. After all the post millennials or Generation Z as they are known by researchers has been stereotyped as self- entitled, egotistical, social media crazed teens who can’t seem to function without updating social media every two minutes. This is a far cry from the recent poised, media-savvy individuals that have recently taken the world by storm due to their courage, tenacity and passion for social justice. As a young child, I was raised to be social, play outdoors and look people in the eye when speaking to them so like most older adults, I frowned upon this generation who felt they needed to play with their electronics instead of outdoors and lacked the skills of holding a real meaningful conversation. The negativity often perceived with technology and social media is just that- perception. The thing with perception is that it isn’t always reality. Social media may be a non-traditional source, but it has certainly had an impact on not only our society but our teens as well and has allowed them to be engaged by a different avenue. Times are changing and we need to accept social media for what it is, a social platform that has reached all new heights to help mold our teens into the social justice activists that we have seen making a difference and raising awareness to issues that would otherwise be swept away by next week’s headlines.