Chapter 2 - Always on our phones
“Every generation needs a new revolution”
PURPOSE 1: “To demonstrate that the Generation Z has something to say”
Since I was little I grew up with the idea that our generation wasn’t as good as the others: we don’t have our opinions, we are always looking at our phones and we never had to face hard times when growing up.
It took me almost 18 years to realize that those are all lies. That all the generations think that the new ones are worse. That the fact that we are digital natives doesn’t mean that we can’t be creative. But change is scary and who is scared of the future always tries to hold on to the past.
So here I am, and there they are. Millions of young souls with their own ideas and opinions. Millions of different minds developing everyday billions of thoughts. Whoever thinks that our generation isn’t socially involved must have never met a genzer* at all. We are everywhere: fighting for the climate change, for the LGBTQ+ community, for freedom, equality and humanity. And the ones of us that don’t join manifestations in person express themselves through the media. Every single day we share, like and interact with social and political content on our networks. It’s not less valuable than manifesting on the streets or than joining strikes. It’s only a new way of doing politics, a new way to express ideas: wider, faster, different. That’s our way, the Generation Z’s way.
Are you still wondering what’s on our phones?
On our phones there’s change. And that’s what we are looking at all the time. Change. Not the frozen still society that thinks media are wrong, that still thinks as people of a century ago used to do. And we aren’t alienated into our phones. They aren’t our escape from reality. They actually are the only reality that represents us, the only reality where our voices matter. They are our vehicle to share opinions, they are our squares for our manifestations.
Does this make any sense to you? Because to me it does.
Are you still wondering what’s on our phones?
On our phones there are people. Real people, from all around the world. There are different cultures, different languages and different ways of thinking. On our phones there is a cosmopolitan space for the Generation Z, which really isn’t anymore a generation of citizens of nations as much as it is a generation of citizens of the world.
What else?
On our phones there’s art. Famous and unknown artists, people that speak for us with their works. There art galleries of incredible photos, shows of singers and dancers. There’s fashion, there’s poetry, there are images. There’s beauty. An incredible amount of it.
Last but not least, on our phones there are sentiments. Love stories and friendships. People that understand us even if they never met us.
On our phones there’s unity, on our phones there’s the rest of the Generation Z. And I know the internet can be dangerous, but compared to all of this, isn’t it worth the risk?
Finally when people say that our generation “never had to face hard times when growing up”, I think that they should be really cautious with that. First of all we are all different, no story can be compared to the others, generalizing like that can be very dangerous.
Secondly our generation has gone through different things than the others. Maybe some of us, in Europe and Northern America escaped poverty and wars but still, this doesn’t make our generation a generation of people that never went through difficulties. Please pay attention to it because some of us are screaming and you can not hear them.
*genzer: person that belongs to the Generation Z.
