Teenage voices #3

Hello!

      I hope you've been enjoying my teenage voices series. I've loved being able to talk to different people and find out what their opinions are. Here is number 3 of the teenage voices series.

Teenage Voices #3

This time I had the pleasure of talking to posi leaf-airy! Posi leaf-airy is part of the #posiposse on twitter which I love as they are constantly spreading positivity. Here are posi leaf-airy responses to the questions I asked, enjoy!

The older generation often believe teenagers don’t have any opinions, do you think this is true?

As a seventeen, almost eighteen, year old teen I am amongst a large proportion of the population, (around 30% of US pop. according to washington post) obviously this may make my article entirely biased as I am representing the target audience being discussed and have limited (non existent) knowledge/experience of being an adult/member of an older generation, to really be able to understand where their views on my age range stem from or why they protrude when teenage voices continue to excel in changing our understanding of the world and accomplish important marvels every day, Malala and Kelvin Doe being just two examples of this. But even if you haven't made a life expanding discovery, should that make your voice any less valid? 

Do you think teenager’s voices/ opinions are listened to? If not, why?

Of course, a lot of generalisation is occurring here, not every teenage voice is suppressed, not every teenager wants to discuss politics or wants to discuss anything and sure enough not everyone older than twenty-five is trying to belittle or ignore you. However, some people will, and do, this again can vary dramatically, from simply telling a child to be quiet over dinner or that 'you'll understand when you're older' to extreme and abusive environments. Why would someone whose been told their whole life to lock any thought or opinion away in some far away volt and chuck it out to sea suddenly understand every right or wrong and discuss whatever topic for days on end with elocution and grace the second they blow out some candles on a birthday cake that supposedly marks the end of their teenage years?

What do you think needs to be changed for teenager’s voices/ opinions to be listened to?

 Personally I believe there is an issue here, sure, it may not be as immediately destructive as say famine, but nevertheless it is still an important and valid issue that should be respected and discussed. In the same way teens (or anybody of any identification) sharing opinions should be. Of course, that doesn't mean to say any teen speaking out is necessarily right and obviously you don't have to agree with them by any means, but the courage that is required to use a voice and a mind you have been given as a birth right in a world where everything is trying to kill you and steal that voice and that thought, should be greeted and dealt with respect and dignity as it is not a sin. 

How important do you think it is for teenagers to have a voice/ opinion?

Although there are many contributing factors and every case is different, I believe the issue here stems from education and socialisation. The majority of teens (depending on location, culture or individual circumstances etc.) will have spent their entire lives in a governmental education system which dictates what they do at what time, what they are exposed to, allowed to discuss and the topics and things they should be interested in and learn about, this is obviously going to impact the teens on the way they view the world, how they are valued in that world and how they should act in that world. Some people say teens either don't care and don't have opinions or that they are too young/inexperienced to be taken seriously or listened to, I believe that everybody has some thought or feeling on anything if you give them the time and the resources to muster one, the youth of an individual is not a choice and I don't believe someone should be limited or be held accountable for their age when expressing an opinion, there may be some truth in the lacking of experience, but depending on the individual and the circumstances age doesn't define experience or knowledge or passion. I also believe the development of technology in modern society has a part to play in this, for past generations where social media or the internet weren't readily available to the masses learning about things not on a set educational curriculum may have been more challenging and rare, however for the teenagers of today forums for discussion, blogs and other available research allows for, I believe, an increased awareness and therefore opinions and passion surrounding topics that teens may not have been previously associated with discussing, and therefore a presumed lacking of caring, when in reality they may not have had the opportunity to speak out. This creates a social stigma for the teens of today who do discuss their opinions on said topics or taboos may not be treated with an equal respect as they haven't been seen to do this before, based on past generations of teenagers. This stigma is further created and emphasised through the media representation of teens, if you look at tv shows or films etc (obviously not all, but the default) teenage characters are always seen to be making mistakes or set in high school environments where, yes a lot of teens are, they are shown to be somehow more childish or lesser as they are simply animals in a petting zoo following the daily routine of the bell and raising their hand to an adult having to gain permission to use the bathroom. (Please don't get me wrong, education is very important.) 

With issues surrounding teenagers, what’s one issue that you have a strong/ personal opinion on?

Overall I think this can be dealt with over time by closing the gap between children/teens/adults. By creating more harmony and less segregation hopefully a unifying bubble of respect will be created allowing teens to feel safe in expressing their thoughts, feelings and ideas which could potentially shape the world we all live in. I'd recommend this TedTalk, it's very interesting and basically says a lot of things better than I have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkOQhXhsIE … 

Thank you so much for reading! I really hope it made some sort of sense and I'd definitely love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Also if I said anything you don't agree with, I'm always open to listening and learning to improve my understanding and own thoughts, thanks again!

I hope you enjoyed reading posi leaf-airy's responses, if anyone else wants to take part please do let me know!