I usually feel a sense of guilt on Youth Day, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
For me, it serves as a reminder of what previous, fearlessly courageous youths stood up against, spurring societal reform. And admittedly, sometimes I wonder what my own generation will be remembered for. What socio-political shifts did we spearhead? What movements did we shake? Are we only as tough as our phones allow us to be, as Drake once said? (That reference in itself is so on brand for the generation I’m about to speak about).
Through the gaze of an (admittedly) hopeful 23-year-old, the world I have grown up in has often seemed like a place of endless possibility. I’m in the weird space where I’m ‘technically’ GenZ (born in 1998), but I can also relate to a lot that millennials talk about. I know full and well what a VHS tape looks like, but I also can’t remember a time before the internet. I got to bop to CDs as a kid, but I was also addicted to Vine. If you feel me, you’re possibly a Hybrid too.
So as the ‘Hybrid’ generation, I think we’ve seen more of the world than any collective before us. How could we not? It constantly twists and turns on screens that most of us keep closer than our secrets. As a collective, we were the pioneers of social media usage.
Seeing the world’s happenings unfold constantly is precisely what leads me to this feeling of guilt. I see so much every day that I want to help change. A thousand perspectives I want to graffiti on the walls of society. It is the pressure of this ‘ever glaring’ sight of the world and the desire to heal it all that makes me feel anxious.
However, today I kicked off my Air Force 1s (in my opinion, the shoe of our Hybridity) and reflected a little more kindly on us. I asked myself one question: what would the world be like if we weren’t a part of it?
My thought progression went like this.
Firstly, numerous stigmas wouldn’t be spoken about so freely, and so creatively. And so many people wouldn’t feel like it’s okay to be themselves. We’ve tackled stigmas in the most creative, unfiltered, and designed-to-be-shared ways too. We’ve faced mental health struggles through art on Tumblr. We’ve showcased taboos about sexuality and religion on TikToks in the most humorous ways. I think we’re brave in our largely collective honesty. That’s something to be pretty proud of.
Additionally, maybe the world wouldn’t be so inspired to fight for just causes, because they didn’t have the widespread information about them, I pondered.
We’ve posted, reposted and triple posted every political movement we believed in. We shut down the world on #BlackOutTuesday for #BLM. We called for all women to share their sexual abuse stories with #MeToo, and South African women to speak out against GBV with #amInext. We relished in #Pride movements and encouraged their space to talk. Even if we don’t start movements, we certainly cause them to spread like a wildfire.
And, we are actually constantly protesting, I realised as I went onto Instagram and was flooded with information on stories, even though I only spent a few minutes there. We are the proponents of hashtags and social media activism. Contrary to popular belief, I realised on this train of thought, we aren’t just loud on social media. Our loudness translates into the tangible world. During the #FeesMustFall movement, I saw so many students translating exactly what they had said on screen into reality. The same went for the #AmInext marches.
We are the instruments of voice.
Social media allows us to manifest our toughness and bravery in real life. Our phones are the start, but they are not the endpoint.
For many of us, we are the generation who may be too anxious to call the doctor ourselves but are sure as hell going to call out an injustice if we see it, real-time.
We’re master marketers without realising it. Activists who didn’t know that was our title. Photojournalists who have exposed so much because of courage and always on-hand smartphones. And overall, we are a lot less concerned with societal norms which give us the balls to actually post about it. Some will call it arrogant. I call it brave. We had a lot of incredible youth groups from generations before us who inspired us and fought for our greatest weapon: freedom of speech.
It’s like when Tupac said:
“I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.”
We just happen to use our phones to do it.
Through our constant sharing of knowledge, ideas, and movements, I’m proud to say that we’re the sparkers, and for many of us, the ignited.
Picture: Unsplash