Translator: Gisela Giardino Reviewer: Sebastian Betti
On my last vacation I went to Barcelona with my mom.
One day, we wanted to go for a picnic in a park.
She had been there before.
So she told me, "We take this subway,
we make a connection here, and we get off there."
I didn't get one word!
The only thing I knew about Barcelona was Messi.
So, I grabbed Google Maps and looked for ways to get there.
The first option that showed up was a bus that took half the time.
So I said, "Look, mom, this one goes on a much shorter and faster route."
She looked at it lightly and said:
"No, we're going like I said."
I was very upset; very frustrated.
I didn't understand what had happened.
And this is the helplessness
I increasingly feel for the last few years.
To have the answer to some things but not being able to use it.
And not because I don't want to but because I'm not allowed to.
Let's look at it this way.
On the one hand, I have free access to information.
So, having an Internet connection,
I take out my phone and in the blink of an eye
I can know things such as, for example,
how fast you should slap a chicken
to cook it.
(Laughter)
Or how to get to a park in an unknown city.
And not only that, I cannot be out of social networks
or not have a cell phone.
Because, sooner or later, I would be out of date and out of everything.
And on the other hand, all this information
hits a huge wall:
Adults.
For example, a few months ago I wanted to go out cycling
for the first time with my friends.
And my parents wouldn't let me.
"You're too young, you still cannot do it."
Too young for what? I don't know.
I already knew how to ride a bike and I had already googled
how to get there and come back.
And this is where my head explodes because it goes into a loop.
Having access to so much information
I feel pressured,
and even pushed, to enter the adult world.
It's like being told:
"Well, champ, your teenage years are over."
But they don't give me the right to decide either.
So, that adolescence that was about to end
ends up becoming eternal.
I understand that I lack experience.
When my parents didn't let me go out cycling
I didn't listen to them and I went with my friends.
While riding our bikes, a dog without a leash crossed our path.
I almost stepped on it.
Of course, I could never have foreseen that.
But I think my lack of experience
doesn't justify a, "You cannot because you're a kid,"
as the only answer.
I think there's a new problem in the relationship with adults.
In the past, information and the right to decide
were to be found in one person.
Now, there are times when
I have as much or even more information than they do.
And I think that this should give us young people
the opportunity to take up a place that we do not have today.
Or give us more freedom in making our own decisions.
Something has to change.
I don't know what these changes will be like.
Although, there are some things that let me quite imagine
where things are heading.
For example, when we came back from the Chemistry Olympics,
my teacher proposed three classmates and me
to help her edit errors in the guide and to invent new exercises,
but, besides, the best thing was
that she put our names in the guide along with hers.
What teacher would have done something like that before?
And at home, I'm starting to get a different role, too.
My dad, who is a lawyer,
this year signed in for a degree in Psychology.
And he had to take Biology, which is not his strong suit.
Now, when he found out that I was doing well in that subject,
he told me: "Kid, until I know what a prokaryote is,
you won't leave home."
(Laughter)
And now, every time we sit to study together,
I feel like I'm with another schoolmate.
I'm sure the relationship with adults will change.
You know why?
Because when we went to that park in Barcelona,
we went on the subway like my mom said.
But on the way back,
we took the bus.
(Applause)