- Seeing an iPad kid, I'm like wow,
what job is he gonna have?
He knows more about scrolling to the next video
than like anything that will help get a job.
(upbeat music)
- High schoolers are kids.
Three, two, one.
- I feel like to say high schoolers
in general are kids, is almost
like defeating the people who are in the minority.
Like for people like me who have grown up more just mature
for my age and I guess fitting more an adult mindset.
I feel like I can't say for myself that I'm a kid
because I definitely make adult decisions,
time and time again.
I mean there are people who still have the mindset of kids,
but I can't say high schoolers in general are kids.
- I feel like with high school,
it's such a broad statement
to say high schoolers because there's a giant difference
between a freshman and a senior like it is.
That's why like when they try to date each other
it's like why is that 18 year old trying to date
the 14 year old?
Like it just doesn't make sense.
I feel like it would be naive to ignore the fact that like
especially anyone who's a senior,
they're about to be a legal adult.
- I think kids need mentoring.
That's how I see it.
I mean adults too need mentoring,
but I think kids need that extra help and that extra push.
Well, I've seen many kids who have been forced to be older
or act older as they are to mature faster.
That's why I went for agree.
- I wanna move.
- [Moderator] You wanna move?
Yeah, go for it.
- [Moderator] Talk us through, what are you thinking?
- Well I agree.
I feel like there's just so many decisions,
especially in high school that we have to make
that are not like kid-like
and they expect us to act a certain way.
And also like the fact that we're even able
to drive, how should we still be considered a kid?
- Do you mind if I move?
I moved because I feel like especially
at that 16 to 18 age, you're constantly planning
for your future where it's actually difficult
to live in your childhood.
It's just kind of, you're unable to live as a child.
So it's like how can you consider yourself one
when you're constantly planning
for your adult life and future?
- When I was a freshman,
all the teachers around me always told me
that I needed to prepare for my future.
And I feel like especially coming
after online school and quarantine,
I'm still living in that middle schooler mindset.
I'm still basically like a kid living and preparing
for my future, which I'm clearly not ready for.
- I feel like kid is kind of a weird word.
So like it's just kid and adult
and I feel like in high school you kind of want,
I kind of want to be thought
of as a kid cause it's kind of like, oh he's a kid, right?
It's like a like an excuse almost,
like you're allowed to mess up.
I really can't like look at my classes full
of 18 year olds and say these are adults.
Like I feel like now it's later,
and later we're turning into adults.
I don't feel like we turn in.
I mean of course there's people that have to pay bills
at 16, but to say a high schooler is an adult,
I feel like,
I like to know that I can grow so much more from that.
Like, oh I did that when I was a kid.
Not, you know, as an adult.
- [Moderator] Today's high schoolers have it harder
than previous generations.
Three, two, one, go.
- I feel like now our generation,
we have more resources for help that we need,
and way back then, like mental health,
that was like they would put you straight
to camp or like some conversion stuff like that.
But I feel like now there's just more resources.
We have the internet, we have the media.
Like would you have wanted to send a pigeon
to your friend instead of texting your friend?
Like you know, stuff like that.
Like would you wanna have to you know,
we just have it easier now.
- I feel like it's an in between thing,
because I feel like social situations now are much better,
but back then there were much worse.
I feel like there was racism,
teachers could beat their own kids and I feel
like now there's so much things that we cannot
do and I feel like it's for the better.
- Can I move?
- When I think about this question,
I kind of like went to bullying
and how much easier it is to get bullied nowadays,
especially on social media,
because it's so easy to hide behind a screen.
People say worse things and I think that mental health
maybe it was just as bad back in the day,
but because of social media it's become more prominent
and we see it everywhere.
Another thing that I also thought about was you guys say
that we have more resources,
but don't, well you don't have to agree, but I feel
that the resources have kind of made us a little less smart,
because we're able to look up that
like the answers to our test or like, I don't know,
everything's just so much more accessible that we're,
I'm not really learning as much as like my mom and dad did.
So I kind of am like sad
that all our resources are so much more accessible.
- Yeah, we like, I know some dumb, you know, people like,
they're like is it hot outside?
And then they'll go to their phone and check the weather.
Like just go outside, you know?
- I feel like school right now
is so easy for our generation.
Like it is so incredibly easy.
Like especially now that I'm in senior year,
I mean I'm not taking incredibly hard classes,
but like they don't even
give you homework because they know you won't do it.
It's like they would rather have you pass,
than like teach you something.
And like the amount
of kids that held back is like nothing.
Like it's just, oh, keep going ahead.
Go ahead, go ahead.
And so like seeing like classrooms from like
older generations, it seems like, oh they're like learning.
There's more respect to the teachers.
Now, like there's like such little discipline
that every class is just like a muck.
- I feel like just because things are easier,
does not mean it's better.
My friend goes to college in San Diego
and there's literally a group chat for people
and a nursing major just to cheat on the work.
And if we're having nurses
that don't even know how to like give you medicine,
stuff like that, it's scary.
- [Moderator] I did wanna hit on
how the pandemic impacted you guys.
- Yeah, I think it did impact our generation.
I know personally, I was always so great
at talking growing up and then going into coronavirus
not really like talking to my friends a bunch
and like being kind of like antisocial
and to myself coming out
and having to talk to adults was like terrifying.
I didn't wanna do it at all.
I couldn't even talk to like my peers.
- When I went back to school I felt
like I was still in eighth grade,
in middle school so it was very hard for me to adjust.
And this was definitely like the biggest change
like that affected our generation if you think about it.
You know, we didn't deal
with the bubonic plague or a big, you know, stuff like that.
Like this was the biggest impact.
And I remember going back to school, I was so anxious.
Like I would take half a Xanax you know,
almost every morning 'cause it was so bad.
- There was this day where we can finally take
off our mask and it was so weird seeing everyone,
but I never knew what to do with my face.
It was just crazy.
- I feel ready to explore my sexuality.
Three, Two, one, go.
- Ah.
- I don't know what that means.
- Dating and stuff.
- I knew I was gay at a very young age,
so I've kind of always been ready or kind of always known.
Like I was over here at like six years old like looking
at a TV screen and there's like a boy
and I was like he's cute.
Like I was like yeah I already knew.
So like I feel like it just depends
what you determine what exploring your sexuality is.
'Cause at least in my book,
I feel like I've already labeled it
and I'm already confident and happy with who I am.
- Now It's very normal to explore yourself
and I think even just like having sex,
it's very, very naive for any adult
or anyone to ignore the fact
that like people are gonna do that.
Like it's, it's it's or people
around you are gonna do that are gonna talk about it
or you're gonna see it on TV and with the internet,
like we have access to everything these days.
No one is judged like for waiting or wanting to try stuff.
As long as everyone's being safe,
as long as it's consensual, as long as you're okay,
there's nothing wrong with it.
- I also grew up in a very private Christian school.
It was very like, it was like a bubble, you know?
And you know, we didn't talk about all that stuff,
but now I attend a high school where we actually
have wellness classes.
Also social media helps those random accounts
on my for you page they're like how did kiss the boy?
Or something like that, I don't.
- When you say WikiHow.
- How WikiHow, sure.
Like there's just so many horses you know,
that's why you gotta seek them out and find
a support system.
- It's kind of like for our whole generation
happening earlier, and earlier, like where we get introduced
to it with like the internet and stuff.
I kind of like it to be delayed.
I kind of like to be a kid for as long as I can.
- But do you feel like people don't take you seriously
if you continue to act younger and like wanna be younger?
- In the sense of like this question, like sexuality,
like I feel like I'd rather, because right now it's
like most of the pressure is just like,
oh I feel like I'm so behind 'cause I haven't done this
this and this yet.
When it should be so normal.
- It's important that we do educate ourself
on these topics 'cause once we're older, if we aren't,
that could take a turn for the worst.
I feel like approaching it naturally
or in a professional way.
Like in terms of like school,
if they're providing like health classes,
I think that's just the best way to go about it.
And I completely agree with you.
Like I was also exposed to nasty,
on the internet and like no one wants to go through that.
- I don't think that the school should do it
because I think it's really weird.
I can never stop laughing personally.
Like when I'm, a sixth grader
and they say the word scrotum,
how are you not supposed to like laugh?
I don't know.
I think it's more of a personal endeavor,
but I guess not everyone's as smart as me,
but I feel like personally I'd just like to find that
out on my own and maybe be encouraged by the school.
But I don't like the classroom.
Let's learn about sex
all sitting together as a bunch of teenagers.
Like that's sound, that's awful.
That's like the worst thing ever.
- [Moderator] I feel safe at school.
Three, two, one, go.
- My campus security are amazing.
They have a personal relationship with all the students.
I've had bomb threats at my school.
I've had like shootings literally walking distance
down the street where the school had to go on lockdown.
It's unfortunate but also like,
it just makes me really aware,
like for every classroom I have,
what's my hide plan, who are my people?
I don't feel comfortable putting my phone in the phone chart
because if something happens I wanna text my family
and that's why COVID,
like lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders
'cause I didn't have to worry about that all the time.
Also, like a lot of people
at my school who have mental health struggles,
I'm always afraid
that like someone won't be properly treated
for that and then they'll just snap one day.
- My school has had multiple sexual assault scandals.
Like my history teacher right now,
my world history teacher if it weren't
for the current sub, it would be with basically a pedophile.
So it's scary.
And when she mentioned like the bomb,
I think I remember last year someone created an account
with our school name and it was like shooting
or something on this day and our school ended
up canceling school for that day and it was horrible.
- I feel so fortunate to have grown up in a really
privileged area where there's not a lot of violence.
However, I feel like I'd be ignorant to say
that a school shooting would never happen,
'cause all it takes is one kid out
of the 2,500 students that I have to take a gun
to school and shoot people.
And I feel like there's so many different openings
on my campus where that could happen.
- We have gates, but it honestly looks like a prison.
- Okay, yeah that's.
- I won't lie, we have security guards, they're not armed,
which was a conversation that came up.
Should our security guards be armed,
and another conversation came up,
should our teachers be armed?
You know, there's just topics like that.
I remember one, this was actually recently one,
of the old students at the college
threatened to shoot up the whole school
and so even we had to go remote.
So it's just like never feel safe.
- [Moderator] My social media presence is important to me.
Three, two, one, go.
- I don't particularly post like maybe just for my story,
you know, but like, I'm not like constantly posting
and if you do, that's perfectly fine.
Like that's a lot
of people's outlets and especially creatively.
- I don't own a single social media and like,
like not as like a flex.
I'm just saying like I, I hate the presence of an app
in my mind like oh you should do this.
Like it's an app on my phone,
like I don't want to give it any part of my life,
so I'd just rather not have it.
- I think sometimes
with social media nowadays it also can fall into career,
which is really weird but that's like what I do.
It's like oh I can't post that picture of me like flipping
off the camera with my friends 'cause like a college
or a a future boss,
'cause your digital footprint is so real.
But I also like, I love having social media.
Like I've had it for years.
I've always like tried to ground myself
and realize that it's just for fun.
It's not that serious.
- There are some people who I know who have like shown
or done some really crazy stuff and it's spread everywhere.
Like there's some things I do not need to know
and people just tell me.
Like on Instagram there's like close friends and there's
like normal story and I post
on close friends so much more than I do on normal story
or like a spam account.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Teenager] I post on my spam account way more.
- A couple years ago I would've been right there like
on the strongly agree you know like 'cause when I moved
to the new school a lot of people were like,
oh how many followers do you have,
if you had over a thousand?
It's like, yo, you got clout.
Like you're good.
Digital footprint, that is no joke.
Like everything you post will come back at you.
I'm so glad Instagram took off that feature where
you could see what other people liked.
Do y'all remember that?
That was ridiculous.
- That's why I'm very aware of what I post.
I make sure this is what I want everyone to see.
- And when you're, I'm so sorry.
When you're a kid, like you want social media
like when you first find out about it,
like when I was nine years old I was like begging my mom
to let me have Instagram and now like I'm even embarrassed
of like the little like selfies I would post because
like they're so stupid.
So like looking back I'm like oh yeah I would totally
never let like my seven year old on social media.
Like you know things like that.
But I actually did have social media very young.
- [Teenager] Yeah, me too.
- I got Twitter when I was six.
My, my mom made it and managed it.
But I would still like I would tweet
about like my little kindergarten like crushes.
- You like having your mom like to like guide
like the account.
I feel like I didn't have that, unfortunately.
So I feel like it just depends like your digital footprint
could be much more harmful like when you don't
have parents that know how to handle social media
or know how to prevent it.
'Cause my parents, they've never used social media.
They don't have a single account.
So growing up like begging, I don't think they
knew the harmfulness of it and I don't blame them
for that at all.
But I feel like that's what led
to me being exposed to a lot of stuff.
So I feel like definitely with the new generation
and if I don't know if I'll have kids,
but if I do they're not on social media,
at least for me
- When those iPad kids, I mean those kids who use iPads.
- My sister's an iPad kid.
- Addicting.
It's so addicting and you need parental controls
cause social media is crazy.
Like, or having your parents run the account regardless.
It's just so, that's so important.
- Or even having influencers like Andrew Tate
who are like influencing these like little
boys to think that that mentality is like normal.
- Yeah, I feel like social media has drastically
altered my personality, especially during COVID,
and I feel like if it could change me that much,
just imagine a six year old having access
to a phone for their basically entire childhood.
But like honestly I got so sensitive to being
in front of camera that I feel like I kind forgot
about digital footprint and stuff like that.
- [Moderator] I have hope for the future.
Three, two, one, go.
- I don't know man seeing an iPad kid, I'm like wow,
what is he gonna have, you know?
I mean he knows more about like scrolling to the next video
than like anything that like will help him get a job.
I don't know.
I don't feel like I very much hope for our
and the next generations as like I feel we keep getting,
the younger generations kept getting like
like profited on and like abused almost.
- When I heard this question I kind of thought about like
so like social justice and like the issues
that we're experiencing right now.
Like there can be a change and I just really don't think
that people back in the day were seeing that type of change.
Everything was just thrown kind of under the rug,
not really spoken about.
- I still love to dream like,
oh I would love to achieve this one day,
but even if I don't have that financial capability,
I still have hope.
I hope I could get there one day
and I still try to remain positive.
- Everyone's goal at the end
of the day is just to be happy in what they're doing
and make a difference in either your own or someone's life.
And I think like just by having this discussion
like there's so much hope for everyone in here to go
on and be successful in that no matter what it is.
So I have a lot of hope
for the future and I'm really excited even
though I'm nervous and I'm anxious about a lot of it,
I'm really excited to see like in my personal life
like what that means for me.
'Cause I know I'm never gonna stop
until I'm happy with what I'm doing.
- I mean I feel really grateful for our generation
'cause a lot of us are very open minded to having
these types of conversations, whether or not it relates
to us or exist in our nature.
But I feel like people are so open to change now
and I feel like that's just great moving forward.
And I feel like a lot of us, Gen Z people,
have gone through such traumatic bad experiences that were
gonna become amazing parents one day.
- Like I think I remember like
during quarantine there was like a sign
in New York that said we had like this many years left
and before our world like ends or something.
And my sister is an iPad kid and I've seen,
I've seen how she is and it's like I don't,
I wanna say I have hope for the future,
but just based off what I'm seeing
it feels like there's no change kind of.
(upbeat music)