- I feel like in my household, my opinion is not valid
and it will never be valid,
as long as I live.
My parents will yell at me.
They'll get mad at me and will get into like,
such large arguments.
It's even gotten to the point of one time where I've gotten
into arguments with my parents are like,
"you're gonna have to move out,
if you don't like, agree with these things."
(techno music)
- [Interviewer] I've sent or received nudes.
Three, two, one, go.
- If one day I want to get a certain job,
or go into a political office,
I just don't ever want to have
somebody to hold that against me.
Even when people send me nudes, I'm like,
I didn't necessarily need that.
Like when they're just...
- Wait, wait, are we saying nudes?
- Nudes.
- Oh, my God, I thought we were saying news.
N-E-W-S.
I'm so sorry.
I don't send nudes because I just do things on social media.
I wanna pursue acting.
I feel like my body's a temple.
You gotta pay to see it, at least.
Same as Daniel said,
it can come back and bite you.
I'm just scared.
- Revenge porn is very real.
And I think most women
or women adjacent people have received,
unsolicited (beep) pics.
- As like a bisexual person,
and kind of just being in like,
a world that's hyper-sexualized already.
And it sucks 'cause that's kinda like,
the age of social media, and like LGBTQ youth,
is that pretty much like,
they have to seek validation online.
That's like really like the way to do it.
- I agree exactly with what Mehki said.
I mean, it is like the form of validation now.
Like sending nudes is love,
but which hurts.
- This makes me just wanna,
this makes me just wanna jump over it.
'Cause I feel like I'm in the wrong area.
You know, gonna go here.
- If like, they should respect your values,
if you don't wanna send nudes.
And if not, like it's pretty clear
to me that they're just using me for my body.
Nudes has a lot to do with appearance,
and putting a lot of value on how you appear,
can just sometimes be damaging.
- To piggyback off that it's really important too,
like when you're growing up,
no matter like your body type,
or how you look, everyone has like beauty in them.
So it's important to love your body
and love like how you look because like, girl,
that's your body, like flaunt what you got, boo.
That validation needs to come from within
not from other people.
'Cause like I know I'm sexy.
I don't need anyone else to say I'm sexy.
So period poo.
Is that going in?
- [Interviewer] Skinny jeans are out of style.
Three, two, one, go.
- I don't know,
it was just the era of the time.
It was like rock was like, you know, pop rock,
lots of skinny jeans,
and then turn into like ripped jeans,
and I think pants are getting bigger.
I don't know if it's 'cause like maybe we're shifting
more towards like androgyny.
I just, I'm over here because I think that skinny jeans,
I don't like 'em and I wouldn't wear them,
'cause I also have like, chicken legs.
So like, that's not happening for me.
- Wait you say out of style or in style?
- [Interviewer] The question was,
skinny jeans are out of style.
- Oh, so I'm saying that they are in style?
Oh no. They're at a style.
- I recently bought my like first pair,
of like baggier jeans, kind of like what he's wearing,
and I was like blown away, honestly.
Like there's so much space.
You don't have to worry about it
like, bunching up and stuff, like, there's yeah.
I don't know why we ever stuck
with skinny jeans to begin with.
- I think the whole skinny jeans side part thing
is generational politics that are trying to like distract us
from what we actually disagree about.
Like nobody actually cares
about the skinny jeans and middle parts.
Like millennials, please stop making songs about it.
It's not that deep.
- [Interviewer] I get my news from YouTube.
Three, two, one, go.
- I chose somewhat disagree because I try not to just
you know, stay on YouTube because it can be a lot
of disinformation.
But I also feel like, you know, I follow a lot
of political YouTubers and I feel like their perspectives
are different than what's on the mainstream
because like three corporations own all of the media.
- Social news? Twitter a hundred percent easily.
But like if it's like some political stuff,
I have like subscriptions to like New York Times,
even Fox and stuff,
just so that I get perspective from everyone.
And I tend to go ahead
and like focus more on like the journalism stuff.
And YouTube is like the headlines
but I don't click the video,
and like deliberately watch it until I've known the facts.
- The ability of Twitter to get,
you know, opinions out there,
from people who aren't political pundits is really valuable.
And you know, when big things happen,
Twitter usually hears about it first.
- I feel like it kind of just comes down to like
a media literacy thing.
And it's something that like our generation
and further generations are gonna have to face.
We haven't been in this era where there's like,
which what Sarah was saying,
about like the democratized way of social media,
where like everyone can say information.
We're like in this new era where we pretty much
have to learn how to decipher,
which is valuable and valid information,
and what's not.
And I'm like, as social media continues to grow,
I feel like we're just gonna keep becoming more literate.
- And I feel like we should be taught this in schools.
We're a whole new era.
Like we grew up with like tablets and laptops.
Whereas in like previous generations didn't.
Which allows us obviously to have more diverse opinions.
But I think that should be taught in school as well.
- Do your guys' parents ever just call you and be like,
"did you know this happened?"
You're like, "yeah, it happened like five hours ago."
And you were like, "did you just find out now?"
- It's usually fake news with my mom.
It's usually fake news mom.
- [Theo] My mom, she gets news from Facebook insane.
Literally she calls me, she's like,
"did you hear you about this?"
Like, "mom that's fake." She's like, "it is?"
- Like, my mom, when she was on Instagram,
she just was like, she was seeing the wrong stuff.
And then she was like,
"you know, the vaccine, those microchips."
And I was like, "mom..."
- I think it's also important to think about like,
why people believe that.
Like, yeah, it's like stupid,
and it's funny to make fun of,
but like people are afraid of like, you know,
really rich people who are going to be
like controlling a lot of stuff without, you know,
democratic elections and without any accountability.
And it makes sense that people would feel like, you know,
"I don't really know if I can trust the government."
- [Interviewer] My parents and I
agree on political and social issues.
Three, two, one, go.
- My parents like raised me, again,
on the whole thing of like,
look at every single side,
and I guess it didn't go necessarily their way.
But at the same time, like sometimes it ends up
being a wreck, but like whenever it's a wreck,
we come back and we're like, I see your point,
but here's what I think,
and here's why, loaded with facts.
Not just like, oh, I think this 'cause
this and this and this X and X said,
no, it's because this is a percentage,
this is a statistic that I'm pointing out.
- Honestly, I used to try
and like show 'em a different perspective
and like I have an open conversation, but like,
I'm kind of at the point now where it's like,
you know what, let's just not talk about it.
It's probably for the best.
- You know, my parents always say to me, like,
you pay attention to politics more than we do.
And we like learn from you.
And sometimes we get into little arguments.
That can be a good like,
way to sort of inform each other,
because obviously they have more experience
like historically, like what went on, but they can also
say like, yeah, I don't understand,
you know, this specific issue.
Can you, you know, get me up to speed.
- I would like to have a disclaimer for my mom and dad.
What's coming out of my mouth is coming out through love.
Also, if they're watching this, please stop watching this.
My parents are very close-minded and conservative,
and there have been fights, as in Daniel's family.
I feel like in my household,
my opinion is not valid and it will never be valid.
As long as I live.
I don't wanna be quiet about the things,
and I wanna speak up and share my opinion.
But when it comes to that, my parents will yell at me.
They'll get mad at me
and will get into like such large arguments.
It's even gotten to the point of one time where I've gotten
into arguments with my parents are like,
"you're gonna have to move out
if you don't like, agree with these things."
And it's like, I understand what you're saying all
but you're telling me that
if I don't do what you're saying, what you think is correct,
I'm not allowed to think what I think is correct
because what you think is correct is concrete.
- It's kind of similar but different.
Like, I'm actually grateful that my parents
and I have different political opinions,
because I think it's kind of forced me to
try and see the other side
and try to understand why they think a certain way.
- Sometimes those disagreements are fundamental
to your identity.
Like they say a lot about how you look at the world
how you treat other people.
And it's hard to separate that.
I don't wanna be friends with someone who thinks that,
like, people who are poor, or unhoused people,
do that because it's their choice.
'Cause that's a fundamental
disagreement with what I believe.
- That's fair. But also family,
I feel like is different.
They're immigrants.
They didn't, there are certain issues that they won't,
you know, fully understand.
Yes. It would be nice if they tried to.
- It's very different with if,
like friends or like your parents, your family.
- Exactly. Yes.
- I agree 100% with Daniel.
My parents came from Romania.
It was communist at that point.
So their views on the world are not gonna be the same
as everyone's as like they were, you know?
So it changes, 'cause where you come from
is so different from America.
- [Interviewer] I have felt depressed.
Three, two, one, go.
- There are a lot of points where it is romanticized,
and I think that's a,
it's a difficult struggle.
And also I think like within like the black community
there's just, there also is just not a lot
of attention to mental health at all.
Obviously there's points where I feel flustered
and I feel like, oh, like everything's crumbling around me.
And that's like a very common human thing.
- People want to talk about how depressed they are,
until you're like, hey,
I haven't taken a shower in four weeks,
and I can't get out of bed and I haven't been eating food,
and they're like, ew, that's gross.
It's like, that's what depression is.
- Especially with our generation.
What ends up happening is that,
some small thing happens and we're depressed.
The term is just used so loosely.
When you say comments like that,
it takes away the power, in a sense,
from like people that actually are seeking help.
- So, I'm about to have a really
vulnerable moment with y'all.
So, my whole life I have been so bullied,
and words hurt so much.
And six months ago,
I almost took my life,
because of like,
like words,
they have this effect on you and sometimes,
you can't talk to people about it.
And I, my friend's mom posted,
if you needed to talk to someone, to call this number,
and I talked to them,
and I spoke to them on the phone
for two hours by myself, at nighttime.
And if it wasn't for her just doing that,
I feel like I wouldn't have been here today.
- Can I give you a hug?
- Yeah. Thanks for sharing that.
- Oh, thank you.
- That takes a lot of guts to speak up about it.
- My whole life,
I've wanted to show kindness through me,
and I hope that I do show kindness to others,
because I don't want other people to
feel the same way I felt, because
if I can help someone feel that smile or that joy from me
it would mean everything to me because it means
that I'm fighting what other people did to me.
- I don't really like it when people
like, compare their depressions because like, you know,
saying like someone else is not depressed
because you don't really know what they like feel
but I'm really glad that people are like talking
about it now and that we can all like bond over it.
I'm truly thinking that like the pressure that's put
on our generation with social media is what like causes it.
But yeah, I'm really glad that like, people talk about it,
so we have resources and stuff.
- [Interviewer] I am optimistic about the future.
Three, two, one, go.
- Personally, it's in my nature to not be optimistic,
because, I think a lot of people in our generation,
are very nihilistic.
I try not to like view it like that,
because it's very like deterministic.
Like, well the world's going to hell.
Like we can't do anything.
And if you believe that,
then like, you're not fighting
for like a better world and you're not fighting for change.
- I'm very much with Sarah on the point where
our generation is very cynical, very nihilistic.
We like to just like assume that things can't be fixed,
'cause in the past they just never were.
Well, I don't know.
I think I'm very optimistic for the future.
'Cause I believe as we become more educated
and we have more resources
to certain things and information,
we can do great things,
but we just have to believe
that we can or else it won't happen.
- Now I'm feeling sad about saying somewhat disagree.
I just was thinking about this
in like the climate perspective,
and like social media,
how it's been used so negatively.
When I think about those two major things
I can't see it stopping anywhere.
- It's a little unimaginable.
- Yeah, no, like I wanna be positive, of course,
and I want that change to happen.
But like, like where does it start?
- I try to be positive.
And I try to, I always say like if there's something
you don't like, we can work on it and fix it.
And I think that this generation in particular is really
good at that.
Like gen Z is crazy.
Like we get things done.
The impact we've had with,
like TikTok even like,
yeah, we changed a lot of things.
- I feel like we have come far as a society,
but that doesn't also mean I'm disappointed in our society.
There's so many things that we've gotten to like build upon
as a society and people are growing upon as a society.
And you know what?
After like meeting you guys today, I'm not gonna lie.
I feel like there's hope.
- On a more societal point of view,
I feel very good that like change will occur
whether we like it or not.
That's just how society is.
We progress.
- [Interviewer] That is officially a wrap.
Great job you guys.
(everyone clapping)
- Does it have to be like a moment?
- Is it a moment?
(all talking at once)
- Wait, can we like catwalk off as a group?
Like they're like, oh.
- 5, 6, 7, 8.
(all talking at once)