In Defence of the Selfie Generation
Ooh get ready for a ranty post cause I drafted this a bit drunk and edited it in a rush for work, so apologies if it's not as well phrased as I would have liked.
I did vote remain, mainly because of the huge amount of uncertainty and 'we don't know' answers being given by those on the leave campaign. I was born in the 90's and my parents enjoyed a relatively prosperous job market and an affordable path to home ownership, whereas my expectations of adulthood were very different. Owning a home is a dream comparable with owning a castle, university a debt ridden decision not to be taken lightly. We have suffered at the hands of gamblers and risk takers, the baby boomers and the bankers, we crave certainty and affordability. The millenial dream for many is a stable job that pays for a studio flat in a safe area with enough money leftover for food. There are no wild aspirations or expectations here. I see a generation who realised the reality of the economic struggles around them at a young age, and have been under pressure to work ridiculously hard from then on. Yes I am relatively intelligent and I am academically able, but so is everyone else. There is a reason the offer grades for university entry keep rising, exams are not getting easier, young people are more focused, driven and hard working from an early age. They understand it's going to be difficult, they prepare for it.
When considered from this perspective, perhaps you can understand why young people are often disillusioned. They work hard, are proactive, put up with different challenges and setbacks from their parents, and are still condescendingly dismissed as the 'selfie generation' or the 'snowflake generation'. I was hashtag hopping recently and came across the 'snowflake generation' thread and was infuriated beyond belief that so many people were convinced we are a group who 'expect something for nothing'. Yes there is a minority who expect handouts and an easy life, as there are in EVERY generation, but we are overwhelmingly a generation who recognises the need to be multitasking and multitalented and works hard to do it. I've worked in minimum wage jobs since I was 18 alongside college and university, and have many friends who do the same. Older people are often very shocked when they hear I don't get paid extra for working bank holidays, Sundays, and holiday days like Boxing Day. Yes I would obviously like to get paid extra for my time on these days, but I (and others my age) just know that that's how it is. We certainly don't expect something for nothing, in fact, with unpaid internships and volunteering now often the only way to get your foot in the door at a company, we aren't even expecting something for something. We are succeeding at being a more inclusive and questioning group than any before us. I am proud that my fifteen year old brother (who ironically works as a newspaper delivery boy) already knows how to question the media, its sources and its motives. No one taught him that, just as no one taught us the 'internet speak' that regularly gets us insulted by traditional media, when in fact the creation of this innovative way of using the English language in order to accurately convey thoughts through a screen in an increasingly multidimensional world is something to be applauded.
For the record, the trigger issue here, the EU referendum, is not something I feel I can lecture on extensively and confidently. I voted remain because I didn't feel it was imperative to leave at this time, I did not believe the correct people were in place to deal with a newly independent Britain, I did not want to leave a community so diverse, exciting, one that gave me so many options. I have no hatred for those that voted to leave, and I know my thoughts will not sway them. I just disagree with a celebratory look at yesterdays events. This is not a time for celebration of 'freedom', this is the time for us to collectively pull the country's socks up and get to work.
An older leave voter attempted to comfort me when I expressed my concern that it was the wrong time, the wrong people, the wrong attitude. She said " But now that we're out, it's in your hands! We've trusted your generation with this - you can decide!". This saddened me beyond words. Thank you for trusting us with this task but, we are already struggling in a cut throat world with more tragedy than trust. We did not want to be entrusted, or more accurately, handed a task we did not vote for. We are driving ourselves insane attempting to compete in a world with a resource shortage, an unsympathetic government (now with more power than ever before by the way) whilst also trying to direct our compassion widely, to groups and causes that need it most. We did not vote for this extra challenge. It is not the consequences of the decision that have me upset, it is the attitude it stinks of. An isolationist attitude that has led some EU citizens living here to feel unwelcome, underappreciated and that perhaps their work and values would be better championed elsewhere.
So as much as I wished for it not to be, it is time. Time to engage the brains this competitive world has forced us to work so hard to educate vastly, join together, and make the next decisions unapologetically ours. Use social media, use schools and existing groups, use your voice. If you haven't found it yet, get interested and get involved. Do not let us be sneered at as the 'selfie generation'. Yes we are the f*cking selfie generation. We will be mocked when we take selfies and remain quiet; and we are mocked when we take to the platforms available to us to make our voices heard. Do not join these people in simplistic reasoning and hate filled call outs. We can do better than blame the older generation for this vote, just as we are revolting against the disregard for us. The issue is more complex and multifaceted than age, and we are already one step ahead by recognising it as such. Focus instead on action and encouraging action, especially from those around us who felt they didn't know how to vote. This is where the real gap lies, the non votes, change is possible here. It's up to us 18-25 year olds to be loud and concise and heard, to give the best chance for 16 year olds being allowed a vote (and therefore a louder voice) too. We must shock the parliamentary elite by voting in the next election in droves and asking for more, more action, more direction, more say. Only then will the wish for a 16-18 eligibility be taken seriously. We will not be mocked or dismissed by people who have voted for a future we haven't, who assure us they are trusting us with it now. We will make change but it will be the change we want: the compassionate, inclusive, progressive change that makes some sneer at us for even dreaming of. There is enough of us, we are curious enough, kind enough, brave enough.
I did vote remain, mainly because of the huge amount of uncertainty and 'we don't know' answers being given by those on the leave campaign. I was born in the 90's and my parents enjoyed a relatively prosperous job market and an affordable path to home ownership, whereas my expectations of adulthood were very different. Owning a home is a dream comparable with owning a castle, university a debt ridden decision not to be taken lightly. We have suffered at the hands of gamblers and risk takers, the baby boomers and the bankers, we crave certainty and affordability. The millenial dream for many is a stable job that pays for a studio flat in a safe area with enough money leftover for food. There are no wild aspirations or expectations here. I see a generation who realised the reality of the economic struggles around them at a young age, and have been under pressure to work ridiculously hard from then on. Yes I am relatively intelligent and I am academically able, but so is everyone else. There is a reason the offer grades for university entry keep rising, exams are not getting easier, young people are more focused, driven and hard working from an early age. They understand it's going to be difficult, they prepare for it.
When considered from this perspective, perhaps you can understand why young people are often disillusioned. They work hard, are proactive, put up with different challenges and setbacks from their parents, and are still condescendingly dismissed as the 'selfie generation' or the 'snowflake generation'. I was hashtag hopping recently and came across the 'snowflake generation' thread and was infuriated beyond belief that so many people were convinced we are a group who 'expect something for nothing'. Yes there is a minority who expect handouts and an easy life, as there are in EVERY generation, but we are overwhelmingly a generation who recognises the need to be multitasking and multitalented and works hard to do it. I've worked in minimum wage jobs since I was 18 alongside college and university, and have many friends who do the same. Older people are often very shocked when they hear I don't get paid extra for working bank holidays, Sundays, and holiday days like Boxing Day. Yes I would obviously like to get paid extra for my time on these days, but I (and others my age) just know that that's how it is. We certainly don't expect something for nothing, in fact, with unpaid internships and volunteering now often the only way to get your foot in the door at a company, we aren't even expecting something for something. We are succeeding at being a more inclusive and questioning group than any before us. I am proud that my fifteen year old brother (who ironically works as a newspaper delivery boy) already knows how to question the media, its sources and its motives. No one taught him that, just as no one taught us the 'internet speak' that regularly gets us insulted by traditional media, when in fact the creation of this innovative way of using the English language in order to accurately convey thoughts through a screen in an increasingly multidimensional world is something to be applauded.
For the record, the trigger issue here, the EU referendum, is not something I feel I can lecture on extensively and confidently. I voted remain because I didn't feel it was imperative to leave at this time, I did not believe the correct people were in place to deal with a newly independent Britain, I did not want to leave a community so diverse, exciting, one that gave me so many options. I have no hatred for those that voted to leave, and I know my thoughts will not sway them. I just disagree with a celebratory look at yesterdays events. This is not a time for celebration of 'freedom', this is the time for us to collectively pull the country's socks up and get to work.
An older leave voter attempted to comfort me when I expressed my concern that it was the wrong time, the wrong people, the wrong attitude. She said " But now that we're out, it's in your hands! We've trusted your generation with this - you can decide!". This saddened me beyond words. Thank you for trusting us with this task but, we are already struggling in a cut throat world with more tragedy than trust. We did not want to be entrusted, or more accurately, handed a task we did not vote for. We are driving ourselves insane attempting to compete in a world with a resource shortage, an unsympathetic government (now with more power than ever before by the way) whilst also trying to direct our compassion widely, to groups and causes that need it most. We did not vote for this extra challenge. It is not the consequences of the decision that have me upset, it is the attitude it stinks of. An isolationist attitude that has led some EU citizens living here to feel unwelcome, underappreciated and that perhaps their work and values would be better championed elsewhere.
So as much as I wished for it not to be, it is time. Time to engage the brains this competitive world has forced us to work so hard to educate vastly, join together, and make the next decisions unapologetically ours. Use social media, use schools and existing groups, use your voice. If you haven't found it yet, get interested and get involved. Do not let us be sneered at as the 'selfie generation'. Yes we are the f*cking selfie generation. We will be mocked when we take selfies and remain quiet; and we are mocked when we take to the platforms available to us to make our voices heard. Do not join these people in simplistic reasoning and hate filled call outs. We can do better than blame the older generation for this vote, just as we are revolting against the disregard for us. The issue is more complex and multifaceted than age, and we are already one step ahead by recognising it as such. Focus instead on action and encouraging action, especially from those around us who felt they didn't know how to vote. This is where the real gap lies, the non votes, change is possible here. It's up to us 18-25 year olds to be loud and concise and heard, to give the best chance for 16 year olds being allowed a vote (and therefore a louder voice) too. We must shock the parliamentary elite by voting in the next election in droves and asking for more, more action, more direction, more say. Only then will the wish for a 16-18 eligibility be taken seriously. We will not be mocked or dismissed by people who have voted for a future we haven't, who assure us they are trusting us with it now. We will make change but it will be the change we want: the compassionate, inclusive, progressive change that makes some sneer at us for even dreaming of. There is enough of us, we are curious enough, kind enough, brave enough.
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