The gap between generations appears to be very important sometimes but it is evolving over time. Those last decades have seen the advent of new technologies and a strong growth and ageing of the world population together with a climate crisis. The notion of intergenerational links has led us to think differently according to people’s culture.
Age seems to be a troubling detail in many people’s life; either some of us refuse to become old and continue to act as if they were still young or they refuse to enter a category that doesn’t suit them. In the meantime, others are rooted in childhood and its lack of concern, they are the ones who refuse to grow old and become adults, they may keep on being dependent upon their parents for example.
Yet more and more young people behave as if they were adults and take their responsibilities to make things change. They take part in and support great causes for example climate crisis or civil rights for everyone. Sometimes they fight to get the right to vote as soon as they are sixteen years old and become involved in politics in order to speak up for their ideas and what it essential for them: the protection of the environment, women and coloured people’s rights as well as LGBTQ rights. In the USA many associations or movements have appeared lately, for instance the Radical Monarchs or Radical Brownies which is a group of little girls under twelve who march in the streets to speak up their minds about social facts.
We can also mention Greta Thunberg who sat in front of the Swedish parliament for several months before rallying crowds of international youngsters to protest against the inaction of governments around the world.
In the media, the image of teenagers has changed radically, teenagers appear to be empowered and their identity has been taken into consideration as if the world had seen them as the future of us all. Sometimes this burden may be too heavy and some of them lack sound judgement and feel pessimistic about the future. Indeed there is a growing mental health crisis among youngsters.
In the USA, the group « March for Our Lives » organizes events all year round to inform and fight against gun violence and try to make people think about the gun control debate.
