Did you know that Beyonce’s daughter’s name is Blue Ivy or that Rick Ross’s new mix tape just dropped? Of course you did.
But did you also know that a young girl in California is calling for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies after the national organization allowed a transgender 7-year-old to join? Or that Republican Mitt Romney is on the verge of becoming the first Latino GOP candidate for president despite being a staunch advocate of hostile and conservative anti-immigration reform? Probably not.
If you were ignorant to the latter and this is all news to you, then you’re not alone. In the age of the smart phone, teens are constantly becoming more and more plugged into the world via technology, yet somehow they keep finding themselves further and further from it. Whether in possession of an Android, iPhone, touch or slider, the typical teenager has tons of apps and book-marked sites, most of which are not at all news or current event related (unless you count World Star Hip-Hop or TMZ as news). For a generation that has the potential to be so aware, teens are shockingly unaware and either don’t care, or have an idea of what’s really going on in society and choose to be oblivious to the fray.
It’s not a teenager’s fight, after all, right? Wrong. As the 2012 election approaches, it is now becoming more and more certain that the future of today’s teens may be in peril, thanks to a highly stagnant and divisive political arena in which young Americans are expected to not speak unless spoken to, or otherwise, remain quiet. The only way to assure that the future of the world will be one that today’s teen can be proud of is if they begin tuning in now.
Before learning to run this marathon, today’s youths have to learn how to walk, and right now, this generation is crawling on its hands and knees, wondering if they’ll have jobs when they graduate but not knowing what the word ‘outsourcing’ means.
So what can be done now? How can Generation X take its future into its own hands by the time they leave for college?
Simple: Get hip. Use those multi-tasking talents and tech savvy to be up-to-date on not only what’s happening down the street, but across the coast and on the other side of the globe as well. Download The New York Times app and check it out every now and then. Ask questions when things in the world aren’t making sense, and don’t rely on Wikipedia for understanding anything. Go a step further: Get a free account on the Washington Post web site.
Being informed isn’t about preparing to be the next Barack Obama or Sonia Sotomayor or the next Mark Zuckerberg. Being informed is the way of the future.
Rap is not the enemy, nor is Keeping Up With the Kardashians or Oxygen’s Bag Girls Club. The enemy is ignorance. And everyone needs to be fighting it.