36 Teenagers Show Us Their Generation

Absolutely fantastic. ❤️ this.

A media stereotype is that kids in the 21’st century are growing up on electronic devices and on social media like instagram and snapchat. Where this is true for some people not all children are spending a large amount of time on these things. Sports is probably the most important thing to this generation it seams and then posting accomplishments in sports or in everyday life onto social media tends to be the trend. So I think it is more so that people like to show what they accomplish and what they are doing and like to share it.

'Teens spend hours and hours on their devices every single day. We don’t go outside as much, we don’t spend time with our families as much. Technology is our family and we all cherish it. It gives us comfort and it has everything that we could possibly need in our life. Before I took these pictures, my friend Piper Snapchatted me asking if I wanted to hang out, I said yes, but instead, we didn’t really hang out at all, we were just on our phones the whole entire time we were together.' her photo - lying back in bed in the dark, her face dimly lit by the light of the screen - shows her face not smiling, not happy, just attention-fixed, almost depressed I remember the transition from black and white to colour TV - with black and white TV you could walk away and not feel any need to stay watching - but as soon as colour TV arrived I noticed it would grab people's attention and keep it - even babies couldn't look away ! I understand our human amygdala is triggered by movement in our peripheral vision - fight or flight - our attention instantly snaps to turn and look at it - is it an immediate threat to our life survival !?!?! Smartphone screens and casinos use this to manipulate our attention - constant movement of colour and light - so we cannot look away - until we realise we don't have any friends to talk to - and we get depressed. So then we can go on the internet and post hate messages to dump our bad feelings by hopefully making someone else feel worse than we do ...

I graduated high school in 1973 If it weren’t for music I’d have surely lost my identity to the chaos and nihilism of the 70s and 80s I grew up playing bluegrass and found my way to jazz by 19. Both were musical portals to timeless cultural values. I find it sad and foreboding that not a single essay in this piece presents a kid or a sub community energized by music

I expected this to either be gratuitous or depressing, like most of the coverage of "generation____" usually is. I congratulate all those involved, especially for the decision to take this approach. And for managing to avoid the (by now) stereotyped focus on "inclusiveness", which always seems to wind up excluding... The statements (with sparkling photos) by these teens reveal a truth that is often hiding in plain sight: Young people live in paradox, just like the rest of us, and they know it! This gives me a measure of confidence in the future, since navigating the complexity and challenges, both within and without, is a life long, hard won quest.

The kids are all right!

Thank you for this very cool student contest. My 12th graders are studying media and mass communication this semester, and we spend a lot of time analying various texts, discussing speaker, audience, purpose, etc. I challenged these classes to submit their own photos and statements, and I gained a new understanding of these students in the process. They had the opportunity to create rather than analyze and gained a new perspective of the creative process as well.

Thank you NYT. Thank you to all the children that took the time to submit. Thank you for helping me understand you. You are all amazing, intelligent, beautiful humans. I am so thrilled to finally get to know you. I have been curious about you. Even though I work with children I am limited to connect with them and I respect the distance I have to observe. I have always had hope and will continue to do so. As adults, change is a challenge but we must be open, always.

I am grateful to the Times for running this wonderful piece and grate to all those teenagers who shared their lives with us. The words and photos brought tears to my eyes. They also gave me a new understanding of this generation along with hope for the future, a precious commodity in these frightening times.

Brilliant!

I .LOVE this. The photos are awesome. Reading the Artist's Statements gives me hope. The kids really are alright, mostly.

I would also like to hear from kids for whom the age of 18 doesn’t mean going to college, but going to work—or entering the Armed Forces.

Wow, Tristan Russell’s photo was really amazing! The sun in the background adds a beautiful dusk mood to the happy faces of the teens in the photo. Go Tristan! You are incredible.

Wow! I love these images and their accompanying artist statements. I recently read that MTV named the next generation “‘The Founders’ because they will be tasked with being the founders of a new world. Technologically they will solve problems surrounding energy, space exploration, and healthcare. When it comes to peace, they will have to solve problems surrounding the rule of law, violent extremism, and post conflict reconstruction. We have a duty to equip The Founders with the skills necessary to build a more peaceful world” (Andy Blair, “Focusing on the End”). Empathy is one of these crucial world-building skills. Thank you, Learning Network, for creating space for these teens to share their visions and voices with the world; in doing so, you’re not only displaying their adeptness with empathy, you’re also expanding our abilities to empathize with them. BRAVO!

Overall, These young people have the least economic opportunity in about 80 years. And most of 'em know it. I can't understand how folks can call them 'spoiled' However... This is tremendously encouraging. I can only hope the world never curbs their splendid bright energy completely.