OPINION
7 | Listowel Banner | Wednesday, March 27, 2019
WHAT ADULTS DON'T
UNDERSTAND ABOUT
TODAY'S YOUTH
JAYLA YUNGBLUT AND NEVAH HUTCHISON
WANT TO HELP ADULTS UNDERSTAND
JAYLA
YUNGBLUT
NEVAH
HUTCHISON
Column
Adults love to judge kids.
They think we don't know
what we are doing, or that
we don't have good morals.
They seem to forget that we
are born after their time. It
is different now. We want to
help those mothers and fa-
thers, or even just adults,
know what your teen might
think you don't understand!
One of the main things
that adults just don't get
about youth are the many
new ways of school. For ex-
ample, today's math is dif-
ferent than it was back
when our parents were chil-
dren. You did math one or
two ways and that was it.
Now you can learn math a
lot of ways and sometimes
teachers want us to calcu-
WHAT PARENTS AND SENIORS DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT 21ST CENTURY YOUTH
THE TIMES ARE CHANGING, AND SO ARE THE WAYS WE COMMUNICATE, SAYS NATHAN TORMEY
NATHAN
TORMEY
Column
Times are changing.
Things aren't the same as
they were when adults were
kids and now they are still
adapting to this change.
These are a couple things
that adults don't understand
about kids in the twenty first
century.
COMMUNICATION
Adults and seniors these
late a question in our own
way so we understand.
Some adults think the dif-
ferent ways are bad, but a lot
of youth feel it is better.
School also uses technology
to help us learn and collab-
orate, including Google
apps such as docs and drive.
Docs is just like Microsoft
Office but more "up to date."
It is easier to see how many
words are in your document
or if you accidentally dele-
ted something you can get it
back way easier then rewrit-
ing it or copying it on docs.
You can share, collaborate,
and seek feedback -- just like
we did for this article.
School has changed. It's
called progress.
Social media is really
popular these days, and it
should be. We are able to
connect to many people and
build quality relationships.
Snapchat is great! It is like
messaging, but easier to
take pictures, reply, and re-
days don't understand how
communication has
changed. Time has gone
from calling or going over to
someone's house to texting
and talking on video games
with each other. It is now
easier to text someone be-
cause cell phones are a ne-
cessity now and everyone
has them. When parents and
grandparents were young,
there weren't phones this ad-
vanced. In addition, it is a lot
easier to text someone if they
want to hangout then call
them. Communication on
spond. If someone wants to
see something or send a vid-
eo, you just take it then send
it. It also lets you decide to
keep the picture or not. It
makes our interaction even
more enjoyable and builds
our relationships with
many people. We all know
that social media is similar
to Facebook, but have you
ever looked at both of them
at the same time? Chances
are that you know Facebook
has a lot of sponsorships
and misinformation. Older
people are used to those, but
with all the new technology
younger people are not!
They are better with Insta-
gram than Facebook. De-
spite how adults think we
are irresponsible on social
media, we also know that it
is easier to make a private
account on Instagram. That
matters. So keep in mind
that most youth use social
media to be safe, connect
with others, and share kind-
ness.
I know that if you take
this information we have
given you to heart, you and
the youth in your life will get
along. Remember that today
is way different then when
you were a kid. And that's
OK! It might even be better.
Jayla Yungblut and
Nevah Hutchison are stu-
dents at North Perth West-
field Elementary School in
Listowel.
video games is also easier
than calling because most
kids like video games and
have gaming consoles like
XBox and PS4. Online games
have just recently added in
game talking and that wasn't
there when older genera-
tions played them. My par-
ents are always nagging
about spending too much
time playing my iPad or
XBox when really it is more
of a social catch up while do-
ing something that you en-
joy. These devices help us
kids with organizing hang-
WHAT DO ADULTS NOT UNDERSTAND
ABOUT KIDS IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
DATING, TECHNOLOGY AND SWEARING ARE
SOME OF THE THINGS, WRITE MADDIE ELLIS
AND SOPHIA MARLES
MADDIE
ELLIS
SOPHIA
MARLES
Column
The world has changed
from when today's adults
were children and they
don't understand us (today's
youth) and things we do. It's
time to bring them up to
date on the dating scene,
technology and bad lan-
guage.
DATING
Parents don't get that
kids are more mature now a
days and soon enough kids
are going to start dating at
the ages of 11 and up. Par-
ents just don't understand
and have the opposite opin-
ion of their kids. They think
it's inappropriate to start
dating too early, that we are
too young, immature and
naive be in relationships
but we think that kids
should be allowed to start
dating at the age of 11 if they
ing out with friends and not
making our parents do it.
Furthermore, it helps with
strategizing if you had to
take out enemies of an on-
line video game. Devices can
allow you to work on the
same slideshow but on dif-
ferent things such as, iPads,
Chromebooks and laptops.
Times are changing and
communication is changing
with it.
SCHEDULE
People are busier than ev-
er and our older family
members are still adapting.
want to. We think it is im-
portant to develop and learn
about relationships early
on. It can be good practice
and can teach positive hab-
its, like good communica-
tion, respect and responsi-
bility as well as boundaries.
We wish that parents would
loosen up and remember
what it was like to be young
and have crushes.
THE NEW TECH
Adults don't seem to real-
ize that technology is all
around us. We were born in-
to a world full of technology.
Parents think that we are
only using devices to play
games and message our
friends. What our parents
don't understand is that
most the time we are actual-
ly doing school work. The
school board and teachers
are doing their part to save
the environment by reduc-
ing the amount of paper
used in schools and they are
moving forward with the
times by assigning home-
work and other assign-
My parents are always ask-
ing me what my friends are
doing on the weekend, and
my answer is normally hock-
ey. Most of the people I hang
out with play higher level
hockey than me and their
schedules almost never line
up with mine. When our el-
ders were kids, there wasn't
all these things such as hock-
ey, soccer and volunteering
as coaches going on in their
lives. Adults are starting to
understand that schedules
just keep getting busier. In
fact, I know this because my
parents have said that this is
the busiest times in their life
because of sports and work.
ments through technology.
Technology is not the devil -
it is here to help us and
makes us and actually
makes us more knowledge-
able. By the way, how many
hours of screen time are you
getting in a day?
SWEARING
Our parents don't want
us to swear even though
they sometimes swear in
front of us, but then they say
"do not repeat what I just
said." Here's an idea, just
don't swear. It doesn't make
you sound "cool," it actually
makes you seem immature
and childish. It is now the
21st century - there has got-
ta be better ways to express
yourself then yelling ob-
scenities. Set a good exam-
ple for your children.
Adults: welcome to the
2019, where we aren't as na-
ive and immature as you
think. We aren't slaves to
the screens.were no more
attached as you are. Swear-
ing just isn't so peachy.
Time for some perspective.
Maddie Ellis and So-
phia Marles are students at
North Perth Westfield
Elementary School in Lis-
towel.
My mom and dad have stated
that there wasn't as much
sports and extracurricular
activities going on when
they were younger. The el-
der ones in our family may
think this is too much but re-
ally it helps with time man-
agement and other life skills.
This is another one of those
this things our parents are
still adjusting to.
I know people don't like
change but it is inevitable. I
hope this article helps you
older people grasp some of
the changes going on around
southwesternontario.ca
you.
Nathan Tormey is a
student at North Perth
Westfield Elementary
School in Listowel.