Young People Have Opinions Too!

Liz's Bedroom by Vincent Giarrano

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." -- 1 Timothy 4:12

I am almost seventeen years old. I can vote in the next presidential election. Yet, for some reason, some people seem to think that because I am younger than they, my opinions are invalid or uninformed. I had an interaction recently in which I spoke about something online, and an adult family member of mine proceeded to respond to it. She made points of disagreement, I responded with scientifically based factual information, and she simply laughed at me and said that I'd understand when I was older. Several things irritated me about this: 1) You shouldn't start a debate if you aren't prepared to defend your position. 2) If you're going to start a debate, you should be able to handle it with maturity and respect. 3) You shouldn't use another person's age to invalidate their beliefs simply because you feel uncomfortable with the fact that they hold those beliefs. 

I think this is something I see a lot, something that a lot of opinionated young people have to deal with. No matter how well-researched you are, no matter how many reasons you have for your beliefs, people will totally disregard you simply because you are younger than them. Because you are young, you're inherently wrong. Because you are young, you don't know what you're talking about. And because you are young, your opinions don't matter. 

Here's the thing. Some young people are uninformed. When we are young, we believe things simply because our parents told us they were true. As we grow and mature into our own personhood, we believe things because we have decided for ourselves they are true, usually through some kind of research and exploration. Obviously, we can still share the same opinions as our parents, but we likely have different reasons why we believe those things. 

Every young person is at a different point in this process. Some make it all the way through high school without knowing why they believe what they do. But by at least junior year, most people know what they believe, at least generally. When people speak out publicly about what they believe, that's usually an indicator that they feel passionate. And most of us don't feel passionately for no reason. Most of us who feel passionately feel that way because we've done our research. 

But wait, Hannah! You don't have any life experience! Of course. How could I have forgotten? Apparently, I've never done anything in my life ever! Fun fact: Did you know that literally everyone who's alive has some form of life experience? Did they have the exact same experiences as you and experience them the exact same way you did? Obviously not. Did they have their own experiences that defined their perception of life? Yes. I did not live through the Great Depression. I did not live through Y2K. I DID live through COVID. I grew up in the digital age. I grew up in an era where access to knowledge is higher than ever before, which gave me a whole lot of opportunities to research my opinions. The fact that I'm not 35 paying off college loans doesn't dismiss my opinions. My hard things are not your hard things, but that doesn't invalidate them. 

I think there's one other thing that leads people to believe young people don't know what they're talking about, and that is the belief that young people are just stupid. Some of you are sitting there going, what? People don't think I'm stupid! Yes, they do. They're wrong, but they think it anyway. To those of you who feel passionately that Gen Z is uneducated and ruining the future of humanity, I'd like to reiterate what I said in the previous paragraph. Gen Z grew up with access to knowledge at the click of a button. We are living through such a competitive high school landscape that all of us are taking AP classes. AP classes are a scam, but they're educational nonetheless. My point is that the belief that Gen Z is stupid is totally null. The education system isn't ideal, but it is easier to access than ever before. We have Wikipedia and YouTube, where you can learn pretty much anything at the click of a button. This is not to call other generations uninformed or uneducated, but it is to say that Gen Z is definitely not as stupid as people think. 

So what's the point of all this? That depends on who you are, since I know I've got a mix of young and old who read this. To my youngins, go do your research. Figure out what you believe, and then figure out why you believe it. To my old folks, quit acting like young people's opinions are invalid. Start treating them with respect. You can't expect any respect back if you repeatedly disregard and invalidate other people. Because that's really all we are. We're other people, some of whom are voters right alongside you, and to treat other people like they and their opinions don't matter simply because you're older is both immature and rude. Positive discourse is really easy, actually. Just recognize that young people have opinions too.