By Tatsuya King
In this day and age, kids are everywhere. It often seems that you can’t take one step without seeing a kid right in front of you! But, more than mere annoyances, these kids are supposedly people too, with lives beyond irritating us common people. So what are those lives like? What do the kids do with their time? In other words, what are the kids up to?
It’s no mystery that kids have plagued our society for centuries, taking food from the hard working and giving nothing back but dirty diapers and complaints. Despite many wishing to be nowhere near the world’s youth, they have stuck around for this long only because we need them to survive as a species. “The kids are up to some villainous activities. Those guys are mischievous as heck,” says Finn Barden, a self proclaimed non-kid. Let’s be honest: normal people don’t like kids. Their smelly and putrid ways repel reasonable folk–but there are still those out there who seek to make kids happy and fulfilled. Why? What is the value of a happy youth? Jonathan Segal argues that, “they are the future; they are the society.” Perhaps it is true that happy kids can lead to a happy future, though this would most likely come at the heavy cost of having to interact with the kids. But if that is the price of our species’ future, let us at least be aptly prepared. So what are the kids doing with their time? What shenanigans are they getting down to?
“Eating things; every kid likes to eat stuff; they like bread. They don’t like school, or math,” says Violet Baumman (a kid). Is the solution to our youth’s happiness feeding them endless masses of food to gorge their tiny little mouths on? Emmanuel Olusheki (a kid) says no: “I don’t think food will solve all the kids’ problems–we need other stuff, like sleep and video games and friends.” It seems the needs of kids are more multifaceted and complex than most might initially believe. So who knows what those stinky kids are up to? Co-principal Allison Isbell, someone who has to work with kids all the time, says that kids are into “the new Kanye album, Discord, bubble tea, watermelon Sour Patch Kids, and thrifting.” A comprehensive list indeed, but do others agree? Anna Gonzales, a “teacher” of kids, provides a completely different list of what the kids are doing, saying, “the kids are watching Marvel movies, drinking Red Bull, wearing sweatpants, and baking bread.” Is Isbell or Gonzales wrong about what the kids are doing? Or, perhaps, do different kids enjoy different things? “I think it depends on the kid, because right now, [kids] are all in such different places even more so than ever. Because of that, [they]’ll all have very different needs and very different interests,” says Joy Piedmont, 9th grade dean. If every single kid has different interests and passions, what can be done to make them all more happy? It would surely be impossible to satisfy every specific need of every kid, but maybe there are broader patterns in their desires that can be addressed on a larger scale.
According to Jonathan Segal, the kids need a lot. He says, “the kids need discipline, good role models like Jerry Cascio, Pat Higgiston, and Daniel Li. They also need food, water, and sleep. They need some affection from their families and parents. They need exercise.” Is this strict list of needs that Jonathan provides the best way to help the kids? Or is this the opinion of an out of touch, misguided adult who knows absolutely nothing about the going-ons of the modern day youth? There may be no way to really know, but perhaps we have been asking the wrong people this whole time.
“I feel like the kids would know best about what they are up to. Why would you ask adults? They have no clue!” says LREI Junior Charlie Keeler. It could be possible that those idiot kids might have something of value to say after all. In assessing the needs and passions of the kids, it seems we must assess our own personal biases as well. So let’s talk to some kids!
“Kids are making TikToks and Instagram reels. I do Instagram reels. They’re just kind of fun, and also all the audios get stuck in my head,” says Zoe Wojnicki, a kid. Amos Dotson (another kid), adds on, saying, “We’re kind of all just sitting around listening to music.” It seems that sounds, music and “audios” have a large effect on the kids. They don’t ever listen to the adults, yet they can’t stop listening to things on their phones! But more than that, the media as a whole has absolutely consumed the kids. Many agree that the modern youth and media are inseparable, like milk and tea; once you put the milk in, you can’t get it out. “Yeah those kids, they’re always on social media; they love it a lot. They’re obsessed!” says Remi Ingerman. If the kids love social media so much, does that mean it’s a good thing?
Jonathan Segal argues that there are in fact, many negatives to social media, saying, “I think social media can be very anxiety producing for a lot of kids. Constantly comparing yourself and judging yourself can have negative effects on mental health.” From this standpoint, social media seems horrible. Why would we ever expose our world’s youth to this abomination of human nature? Segal continues, saying, “On the other hand, I think the internet allows you to hang with your friends more, like with facetime calls, zoom meetings, skype, whatsapp video, instagram live, snapchat streaks, tik tok dance moves, DMs, Reddit chat, Imgur, YouTube messages, Facebook forums, Find my friends, Pinterest boards, Discord servers, Notepad, Venmo, Google meet, Slack, Netflix, Twitter tweets, Omegle, Doodle Jump, Tumblr posts, Myspace, Squarespace sites, and WeChat.” “Maybe they’re on messenger, messaging each other,” adds Joshua Garrison. Wow Jonathan and Joshua! That’s a lot of ways to connect with friends. But more than just chit chatting away with friends, kids might also be learning about the world through media. “The kids are very interested in the problems we have, social justice, global warming, voting rights, and a lot of important issues,” says Jerry Cascio. Perhaps it is a good thing that these kids are learning more about the world around them through the media. Afterall, a more informed youth will lead to a more forward thinking future.
“Kids are not allowed to be kids for long because demands are placed on them earlier and earlier. However, kids’ voices have never been louder than it is now with all of the social media platforms,” says Ty Beauchamp, the high school psychologist, on how kids have changed over the years. But even with the growing pressures and adversities, kids are still out there doing their thing. Oona Obaditch says, “the kids are up to everything, more than you know. Literally anything you can think of, it’s been done by a kid. I think people underestimate kids and what they do, but they do everything. There are no limits to what kids’ minds think they can do.” It seems kids are just out there doing their thing. Maybe we should aspire to be more like the kids someday.