Children are changing the world. I call this new generation the selfie generation!
January 8, 2014 Posted by admin
Children are changing the world. I call this new generation the selfie generation.
My generation, the wonderful sixties revolutionary generation, has returned in spirit today with a new name — the selfie generation. The selfie has the power, the ambition and the tools to radically change the world.
The sixties generation which was all about “making love not war,” loving the Beatles and the Stones, creating the fashion and sexual revolution, demanding the end of racial and religious judgement, and conceiving of an idea that a human could gather and march together for an belief and not get shot. Since my generation, we have not had a generation that stood out and made a difference.
Sadly the majority of the children from my sixties generation were determined to be the opposite of their earth shaking parents and become the ME! ME! ME! entitlement generation, living for happiness, that is their own personal happiness, cooking, decorating, reading books about zombies, doing massage and yoga and not at all concerned with the planet and the happiness of the rest of the world.
Today their babies who are now teens are very different. The selfie takes his photo to send out to the world. He does not put his photo in a chic black frame to hang on his minimalist grey staircase wall. The selfie is into the whole world, knowledgeable of his personal world and the world outside and being opposite of his ME ME parents — the selfie is concerned about what is left on planet earth. Many teens have told me they are getting ready to leave for other planets. I’m sure they will.
Let me name a few of the leaders of today who are children changing the world.
Politics
Malala Yousafzai at 14 stood up for female education and was shot but fought back and lived to become a political force in Pakistan. Will she lead middle eastern women to equality?
Art and Fashion
Miley Cyrus at 21 with her music video “Wrecking Ball” and her video and onstage minimalist fashions have opened the world to fashion as wearable art (unlike Lady Gaga whose art and fashion is strictly performance art). If I was twenty today I would dress like Miley. I already owned her entire Walmart collection from three years ago (and I rarely wear other designers clothing).
Music
Lorde at 16 wrote “Royals” and went to the top of the world charts with her first album and she’s from New Zealand. How did she do it? Lorde was on the top of the charts at home and with a Digital released album and Twitter the world listened and fell in love with her unique detached voice and her poetry, her words of life on the sidelines.
Cinema
Jennifer Lawrence won an leading role Oscar at 22 and that brings back memories of our sixties heroine Audrey Hepburn who also won the Oscar at 23.
Adele Excharoupoulos at 20 won the 2013 Cannes Film festival for “Blue is the Warmest Color” my favorite film of 2013. She stole the movie crying at least 10 times. SHE EVEN CRIES WITH SNOT which is nearly impossible to do ( I worked as a costume designer on 15 films).
Business
Business MBA has listed 10 children who made a fortune before the were 17. That didn’t happen 20 years ago.
Sports
Jameis Winston of Florida State became the youngest Heisman Trophy winner in 2013 at 19 after Johnny” Football” Manziel was the youngest at 20 only last year.
What is the difference of the selfie and the previous generations since the sixties. It’s simple. They were born with Google, computers and have used them since they were five and never knew a world without instant knowledge of anything and everything and they are unstoppable. They don’t want to be like their ME ME parents.
They will be able to live to 120, probably leave earth for another planet and discover an entree into another dimension ( or make a movie explaining how to leave earth for their next generation).
My first husband was the third generation of a Hollywood movie family and he said, “Once they create it in the Hollywood art department, real scientists find a way to create it in real life.” In a way, “Back to the Future” and “The Matrix” are just one generation away.
The selfie generation is also generous. For the first time in history DoSomething.orgreports the list of the most generous celebrities is under 30 years old. The chart is topped by Taylor Swift and teenage boy band One Direction and wild girl Miley Cyrus of course is on the list.
Welcome to the new age.