Young generations of the United States, primarily Generation Z,  have been deemed the lazy, phone/social media obsessed generation. After a former student open fired at Stoneman Douglas High School, America’s youth took to social media to begin a protest for the issue of guns and their surrounding laws; however, this was not the first time that people have taken to social media to have their voice be heard. President Donald Trump is known for turning to Twitter to speak his mind on the issues in America, much like what his younger counterparts have done since social media took ‘control’ of their lives.

The Florida mass shooting was a wake up call for everyone in America. Students no longer feel safe following their once normal routines, parents hesitate to send their children to school and officials have been on guard in most schools since the death of 17 students and staff members. Gun control and the making of gun control laws is a topic that not everyone agrees on, but almost everyone who has put their opinions out in the open agree that something needs to change. One thing that middle age Americans have pushed out of their minds in recent debates is that using social media to communicate ideas and opinions can hold quite a few benefits. Whether that be spreading awareness of an issue or urging people to do what they can to make change, the benefits are there and they are more real than ever.

The #NeverAgain movement is one that is thriving. From people preaching their views on the gun laws to others mourning the losses of dear friends and family members, the message cannot and will not be ignored. Had people, including the president, not taken to various social platforms, the publicity around this mass shooting would’ve been lost in the sea of tweets in days, much like the 18 shootings that had happened within months of each other before. The #NeverAgain tag is still being used and, without a doubt, will be until true change is made.

#MeToo was a trending tag only a few weeks ago, but seemed to have simmered down when new problems faced the people of the internet. This tag was created to draw attention to the unannounced harassment of people, primarily women, in the workplace and schools. Thousands of men and women shared their stories of both being the harassers and the harassed; apologies were dealt in what seemed like every other status update. One thing that people don’t know is that the #MeToo movement actually started long before the ‘pound’ symbol became a hashtag. Sandra E. Garcia from the New York Times wrote that Tarana Burke started this movement in 1997 after speaking, face to face, with a 13 year old girl who had been sexually abused. Burke was appalled by the pain that sexual assault victims endured and about a decade later was able to start Just Be Inc. to help defend and take care of sexual assault victims in the country.

“Older generations dislike us [Generation Z] because they are more likely to resist change, whether those changes are political, behavioral or social,” sophomore Dae Burke said.

Maybe social media hasn’t helped start every movement, but there is no doubt that it has helped to jumpstart an epidemic of untold truths and hidden realities that have opened the eyes of people worldwide.

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Diana Anghel