Emerging Bloggers & World-Changing Potential
Mary Olson | Sept. 23, 2020, 5:37 a.m.
By Mary Olson | Advisor | Editor-in-Chief at Teenager Startups
In early Q1, 2020, most teens were concerned about their financial future—particularly jobs, automation, and extreme school and social life stresses. There are over 3.1 billion pre-teens and teens globally (39.4% of the world's population). Teen entrepreneurs thrive in a particular stratum of creative mindsets, interests, and passionate startups.
Today's teen entrepreneurs were born entirely in the twenty-first century. They are the new Gen Z or Zoomers. They are inquisitive self-learners with a sharp focus and purpose. As the startups evolve and skillsets mature, they become the new job creators and stewards of change.
However, nine months later, in Q3, teen entrepreneurs have been experiencing accelerated burdens. They, their parents, and communities are affected by the pandemic, extreme climate change, unemployment, a choking recession, social and racial injustices, and the state of education. These kids have inherited today's world conditions, and those with a creative mindset are challenging themselves to do more.
We at Teenager Startups see a growing trend of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. For instance, Zayn Patel, an American, is focused on producing social impact by creating ventures to de-stress life and change the discourse for Gen Z'ers. CO4 is a team of four young Australian entrepreneurs that creates barista-quality instant coffee while incorporating critical environmental values. They make a variety of flavors of coffee, embracing the unique and marginalized cultures in society. Mahad Shahzad, a Canadian, combats senior isolation with "Chatting to Wellness."
The Silicon Valley intellectual, and esteemed scholar, Valeria Sadovykh, Ph.D., also explores tough questions to resolve major global issues. We recently discussed a pressing question relating to kids and the pandemic, "What are we gaining (or losing) as social and emotional intelligence dissipates with the (post-pandemic) accelerated growth of online interactions/education?" And further, "What is our generation gaining if we are not supporting and empowering teen entrepreneurs? After all, they are the job creators and stewards of today's social, environmental, and educational issues."
Roshan Shah, board director at Teenivo Incorporated, also foresees a deeply troublesome future as the pandemic funnels all generations online. Shah says, "The opportunities to live life fully are fading into the distant past as we engage daily with our devices. We work online, shop online, bank online, study online, and communicate online every day. There will be a profound price for the loss of "living life" post-pandemic."
I turned to the trailblazing blogging team at Teenager Startups to explore their views on today's issues. Their insights are the world's gains.
Media Group Managers & Senior Writers: Abhishek Kumar & Thomas Mitchell
Media Group Bloggers - India: Rakshita Nain, Tamanna Yadav, Nikita Rai, Sonia Chauhan, Reshma Kanase, and Tanishka Khokhar. USA: Lizzy Lewellyn
Abhishek Kumar, Senior Writer, Media Group Manager - India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person.
As a young individual, many issues could disturb me, starting from the increasing population to global warming and nuke weaponry. Though the ones I directly feel concerned about include the degrading environment and stiffening competition around the world. These issues are not mentally and physically healthy for the growth of an individual. We must have a good working environment, society and nature to let an individual's mind bloom completely.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
Honestly, the only thing I see as a roadblock is this pandemic, which stops people from globalizing physically and decreasing opportunities as the world economy is plunging. Other than those, our society has a competing nature which is necessary for growth but needs to be managed so that young people can find themselves with less worry. And this could only be done if we keep control of the population, bring down the rate of growth, and manage resources at livable levels.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the next few years?
In the next five years, I anticipate that there would be opportunities to explore markets and learn from the different professional cultures and gain as much knowledge and experience I can—enough to give it back to the world at one point in time.
Thomas Mitchell, Senior Writer, Media Group Manager - USA
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
I don't really think that being young impacts my views of the global issues at hand. One way or another, we'll be able to get through and survive. The best thing that young people and truly anyone can do is try to listen to one another and hopefully realize that we're actually not so different.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
It's hard to say. If the pandemic has taught me anything, it's been that the world is an uncertain place. We can only control our own lives to an extent, so I guess the only roadblocks I foresee are the ones where I get in my own way.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the next few years?
I hope I'll have some opportunities to do some research in a lab sometime soon, but honestly, I'm most excited about the opportunities that I have no clue even to expect. Those are the real life-changing ones.
Rakshita Nain, Blogger, Media Group - India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
The deterioration of the Planet is at its peak. It has so drastically increased that going back seems impossible. As the stakeholder of future generations, personally, I feel very disappointed about how far we have come as mankind but at the cost of the Planet. The ignorance towards this issue is more dangerous than the COVID situation itself.
And the thing is, everybody talks about individual responsibilities to reduce the harm, but no one talks about the industries and activities which are actually ignorant of the environment. I hope for some major structural changes that could still be implied and relied upon in this worst situation.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
The first roadblock is all the backward economic push this virus has given to the most developed cities of the world. The second thing, the current lifestyle of living might potentially affect our confidence and exposure to opportunities. It's not a big concern for me, because I am still privileged in many ways. But it is about the talents which were already deprived of this world of technology.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the next five years?
I have been a very ambitious person since my childhood. And nothing can affect that mindset of mine. I see myself as a published author in the next five years. And that won't be an existing opportunity, but something I have to develop myself. And I am confident that if I keep going with content writing, I will be recognized as a good content writer. Five years is a very long time. I hope to be consistent in my dreams.
Tamanna Yadav, Blogger, Media Group, India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
I can observe the confluence of the global issues around me as they have both a positive and negative impact on my daily life. On the one hand, I have easy access to all my daily needs, from durable furniture to good food storage packets. Meanwhile, on the other hand, it becomes difficult for me to breathe fresh air. As a young person, I have come to realize that before anything else, it is my comfort that is resulting in discomfort for many.
The global issues such as sustainable development and putting a period to global warming seem to be the only way out.
Q2)What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
As for the 2nd question, I'd say the biggest hindrance to my future is the increasing competition, be it in the field of education or the game of survival in this fast-evolving world. Sooner or later, we all fear being left behind. Hence, to compete, we teach habits that make us eat unhealthily, live unhygienically, and become night owls. The more discomfort we face in our home or career, the more comfort we seek regarding external resources such as food, fuel, and luxury.
Q3)What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the future?
For the third question, I'd like to put forward my opinion that sustainable development could increase my opportunities. From increased savings to better and healthy lifestyle habits, as a budding blogger, I'll probably have an ocean of content to learn and write. As a psychology student, I'll get an opportunity to study the relationship between the changing environment and individual behavior. And last but not least, all my knowledge and skills would be put at the test as the world around me will evolve into a new technological era, maybe fewer natural resources and lesser oxygen to breathe. I'll learn the extent of my adaptability and the skill of surviving and thriving.
Nikita Rai, Blogger, Media Group - India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
For me, the global issues are proving to be situations which have become quite difficult for the youth. The main reason behind this is that except for the developed countries, we hardly ever see young entrepreneurs in developing or under-developed countries, even though they comprise the larger part of the world's population.
So, if there are fewer people there to address large global issues on behalf of the youth, therefore there is less understanding of how these issues are going to affect the youth.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
The first roadblock I see for myself is that I come from India, a developing country. The problem here is the same that I mentioned in my first answer. So, as a result, the opportunities and wealth are in the hands of the few.
Here the saying "the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer" is very true. Another problem I see is that in today's world, there is more demand for the experience than talent, which makes it quite difficult for the young and talented to get the jobs and opportunities they deserve.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the near future?
I will only be getting enough opportunities when I will have enough experience. But, yes, I do have my fingers crossed to engage people and organizations that lean more towards talent than experience.
Reshma Kanase, Blogger, Media Group – India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
About global issues- I think we all have some problems in life, but the art of life is how do you handle the problems. Similarly, there are many global issues. I believe there is a solution to every problem. Instead of creeping about them, we should think about how to resolve them.
For example, we have corona everywhere. Before corona, everyday traffic and crowds irritated me. While today I did some grocery shopping and saw the traffic and an increased number of people on the road than previously. It made me happy. I was proud of all people coming out of their homes and providing different services to society. It was satisfactory seeing a step forward to normalcy.
Q2)What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
There are roadblocks in every journey for everyone. I believe we should always focus on the positive things rather than negatives. By following a positive approach, one can cross almost every barrier to reach the destination soon. No obstacle can stop determined people from achieving their goals, even in the worst scenarios.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the near future?
I just want to learn many things.
Sonia Chauhan, Blogger, Media Group – India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
Undoubtedly, the global unrest was a critical topic before the pandemic, but the 2020 crisis has given a whole new look to the unrest. To be precise, all the young Indians are extremely vulnerable at the point. With political instability and false information from the media, As a young citizen, I feel absolutely clueless and hopeless. And as the Indian historian, Ramchandra Guha called the present state 'the greatest man-made tragedy' in India since Partition.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
I feel unawareness among the youth because of misleading information, and stereotypes are the strongest roadblocks.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the future?
As I said, being aware and woke is the number one anticipation. Working on polishing my skills and gaining more knowledge every day surely play a vital role.
Tanishka Khokhar, Blogger, Media Group – India
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
Personally, I feel that we're the generation that'll finally bring about a change. For years till now, we've pushed the thought of actually getting something done by taking "slow steps" or "baby steps," but the matter of fact, NOW, there's no time for baby steps. We're supposed to be moving fast, and I know that many teenagers and new adults have come a long way to realize that. So yes, I'm thankful that I can be a part of this change to whatever extent. I cannot (and refuse to) imagine myself as someone who refuses to acknowledge the existence of problems and people who differ from me. It's a shame that it took riots, strikes, and an entire pandemic for everyone to acknowledge other races and cleanliness in general.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
A lot of these climatic changes (like the melting of glaciers, etc.) will adversely affect my education and the opportunities that would've been provided to me previously. I have to take up everything online on my own account, and it limits my reach to a great extent. Additionally, I think that it may affect my college applications as well.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the future?
Hopefully, writing as a part-time would still be an available option, but I've always taken to finance and law. Therefore, I simply cannot imagine myself doing anything other than handling transactions and maintaining balance sheets.
I'm assuming the current situation will definitely tone down before 2021, so I'll still have time to catch up as an outgoing junior in high school. In the next five years, I'm gonna safely guess that the opportunities which would've been available to me before the pandemic WILL still be available after five years, assuming that I manage to make up for the time lost.
Lizzy Lewellyn, Blogger, Media Group – USA
Q1) How you view the confluence of global issues you face as a young person?
I feel that I have an interesting perspective on how I view global issues my generation faces today because I was born when the world was starting to change. The technology sphere was becoming more advanced. Hatred was becoming more brutal and violent. But, also so many great things have been accomplished. My view of this is complex because I can recall what it was like before everything shifted so much into what world we live in now.
Q2) What do you see as roadblocks to your future?
The main roadblocks I foresee for my own life are mainly physical due to my medical conditions, which at times-still have unpredictable complications. I honestly fear for my future if things continue on the way the world currently is for me. I feel quite unsafe to leave my home anymore. Violence and brutality are much more common and dangerous these days. Even verbal hatred has caused so much damage to my mental health. I do not want to imply physical health is any more of a risk than mental health these days. You can become at risk for an unstable mentality just by seeing the wrong stuff online too long (I, myself, have struggled with this). There are so many unknowns it terrifies me.
BUT I also believe with my constant hard work and passion for what I love to do, my career has a bright future, and I could really make a difference for my family and our life and so many people worldwide.
Q3) What opportunities do you anticipate for yourself in the future?
I want to help people with whatever my gift may be as my career advances. I can feel inside that I am meant to do something good for so many people. I have a purpose. I know it. I will discover my purpose and touch many others. I already know it will involve the world of art and fashion because they are my greatest interests. I am already starting to spread my wings within that lifestyle and career.
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Resources:
Dr. Valeria Sadovykh, Ph.D., referenced above, generously recommends the Economist's following two articles. They are closely aligned with our recent discussion and today's blog post.
Educational inequality
The pandemic is widening educational inequality
Stressed teens
Generation Z is stressed, depressed and exam-obsessed
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