Illustration by Nora Talbott

Some may think this is what the world would look like if Generation Z ran it. However, the WJ student body which is composed of Gen Z, said otherwise.

What if Generation Z ruled the world? A question that should be asked because it will soon become a reality, as Gen Z are the adults of the future. Some may believe that nothing would get done, that we would be lazy and sit at home all day, since as teenagers that’s apparently all we do. Some might say that there would be no more school, or that we would be on our phones all the time, but I and our student body, all composed of members of Gen Z, think otherwise.

“I feel like we really can get things done… yeah we are on our phones a lot but that’s not all we do…if you look around there’s so much talent and there’s so much that we, that Gen Z does, it’s crazy,” sophomore Bella Pharr said.

And our generation has done a lot, from taking over the social media app TikTok and turning it into a place where people can find others like them to supporting others and spreading information about what’s happening in the world to protesting in the streets for what they believe in.

“I think you guys will certainly change the world in a positive way for sure… and I think that when Gen Z is old and they look back on what they’ve done, I know they’re gonna be proud of the accomplishments that they did, that they made,” AP Psychology teacher Melanie Schwed said.

A lot of Gen Z is stubborn, and though some view this as a negative trait, we actually use a lot of our stubbornness to our advantage to get things done and fight for our beliefs.

“We don’t care, we don’t hide our opinions… we don’t care so we just do whatever it takes to get one thing done. So I feel like that way things are done much faster because we’re going towards the goal, we don’t care about the interferences,” sophomore Ashwathi Menon said.

Older generations have put all of their problems onto Gen Z, and at a young age, most of Gen Z has already started to fight for equality and a better world for future generations. TikTok, though mainly meant to be an entertainment app, has been turned into a platform where people can share news about what’s happening in the world. Gen Z needs to be careful, however, because as helpful as the app can be, like many social media platforms, it is rife with misleading and false information. Still the people on this app have done a lot to spread important news and help the fight for equality and make this app a safe place for people to come together.

Gen Z has also encouraged many people on social media to put their pronouns in their social media bios. This was done so that people can’t pick out trans people and invalidate them by saying they aren’t actually the gender they had transitioned into. Gen Z has proved that they are very much capable of fighting for what they believe in and spreading awareness about it.

Gen Z has done so much to spread awareness about important subjects and might be the most influential generation yet. Gen Z is a generation that has very strong opinions and passion for what they believe in, and almost everyone who is Generation Z, including me, is proud to be a part of it.

“I am proud that my generation has been standing up for change, I’m proud of all of us. I saw two girls… just standing and holding up Black Lives Matter signs and doing their part and I’ve seen personal friends of mine going to protests and doing stuff and helping out… and it’s just incredible and I’m really proud of our generation,” sophomore Blue Laubach said.

Many people might like to think that the future is far away, but the future is very close. It’s time for Generation Z to show that they are capable of achieving anything they put their mind to and that they are the generation of the future.