Emma Gonzalez's Argument Analysis

Today, many past generations are critical of millennials and generation Z, however, this criticism seems misdirected and simply rash. There is a lot of contradictions in the analysis of this generation by social scientists. On one side, some believe this generation lacks motivation and independence, whereas other scientists analyze this generation as creative and optimistic. Social scientists are still researching this new cohort, but their research so far is in the positive light. Typically, if I were to describe a typical millennial, older generations may picture someone living out of their parent’s basement attached to their phones. However, this is not the case for everyone. Of course, there will be outliers, but overall today’s new generations are bringing creativity, poise, and courage to the world. Emma Gonzalez, a member of the “entitled” generation Z displays nothing of this sort and instead is a truly mature and brave individual. Gonzalez was unfortunately subject to the Parkland, Florida shootings. Personally, when listening to her speech, it was hard to believe that she was only eighteen years old. Her strength was inspiring and because of horrible acts such as this, it has forced teenagers like her to grow up. This generation is one of which that has grown up with active shooter drills. Despite how concerning this, it further emphasizes the need for today’s teenagers to mature and to strengthen their character. One of the most significant worries that generation Z brings is their reliance on technology. Despite being one of these users, I personally have found it does not deter me away from living my life. Like many others, technology has brought many benefits to people’s lives. Specifically, Don Tapscott revealed, “They grew up being interactors and communicators. In the 1960’s we had a generation gap. What we have today is a generation lap – they are lapping their parents of the digital track”. Growing up online can be considered to have some deficits, but in fact, it can be more detrimental if a person has no connection with technology. One of the main issues that technology seems to bring is a lack of exposure to the outside world. This article reveals that teens are not getting outside enough. However, it seems more accurate that this is a problem with parenting rather than technology itself. Tara Parker-Pope reveals this where she states, “The larger issues that affect a child’s well-being are family functioning, social dynamics at school and socio-economic conditions”. This argument seems more accurate as it makes sense that a children’s well-being directly stems from the social interactions they hold. Furthermore, …show more content…
This includes a decrease in cigarette smoking, alcohol use, teen pregnancies, teen drunk driving and a considerable number of other behaviors. Many researchers “celebrate these changes”, but some attribute these changes to a “lower level of maturity”. Not surprisingly, these other researchers blame technology once again. It is stated, “Perhaps teens are safer simply because their reliance on social media and smartphone use means they are going out less”. This argument does not seem as sound as the simple idea that today’s generation is just learning from their parent’s mistakes. It seems like a common trend that some researchers are directly blaming sources like technology for the improvements in generations rather than accepting that this generation is simply evolving and