Mellinnials Case
In today’s world, where technology not only competes, but also competes and wins, there thrives a population of us, the Millennials. We are the “always connected” generation; generally the most tech-savvy demographic, having grown up in a largely digital civilization. All population groups tend to be criticized with generalizations, some correct, and some completely missing the mark. Our generation is best known for their social awareness, activeness through addiction to digital devices that serves as an extension to us. While there is an upward trajectory in the characteristics of being always connected, there are also downfalls to such a behavior that could potentially be detrimental to an individual’s overall growth and social image.
In the midst of popularity, attention, power and obsession with social media, some Mellinnials often lose the sight of normalized behavior. Serious concerns such as “sexting”, that can be defined as an act of distributing sexually explicit messages or photographs over a mobile device or the internet (Dictionary.com) is on the rise for Millennials. Sexting is a term that is heavily used under the umbrella of our generation and is a drawback of placing under the entire generation. As the coordinator of a national, non-profit organization, Peer Health Exchange at San Francisco State University, I teach health workshops in public high schools that lack education. In particular, while teaching abusive relationships in classrooms, teenagers fall short in understanding why sexting is detrimental and of increasing concern to an individual’s mental,social, and physical well-being. Although 1 in 3 teens sext, which is why the phrase should not be used to describe the activities of every teenager; liberation, rebelliousness, self-esteem are answers my students reason this questioning behavior.