“If you are labeled different in a world full of cutouts and replicas, consider yourself lucky.”

Today, one of the problems that the millennial generation faces is the stereotyping and sensationalism. In this decade more than in any other, the value of a person’s personality is synonymous to how many likes they have in social media or what brand of clothes they wears. It might be simple in plain sight, but this kind labeling damage a person greater than an actual weapon.

Teenagers now-a-days always follow ‘trends’ and ‘uso’. There are terms like ‘trending’ and ‘viral’ that dictates what they like and what they watch. Looking at it in a simple angle, there is nothing wrong with being up to date with all the technologies and all the new things that the cyber world can offer, but the problem starts when the things in the cyber space is brought to the real world. That is when the labeling starts.

Now in a class there ‘should be’ characters that fit in. There the ‘Famous’ or those who get hundreds of like in Facebook, then theirs the ‘Rich Kids’ that wears branded clothes and eats at fancy restaurants, there are also the ‘gamers’ who aces in online games, the ‘musicians’ that always posts music videos and lyrics on their wall, the ‘smart geeks’  who is techy and witty and of course there are the ‘non-famous-non-existing’ bunch who can’t be bothered with the social media so they are out casts because they have their own world.   

So basically, if you do not fit in the shape cut outs, the more likely it is for you to be bullied. How twisted could that logic be? You would think that as the technology advances the smarter the generation be. Well it is true in a way that a two years old kids can independently open a smart phone and play their favorite apps, but in terms of deeper sense it seems that technology gives way to more discrimination, the availability of freedom of speech makes the generation braver in what they post and comments regardless of the nature of their opinion.

But as Teachers, Parents and Guardians, all we can do is to avert them and guide them through the ordeal, because at the end of the day, technology is here to stay and so are the labels that it brings.

By: Hergani S. Reyes | T-I | Limay National High School