"Your generation is screwed! Back in my day..." Me: But I didn't do anything.

The only things that silence the cafeteria: - Bag popping. - Gun shots. They sound really similar, so everyone stays silent for a few seconds, before continuing on talking. Bot even the teachers can get students as silent as they are when someone pops a bag.

Gen z is singing pumped up kicks during a shooter drill but being low key scared it will actually happen one day

I remember in english class one day we were having a work period and I was on KZfaq instead of working. I saw that there was a school shooting in California on the news feed and said, "huh, another shooting at a highschool in cali an hour ago. That's a shame." My group around me just nodded and said stuff like "thats too bad" or "oh, yeah I got an alert about that. 2 died" Our generation is so desensitized to tragedies and yet people wonder why we're all so cynical.

I remember in elementary school when teachers would get mad at you for popping your chip bag during lunch because it was loud and annoying. Now I am a senior in high school and some popped a chip bag by accident at lunch. Everyone went quiet some even jumped under their table. A room of almost a thousand teenagers, the 20 lunch ladies, the security guard, the three police officers, and their two drug dogs. All of them quiet not a sound. Until the security guard realized what had happened and yelled one word no. That was all he could say to the kid. Soon quiet conversations started to start up again. People were laughing saying things like man I thought we were all going to die their others responding I wish we would. They were joking about it. Not because it didn't scare them but because it did. They didn't want to think about it so they jocked but the thought still lingered in the back or all our heads. What if? What if it was a gun? What would I do? What if? But I guess we don't have to worry about things like this any more thanks to COVID-19

She is a great speaker, I love all she talks about and the points she is able to get across. And she’s only 14!!!

We stan Mr google

Honestly, I want to get those views to go up so badly. This such a powerful and true message, expressed properly by someone that ACTUALLY has experienced the topic, like, lived them themselves. Not someone that had to live that through others and had a revelation that, most times, if not all of them, is just part of the truth, but it’s not all of it.

Boomer Humour: My kids wanted “Minecraft” for Christmas.. *got them Mein Kampf instead* Gen X Humour: *Minion Impact Font toptext bottomtext memes* Millennial Humour: *Boomer Hypocrisy* Gen Z Humour: *S U I C I D E I S B A D A S S*

Gen z can hear a news about a mass shooting and 5 seconds later say "so anyways"

“Anyone remember October 2016?” My first thought was “oh god shes gonna talk about the clowns isnt she”

Im Gen Z We are the kids. Weve seen things adults only have. i bet most kids can already have a job because of how they think. Most of use have already matured at 14 and 13 when we should be reckless and have fun but were the most quiet out of middle school while eveeryone is cheering. Its because we have all been through the tough stuff amd are tiredm

I can't believe she's 14

The same thing happened to me where we thought we heard gunshots, but it was just balloons. And this was in 2018. We were ready to get on the ground.

I've been numbed to most of it, but I am scared of someone committing a school shooting at my school, and I'm scared of this country nuked and me dying before I can truly live.

Amazing how loud pops affect us gen Zs. We're probably one of the loudest rowdiest generations and then go deathly silent when a balloon is popped

"And this age, is our age But our age is rage sinking to beige And yes our children are brave, But their mission is vague"

Am I the only one that thought that when she talked about not being able to Express emotions reminded me of how guys feel all the time

I just wanna leave this here to simmer: laughing and joking at the expense of tragedy is a form of coping that our generation practically lives by because of the sheer amount of tragedy we are exposed to

I refuse to believe anyone born in 1977 is a millennial

My oldest daughter she's going on 11 dec 18 is gen z she has anxiety and she doesn't like to go anywhere much

My sister is preaching and is only a year older than me. We love her and she’s an amazing speaker

Beautifully spoken, but what really got me is when she spoke about the 3 year olds and their ‘hopefully long years’ of their life to come. She doesn’t bring attention to that. She, and many others in this generation, have come to terms with the fact that death at a young age is a normality.

Her: 'I didnt want to cry, because I didnt want to seem weak' Me: *cries myself to sleep everynight*

2:32 “We just have a depressing sense of humour. It’s fine” *cries in depression*

I feel as if half of these comments could come from a boomer and I wouldn't notice

I rember the clowns my school banned that costume that year

Anyone who is a Gen Z can relate to her. And can know what she is doing, is what everyone wants everyone else to do but are to scared to.

"its so easy to laugh is so easy to hate, it takes guts to be gentle and kind.... over and over and over again..." this lyric, I feel, speaks out to our generation

She's 14 and doing a ted talk I'm 15 and can't do 3 x 3

Oh just remembering the clown incident scares. My older sisters high school was 30 minutes away from Chicago and a group of clowns only 3-4 people at the end of school day were waiting on the football field they did not do anything outrageous but the next day the school was closed for a week because men that described themselves as clowns have threatened to kill and blow up the school multiple times. I didn’t live far from the high school and my sister, only a freshman was terrified.

Madi. Oh my gosh, Madi. This is absolutely beautiful and you did an amazing job! Everyone needs to see this because your message is so important. Never stop speaking up :)

Shoutout to this girl for the incredible courage it takes to send this message at her age. I wish she had more time.

I felt safer at my community college campus than at my high school campus. Welcome to Gen Z.

Wait I thought that generation z was from 1995-2010 *Edit* and that 2011-now is generation alpha

Interesting! Congrats on being able to stand up in front them at 14

I’m impressed. She was 14 and did a Ted Talk. Good for her

1:48 What a freaking casual, you already know the way to go is lighter fluid.

She’s going to take over the world! And I can’t wait to see what she does with it! Impressive!

Honestly, she is preaching the truth here. I remember I was in middle school when the entire clown situation was going down, it was my 7th-grade year (I'm a Sophmore in High School now) and EVERYONE was either freaking out or taking it as a big joke and saying "lol I want to die anyway". I remember one day VERY distinctly, it was the first period of the day and I was in a study hall, talking to my friends and looking on my phone. My friends had started talking about their being threats that clowns were going to the high school to do something (from what I heard they were going to shoot up the school, but all the info was from stressed and scared middle schoolers so idk), and then they were coming to the middle school to get us next. We kept making jokes about it, but you could tell kids were genuinely afraid. It got to the point where kids were having their parents take them out of school, and the High Schoolers even got on a stay put (basically the pre-lockdown, you work as you normally would in class but NOBODY can leave, not for the bathroom, nothing). I remember everyone being scared on Halloween, telling all of your friends, "If you see a clown while trick or treating, RUN!". Of course, it wasn't any real threats, and nothing happened from what I remember, but it was terrifying for some kids. What made it worse was teachers calling us overdramatic, only some taking it seriously. Teachers told us that if a shooter comes to the school they are barricading the door, and others saying we'd go through the window and run to the elementary school. Looking back on it now it's like a fond memory, "oh haha remember when clowns were trying to kill us and we had fidget spinners and flipped bottles?". No October will ever live up to that October.

1995 - 2010 gen z

I love her speech. GEN Z FOR THE WIN

8:19 As a teen boy, I still relate to this.

I liked the way she get high and speedy when its needed and it actually hears better than other speakers !

i wanna give her a hug now

I’m 19 years old and VERY stressed about high school and life in general. The world is so messed up... how do we even start the process of fixing the world when we have to worry about what those at the top will do to us?

"i hear i wanna die a lot, but our humour is just depressing it's fine"

madi you did so good i’m so proud of you! this was such a good video and and you are the best!!

She's such a great speaker!

I'm a millennial and yall gen z'ers give me hope.

I cry, tears of sorrow and joy. This was a beautiful, inspiring speech! Crying is how we heal. May we all do it more openly. I appreciate so much this message of awareness of the effects of the internet and all the powerful children who want to use it as a tool for good

Fantastic talk. She gives me hope. We'll make it.

I know I literally cannot cry any longer.

I felt the thing about crying I promise myself I will never cry in public since I was 13 years old. (Now 19).

Preach. You're not alone

She's a year younger than me and she's more talented, confident than i could ever be

This needs ted talk needs to be talked and viewer more. Not only because it is an important not talked enough about topic, but because she has courage and confidence to do this. Im 16 I can barely even say hi to someone without stuttering or shifting. And when I was like 12 I was the most outgoing kid.

Jeez, can we get a new generation between Millennial and Gen Z? Like, I'm not a soy drinking, Mandelorian binging 30 year old, but I'm definitely not some sobbing pro-am fortnite kid. '95-'00 should surely be its own thing?

What a great, inspiring and real talk!🙏 I'm proud to be a Gen Z!👍

This was a great speech! Go madi!

“It’s not the media, it’s the expectations” *Proceeds to talk about how all of the negative news is scarring us.*

I remember seeing a lot of horrible stuff on the news while having food with my family and being scared. This was before i got access to my laptop tho. Now when i see stuff like that it feels sort of like the norm and after like a minute or two i go back to normal. I started to feel like I was a monster cuz of this. On top of that I was being bullied. I kinda just bottled up all these feelings cuz like mentioned in this amazing video I felt pressurized to be "strong". This backfired and I spiraled into depression. I've pretty much recovered now but I still cant get rid of these habits. What I mean to say is that this video felt really personal to me(in a good way) and that I loved it. :)

Don't blame me for existing, *you're the reason I'm here*

When I was 10, we had the Arianna Grande concert incident. Loads of girls in my school went to that concert. We made jokes about it because that was the only way we could make light out of it.

Good job! 👌

I`ve spent the last 3 hours watching TED talks on youtube and this one amazes me the most, because it just captures the core problem our generation faces so well. Paramedics used to be the most cynical people on this planet, now it´s kids and teenagers. Dark humor is the only thing keeping most of us from breaking down and having to be admitted to a mental hospital.

Every time there’s a fire drill everyone in the class waits for gunshots

Goosebumps

I think we should pay close attention to what she's telling us. Great video.

I love this but can I just say, for the first meme I would’ve said,”you put cereal in your bleach?!!”

I'm a gen z, I was watching this thing with my headphones on and thinking like "nah...", then I heard my little sister scream from her bedroom. I panicked and rushed to her bedroom asking what happened. She just wanted to show me she was having online classes with a former teacher of mine.

2:55 i'm DYING😭😭😭

I remember during back in high school, which was just a few years ago, when we had 'shooters' on campus. While they were students with prop guns and perhaps one real firearm, you could tell just how scared we were from the thick stress you could feel around campus. However, unspoken and spoken plans were being made, and you could tell as students grabbed just about anything they could get their hands on and glanced at the door. People were visiting campus and were stuck within some classes, I heard that they were preparing to break windows and figure a way down from the second floor to get a baby out. I would even venture to say that many of us were possibly prepared to be unalived. We were scared sure, but the thought of going down without doing something scared us more.

I was born towards the end of December, 1995, so I sit on the fence. I relate to Gen Z's and Millennials as I was caught somewhere in the middle.

Bravo!

wow she's 14 and doing a ted talk and then here I am, 18 and can't talk in front of people without having an anxiety attack

Idk about changing the world but gen z has a *k* *i* *l* *l* *i* *n* *g* sense of humour.

When she said knowing how to say dolphin in Chinese I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever

I really can't stop thinking about how much this video would have changed a 14 year old me.

2020 gen z is rocking it with these new event and pranks

I heard a loud bang and thought it was a gun but lucky for us it was just the bus hitting the school

it's 100% okay to show emotion and be vulnerable, it doesn't make you weak.

Its really hard nowadays to distinguish actually depressed kids from those who just joke about it.

wow that was so.... true? I don't know i just love to hear abour gen z in ted talk having a gen z speaker thats great

Excellent content in her speech, wish someone told her that her body language and tonal variation would really amplify that when she continues to speak in the future.

Ignorance is Bliss or Knowledge is Power You choose

Her examples about the newspapers is how newspapers have generally been this way. Discussing the internet for answers is scary. Where is the critical thinking involved to find if the answers are correct. We had bomb scares in the 70's. The evolution is school wide shootings. Other articles I have read about Gen Z is they are a creative bunch looking to be part of the change and expecting it. Her young age is really showing. I hope she comes back in 5 years to hear her talk.

I can relate to the not crying thing only because I would be more emotional than my family while watching movies and they'd always look at me and say "aRe YoU cRyInG?" and would make fun of me so I trained myself to hold back my tears

Word

I really wish she didn’t represent our generation, here’s why: -out of the 4 people/groups she mentions only half of them are ubiquitously seen as good people, Greta Thunberg is controversial as she provides little plan of action, and the March for Our Lives is controversial as gun reform is not (despite popular belief) wanted by all of gen z. -Her main topic is that constant fear is now being forged into positive change. Positive change I do not disagree with. Gen Z is open minded on all topics even if former opinions have already been formed, this can only be regarded as a step forward. However, the idea that fear was what drove this is simply wrong. Fear leads to a hopeless and dispirited community, one which Gen Z only contains in surface level comedy that roams the internet and high schools (which is in no way a bad thing, these are often hilarious, however they do give the wrong idea to others that peradventure we are a down trodden group, hardly the case). Pure realistic-optimism (that is to say, on a spectrum of anything that can happen, the most positive is seen as the most likely) drives all change. The idea that a difference can be made, and in relatively swift time-frame is what gives the uplifting nature of this generation. Gen Z can, and will change the world for the better. All that is necessary is that a more nuanced view of this generation as to give the truth of what we want. For far too long have members of both sides straddled children to support their views, now we have a chance to show them how the views of the past are out, and how the future is in.

Oof im 14 and she is out here doing this while im wondering why im still on the earth

Im gen z and a CHILD this is very relatable fear is my fear

Gen z is hearing about school shooting beckoning obsessed with the stories then feeling bad for people and then praying that it will happen to your school so you can either experience it or have an excuse that people will actually listen to, to be traumatized or depressed

yall this is such an amazing presentation- the crowd was bland af

I was born in December 2009 and I'm late Gen Z and it's great you hear our side. Also, people confuse me with gen alpha but I'm around late gen z, close...

Last day of school in the 6th grade we were watching a movie in art class when we heard a loud bang (which we can only assume was just someone dropping something heavy) I saw my friend duck a little in his chair and I went to look and nothing was there, after it was over we immediately started talking about if it was a gun shot. It still gets my blood rushing when I hear a loud bang in school

Anybody else start crying when she mentioned Parkland?? Or just me?

I graduated from high school in 2018 and we went into shooter or threat lockdown maybe 10 times within my junior and senior year- after the parkland shooting

We all should have been laughing, reckless kids enjoying our lives. But in reality, all the stress and anxiety people put on us has made us tired. No longer the reckless and carefree children we could ever be.

You cannot change the outside world's influence, but you can always find peace within yourself,your soul/perception. get rid of the news media.