For all the harm social media causes, when it comes down to it, social media is simply a tool. As with any tool, when yielded well by the right person and for the right purposes, it can be incredibly effective and powerful.
Today’s social media, however, bears little resemblance to the social media of the early 2000s. Two decades ago, social media was used primarily as a way for young adults to connect and socialize. Today’s digital native generation not only uses social media fluently and prolifically, but they also innately understand the immense power housed within social media to create change.
With its early roots in the Industrial Revolution, community organizing first took the form of labor protests and workers’ strikes. Today, social media has become the modern-day equivalent, essentially providing a fertile field for cultivating societal change and rallying social action. It provides a community space for sharing information and networking.
For Gen Z, social media offers them an easily accessible platform and shows them that what they think matters and that they can make a difference. They are largely embracing the medium.
Global data from public relations and research firm Edelman shows a whopping 70% of Gen Zers are involved in a social or political cause. When it comes to advancing their cause, these young Gen Z activists have the advantage of living in a technologically progressive and digitally connected world.
Gen Z activists and their older peers are united in their concern over the same issues – climate destruction, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights – but their voices appear louder and more urgent because they have more ways to source inspiration, disseminate information and mobilise. While older generations set the precedent for grassroots activism and in-person demonstrations, Gen Zers have brought this activity into where they are most comfortable: digital spaces. (BBC)
There are a few distinctive features of Gen Z that make them especially primed for social activism. As a group, they tend to be highly aware of and informed on social issues, socially active, and value-driven. Another distinctive feature is the age of involvement: because of widespread access to social media, Gen Z is getting involved in social causes at a younger age than any generation before.
Gen Z activists rely on their youthful energy, passion, and confidence in their voice and social platform. The very fact that they are ordinary people may make their message even more appealing to their followers, who are able to envision their own place in the cause most important to them.
Bottom line … Gen Z is harnessing the power of social media like no generation before. Here are ten stories of teens using social media for good.
Gen-Z for Change
Originally launched in 2020 as a TikTok account during the U.S. presidential election, Gen-Z for Change has become a collection of Gen Z activists who leverage the power of social media to drive progressive change. A digital take on community organizing, Gen-Z for Change reaches millions of people online. “We mobilize a network of influential users across TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, who together have access to over 500 million people.”
The entire core staff team of 16 is Gen Z, ranging in age from 17 years old to 25 years old.
Causes: Climate Justice, Workers Rights and Economic Justice, Gender Equality and Reproductive Rights, Voting Rights, LGBTQ Rights, Gun Safety, Health Justice, Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Immigration.
In August of 2022, a group of TikTok creators and influencers organized in support of the Amazon Labor Union. Led by Gen-Z for Change and using the hashtag #PeopleOverPrime, more than 70 content creators reached an audience of 51 million users with their public letter to Amazon.com demanding changes, including a wage increase and better working conditions. Knowing how influential they are to the Amazon marketing machine, they threatened to block Amazon from monetizing TikTok’s 1 billion monthly active users.
Not only did it get national media coverage, but it also got Amazon’s attention.
Do Something
Founded in 1993, DoSomething began as an international effort to encourage young people to become active and engaged citizens and leaders in their communities. Although social media did not exist when it started, DoSomething campaigns now rely heavily on social media to educate and equip youth around the world to take action on causes they care about.
In its 30-year history, DoSomething has mobilized 8 million young people in 189 countries and is the largest organization for young people and social change.
DoSomething focuses on registering voters and champions causes like education/STEM, mental health, environmental advocacy, ending bullying and discrimination, strengthening gender rights, gun safety, ending homelessness, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, championing racial justice, and combatting sexual harassment.
Health Bite Back 2030
A youth activist movement challenging the food system and big food companies in the U.K. The goal of Bite Back 2030 is to call on food companies to offer healthier food options and less junk food and to stop marketing ploys that target children with unhealthy products. Founded in 2019 by Jamie Oliver, Bite Back 2030 has a youth board of 70 youth activists who work together to call out food giants through regional and national campaigns.
The movement was launched in October 2019 with a short film created by 12 youth that exposed shady advertising tactics behind the junk food industry. This was followed by a national campaign addressing school lunches, petitions to the UK government to take action and limit advertising to children, challenges to the food industry and large food companies to raise their standards, and a campaign for healthier food standards in sporting events.
Bite Back 2030 uses a strong web presence and social media channels to leverage its messaging and garner support for its campaigns. All these efforts are spearheaded by Gen Z.
Poverty and Social Justice | Kafe Be Kafak
Nadine Khaouli, of Lebanon, was 13 when she began volunteering and taking social action. In April 2020, Nadine launched “Kafe be Kafak” (meaning ‘hand in hand’ in Arabic), an initiative started by Nadine and a group of 5 Gen-Zers from different nationalities & religions to help families living in poverty in Lebanon. Nadine now runs the humanitarian non-profit along with serving full-time as a youth delegate with the UN Development Program.
Climate Change | Fridays for Future
Greta Thunberg was just 15 when she first protested outside the Swedish parliament. She called for stronger action on climate change, skipping school in an effort to influence the outcome of the Swedish election. Leveraging the power of cell phone video, she called for school strikes to continue every Friday until Sweden complied with the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Other protests eventually united and organized to become Fridays for Future.
Animal Rights | Earthlinged
Ed Winters is a veganism and animal rights activist. After becoming a vegetarian in 2014 at the age of 20, Ed set up a YouTube channel which currently has 400,000 subscribers, where he holds conversations and participates in debates about veganism. Ed leverages his large social media following to elevate the conversation about veganism and animal rights.
Environmental and Animal Rights | Genesis Butler
The great-niece of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, Genesis Butler has activism in her genes. She became a vegan at 6 and at age 8 advocated for Meatless Mondays at the Long Beach, California city council. When she was 10 she gave her first TEDx talk on the negative impact of animal agriculture on the environment. She has since founded the non-profit organization Genesis for Animals and is leading the Youth Climate Save movement, an organization she founded in 2020.
LGBTQ+ Rights | Sameer Jha
After being bullied in elementary and middle school, Sameer Jha started the Empathy Alliance at age 14 to support students who are bullied because of their gender identity or sexual orientation and to make schools safer for LGBTQ+ adolescents. An Indian-Pakistani, Sameer is leveraging social media to advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
Licypriya Kangujam
A 12-year-old from Manipur in India, Licypriya Kangujam, is one of the world’s youngest climate activists. In 2019, inspired by Greta Thunberg, Licypriya spent a week outside the Indian Parliament House to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass a climate change law in India. At 10, she has just successfully campaigned to have all plastic pollution cleared from the area surrounding the Taj Mahal.
Her Instagram has 50K followers, and she is also active on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Telegram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Antiracism Activist | Kahlil Greene
After graduating as the only black student in his Maryland high school class of 240, Kahlil Greeme went on to attend Yale and become the first black student body president. He is known on TikTok and Instagram as the “Gen Z Historian” after creating a video series called “Hidden History” that explored how many of the cultural productions on TikTok originated from the Black community. This landed Kahlil a feature in the New York Times. Kahlil continues to use his platform to educate his followers on issues of racial injustice and equality through digital content creation, public speaking, and even collaborating with the White House to prevent the spread of misinformation related to the conflict in Ukraine.
As these stories show, the social activism of Gen Z, combined with the incredible power of social media, has the potential to create massive social change. While social media can have a negative effect on a teen’s life, it can also be an incredibly effective tool when leveraged for the good of the world. We share these stories of teens using social media for good in an effort to bring awareness to and celebrate those in Gen Z who are making a positive difference in the world.
To learn more about how you can influence your own teen to use social media responsibly, check out our digital safety workshop for teens and parents called Influenced.
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