TEDxTeen: The Impact Of Web-Powered Youth Activism

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the TEDxTeen talks at the Scholastic Auditorium in New York. In the spirit of the series (learn more here) the day was full of short but powerful presentations and performances mainly from teens that raised thought-provoking questions and inspirational responses around issues like the literacy crisis and the shortcomings of global aid efforts.

I left with strict marching orders to continue the conversation (check!) and a newfound sense of how easy those instructions were to execute in this age of hyper-connectedness. Granted, the TED lineup was comprised of an extremely ambitious group of individuals with an intentionally international slant (I believe someone estimated 16 countries represented in the room!), but still it struck me how easily and naturally their respective projects had scaled up to a global level…most by just starting a website.

Like your average Gen Y'er, many speakers recounted that first step claiming to have "no idea what they were doing" technically speaking. Clearly it's that type of headfirst approach combined with the low barriers for setting up a site or joining existing pro-social networks like Ashoka Youth Venture, Do Something or the We Are Family Foundation, (which hosted the TEDxTeen event) that allow tween and teen activists to not only broadcast their own stories and initiatives, but to connect, inspire and in some cases even mobilize youth across the world. Take the extraordinary case of TED speaker (and former Ypulse Mashup speaker) 18-year-old Sejal Hathi. Now a freshman studying Biology and International Relations at Yale, Sejal founded social justice org Girls Helping Girls at the age of 15 with friends and the hope of helping girls solve problems in their own communities. Since then Sejal has served as the USA Ambassador for Ashoka as well as on the National Board of Directors for Youth Service America, and her own nonprofit has helped to train and mentor thousands of girls around the world. Another initiative from 14-year-old Dylan Mahalingam, Lil' MDGS, not only started online, but looks to use the web to educate, engage and empower children across the world to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Like so many facets of teen life today, the new media component is second nature for movements like these. Easy, free and efficient, why wouldn't a community service club have a Facebook group, if not a dedicated page or site, to help communicate with its members? Any given young entrepreneur is one Google search away from finding and reaching out to like-minded youth.  Not that every teen will consciously leverage the online platform to build a network larger than their own school or community. My sense is that most won't. And that's okay — the potential to be discovered that way, whether it be by a fellow teen, the media or a larger org looking to aggregate and converge efforts dedicated to one issue (a worthy, but daunting challenge) is what's promising. After all, even if the twofold effect of an amplified youth voice and exposure to similarly inspirational efforts may not be entirely responsible for the surge of volunteerism we've seen from this generation, it certainly has contributed.

On that note, I encourage Ypulse Readers to check out the TEDxTeen talks when they do go up, and share them!

Categorized under: International, Youth Media

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