Politics Through the Eyes and Lens of a Local Teen
- Jun 29
- 2 min read
As an aging Millennial, I have reached the point in my life where I can safely say, "When I was your age…"
When I was your age, cell phones only could make phone calls.
When I was your age, social media meant we all had to learn how to use HTML and had to rank our "Top 8 Friends".
When I was your age, the President was running on "hope and change," and a few years later the biggest scandal anyone could name was the color of his suit (who knew tan was such an issue?!)
Now, looking back to my teen years, it is hard to imagine that only 20 years have passed and not 200 with all of the technological advances and political turbulence that has come in between. I am not sure how I would look at the world as a teen today, nor am I sure I would have been brave enough to jump into the morass that politics seems to have become.
Fortunately, there are young people like Anya, who today have taken that leap. Through the sometimes fortunate blessings of the Instagram algorithm, I stumbled across her account @the_civicedit recently, where as a local teenager she has taken it upon herself to interview local leaders and politicians to help get other teenagers engaged. She has mastered modern media and capitalized on today's attention economy, recognizing in a world where there is so much going on, it is easy to feel "lost". It is easy for adults to forget that teens want to be engaged, and should be involved, in politics and their community, but between this SAT and that college application and this Prom dress and this ten hours of homework, there needs to be a direct way to explain things to them.
Anya has produced a series of wonderful interviews that I encourage you all to watch. I wanted to reach out to her and "interview the interviewer" and learn what got her started, as well as what teenagers really think about politics right now. Please find our interview below.
Thank you Anya for your great work and service, as well as for giving hope to this "lost" adult.
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