YES NO

BY: DAVID KLEEMAN

ith a hat tip to The Who: “The kids are alright.” Today’s young people create games, videos, TikToks, fan art and fiction. Confronted with a pandemic that isolated them from friends, they adopted and adapted digital platforms to sustain their social lives. They control more discretionary money than any previous cohort, and they want to spend it on brands and experiences that engage with and listen to them.

In short, Gen Z and Gen Alpha not only want agency in their media, technology and entertainment—they expect it.

WHAT IS AGENCY?

We’re still primarily in a web2, centralized world, where platform companies own the tools of production, avenues of distribution and users’ data. Web3 will someday have amazing potential to return agency to users, but it’s too early for kids to be safe in decentralized worlds.

Agency is not absolute. Kids need support to build a foundation for exploration and responsible risk-taking in digital spaces. Beyond tech and regulatory solutions, teaching critical literacy is needed across all media industries, and from parents and educators.

FANDOM, CONNECTED

Youth have a long history of exerting agency over their favorite things, making stories and characters, toys and games their own through their play, dress and creativity.

But there was a time when sharing that fandom was limited to a child’s physical community. As a kid, if I wore a Davy Crockett cap and my friend donned a Superman cape, the roleplay hit a wall.

BY: PETER ROBINSON

oung people are incredibly invested, both in their own development and in the world around them. But so much of this is out of their hands—and that’s something I’d like to change.

I would argue that despite the potential access to more information than ever before, they actually have less agency than previous young generations. (The word “potential” is intentional and important.)

First, let’s talk about what agency means. The dictionary definition is, “the ability to take action, or choose what action to take.” But in order to do this, you need:

1. Awareness (because you can’t act on something you know nothing about);

2. Comprehension (because understanding something’s relevance to you provides the motivation and rationale for action); and

3. The ability and/or desire to act.

Many movements have been inspired by young generations challenging norms and taking action, including Black rights, women’s suffrage, anti-war movements and even punk. But today’s young people face barriers to agency that are not as clear-cut.

Awareness

Young people have access to so much information, but it is largely fed to them by powerful forces—algorithm-powered mega-plaforms, brands with hungry bottom lines, and influencers seeking “engagement.” (Thankfully, educators still play a role in this, too.)

These forces put agency in peril: How can you reasonably filter when there is so much noise?