With the recent release of Time’s “30 Most influential Teens” list, I started considering the question, what truly makes you influential?
This is how Time decides who is influential: “ We consider accolades across numerous fields, global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news.”
The list includes a wide variety of young influencers, from a 13-year old entrepreneur to social media stars.
Half of the list consists of teens that were everyday kids and did something exceptional that got their names in the headlines. The other half consists of teens who were already in the headlines or had made names for themselves and have used their names to help influence others.
There are teens on this list that you might have never heard of until they made headlines such as Ashima Shiraishi who, at the age of 13, was the first female and youngest person to go through what is considered to be the world's most difficult rock-climbing course.
Others on the list you may recognize, such as Amandla Stenberg, also known as Rue from The Hunger Games. She has earned an NAACP Image Award and Teen Choice Award nomination for her outspokenness about black culture.
Those on the list who are very well-known seem to have made the cut because of their name and the pure influence they have on their followers, which is one of the ways Time chooses their candidates.
The question now is, should Time choose those who already have a name for themselves or should they highlight those who are everyday teens and have done exceptional things and made a name for themselves?
The world is so wrapped up in celebrities and we're always wondering what they are doing or wearing. They are in the spotlight, so of course they influence us. But is it only because we see them everyday on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and television. Even before we really think about it, we’re going out to find the shoes Jennifer Lawrence was wearing when she went to go get coffee. Or we start to act a certain way because we saw an interview of Selena Gomez and we want to be just like her. The exposure to celebrities influences us.
We might think that they are just using their names to influence us instead of doing something positive to make a name for themselves. But in Kendall Jenner’s case, she wanted to get rid of her last name and association with the Kardashians to make her own name in the fashion world. She did so very successfully, thus landing her name on the list.
I understand why Time puts all of them together. All of these teens have influenced others no matter what they did or where they stand on a “social scale”. An everyday teen deserves to be on the same list as a celebrity if they are reaching exceptional ambitions. It shows kids and teens that they, too, can be influential no matter where they are from.
It’s nice to see everyday people, young people at that, that have accomplished things that not many adults are able to reach. It brings a reality check that you don’t have to have a big bank account to reach the goals you have. It gives us hope to know our future generation has hope.
