TeenVogue: "Here's Exactly What to Do When Someone Dismisses You Because of Your Age"

Your words are more powerful than you think.

By Taylor Trudon, May, 2015

Taylor Trudon was selected to give a talk at TEDxTeen, a conference where young men and women spoke about their simple ideas that made a big impact. After her talk, Teen Vogue caught up with Taylor, a senior editor for The Huffington Post Young Voices, to learn how teens can use their voice to change the world. Click to watch her talk above, then read her tips for using your own voice below. As told to Courtney Lindstrand.

The theme of this year's TEDxTeen conference was "Simply Irresistible." I loved how it encompassed the idea of finding simple solutions to complex problems. As a journalist, when I think of what "simple" means, I think of words. We live in a social media-saturated world where we communicate in emojis and Vines and Snapchats, but at the end of the day, it all comes back to words. It's the most basic form of expression.

As a senior editor for the Young Voices section of The Huffington Post, one of the things that I constantly hear from adults is that teens are narcissistic and social media-obsessed. When you google the phrase "Generation Z is", it auto-populates the words "lazy", "screwed", and "doomed". That was striking to me, because I know for a fact it's not true. It's been amazing for me as an editor to be able to sit back and watch a team of hundreds of teen bloggers from all over the world use their voice and create a community. There are so many different ways you can share your story—here are a few tips to get you started:

You can use social media for more than just Snapchatting your friends.
When I was a teen, I didn't have Twitter or Snapchat and getting your ideas out wasn't as instantaneous. When I was 16, I had a diary, and that's how I got my thoughts down. It was an outlet to express my feelings. I was able to find my voice through writing and that led me to become a journalist. Even though the medium changed and I went from writing in my diary to blogging for The Huffington Post, what didn't change was words. Being able to share your story with millions of people is a really powerful thing because words transcend. Yes, you can have a powerful Instagram image or YouTube video that grabs someone's attention, but it's ultimately the words accompanying that image or video that drives people to take action. Words can inspire a movement.

Never forget that your voice matters.
Whether or not you're interested in journalism and sharing your story with others for a living, your voice matters. As an editor at The Huffington Post, I aim to give teens a platform. Young people are so used to hearing their voice doesn't matter or they think 'Why would the world care about what I have to say?' and I want them to know that what you have to say is important. Your thoughts are valid. Your words are valuable. You don't have to be an aspiring journalist to have that in the back of your mind at all times.

Don't underestimate the power of internet-based communities.
I wish I had the community that teenagers have built on the internet. No matter where they live or how old they are, they've been able to find each other and connect. They have conversations about meaningful topics like feminism, body image, and mental health. It's been really special for me to see this amazing community come together and to watch people form these true friendships online. It's something that I wish I had in high school when I was obsessing about college and AP tests. I was trying to find people that were like me and had the same interests, so it's really cool to see that come to life and give teens the chance to virtually lean on each other.

Find your cause, and use your voice to call attention to it.
One of the bloggers on The Huffington Post Young Voices, Kamrin Baker wrote this really incredibly powerful and brave blog post about her anxiety disorder. Not only do I have so much respect for her for being able to be so vulnerable and write about such a personal topic, but she also wrote about how her school and so many others schools don't have mental health resources for teens. It's not taken seriously enough, and the resources just aren't there. She wrote about why that was a problem and how she started The Joy is Genius Campaign to spread positivity in her school and raise awareness about mental health wellness. It was very inspiring and just one example of a teen using her words to create positive change.

Don't allow people to dismiss you because of your age.
Giving a talk at TEDxTeen was just further confirmation that young people are amazing and they are doing incredibly important things. We need to be paying attention as a society. Age truly is nothing but a number. In the past, age was used against young people, but now is such a great time to be a teen. We live in an age where teens are building businesses in their bedrooms or dreaming up ways to detect cancerous cells after school. Real teenagers are giving us examples every day why they shouldn't underestimate themselves, and we shouldn't underestimate them either.

Read full article HERE:
www.teenvogue.com/my-life/2015-05/taylor-trudon-ted-teen-talk