WOKE

ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Mbile Mushe

Woke, the term that determines individuality for modern teens. Woke according to the urban dictionary is thinking that the box most people think out of is still a box others refer to being woke as when one has broken social and political norms.

Being woke has become a culture because as of late, teens have started to defy ancient societal ideologies and beliefs. Examples of such occurrences would be the opposition to racial profiling or the acceptance of uprising sexual orientations. This type of ideology became popular when the American campaign “black lives matter” became notorious hence why woke is basically a rebellion against social and political norms. According to one of the students who prefers to go by ‘DJ spirit’, “being woke is necessary because a lot of things are hidden from us and being woke gives yourself an advantage.”.

In this fast-paced growing society, the youth is under a lot of pressure to get things done and to join the rat race. There is a clear rift between the generation before independence and the generation after, the “born frees” because modern teens have a completely different perspective on things. One generation believes in doing things a certain way, they have a recipe for everything, and this is not necessarily a bad thing, but variety is the spice of life. Usually, when you follow a recipe for a meal it turns out amazing but kids of today believe that life is not a recipe, life is unpredictable. This is where adults tend to be confused by the youth’s behaviors because “you’re a kid, what do you know about life?”