Crystal's Genius Hour

  Same. But Different. Welcome back! This will (probably) be my final post in my quest to bridge the generational gap and decode the mysterious ways of teenagers. If you watched my TED Talk, you know that my original mission "to see if my kids could make me cool again” didn’t exactly go as planned. Shocking, I know. However, all was not lost! I learned quite a bit about teen lingo, acronyms, social media platforms, current trends, and the big topics at school. More importantly, I gained a deeper understanding of the issues our youth are facing, found new ways to connect, and realized that the generational gap isn’t as wide as it seems.    Knowledge Bits  Facts: Teenagers are fast . Their conversations are a blur of acronyms and emojis. Their technological skills, and ability to navigate new platforms is nothing short of amazing. They are more self aware than ever before, and know exactly what they do and do not like. When I asked them about trends: Skinny jeans? Out....

  For this leg of my expedition into the puzzling world of teen culture, I decided to dig into what really matters to them — something meatier than Snapchat and fashion (which, by the way, is suspiciously reminiscent of what we wore in the late 90’s early 2000’s - fair warning, any mention of this will only earn you a scathing glare). Expanding my horizons to include the elusive male perspective , I invited my 16-year-old daughter and her boyfriend to join me. Hooray! Another semi-willing participant, bribed only with the promise of Starbucks. What followed was a class in teenage communication, featuring a symphony of shrugs, grunts, and the occasional eye roll, peppered with moments of surprisingly thoughtful insight. The takeaway? Teens aren’t apathetic — they’re just more fluent in sarcasm and memes than actual small talk. So, what gets them talking? Spoiler alert: it’s not politics. Here’s how it all went down: I had my suspicions that traditional topics of debate would not gen...