Juventud más allá de Tik Tok | Kyara Cascante | TEDxPuraVidaJoven
Translator: Amaia Wilson Frade Reviewer: Michael Nystrom Right there, where you’re sitting, I want you to think: What is youth? For many of you, it might be the best years of your life. For others, from an adult-centric perspective, you might consider it to be a time of rebellion and immaturity. Today, I will talk about what youth means to me. For me, youth is a diverse seed made up of young people from different areas, industries, and backgrounds, from the coast, the mountain, the city, in which, together as young people, we cultivate this seed. Moreover, this seed doesn’t develop alone. It develops within an ecosystem through symbiotic relationships. By symbiotic relationships, I'm referring to intergenerational relationships. Intergenerational relationships are relationships at work, in daily life, in our families, between young people, children, and adults. And this is our topic today. In Costa Rica, around 36% of the population are young people. According to the United Nations, a young person is aged between 15 and 24. In Costa Rica, the age range we are dealing with is from 12 to 35 years old. And just so you get an idea, that 36% represents 1.8 million people, which is more or less the size of the population we have here in the capital of Costa Rica, San José. So, we're talking about a huge number of seeds that have potential for growth. A study from the University of Zaragoza states that young people spend over six hours a day in front of screens. Between scrolling through TikTok, watching Instagram stories, or looking at memes on Facebook. It's fair to say that it's a large part of our day. However, in Costa Rica, 43% of young people study. I state this to show that not only do we use screens, whether from our phones or computers, to look at memes or play games, but we also use them to work or study. I don’t know if you know, but very rarely, in history books, in lessons, whether in preschool, university, or high school, or even masters or doctorates, are the contributions of young people mentioned in academics, science, social, business or any other field. Our history is hardly ever mentioned. And this is why we're going to talk today about examples of intergenerational work that have made a difference, that have gone one step further and are a success. Firstly, I want to tell you about six young women from Costa Rica, biotech engineers, who were chosen out of over 500 young people to be industry leaders in Latin America in 2020. Opening the door to an industry that had previously only been open to academics, people with doctorates. Now we also give thanks to the intergenerational alliance of academic professors, members of the private sector, and the efforts of our young people. We also have the Climate Change Party Conference. A world-leading conference in which the most important environmental and climate change negotiations are carried out. Previously, these negotiations were exclusively for politicians, diplomats, and those who already had ten years of a diplomatic career under their belts, or even thirty. Or for the private sector that holds power in these spaces. But it turns out that around five or ten years ago, during that period of time, young people disrupted those spaces with adults who were already in the industry. And now this work, done by young people and adults, has allowed Costa Rica, for three years now, to send young people as part of the country's negotiation team in climate change matters with other countries. This image is from last year from the Youth Delegation of Costa Rica at the COP. Today, I am a part of the Youth Delegation of Costa Rica at the COP, and this conference actually ends today. This is an example of how the efforts of the Costa Rican diplomats from executive power and the efforts of NGOs and young people have paved the way for us to achieve great things. This was a huge milestone, because this was previously only open to those who had exclusive access. Next, we have the aerospace industry. The Costa Rican aerospace industry was previously dominated by large portions of the academic and private sectors. This is the delegation of Costa Rica at the Aerospace Congress in Paris this year. The majority are entrepreneurs, TEC students who work alongside scientists in this country's aerospace industry. Next, I’d like to share an anecdote about my community. I became active in my community when I was 13 years old. I started to do things in school and in my town. People in my town thought that young people simply went to school and did nothing else other than stay at home or go partying at night. But what happened was my generation and others arrived, and we began to change that. We sought help from the local government to do projects. What you see here, although it's a bit dark, is a mural we now have in the front, and it reads “Miramar”. It's a mural that we did three years ago. And this mural means that today, the councillors and the rest of the community see us as young changemakers. We work together, adults and young people, for a better region. This final anecdote goes even further because it is the anecdote of a friend who graduated from university, but no one would hire him because they said he was too young to be hired for such a position. This is an example of ageism. Today, he runs a company he founded where he has contracts in cybersecurity from the Costa Rican government and the United States government, and he is recognised for this. This shows us that intergenerational work generates wealth that helps us go further, both adults and young people, to build a better Costa Rica. I also would like to share that, in my case, in all of these meetings, both with entrepreneurs, executive powers, and others, they would always ask me something that I found strange, in my opinion. And that question is: “What makes you be like this?” And the “makes you be like this” made me say, “Me?” "For me, right?" It was like, why are you so active? Why do you like to do projects? Why are you so young? Doing these things made me be, as we’d say, “extra”. And then I always had the same conclusion that I wasn't this way for any genetic reason, but because of the intergenerational work that was done in my family that allowed me to make decisions, allowed my voice to be heard in the same way that the voices of others in my family were heard, at the dinner table, regardless of age or generational diversity, horizontally, and respecting our individuality. That was the key. An example of this is my great-grandfather. When he was 85, I was eight years old. And I always gave him lessons on what I learnt at school and at the academy I attended. He always listened to me with so much eagerness and always let me give him lessons on what I had learnt. My point is that it's important that we work intergenerationally and that we hold spaces to grow together. So I tell you some of my story because I’d like you to ask yourselves: What are you building from intergenerational work? (Whispering) The end.