There are a lot of different regions in America, and with each region comes a different way of thinking. As our country becomes more divided, it’s easier to see this. We see adults fighting about their different views all the time, both on social media and in person. But what about the youth of America? What are our thoughts on the divides in the country? How do we view people in other parts of our nation? As a rural teenager, I only know how we view people in other places, specifically more urban areas.

This is my disclaimer: I only speak for myself. This article is going to be based off of my thoughts on what I have seen and talked about with peers.

Let’s start with some of the more negative opinions I’ve seen and heard. Of course, as the trends tend to be, the more urban areas in the country lean more Democratic. Unfortunately, the teenagers who think they lean that way don’t really know what it means. As I’ve stated before in my article Generation Z: The Future of America?, my generation doesn’t tend to do much research on topics. We kind of just follow what is being said by people we look up to. And while that isn’t ideal, it is part of growing up and hopefully is something we will grow out of.

The general consensus of thoughts toward the urban kids tends to be that we view them as sheep. They follow what they are told and don’t investigate who is telling them things. There are very few “leaders” among them.

That is not to say that the rural kids are perfect, or any better than them. We are also just teenagers. Yet from what I’ve seen, we don’t blindly follow as much. I’ve seen some of the most “unmotivated” kids (kids you wouldn’t expect to see doing research voluntarily) sit and read about subjects they hear about. Then we form out opinions. I know from experience that we don’t just follow. My own parents and I have differing opinions on things, simply because I read about what I was hearing about and was able to form that opinion on my own.

But there are also things that I personally admire about the urban kids. For one, they are a very united bunch, something America needs more of. While I don’t agree most of the time with what they are united on, the fact that they can get entire areas to agree with them, millions of people, is quite impressive.

As a generation, we are quite open to new things. Our general trends and interests fluctuate as we try to figure out who we are and that we’re going to do with our lives. We like to support small artists, creators, and businesses.

The rural kids I have found are generally accepting of other people. So long as you aren’t hurting anyone, we don’t mind you. In my opinion, that’s how everyone should see other people. There are a lot of ways that rural teenagers view the urban teens, and the other way around of course. And over all it leans towards simply accepting our differences and shaking our heads a bit. Sometimes we’re scared of what our generation is going to bring to the future, but so long as we can stay somewhat separate and do our own thing, we’ll be ok.