To a world that alienates my generation,

You’re wrong. We are not the by product of those dystopian novels that bubble over with mindless youth addicted to screens. We are not the selfish, waste of time, or the disrespectful populous you have told us we are. Excuse me if I seem a bit angry, but for my entire life I have been told that my classmates, my best friends, my future leaders of the world that shared my youth, are those that will turn the world into a reality those before us had almost already locked in place. Your presumption that generation Y stands for "why bother" or "why not blame them" has caused me to constantly feel guilty for valuing my phone, my computer and social media. But you don’t realize that with these tools, those innovative forms of human connection, we have kept in contact with best friends who now live thousands of miles away. We have donated to those in need because we were made aware of their issues, and that our help is needed. We have cured diseases, both mental and physical. We have joined hands through social media to support those struck by terrorits attacks against their cities, and their freedom.

My generation is not mindless, but rather innovative. Our media is widespread, highlighting the crimes and violent actions of some. But if we live in a world that forgets portions of their own generation once committed those acts, then we now live in a world with a terrible memory. This world was not ours to create but rather passed on to form into a new image. As this rag tag group of “internet junkies” grows into the suit wearing leaders of tomorrow, I have hope and faith that we will continue to perfect what you have perfected, but also work quickly to correct what you have left long broken. Maybe we annoy others with our protests, our signs that state a truth the world may have been long afraid of, or our constant questions of whether or not that decision was just or a correct use of power. We are not the zombies that your shadows have cast us to be. We are awake.

I often get asked why I get so mad when people discuss how social media is killing us, and the Internet will soon rise up into this sludge monster and defeat us all. It’s because myself, and those my age, have grown up being accused. We have been considered the linchpin for this so-called spiral many view humanity is slowly circling downward in, but in truth, our turn is just now coming. The spiral was not created by us but rather we are the force working against the whirlpool of inequality and unjust actions. We are innovative. We are smart. It's time we stood up to mention, that we haven’t been around long enough to cause the error that exist in our world, but we will see to it that those are corrected.

Do not look down upon me for the selfie I just posted, when you’re generation let our government shut down. Or waited so long to legalize same sex marriage. Or told us our education should come with a lifetime of debt. Or continued to accept a society plagued by gender inequality or institutional racism. Or said it was fine to enter a war that shed so much innocent blood our world was painted red. I refuse to give up on my generation, simply because we have so much to fix. So please excuse us, while we change the world.