Time Magazine recently did a piece about "The Me Me Me” generation. As a begrudging member of this age bracket, I personally cannot disagree with this label. In the 1940s, there were members of the country - like Audie Murphy - who faked their birthday in order to serve their country. The generation of Baby Boomers makeup twenty-six percent of the population today and are responsible for almost all of the great inventions and discoveries in the last century. And then there are the Millennials, whose problems revolve around not having the latest iPhone or WiFi connection.
As an insider to “Generation Y,” I can, without any guilt or bias, say that we are above all, the most apathetic generation yet. But, unfortunately, we are not all to blame. As many economists and theorists have said over the centuries, an economy, a society, a country, is cyclical. The ups and downs of an economy are a long time coming, and usually just a result of a decision someone in Congress made over a decade ago. So, the fact that Generation Y grew up in one of the most prosperous times of our country - the beneficial period of Reaganomics and the “boom” after the “bust” of the long strand of wars that exploded out of the end of World War II - but are now riding out the tail-end of the boom into one of the worst economic recessions in this country since the Great Depression itself.
This means that we are going to be the first generation in history to make less than our parents; that we are getting twenty percent of our paycheck deducted towards social security, but will not ever see a penny of it again; that a college degree is now equivalent to that of a high school diploma, except that it now costs three times as much as college tuition in 1995; that colleges themselves have boosted requirements for entry, and competition is fierce; that we are hiding behind our iPhones and First World Problems because the real world is daunting and our future is looking like the equivalent of the Dark Ages.
But, I am not saying this to negate or even defend Generation Y. I am not here to pass the blame to previous generations for the way my generation has turned out. I am here to quiver in fear at the prospect of my high school class one day running the country. I’m terrified of the possibility that our Congressional debates will no longer be held in the Senate but on the digital battlefield of Twitter or Facebook. I’m expecting our economy to shrivel up under Gen. Y’s regime, due to the fact that none of us - myself included - know the true value of the dollar. I’m holding my breath in trepidation that the apathy and carelessness that Generation Y awards everything will steer the United States of America into the ground.
Personally, being brought up in a generation molded by the cartoons and television shows of the 1990s and early 2000s, I understand the reason why my generation is so liberal and why we take topics such as birth control, rape, abortion, and gay rights as radically as we do. But, we hide behind our keyboards. Half of my generation is hunched over a computer, the blue background of Facebook illuminating their face, typing out a rant filled with “lol”s and “tbh”s, funneling all that opinionated controversy into nothing.
In essence, my generation is filled with complainers and no one willing to take action. We will not write to our congressman, but we will tweet Justin Bieber that he needs to stop wearing baggy pants. We will not make an effort to better the country, but we will complain about how bad our government and economy is. And as I sit here, typing out this rant, complaining, belittling, and striking down the millions of young adults that make up Generation Y, I am faced with a sobering realization:
I am just like them.
