Sometimes I find myself wishing I had been born in another time. To experience a world where people interact with each other rather than stare blankly at a screen, where I will be seen as a real person instead of as an inaccurate online profile, where “netflix and chill” will never be considered a good date.
I used to lose myself in old movies depicting a simpler time. I listened to old rock bands and pretended I was cheering along with the long-ago crowds. I tried to block out people my own age because it depressed me.
It depressed me that I was ashamed of my own generation. I felt embarrassed to be a part of the newest product of this world because it seemed like all we cared about were selfies and partying and memes.
At least that’s how older people view us. They call us lazy, shallow and narcissistic. They criticise us.
“They’re too dependent on technology.”
“They’re too materialistic.”
“They take it all for granted.”
I recently watched a video by journalist Joel Stein, age 41, in which he attempted to spend a day in the shoes of a “millennial,” most of the depiction was pretty accurate. His challenges included things like: “sleep near your phone and check it as soon as you wake up,” “send at least 30 text messages,” “at least one of these messages has to be a sext” (*insert blush emoji*), “use more than one digital device at a time,” and so on.
Accompanying this video, Stein wrote an article about the Millennial generation, which he calls the “ME ME ME” generation. He claims that we are a generation of self-obsessed individuals (hashtag selfie anyone?). That we are “cocky about our place in the world.” Most importantly, he notes how we all have one message ingrained in our minds: you are special. And how this is a problem because it makes us behave like narcissists. And we can’t have that can we?
Stein’s words, which echo the thoughts of many from Generation X and even the Boomers, deeply wounded me, because they reflected my own insecurities about representing a generation that I couldn’t decide whether I was proud to be a part of or not.
But then I realized how stupid it would be to turn my back on my own people. I had decided.
I know that one day, perhaps twenty, thirty years from today, this is the generation who will lead our world. My generation. Your generation. And who are we, really?
We are the kids raised in a new world. Our childhood was built on the end of an era. We remember chunky game-boys and tamagotchis. We watched "Rugrats" and "Spongebob." We poured over Harry Potter and Captain Underpants books (not comparable yes I know).
But we also knew the future. We had YouTube videos to laugh ourselves silly over. We had MSN, Skype, and finally Facebook to keep in touch with our friends from all over the world. We had access to every human discovery, every story ever told, right in our pockets.
We are also huge romantics. So many Tumblr blogs and Instagram feeds dedicate themselves to beautiful quotes and scenic nature photographs. We stress things like wanderlust and adventure. We see the world as beautiful and mysterious and full of possibilities. And perhaps, in this quest to discover what it is we really want to do, rejecting the traditional path of rigid study and discipline, we unknowingly come across as lazy or arrogant.
We came into existence at a crucial point in human history. The twenty-first century is a time of great and rapid change. And thus we have been dubbed the “Millennials.” The generation who will bridge the gap between the old and the new, technologically, culturally, socially.
We are liberals. Free spirits. We are the largest generation in American history. And that gives us great power. We are the ones who fight for gender equality, marriage equality, social equality. We are not bound by the limits our parents were. We like to do things quickly because we can, not because we are lazy.
My point is, for the longest time, I’ve been ashamed to be a part of a generation that others scoff at. And perhaps you have shared these same sentiments. But now I’m here to tell you it’s time to step away from those doubts and insecurities because this is what we were born into and the world is only going to move forward. It is time to accept ourselves and our peers and embrace our strange funky generation.
Because in thirty years, all those inside jokes are going to make sense, those subtle references to our past will become clear. We are going to be the leaders. And you do not want to be left out.
