The majority of you grew up in completely different times than today. Times without cellphones, the internet, hybrid cars, Netflix, 1000s of TV channels, social media, pressure to have more than just a Bachelor’s degree–the list goes on.
For a long time, I wished I had been born in a simpler time, decades ago, without all the distractions there are for millennials today. I have also always loved and been extremely fascinated with history, but I have slowly come to the realization that since my time is now, I must be in the right time, and I am ready to become somebody in this era of history just like those who came before me.
Please do not just judge millennials based only on our selfies, obscure slang–that half of us do not even understand– new progressive ideas and tweets. I know your generations had better music, but I think you all can agree with me when I say most of you might regret a hairstyle or two from back in the day.
Today, I would like to inform you of some thoughts that millennials want you all to know: it is not easy growing up today, our generations need to become closer and the reason why we are proud to be born in this time period.
It is not easy growing up in the 21st century. It would have been so much easier living in a time without a standardized test for almost every core class from elementary school to high school. Millennials feel the most pressure to have perfect grades and great test scores by parents, colleges and our own peers than any other time before. There are a lot of us, and school has become a complete competition: fighting like we are in the Hunger Games for an extra point, and agonizing over the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.875–I am proud of you for all that understood the young adult book reference, by the way.
I am also here today to inform you that even though a lot has changed in technology in a short amount of time, the relationship between our generations should not be as distant as it is currently. When one of you ask a son or a granddaughter to help set up your iPad, teach you how to use a smartphone or create a Facebook account, these are the perfect opportunities to help bridge the large gap.
To make these large gaps smaller there has to be a willingness to learn and make mistakes from your side and patience from ours. In reality, the difference between you guys, baby boomers and Generation X, to your own parents and grandparents was quite large also, and you all have seemed to have made common ground. Why can we not do the same? Give us a chance.
I mentioned before that I used to want to have grown up in a different era, but over time I have realized the importance of the millennials–my generation. I am now proud of my generation because without it, there would not be nearly as many technological advances and let's face it, no Google or YouTube. We are the most diverse generation that has grown up in the United States, and we make up about a fourth of the US population.
Our generation is proud of ourselves because we survived childhood and are finally going to be adults that can implement change. Everyone should be tired of the younger generation's opinions going unheard. I hope you all search for even more similarities between yourselves and your children and grandchildren so that preceding generations can finally take the current generation seriously.