The other day, I was scrolling through Facebook, sampling the vast menagerie of hot-button issues, the heated stances and clashing positions, when I came across a post that opened with “back in my day.” It went about where you’d expect, praising various values of the Baby Boomer/GenX heyday, but it made me pause because the person who shared it is about my age. In fact, I’ve seen a number of these kinds of posts recently being shared by members of my generation, and I’m not sure it’s a great sign.

Now before you settle in, let me clarify a couple things this article is not: it’s not a bashing of the older generation, an attack on certain members of mine, a staunch defense of “Millennial values,” or a stance on any of the previously-mentioned issues based on some age or political group’s general disposition. Call me softball, but I don’t feel prepared right this second to enter into these discussions that so many loud, fervent voices are already carrying.

My qualm is not with a generation or political faction. In fact, it’s not really a qualm at all. It’s a plea. It’s a plea to this generation, my generation, to think for themselves. I’m saying this to anyone who has ever clicked to share an article on social media or regurgitated some perspective they heard, with their only real reason being “it’s what my parents taught me,” or “I like the person who said it.”

To all of you, and I’m guilty of it too, I say this: please stop and think for a moment. That’s not “stop” as in “stop posting perspectives different from mine,” and it’s not “think” as in “start thinking because what you’re saying is stupid.” That’s stop and think, as in take a minute, and think about what you really believe. If it’s really the same verbatim as that post you shared, great. If it turns out that after a couple decades of living you wholeheartedly agree with what your family said, wonderful. But there’s a difference between informed agreement and blind acceptance.

It may be that the people whose posts inspired me to write this have done this already. But even so, I know there are many who have not. Too often I hear peers relate someone else’s words, then get upset at any disagreement. In my experience, anger is never a result of being informed, but a substitute for it.

This is a problem that persists on numerous topics, from presidential candidates to the best summer blockbuster, and no side, be it liberal, conservative, Marvel or DC, has avoided it. The trouble is that we take someone else’s position as our own, without really giving it much thought, so that we see other opinions as personal attacks on us, only cementing our devotion to an ideal we may not truly hold.

The internet has made our generation notorious for this kind of faux-discourse, and it’s giving us a bad name. The fact is that information and opinions have never been easier to come by, or easier to share. In that lies an incredible opportunity for learning and understanding, but it also makes it incredibly simple to declare something without entirely comprehending it. One click or tap after a cursory read and a quick thought of “yeah, I agree with that,” and suddenly you’ve made yourself a public defender, with no real knowledge with which to defend.

So again, I plead, please think. Please take the time to understand both sides of an issue, weigh your own values, and decide where you really stand. This world is becoming more ours with each passing day, and that means it’s up to us to make something of it. Something we truly believe in. Something that’s ours, not someone else’s.

I’m not asking everybody to agree. That too would bury the value of original thought. But please, the next time you see something that begins with “back in my day,” consider if it’s something you really want to share. Because this isn’t their day anymore. It’s ours. So let’s make something of it.