These days, you really can't scroll 10 posts up or down any adult-based social networking platform without seeing some comic, article, or video about how much my generation sucks. As a member of the millennial generation (although on the younger end of it), I can't go a single day on the internet without reading someone's opinion about how we are lazy, entitled, narcissistic. We're always on our smartphones, care more about likes, than actual conversation. We're lazy and would rather sit at home and play video games than go out and look for a steady job. We're destroying society with our disconnection from other humans and our political correctness.

We have two whole generations of elders above us who sometimes seem to do nothing but look down with contempt, and a small sector of our own generation saying the same things, because they think they're so much better than the rest of us. They turn their noses up at our cell phones, make fun of social media and the internet, and call us ignorant until their dusty keyboards break in half from the sheer stress of handling so much pretentiousness.

But here's the thing, we don't suck. Millennials have grown up in an era of massive technological advancement. We saw the rise of the computer, the invention of the internet, and the rapid shrinking of the cell phone from an antenna-clad brick used by business CEOs to the modest but insanely powerful 5-inch smartphone. Along with that boom came the invention and mass spread of social media, and the ability to connect with anyone in the world at the touch of a button. We grew up on computers, learned how to Google something before most of us learned algebra. We had personal phones at a young age and adapted naturally to every advancement of the technology from the Motorola Razr to the iPhone 6s. This technology has been around our whole lives, and it shaped us into a generation that a lot of older people like to crap on for being obsessed with our computers and cell phones.

First of all, we know how to play outside. We all did it. I can't tell you a single time in my childhood where I chose to sit inside and play Neopets rather than going out on the lake or pretending that the woods outside my house were full of dragons. Granted, I lived in a house without an internet connection for most of my childhood, but even my friends who had the internet and the newest computers would quickly leave them in favor of a good game of tag outside. If you gave me the choice right now of sitting here and typing this article on my computer, and a fun day on the lake, I'd choose the lake every time. We played outside and kids today are still playing outside. Stop worrying about kids, kids are always going to want to play tag and jump on a trampoline. That's just what kids do.

So what if we did spend a lot of our time as kids on the computer? When I wasn't playing outside, I was on the computer at my grandmother's house (she had, and still has, a great internet connection) playing Wizard 101, Club Penguin, and participating in those ancient "Harry Potter" fan wikis. Why is that a bad thing?

Despite years of hearing that it would "rot my brain," my brain still functions well enough for me to be passing all of my college classes. Just because you didn't have access to the internet when you were a kid doesn't mean that the internet is a bad thing for all kids. While I agree it's important to monitor what children do, and block certain sites that aren't suitable for young eyes, I don't think the internet destroyed our youth. In fact, growing up with access to that technology made me very familiar with a platform I would be using in the future to write essays, apply for jobs, and to inform myself about current events and issues on a daily basis.

I think some of the older generations' bitterness towards computers, the internet, and smartphones stems from their lack of familiarity and understanding. Honestly, it is not their fault, either. They didn't grow up with it like my generation did; it's not an integral part of how they interact and connect. They look back on their younger years and remember a time when people didn't ever use cell phones or the internet to connect to each other, and the difference between then and now scares some people. Technological advancement is nothing to be scared of, it's a natural part of the world's evolution. I'm sure back in ancient times when they invented paper, the older people complained about how young people don't know how to etch out a message on a stone tablet anymore.

It's OK to be older and not know how to unlock an iPhone, or download Google Chrome. What's not OK is when you channel that lack of understanding into hating on my generation, or calling us obsessed when, really, we are just using the tools we've had since childhood to go about our daily lives. We use our phones to connect to the world just like we use face to face interaction. At any given time that I'm on my phone, I'm probably either talking to a friend or family member who is hours away via text messaging, or checking my grades, working on an assignment or reading about anything from presidential candidates to "Game of Thrones" fan theories. Or I'm scrolling through Twitter and looking up cat gifs. What is so wrong with that?

Assuming that people my age don't know how to actually talk to other humans because they spend a lot of time on their phones is ridiculous. We know how to socialize and talk to people when we need to or want to. If you're talking to someone who can't get off their phone long enough to reply, odds are they probably wouldn't want to be talking to you with or without the phone.

The same goes for selfies, and this idea that my generation is all about ourselves. While I do agree that some people do overuse things like the front camera and social media, the fact is that if you don't like seeing someone post twenty pictures of themselves a day, you can easily unfollow them. Instead of hating on someone and calling them narcissistic for liking the way they look, simply take advantage of the technology in front of you and filter your own media so you don't have to see it. And honestly, what is so bad and scandalous about selfies? Self-love is a very important thing, and it's a thing that everyone (even those people who post 20 selfies a day) struggles with all the time. Social media has given us a platform to share that self-love, and to make others feel like they aren't alone in that struggle. As a person who used to hate on selfies, I know what that bitterness feels like. Now I realize that my hate of selfies stemmed from my own lack of confidence, and taking them and sharing them has helped me gain a better perspective and love myself more.

Not only do we know how to love ourselves, we know how to love others. I can't post a single selfie on social media without at least one of my friends complimenting me or just sending a heart eyes emoji to let me know that they think I'm beautiful. We're not all about ourselves, we use social media and technology to share love for others as well. Where I'd once have to send a letter to a friend hours away at a different college to tell her she looked gorgeous at a formal, now I can just comment on her photo and let her know instantly. Empathy isn't disappearing with the advancement of technology, it's evolving with technology.

We aren't ignorant, either. Most of us have every major news outlet in the world at our fingertips at any given time. Not only do we read constantly (and everything from news reports to articles reimagining the Disney princesses as lukewarm bowls of water), we also have access to multiple viewpoints on every issue instead of being confined to newspapers and magazines with either a liberal or conservative bias. We have Google, Wikipedia and countless other websites to inform us about anything and everything we could ever need to know. We know what we're talking about, it's just sometimes we'd rather share the article about twerking cat gifs than start a political debate with our great aunt over presidential candidates. And, yes, sometimes when you ask me about something I don't know much about I immediately go to Google it, but that's just because I'd rather give you an informed answer than spout a bunch of generalized statements and pretend I know more than I do.

We aren't lazy; we are living in a world with fewer and fewer job opportunities by the day. Most entry level jobs require 1-4 years of experience nowadays, and sometimes those (unpaid) internships we did in college simply don't count. Humans, in general, are living longer and therefore high-level positions are never being emptied for new people to come in. Most of the older millennials entered the workforce during the worst economic recession since the 1930s. On top of that, we also have an insane amount of student loans. College is more expensive than it has ever been in the history of forever, and a lot of us are leaving college with a half a million dollar debt on our backs. We're moving back home because we have no other choice, and because our childhood dreams of "being whatever we wanted to be" have been crushed by the crippling reality of trying to start a career in today's society.

As for entitlement, we were told over and over again as children that we could, as earlier stated, be whatever we wanted to be. We have big dreams and our parent's ideals about the easiness of getting along in the workforce on our minds when we go off to college, and then we're told over and over again that in fact everything we learned when we were kids was wrong. Not only is it terribly hard to find a job even as a college graduate, it's nearly impossible to get yourself established when most jobs want you to already be established upon entry. We aren't entitled; we just feel cheated of the idealistic American workforce our parents told us about growing up.

We aren't destroying society; we're continuing it. Society is changing with us -- like it's supposed to. It's changing to include that new technology we use every day, and it's changing to be more accepting and open minded than it ever has been before. You say we're too easily insulted and too politically correct, but the truth is that we simply don't stand for the same amount of racism, sexism, and homophobia that was present in the world just 20 or 30 years ago. We're fighting for what we're passionate about, and we are starting to change the world. We're the first generation who's kids are going to grow up in a country where marriage equality is a thing, and where they're going to read history books about the first African-American president (whether or not you agree with his policies, you have to admit that's a good thing).

We're the most educated generation ever thanks to our parents pushing us towards college, and our own desire to learn about and succeed in this world. We got dealt a crap hand when the first few of us entered the workforce, but we're working to lower unemployment by creating all new jobs that use this amazing technology we've grown up playing with. Millennials aren't terrible, and we shouldn't be sorry for being who we are. So stop telling us how lazy and stupid we are, and stop making it seem like your generation didn't put us in this mess in the first place. And if you're a millennial who spends your time hating your own generation, maybe first take a step back and ask yourself what makes you so special and different from everyone else? We're all different, and no four or five stereotypes can define an entire generation. Stop buying into the hate and take a minute to step down off your pedestal to see all the good things millennials have given to society so far. We get enough hate without members of our own generation joining in.

So, no, we aren't apologizing. We take selfies and Snapchat our meals. We text at least 50 times a day. We watch YouTube videos of girls doing their makeup for fun. We post pictures of ourselves and our friends on Instagram with cute filters and funny captions, and yes we do care if those pictures get likes. Some of us don't do any of those things, and that's OK too. Some of us are narcissistic. Some of us would rather be on our phones than talk to someone right beside us. Some of us really are lazy and don't want to get a job. That's because millennials, just like every other generation, are just people. We have flaws and outliers, but we aren't ruining the world. You can't put us into a box, and then spit on that box for being what it is. We are who we are and what the generations before us made us to be. We're full of potential and we're already changing the world.

Yeah, we're actually pretty awesome.