I’m sure you didn’t expect to be part of what is called the most entitled, lazy, uninspired generation ever. I’m guessing you didn’t think people you loved and respected would post long statuses on Facebook about how they went to college and worked full time, and how you should, too. I’m positive that you had no idea that you’d live in a time in which there have been 139 mass shootings and the year is barely halfway over. You thought there might be decent candidates to vote for in your second or even first presidential election. You never thought your options would be an alleged criminal and a man the color of a nacho cheese Dorito. There seems to be little hope left sometimes, when it feels like people are more concerned with a high school girl’s bra straps than her education.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most of the time, the people who are upset about a girl’s bra straps aren’t the teenage boys, but rather the adult men and women who somehow find it inappropriate or distracting. Although this is a ridiculous problem in our society, this isn’t my point. I’ll give you another example. Recently, people in the United Kingdom turned up in droves to vote on a referendum. This was a monumental referendum, nicknamed Brexit, in which the people voted for the U.K. to leave the European Union. The unfortunate part of this situation is the fact that 75 percent of voters ages 24 and younger voted to “remain,” as well as 56 percent of 25- to 49-year-olds. Most of the "leave" vote came from people 65 and older. Now, obviously, the younger generations are the ones who will be living with this decision longest. The older generations decided the future for the younger generations.

This in itself is the problem. We as millennials, and as part of Generation Z, have to start standing up for what we want for our future. As morbid as it sounds, the generation making the decisions for us has to live with them for the least amount of time. This isn’t just the generation that votes most, but the generation that is literally running the country. I see so many calls for change, retweets on Twitter and posts on Facebook about what this generation wants. However, we never take any action. Retweets and Facebook posts are like praying into the void. It might make you feel better for a bit, but it sure as heck isn’t doing anything to make a change.

Our parents' and grandparents' generation may call us lazy, and they may blame it on our social media habits, our desire to have our lives appear perfect -- and I’d usually say, whatever helps them sleep at night, right? Maybe they’re onto something, though. If we didn’t spend so much time tweeting pictures of mansions with the hashtag #lifegoals, maybe we could actually change our lives. If your future and the future of this country means anything to you, I encourage you, as part of this generation, to become part of the process. Vote, protest and call your senators, governors, mayors. Stand up for what you believe in. I know it seems scary because the process is so corrupt, but this is how we begin to change our lives for the better, as well as others. No matter what you believe in, teenagers and young adults have to make the changes they want. Take a page out of the history books, look at the teenagers that marched with Martin Luther King, or the teenagers that protested the Vietnam War. Even women of the 1920s, fighting for their right to vote. Stop typing that tweet and send a letter to your House Representative instead.

This is how the change begins, if we are brave enough to step away from our pristine social media accounts and do something that really matters.