Growing up in a generation of people who use iPods, iPhones and iPads, I think we've all heard our fair share of “When I was young we never had these types of devices,” or the “You're so addicted to your phone, I was never this way.”

And they are absolutely right, we are addicted to our phones and social media and the idea of constantly being in contact with everyone we know at all times, but is this our fault? The iPod came out in 2001. I was maybe four years old when this happened, but by the time I was eight, everyone had them. We started so young with this new and innovative technology that we had no choice but to join everyone else or be left behind and left out. I don’t feel like we really had a choice in the matter of being the generation of all the new gadgets.

It's still funny to me how when you hear about someone who doesn’t have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, everyone is confused; like how is that person supposed to even live without all of this new stuff. Statistics from 2012 say that “78 percent of teens have a cell phone and almost half of those same teens own smartphones.” That’s data from around four years ago, so I can imagine that those numbers are even higher today. So yes, those people are all right, they didn’t have all this technology when our parents or grandparents were growing up, but why should we be scrutinized or made fun of because of it?

I don’t think we should at all, and this is coming from someone who uses their phone almost every hour of the day that they can.

I went to college this year, I made the best friends I have ever had, and by the time my life was going in an amazing direction, I had to move home for summer. But I live around nine hours away from where I go to school and just as far from all the people I consider to be my family now and neither I, nor my friends, have enough money to be able to fly to see each other over the summer. I mean we are broke college kids, so it's kind of expected. I have to go over 90 days without physically interacting and being able to spend face-to-face time with them, that is something that takes an emotional and psychological toll on a person. So yes, I am on my phone 80 percent of the time, and that may not be the best thing. If I could change how much I stare at that little screen I would, but the fact of the matter is that I can't afford to.

This generation is centered around technology and social media and being constantly looking at your phones, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of any other time period.

I am proud to be a millennial.