According to this article by The Huffington Post, Generation Z is the generation following Millennials, making up about 26 percent of the US population as of the beginning of 2016.
While millennials were just coming of age when 2000 rolled around, we were just being born. Many of us are just now coming of age, and we're adapting and getting ready to start helping lead the world around us.
Unlike my parents, I can't remember a time when I didn't have a computer or some type of electronic device. I remember sitting and watching my older brother play games on the computer as a toddler in our computer room, and eventually, I learned how to work it myself, and thus, began my internet addiction at a very young age.
Because of this, I grew up with news from around the world streamlined to be right in front of me at all times. I had the opportunity to talk to hundreds, if not thousands, of people at once--being exposed to different opinions and worldviews.
Social media has a pretty bad reputation nowadays, but there's so much good that can come from it. I love learning, and if I have the opportunity to broaden my horizons, I'm going to take it.
I've met many adults who discount what many of my peers and I have to say just because we're young teenagers. They're so quick to reject what we think because they think they're older and, therefore, more experienced and smarter.
Once a teacher actually said to me, "I'm right because I'm an adult who went to college. You're just a teenager," while I was arguing with them on this very issue.
What I find many people in the older generation believe is that being open-minded and versed in the world around us doesn't have an age limit.
I've met 15-year-olds who are more open-minded than some of my middle-aged teachers and relatives.
There are countless articles written about millennials and those of us in generation Z--criticizing us for being cynical or that technology is ruining us. However, we need these things to help society progress.
I don't see it as making us addicted to technology.
I see it as a way to help us communicate. We know what's going on around us, but many adults are just too jaded to listen to what we have to say.
Eventually, we're going to be making decisions and changing the world to how we see fit. We have the ability to make waves in ways that many have never seen before with the tools we have.
You just have to have the courage to listen.