I was scrolling through Facebook recently when I came across a comment on a post about healthcare reforms and it caught my eye. The post and comments responding to it were arguing about who was to blame for the way the “current generation” has turned out. My frustration wasn’t with the argument of who we should blame, but with why people are pointing to the millennial generation as substandard. While I, of course, am biased, being born in the late '90s and do not have previous experience in other generations (my time machine isn’t ready yet), I feel it is my emblematic duty to deflate the stereotypes that we are lethargic, uneducated and an unprincipled group of individuals. We are unnecessarily labeled as the hopeless age group. I’m here to help everyone see that we are more than capable of greatness and we do deserve respect.

Everyone blames millennials for their lazy nature when really, we have more inputs to manage and we are not lazy at all. Think about it. We are the multitasking generation. Not only do we have schooling, careers and home life to worry about, but a vast array of social media to update and explore. Many argue that social media is just a distraction from the finer more important things in life. Yet the children and teenagers raised in the digital age learned social skills and relationships behind a computer screen, so you cannot blame us for trying to stay up to date with the latest happenings or trends. Like it or not, technology is the central source of learning and communication with one another. If older generations don’t like it, they shouldn’t have developed the technology and sold it to the masses. With more choices comes more expectations and responsibility. There are a million and one people and places fighting for our undivided attention. In simple terms, we are expected to participate in a lot and be outstanding in each and every activity. That’s a lot of pressure on a hormonal teenager who really should just be thinking about the basics of life. Many props should be given to millennials for just managing sanity while working tirelessly to manage inputs from everywhere.

Needless to say, the education game has changed as well. Millennials are expected to excel order to find a good, high-quality job. Today’s graduates need to throw themselves through an exorbitant amount of often burning hoops. First, a job, if not two, is all but necessary to help pay for the cost of higher education, or at least save up to pay off your future debt. A bachelor’s degree might have been an achievement in the past, but is only an average accomplishment in the minds of today’s companies. Employers, as well as parents, have said to me numerous times that in order to get a solid job in most fields, master's and doctoral degrees are the way to go. This means more years in school, more money being spent and a lot more work being done. The word laziness should never define this generation as a whole.

Relationships are also pointed to as a problem for our generation. Just because we are communicating and sending passionate notes through a phone doesn’t make it any less meaningful or romantic. Relationships that stand the test of time have to fight against a multitude of temptations that are easily accessible. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat can be used for moral things, but also can help foster cheating. Not to mention trying to figure out the meaning behind the emojis people send you. I have admiration for the strong bonds people can form in today’s world despite the challenges from society and I hope you do too.

I’m asking not for a pity party but your respect. I’m asking on behalf of people my age who are frustrated with being written off as not good enough to have an understanding for the millennial situation. Change is inevitable. So before you go around thinking all we do is play video games and watch Netflix, understand that we are capable of bringing a lot of creativity, hard work and culture to the world around us while facing a lot of challenges. R-E-S-P-E-C-T is what we deserve!