Generation Y Do you Insult Us?

It starts off with a vague sense of discomfort. Then, you start evaluating your life. Then, you start thinking about the future. You wonder; am I happy? Will I ever be happy? Even with racism, disease, opression, was life really purer in the past? And the most important one; how can I fix myself?

The good news is that chances are, there's only about a half chance you're having an existential crisis. What you could be reacting to, in fact, is what I like to call the conversation.

We've all had it. Whether it's in a classroom where a teacher asks you to discuss your thoughts on social media, or it's with friends and everyone's glued to their phones, or it's just you thinking about how you see more of your 'friends' through Facebook than you do in real life. The question everyone's asking:

What is wrong with this generation?

Now, before I go into this, I'd just like to back up and explain myself a little. For example; what is "Generation Y"? Why do people think our generation is messed up in particular? What can we do to fix it?

And I hear you. So before I continue, let me break it down for you. Generation Y is the term used to describe the young generation of today, the children of the mid to late '90s and early 2000s (even though the non-'90s kids are all, like, 14. Gross). And as for the next question, come on. Even if you're about to hate on old people like me, you've got to admit that there are some general major issues with this generation. We text instead of call. We tweet instead of talk. We spend time on our phones when we're with our friends, we are more connected to the world and less connected to our lives in general, WE'VE HEARD IT ALL. Technology is ruining the world, life is not what it used to be, kids have shorter attention spans, always connected to a virtual word, blah, blah, blah.

STOP WORRYING

Seriously. That's my response. Whenever something comes up in conversation where people are talking about how messed up this generation is (usually right after they're done refreshing their instagram feed and losing to flappy bird) it always just (to put it nicely) annoys the shit out of me! Yes, our generation has problems but - wake up call - the world wasn't so flipping great in the past either. Maybe you're intrigued by the idea of old-school romance or the fact that somehow life was better  in our parents' or grandparents' time, but the fact is that it's time to open your eyes and look around you. This is what we have, yes it is technology centered, and no, that's not always a bad thing! (Also something I've learned about the past is that it's like having a non-American watch High School Musical. Glammed up, made for TV, and very different from reality. Just think about that.)

Now, if you are one of those people who goes into panic mode when their phone dies or is forgotten at home...I might not be on the same page with you here. The point of this post is to address the fact that for some reason adults seem to think that Generation Y is the biggest failure generation because of our technological addictions. I say that in many instances this may be the case. But humankind has always been advancing and people have always viewed change in some negative way! When the typewriter was invented, a lot of people thought that it was the end of the written word, that literature would be so much less good without it being handwritten and I think it turned out just fine. That's not to say that the typewriter and all the 4G and Google we have today are the same thing. But it's the same basic principle. New thing? Scary! I get it.

And it's especially hard with the technological revolution that has taken place. Parents watch as their children grow up in completely different ways from what they did. It's hard. I know. But newsflash; this has literally happened with every single generation since the dawn of time (well, maybe not the dawn. More like midmorning). Parents watch as the world changes around them and, due to preconceived notions or just unchanged views about the world, they may unwelcome some parts of it. But their children, growing up and appreciating the only life they've ever known, that can be scary. It makes sense that the unknown would frighten people who grew up in a totally different way. I bet we will be the same as parents when we welcome Generation Z or whatever into the world.

But down to the nitty gritty of this post - just because you may not approve of how some teenagers and young adults use technology does not give you the right to insult us because of it. My biggest pet peeve is when people act like the world is ending because some study says children have a shorter attention span. Well, I believe that technology will ruin tomorrow's youth about as much as I believe that vaccinations cause autism. And for those of you who don't know me, I think that is bullsh*t.

That is to say, everything in moderation. But I think one of the main reasons I get defensive about Gen Y and our technology craze is the fact that we are going to be the ones using this technology to fix (or destroy) the world that our parents are leaving for us. We are in no way inferior because we grew up with a computer screen, in fact we may be better because of it! That's not to say that texting > talking but the point is that I get mad when people talk about technology, social media, and things of the like, with the kind of contempt Americans reserve for the topic of communism. Have you ever heard an American talk about communism? You'll know the tone.

And in many ways, your entire hipster approach "oh life was so much better in the 50s" bullsh*t kind of reminds me of communism. Great in theory, not so much in practice. You go ahead and glorify racism, sexism, and the like and I'll sit here reading modern news and exchanging study notes with my friend on facebook as we laugh together about Orange is the New Black on the phone.

I don't want to hear about how inferior Gen Y is because of how connected we are, I want you to save it for when that girl who was always posting on Instagram is a model or even a computer hacker and is protecting your job by creating security programs. When that boy making youtube videos is the next Morgan Freedman or he's making documentaries with millions of views, I don't care what the example is. The point is that do not insult my generation by saying that technology makes us weaker. Maybe things aren't exactly like they were in the past. Well, that's kind of the point of evolution, that's kind of the point of humanity in general. 

Yes, social media and technology has it's drawbacks and they can be major. But humanity will change as it always has and society will change as it always has and there's no way to know if it's good or bad until we see what happens. And I don't know about you, but I'll have my smartphone on hand regardless so I can tweet about it as it does.

Have a Brettastic day

(Image credit: http://oh-cool-transparents.tumblr.com/post/93982658283)