Morgan Langan | Contributing Writer
Our generation lives in a pretty messed up world; there is no doubt about it. Every day headlines highlighting riots and civil unrest explode across news sites, but if you look deep enough, there are also headlines of hope. Bold letters of technological breakthroughs and proud political statements grace these same screens. Why? The youth of our generation have proved that they aren’t happy with the way life has been working for them.
Every generation makes the claim that they are the best generation, so what makes us truly the greatest? Our resilience. We were born into a world that wasn’t the most accommodating. By the time most of us were between the ages of 4 and 8 we were facing a nation getting ready to go to war and drop into one of the worst economic periods, but we hardly knew what that meant until now. The world that we have been handed that we are supposed to take over was broken and we were charged to fix it.
However, the hands that supplied us with the greatest challenge both expected our failure and set us up for the failure they expected. Generations before us developed most of the technology we use today. Television, cell phones, computers, etc. were beyond our creation, but our adults criticize our use of the technology they have provided us with. They say we abuse technology, we don’t know how to pay attention, and we haven’t spent our due time outside. These “issues” seem like a double-edged sword; the clichéd “too much of a good thing is bad.” A break down of these problems shows that these are really the reasons our generation is going to change the way we play the game.
Technology:
We’ve grown up with ever changing technology, and not only have we been forced to adapt, we’re always hungry for more. While some older people view our craving for the latest technology as selfish and greedy, it’s actually reflective of our desire for something more: efficiency. With each new edition of the iPhone that comes, we anticipate a faster processor to run our apps faster-apps that can be anything from a time wasting game to a word-processor when a teenager’s memoir lives; a higher quality camera for those of us who aren’t photographers to capture our favorite moments in a way we couldn’t before; and more space to save the abundant to-do lists, photo albums, 4 a.m. text messages, GarageBand projects, and our eclectic music collections. We enjoy being able to keep things together and keep them on us at all times, something that other generations haven’t been able to do.
Attention:
Are we not paying attention, or are we not paying attention to you? Our generation has moved away from pleasing others and has truly embraced the importance of making sure we, as individuals, are happy. We’re less likely to agree with people, especially older generations, and it’s not because we don’t listen or respect them, it’s that we understand the value in our opinions and our own actions; we live to follow our own paths, and if that means disregarding what other people tell us, we’re going to do that. We’ll protest, we’ll riot, and we’ll call people out. We’re making ourselves happier, which means, as a generation, we’re going to live better lives.
Time Outside:
The next time anyone wants to share a photo about how kids these days don’t have the same quality childhood because they don’t play outside, just don’t. Please. Times have changed, and despite the overall amount of time children spend outside has possibly going down, members of our generation, especially around the college age and younger, are hungry to explore. This generation has a level of wanderlust beyond any other group, and what’s more important is our initiative to follow through. We use our resources to find the best places to camp, hit up the best outdoor music festivals, and jump at the opportunity to travel abroad (even if we don’t exactly have the money). We chronicle our adventures and share them with the world. The people of this generation want nothing more than to get away from it all, and they’ll do it.
Despite what image our elders try to force upon us, this generation-our generation, is fantastic. Listed has been a short list of why we’re pretty great, but once we hit the “real world” where we have jobs in development, management, and science, we’ll be taking our love of technology, efficiency, and adaptability to new heights and transforming the way our culture works. Yes, we’ll have our bumps, but already we’re more welcoming of the generation after us. We’ll be willing to hand off the world that we hopefully left in a better place than when we got it.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons
