I believe that our generations are the ones with the power to change the world. We are large in number, we scream for tolerance and change, and Generations X and Y were the first generations to be raised during the rise and rapid evolution of the internet and technology. We were among the first to be able to access the entire world and the wealth of information on the internet.
Today’s teenagers and young adults may be somewhat spoiled from the ridiculous amount of technology and information at our fingertips. Who needs to remember phone numbers or how to do simple math when we can just use our phones? Who needs to actually read the classics when you can just Wikipedia the summary? But whether we are spoiled, entitled, or just misunderstood in an evolving world, we can change everything, and we already are doing so.
In an article on Salon.com, author Alexander Balkin talks about why calling Millennials lazy and entitled is wrong, and discusses how we got here: “Baby boomers came of age in an era of unprecedented prosperity. They were raised by parents who had survived poverty, war and the true sacrifice of a generation burdened with great moral struggles. As a whole, they experienced economic and physical security. Baby boomers received, by today’s standards, inexpensive and widely available education, preparing them for a thriving and open job market. […] So what did they do with all their good fortune? From the time the baby boomers took over, the United States has experienced an economic environment plagued with unfounded asset and real-estate bubbles and collapses.”
There may be more people in Generation X and Y than there are Boomers, but the Baby Boomers are the ones currently holding office, holding the high level CEO jobs in a lot of companies, and are a lot of the ones making policies that affect our lives. Around 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day and are retiring, and now it’s our turn.
Imagine what we can do. We can literally change the world. Look what we’ve already done.
More young people voted in 2008 and 2012 than ever before. We voted, and it just goes to show that your vote does matter. Your vote helped change the direction our country was going in. Generations X and Y have live-tweeted catastrophes, getting information out faster than ever, such as in Egypt and Israel, they have demanded information from governments, they have turned their arguments into petitions, protests, and internet rants.They have leaked information that they believed the people deserved to know.
We have built social networks that literally connected the world, we believe in starting something from nothing, and we know that with the right idea, anything is possible. Our generations have created Google and eBay, we have Facebook and Twitter to unite people globally at the touch of a button, we made the Hubble telescope and the biggest strides in space exploration. We are the most entrepreneurial generations so far.
Our generations are fighting for LGBT rights, the ones who lobbied the loudest for equal constitutional rights for gays and lesbians to be allowed to marry. We follow in the footsteps of every Civil Rights movement in our history, which proves over and over again that we the people know what we want, and what is right, and are willing to yell and fight and work for it.
Jeff Gordinier, author of X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking, has a pretty awesome quote from when he was featured in Time magazine.
“Shirking the media myth that Xers are slackers, Gordinier argues that Generation X has — to borrow a ‘60s term — changed the world. Citing Gen-X icons like Quentin Tarantino and Jon Stewart, along with Gen-X triumphs like Google, YouTube, and Amazon, among others, Gordinier argues that not only are Xers far from over, they might be the most unsung and influential generation of all time. ‘Gen-X stomping grounds of the past — the espresso bar, the record shop, the thrift store — have been resurrected in digital form. The new bohemia is less a place than it is a headspace. It’s flexible enough to bypass all the old binaries. It encompasses mass and class, mainstream and marginal, yuppie and refusenik, gearhead and Luddite. It’s everywhere and nowhere in particular,’ he writes. [In short,] ‘GenXers are doing the quiet work of keeping America from sucking.’”
So, rejoice, young(ish) people. We are changing the world, one step at a time.
Seriously, we have the interconnectedness, the tolerance, and the desire to learn, grow, and change the entire world and how it works. We are, in all terrifying honesty, the future.
This article originally was posted on Huffington Post on 8/23/2016 by me (original content).