I Believe The Children Are Our Future, And So Should You

First:

I thought that we were over the "GEN Y IS THE WORST GENERATION EVAR!!" articles that were so popular circa 2010, but we still seem to be in a circle of never-ending speculation:

"Gen Y is lazy!"

"Gen Y doesn't want to work!"

"All Gen Y cares about are phones and twittering!"

"Gen Y caused the breakup of Destiny's Child AND knocked USA out of the World Cup!"

This is a bit of an exaggeration, but a quick Google search will confirm that people seem to believe that Gen Y is the worst of the worst of the worst. 

You, dear reader, might be thinking this as well. I implore you to take a step back and ask yourself this question: do you hate Gen Y because we're actually terrible, or because you're old?

Stay with me.

This same feeling has been passed down from generation to generation. People despised Gen X, what with their Crystal Pepsi and Music Television. Before then, people couldn't deal with the Baby Boomers (and their EVIL color tv and satanic ROCK AND ROLL!), and I'm sure there were more than a few raised eyebrows before then, when teens started spending so much time on this newfangled device called the telephone. 

At some point in the near future, Gen Y will look upon some as-yet-to-be-named generation and roundly despise everything they stand for. And it will be because we don't understand.

A lot of the hand-wringing a pearl clutching over Gen Y stems from the fear of the unfamiliar. It can be confusing - new products, services and trends appear everyday, and it's hard to keep up. 

Even I, a card carrying member of Gen Y, get confused about things. I've never opened Snapchat. I don't want Snapchat. Snapchat weirds me out. But I understand that for a large portion of those coming of age in the new millenium, it has great use. 

While all this technological advancement has its own particular set of drawbacks (cyber bullying, being too connected all the time), it also has the tremendous benefit of creating a generation that has immediate access to a wealth of knowledge and easy communication with the rest of the world.

Amazing things are happening in the world. Really amazing things. But don't throw out the good just because there's a bit of bad mixed in. This generation is accomplishing amazing things, and will only continue to move forward. 

DeAndré

DeAndre Upshaw is a former Young & Free Texas Spokester. He's a marketing professional living in Dallas and a Beyonce enthusiast. DeAndre is the host and executive producer of The State of Awesome. Follow him on Twitter and check out his personal website.