My generation is glued to their cell phones, won’t get off of Facebook unless Jersey Shore is on, and is so self-absorbed that none of us will ever amount to anything.

That’s what I’ve been told anyway, and I couldn’t disagree more.

I have spent the last 15 years of my life as a student, and in that time I have learned a lot about my peers and the lives they lead as well.

Yes, there are people in my age range who spend hours online.

Yes, I have friends who keep up with the Kardashians religiously.

And yes, my cell phone is never more than 3 feet away from me at all times.

However, the casual references to the lack of motivation my generation seems to have are incredibly wrong.

The stereotype placed on us is just that, a stereotype.

With the state the world is in now, my generation doesn’t have the luxury of laziness.

We’re watching the world change, and we want to be a part of it.

Global warming, presidential elections, international affairs, and so many specific, community-driven issues are too important for us to ignore.

I know people my age who don’t deserve the stereotype they’ve been given.

They’re students who start clubs on their college campuses and organize blanket drives for cancer patients.

They’re working two or more jobs to pay for their full time college courses.

They’re using social media to spread knowledge and creativity. They’re the exact opposite of lazy.

To the media we are no more than the “Project X” party animals living by our YOLO mentality.

Yes, there are currently people my age embracing that trend of reckless behavior, but they don’t represent us all.

It’s unfair to group the rest of us who actually try to better our lives, with that very small example of troubled youth.

Anytime I hear someone start a sentence with “kids these days…” I cringe, because we don’t all deserve to be grouped into one generalization.

Then I laugh because the people who usually say these things once hoped in 1965 that they’d die before they got old.

No generation is perfect, and no amount of finger pointing and name-calling is going to get us anywhere.

My generation is at an important turning point in our society, and we aren’t afraid to speak up.

Most of us are just trying to prove all the nay-sayers wrong through out own success.

We’re young, but we’re inheriting the world, and we deserve the chance to change it.