This generation has a serious problem: older generations blame everything on us.
Designer Ajit Johnson made online posters highlighting the problems with the millennial generation. His posters allege what everyone’s grandpa has already said: this generation focuses too much on technology and the Internet.
Johnson’s posters said that millennials would choose Internet over water, all our relationships are online and even that we don’t read. At the bottom of each poster is #This_Generation. He posted the posters on Tumblr, and Twitter immediately picked up this hashtag.
The #This_Generation movement almost immediately backfired. It probably wasn’t a smart move for him to use social media to complain about social media — irony at its finest.
You can’t blame social media and technology for today’s problems while also using that technology to get a message across. That would be like if Ted Cruz voted to repeal Obamacare then decided to buy health insurance through the exchange — oh, wait.
If Johnson has a problem with social media, then he should run his anti-millennial campaign on a different platform. Post pictures around the country, or make some sort of real-life interaction that doesn’t involve social media.
But I guess Johnson wanted to use the Internet for the same reasons that we use it: It’s convenient and efficient. Using the Internet is probably the fastest way to get a message across. It makes no sense to criticize something as useful as modern technology.
People on Twitter used #This_Generation to instead spread the positive aspects and improvements in the lives of millennials.
Twitter users boasted over our decline in teen pregnancies and cigarette smokers, and they mentioned how we’re more open and accepting of minority groups.
A new hashtag called #LastGeneration was also created. In it, millennials pointed to all the wars and economic failures created by previous generations. People who used the hashtag also mentioned how we’re more politically informed than generations before us.
Ajit Johnson’s posters ignored all the problems Generation X and the Baby Boomers caused. Essentially, he’s blaming the victim.
I find it unsettling that previous generations could blame the world’s problems on us when they’re the ones in power.
We didn’t start wars in the Middle East. Sure, people from our generation — our friends and family members — fought and died those wars, but it was the generations in power who authorized them.
Millennials didn’t cause the budget crisis in Louisiana, and we’re not the reason that LSU’s tuition increases almost every year. The people in power decided that investing in our future wasn’t worth the money. So while their education was nearly free and subsidized, we have to take out thousands of dollars in loans every year just to scrape by in the future.
Our generation is by far the most tolerant and accepting generation yet. While racism, homophobia and sexism are still prevalent in America (and on Yik-Yak), we’re eons ahead of older generations when it comes to civil rights.
The No. 1 reason we’re a more accepting demographic is most likely due to the Internet, something Johnson so outspokenly opposes.
The Internet is one of the greatest inventions in modern history. We have all the information in the world at our fingertips. We have live updates for anything happening, and we have the ability to look up anything from any point in history any time we choose.
The Internet and social media has a way of making us feel close to people far away. This perceived nearness contributes to the significant tolerance among millennials.
Facebook and Twitter exposes us to people of different races, ideologies, religions and sexual orientations. We see more diverse demographics on our feed, whether directly or indirectly, and that exposure makes us more tolerant. Millennials learned that people aren’t as different as older generations might believe.
While Johnson tried to use his graphics to shame millennials, he did the opposite. I’m proud to be of a generation where I can openly express my sexual orientation without fear of persecution. I’m proud to be of a generation of instant knowledge, and you should be, too.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @CodySibley.