There are few things the media loves more than picking an arbitrary time frame and then proceeding to criticize the folks who were born within those years. By some amazing coincidence, the criticism always seems to revolve around anything that makes that generation different from the one before it. It’s almost as if people only like change when they’re the one’s behind it. Weird. Anyways, at this point in history, the go-to scapegoat is the Millennial.  The aggressively ironic, technology addicted and self-obsessed Millennial.

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the group of people born from around the mid-1980’s to the early 2000’s. It’s possible you’ve met one or two people born within those years. As you probably know, they care only about themselves and are obsessed with documenting every single aspect of their lives. In fact, they’re so self-centered, they spend nearly all of their time on social media, communicating with people all around the world. Those ridiculous egocentric teens and young adults, always glued to technology that allows them to remain connected to people anywhere on Earth and as a result be a more informed and active member of the global community.

Those absurd Millennials never learned the value of patience. Everything has to be instantaneous with them. I’m sure that if any other generation had technology as advanced as what we have now, they would still use slower, less efficient forms of communication. After all, why would anyone want a generation that can know what’s happening in the world as it happens? Or carry around devices that contain the greatest collection of knowledge to ever have existed and can be accessed at a moment’s notice. Nothing is worse than a generation of informed people with more ways than ever to express themselves and communicate.

Not only are Millennials impatient and self-obsessed, they’re also unbelievably vain. One of their most popular pastimes is taking selfies. Self-portraits used to only be for royalty or the wealthy.  If we allow just anyone to share an image of themselves, without any regulation or editing, who knows what could happen? People might start believing that anyone can be important or worthy of attention. It might shift media focus away from a select few and towards a more accurate representation of the general population. It could even, and I shudder at the thought, create a more encompassing definition of beauty that could include anyone, even people with a variety of body types, backgrounds, gender identities, etc. who have previously been deemed unworthy of the public eye.

Generation Y? More like Generation Why, as in, why on earth would we want to do something that can help boost our self-esteem and make the definition of beauty more inclusive? Why would we want to have a conversation with someone on the other side of the world that would let us know that we’re not alone and we are more alike than we are different? Why would anyone use widely available technology that allows us to be more efficient and access more information than ever before? It just doesn’t make any sense.

So, there you have it folks. Beware the Millennial. The informed, connected, accepting Millennial. And don’t forget to be wary of any subsequent generations. You just never know who’s going to be the next one to try and change things for the better. It might be someone you know. It could even be you.