There seems to be a bit of an ongoing theme in a lot of popular media lately. They keep on coming up with articles and videos targeting millennials such as “25 Things that Millennials Have Ruined” or they inspire hashtags like #HowToConfuseAMillennial on Twitter. When it get’s to the point where I’m seeing articles that are titled with “Millennials are killing the golf industry” or “Millennials are killing the napkin industry” I just have to ask the media one question: Media, why you so obsessed with me?

Why are the older generations so bent on proving that we’re the one’s doing everything wrong? Why are they trying to convince their fellow humans that the millennial generation is filled with lazy, attention-seeking teenagers? To be fair this is not uncommon, but it’s not fair to assume that every single teen or young adult you see on the street is like that. Heck, there is literal evidence to support that this generation may be the most innovative and intelligent generation so far in human history! Just recently I read about how a college student accidentally created a nanobattery that could last 400 years. The batteries that we have right now can only last for a few years if they’re lucky. This student created one that could last over 200 times as long on accident. How smart do you have to be to create such a game-changing device when you didn’t even mean to create it? Imagine what she could do on purpose! Another example is the teen who created a way to clean the world’s oceans within a few years. Something that scientists have been working on for years, and this guy comes up with it.

What is up with all of these outrageous headlines? Last time I checked, I’m pretty sure that the golf industry is mainly held afloat by the older generations. Is the reason that millennials are apparently “killing the golf industry” because they are murdering all of their players and viewers? Or are all of their viewers dying off so the industry is having trouble pitching golf, a game that is usually more enjoyable as you get older, to a younger demographic?

In all honesty, I have seen millennials working four jobs and taking care of children. I have seen a classmate who has adopted a child, working a job, and yet still manages to make it to class. Those young teenagers and college students that people tend to make fun of and belittle, are working their butts off to try to get by. Things aren’t the same as they were ten years ago. It is harder for people straight out of college to get a job. Colleges cost more, which means more loans and literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. It could take a student decades to pay off their loans.

Another thing that people, the media especially, tend to make fun of, is millennials in the fast food industry. They are working sometimes more than forty hours a week with two jobs just so they have a chance to pay for college. I’m not saying that we work harder than everyone else, as that is not the point that I am trying to get across. What I’m saying is, just because it’s not the same kind of work that you do, doesn’t mean that it’s not as hard or not as tiring. I feel like some people, especially those who are a part of the older generation, have a hard time understanding this. I mean, yeah I get it, you work eight hours a day lifting heavy equipment and fixing machinery. And I work up to ten hours a day in the fast food industry. Yes, I don’t lift as much as you, but it’s still work. It’s still exhausting. It may not be exhausting physically, but it definitely is mentally.

The reason the media seems to be so obsessed with millennials is not because they are terrible, it’s because they are jealous. They are jealous of our success, they think that we have it better. They don’t realize that better opportunities come with worse situations. The world that we’ve grown up in is constantly changing. It’s filled with hate and murder and prejudice, much like what they grew up in. So why can’t they realize that all we’re trying to do is the same thing they were doing. Trying to make the world a better place for our children to grow up in.