My generation – the so-called Millennials – are coming of age and bringing along a lack of empathy for older generations. Both the Baby Boomer and Gen X’ers can degrade on hipsters by calling us “the dead end of Western civilization,” as Adbusters once stated so famously. But what Millennials see in older generations, is that they are not able to look much further past the needs and politics of our own country, let alone grasp something as innocent as Instagram.
  The digital revolution and the Internet took us Millennials by the hand as toddlers and dragged us into adulthood. Our entire lives have been dominated by the digital world. Perhaps for a significant number of Millennials half their waking life has been spent online.
  In an instant we can reach friends and families across the planet. We can do our grocery shopping from the comfort of our own couch. We can meet the love of our lives online. We can be victimized online. Wars are even being fought online.
  Millennials see this revolution as a way to fix the mistakes of our elders. I can think of one, and I served there in our military – Iraq.
  For certain Millennials have one heck of a tool to fix up these messes – that the sum of all of human knowledge is at our finger tips. We can help our nation master globalization, end violence and make peace, contain disease, spread ideas, balance the playing field for the poor and establish freedom without bloody aftermaths. And do all this by leaving cultural boundaries intact. It would be a major historic achievement; the Millennials tour de force.
  Millennials have a need to keep learning. We have a greater understanding of other cultures than any generation before us. In moments we can access more detailed information than gained by an afternoon's worth of research at the local library. The amount of information Millennials have processed gives us greater vision to see beyond political and cultural biases.
  What Millennials have rejected is to be spoon-fed information deemed “newsworthy” by the media, especially the mainstream media. Millennials are naturally more critical of most news media because fact checking can be done on the spot with our cell phones. And doing so in a matter of seconds was no doubt made popular by Millennials.
  Our parent’s, mostly Baby Boomers and some Generation X’ers, have raised us to strive for excess and worship commercialism. But many Millennials have spurned the hyper-competitive landscape. Poor but happy. Semi-retired, but doing what we love. Why should we carry on our families financial dynasties by going to law school or getting that extra degree in soulless finance when the romantic life of a rebel hacker buys us unconditional approval from our wide network of friends?
  Trust me, most Millennials want to be as successful as our parents. But the deck is stacked; student loan debts are skyrocketing while good paying jobs are rumors of an age gone by. Why be miserable in a brainless job for a corporation that gives us logoed “shwag” for bonuses when we can be creative and happy?
  What makes us angry is that the Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers don’t care that an entire generation under them has been marginalized. One of the first ever that may not be successful as their parents, or stressed out for that matter.
  But it’s almost as if the Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers want it this way. As if they feel…threatened? Because the digital revolution erupted while we were on our backs in cribs?
  Millennials were the first generation to take computer classes starting in kindergarten and beyond. We get snarky when a Baby Boomer or Gen X’er can't seem to figure out that new app everyone is talking about. Yes, its tech-snobbery, but if you knew how easy some of this technology really was, you’d be snickering too.
  Because failure has starred us in the face since childhood, and having to pick ourselves up time and time again, we are not afraid to make mistakes. But as far as world stability and peace, and the environment and the weather, this has become our burden now. The Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers have had their chance to make things right.
  Millennials want to change the world, and we have the (brain) power to do so, but do we have the will?