It’s Generation X vs. the Millenials. The dinosaurs vs. the robots. Running into battle with cell phones and pagers in hand, our words are our weapons, the social media our battlefield. As millenials pull up their twitters and fire away hashtags, generation X busies themselves with wondering where the slide out keyboard is on their newly bought iPhone 7. This is a war of the ages, a bitter rivalry between the old and the young.

As a proudly proclaimed freeloading, special snowflake, yuppy-loving millennial, I believe much of what my generation partakes in is widely misunderstood. Now given half of our shenanigans give reason to question the safety of our society’s future (shout out to 2011 planking, #amirite) more credit should be given where it is needed. Sure, the most steady relationship we have is with our Netflix account and going to the gym means twerking on a table, but if we look past the distractions, we’ll find very capable beings. Us millenials, with a click of a mouse and a swipe of a tinder, have managed to create connections not only nationally, but globally. What may have taken us weeks to communicate with someone in China now only takes a matter of minutes. Our generation is more connected than ever before, and it is because of our engagement in globalization that we have been able to lift the veil of ignorance and expose the reality that for decades was ignored.

I will not be shamed for my sinsta posts. I will not be guilted for my Obama meme re-tweets. The digital world is my world, and I proudly live in it. So the next time I’m on the track and am stopped by a technology incompetent animal, who believes yelling at me for being born within a certain generation is a solution to the problem, here’s what I’d like you to know. Instead of being engulfed in your ignorant rage, you should accept that not all change is bad, and that the world is continuously evolving. But please, don’t feel pressured to live in this century. If you feel using a time machine that would send you back to the dark ages would be better, by all means, do so, and I promise to be there to press the buttons because I know how confusing technology is for you.

Also yes sir, I did see the headphones in your ears and cell phone in hand. You and I, we’re not that different, so stop creating unnecessary friction where it need not be.

#adespisedmillenial