Is our generation lazy? I certainly don’t think so, and yet you don’t have to go far to find the people that claim it, along with the repeated accusations of our generation not wanting to just do the work and how we’re always glued to our phones. 

Are there lazy teens? Sure. There always have been and there always will be. Are we glued to our phones? Maybe. But look around you. What reason do we have to look up from them? Why deal with reality and the horrors that come with it when you could escape into an electronic abyss of information and media catered perfectly to your unique desires? 

The hypocrisy of the older generations is deafening when it comes to being willing to work and get things done. It took a teenager from Sweden, someone from our generation, to lead the climate change movement because the older men in charge weren’t willing to or were too afraid to do the work. We are the ones forced to fight for our future, because those in charge are resigned to let the world burn. And they call us lazy.

In Columbine, police waited outside a high school while 21 people were murdered. In Uvalde, the same thing happened, with a body count of 19, and after over 40 school shootings this year and 227 mass shootings overall, we seem no closer to a solution. While children lay dead and families lie in ruin, politicians are worried about drag show performances for kids, which have killed – let me just check statistics real quick – zero children. How dare they call us lazy? How dare they accuse us of being unwilling to work, when all they have offered in support of children being murdered are thoughts and prayers? The only things thoughts and prayers benefit are the giver’s conscience and an invisible god that we’re not even sure exists.

Obviously there is phone addiction, Obviously there are teens that are unmotivated and unwilling to do anything. But to make that generalization of our entire generation is unfair, unfounded and hypocritical. Older generations are just as neglectful as us, and towards issues that hold so much more weight and importance.