So you think that all of us are just sad adults who don’t know how to live in the world without complaining? You’re wrong, but also right. Here me out:

Those of us who were born in the 90’s, and have therefore been appropriately grouped and named "90’s Kids," have seen so many technological advances in our lifetime, along with economical downfalls, and it’s set us up for a false future.

We grew up being told we could achieve whatever we put our minds to, and although that’s true, it’s not as simple for us as it was made out to be. Sure, we can find ourselves going to college and having our dream job, but our futures aren’t going to be as easy as we were told they would be if we went to school and got a good job. We weren’t warned about college debt (which is higher now than ever before). As time passes, our economy worsens. Having a minimum-wage, full-time job will not keep our head above the water as it did our parents or grandparents. Therefore, owning a house, car, and also having children is more stressful for us than the generations before us can fully understand. Because even though the economy has tanked on them too, they were able to get a start before things got out of hand.

We grew up being surrounded by war and terror. Yes, there have been wars since the beginning of time, but I can’t remember a time our country hasn’t been at war with other countries or even with itself. The generations before us don’t carry the fear we do. They weren’t afraid to go to concerts, movies, or school like we are because of mass shootings that have happened. They weren’t afraid to walk alone at night, and they didn’t lay in bed wondering if they locked all their doors. Long story short: people were friendlier, and it made for a better sense of community and happier living.

We grew up during a time of immense technological advances, too. We're the generation that remembers watching movies on VHS tapes and having to wait for them to rewind. We had Walkman CD players that couldn’t fit in our pockets and the release of Hit Clips was the coolest thing! Every home had a house phone, many of which weren’t cordless. And when the internet became big, we had to wait for our parents to finish their phone calls before we could get online, and we had to deal with that loud dial up noise every single time. Now we all own portable touch screen phones that fit in our pockets; they have internet no matter where we are, and with that internet, we can watch almost any movie or listen to any song as well as communicate with our friends and family in more than one way. We literally have the world at our fingertips.

We grew up playing outside. I remember riding my bike around the neighborhood with my friends, catching dragonflies, playing jump rope, creating art on the ground with chalk and swinging on the monkey bars at our local park. Or when it was rainy out, we would play inside with Bratz Dolls or whatever else we could come up with. But I have watched my younger brother, who was born in 2001 -- which goes to show you how this phenomenon has only effected those of us born in the 90’s, even if we were born in 1999 and grew up in the 2000's -- sit inside playing video games more than he has spent time outside. Now, I’m not saying I never played them when I was growing up, but my memories of playing video games are not the strongest ones I have. Instead, my memories are of being outside and spending time with my friends.

We grew up as the only generation to go through these changes. The ones before us didn’t see technology change so rapidly in their childhood, and the world wasn’t as corrupt. The generations after us have only experienced crazy amounts of tech products, and they don’t know what it’s like to grow up without it or in a world where they don’t have to fear those around them. We were the last generations to be raised like the ones before us, yet we were also raised alongside the rapid changes of our world. We yearn for the past, and try to keep parts of it with us now because it was so much better than what we know. We have fond memories of being little and dreaming big, but those dreams were crushed as our world deteriorated in front of us. We went from a time of immense face-to-face socialization to staring at our phones, afraid of those around us.

We’re nostalgic, we’re bitter, but we're not greedy or self-entitled.

Just keep that in mind.