Have you ever felt completely judged by a middle-aged adult when you and a friend are out on a coffee date at Starbucks when you take your pictures of your Grande iced-caramel macchiato no-whip? What about when you take your phone out to take a selfie for woman crush Wednesday?

Adults give us dirty looks when we do things that millennials tend to love to do, such as taking selfies and pictures of our coffee and using weird slang like “sah dude” and “it’s lit”. Millennials love their technology, but they also miss the simpler times in the 90’s, when the street light turning on meant it was time to come in from playing in the streets, and advanced technology didn’t exist. They miss Fruit Gushers, Drake and Josh (the best TV show ever), and playing outside. We look at the younger generation, who grew up with technology and say, “They need to be outside more”. We look at the older generation, who grew up with virtually no technology and say, “They just don’t get it”. Well, of course, they don’t. They didn’t grow up in the transition period that we did. Our childhood was filled with memories of playing outside, getting up early for Saturday morning cartoons, and purple Heinz ketchup. As we got older, technology advanced with us. Our first cell phones were the Motorola Razr, and if you had the pink one, you were the coolest kid in seventh grade. Do you know what our parents loved? Disco, bell bottoms, and the Rolling Stones (and destroying our economy). THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY ROOM TO JUDGE US FOR WHAT WE LIKE TO DO. They do not have any room to judge us for our tattoos, our piercings, our hair color, our taste in music, or our fashion choices (they wore bell bottoms…need I say more?). So the next time some baby boomer looks at you and your friend the wrong way when you’re taking a selfie, don’t be too offended. Know that they had just as many quirks as we do. Also, be proud to take your selfie. You better take that snap of the coffee you’re about to drink. Think of a clever caption for Insta. Pierce your septum, dye your hair silver, and get that tattoo you’ve always wanted. As scary as it is to say, we are the next generation who are going to run this country. We have all the power in the world to make it what we want it to be. We have to get involved with politics; we all know who we don’t want to win this election. We have the power to influence our children to grow up not judging others for the color of their skin, or their sexuality, or their gender. We have the power to stop the hate. We have so much potential. We need to stop letting our parents crush our spirit. Don’t let the baby boomers get you down.