When older generations hear the word millennial they think — lazy, entitled and disrespectful. When I hear the word millennial I think — smart, empowering and able to change the world.

While some of these adjectives that older generations use to describe us do apply to some people, they do not all apply for every one of us. Those of us who are not like the typical millennial are penalized and given a bad reputation. People always say that we are lazy as a generation, we make excuses and we never follow through with our ideas or tasks.

One thing that must be understood is our generation grew up during a time where technology was blooming and cell phones were becoming more popular and more useful. Since this was the world we grew up in, we learned how to adapt new technology for our own benefit and sometimes just for pleasure. Just because we go online to look up the definition of a word does not mean that we are lazy and do not know how to use a dictionary. It means we realize how much time we can save just going on the internet and looking it up. Our generation has found a way to utilize technology to our own interest and that comes off as lazy to other generations who never had these opportunities.

Our generation seems very entitled like we need special treatment for everything that we do. Although for some people in this generation this may be true, it is not true for everyone. Many millennials work for what they have, and they do not just expect to be handed something for doing a good job. This all comes from how their parents raised them. My parents always taught me that hard work and dedication towards something always pays off in the end. I never expected my parents to hand things to me, and for that, I thank them because they taught me to have a good work ethic and the value of a dollar.

The millennial generation has a very unique perspective on everything because we were born when the use of technology was on the rise. Just because we are on our cell phones all the time does not mean that we are addicted to them. This is how we stay connected with friends and family who are hundreds of miles away. Older generations may say that this is the reason that we have such bad social and communication skills because we do not actually talk to people, instead we just hide behind keyboards. But this is how communication is evolving now. It has nothing to do with our generation. It has to do with technology and cell phones.

I believe our generation can break this stereotype that has been set forth by older generations. Millennials are constantly doing amazing things and using the technology that we grew up with in order to change the world and make it a better place. It is our job as millennials to voice our opinions in a positive and up-reaching way in order to rid the stereotypes that we are held against.

So, I challenge all the millennials reading this to break the stereotype and show older generations that we are better than what we are believed to be.