A few days ago, I came across a post on Facebook that read, “Love doesn’t exist. I wish I was born in a different generation.” I thought about this statement for a while, pondering the irony of wanting to be born in a different generation while sharing that desire through a modern piece technology. It sounds pretty uncanny to want to be born at the turn of the 20th Century and regress from everything that has been accomplished, thus far.

If you are someone who hates their generation and wishes that you could be been born in a different decade, I challenge you to think twice and be careful for what you wish for. Just remember all the things that goes along with wanting to dress old fashion and dance to “better” music. There are countless negatives to being born into any generation aside from your own but, as a millennial, we shouldn’t want to claim to be born in a different time period. To you, everything that is modern is horrible, even though you spend the majority of your time on Smartphones tweeting about how much you hate this generation and praying to God to give you Freddie Mercury in exchange for Justin Bieber. You’d much rather be born in any other time period apart from the 90s. So put away your MacBook, your iPhone and your social media accounts (but not for too long) and let me explain to you why this generation does not suck.

First and foremost, a general profess of most millennials, is that today’s music is not real music and is only about sex, drugs and partying. However, the term "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" coined from the 80s, does not seem to appear much different. Yes, electronic dance music has emerged as a new genre where sounds are different, more complex and people are dancing with much less clothing, so what? Classic Rock was merely frowned upon just as much, at the time, for the same exact reasons. Great music did not stop after the 80s.

There has been a revolution in music where, in a matter of decades, the way people listen to, produce, consume and share music has changed immensely. Gone are the days of the degrading sounds of cassettes tapes and poring over sleeve notes, but as technology evolves, music remains an important cultural benchmark. New technology has played an exponential influence to our daily lives; electronic devices, multimedia platforms and computers, the Internet especially, has become more and more important for nearly anyone and everyone. It is one of the newest and most forward-looking advances and surely the medium of the future. Now we do not have to lug around a huge jukebox whenever we want to access our favorites from the past, not only can we access new music, but we can access the oldies on our iPods and iPhones.

A second assertion that lingers through many 90’s born people is that we are all entitled, narcissistic, and authoritarian. Because of the way we dress and our selfie-taking, Instagram posting selves have labeled us to this statement. Most often do I hear, “what is wrong with our generation? Nowadays, 12-year-olds are mistaken for 18-year-olds.” While this statement may ring true through some aspects, let me remind you that fashion trends return and we only learned it from the best. How often do you see crop tops and high-waisted jeans? Shall we repress ourselves back to the days where men and women could only be dressed a certain way to be accepted in society; to take back individuality and self-expression that we oh-so-very longed for?

Let me remind you that there is nothing wrong with a progressive, technological advancement such as a front-facing camera on your phone to take pictures of yourself. Most people back then would probably attempt this “selfie-taking” and would wish something would be invented to make taking pictures easier. We do not ask for special treatment, we are not obsessed with our appearance, and do not feel the need to dictate-- we simply are just another line in the linage advancing with the time period.

Lastly, a common complaint about the millennial generation, by the millennial generation, is that we are arrogant and unclassy through our words and actions. No, the millennial generation does not speak in a formal tone, but that does not mean this generation lack pleasantries, manners, etiquettes, and protocols. Before "fleek" and "dope," came "groovy" and "rad." Keep in mind every generation has its own slang and its own flaws! So someone does not open the door for you? Well that one person should not represent the entire population of millennials.

To spark your memory, there was a time that a person of color never had the door opened for them. Nowadays, especially on college campuses like mine, everyone holds the door open for the person behind them, including myself. Yes, there are millennials who are not polite and do not show manners, but there is evidence of these same traits throughout every previous generation, so what’s to hate about ours?

There are a lot of things about this millennial generation that we do not have to like, but we should not claim to be born in the wrong time period. It is OK to like older or new music, it is OK to dress the way you want, it is OK to take selfies, or not, and it is OK to speak the way you want. We were born millennials for a reason and we should embrace how far we have come.

As a culture, in 2016, we now can express ourselves in any way we please; we can vote for who we want, we can go where we want, we can dress and look how we want, and many more rights that have been fought for by us and for us. We are in a streamline of technological advances and they are only going to get more advanced as we speak. We are finally getting to where we wanted to be so, instead of wishing to go back to a time where life was far more mundane and regressive, let us accept our differences in our generations and move forward.