Referred to as the Gen Y or Millennial generation, I would like to re-name our group something I see more fitting…The Peacock Generation. Because I’m “entitled” and I can. Majority of the people in The Peacock Generation who frequent social media everyday are saying, “HEY! LOOK AT ME!.” Why? We are a social species and want to be loved even if that love is coming from complete strangers. We crave constant attention and we want the instant gratification. What some people don’t understand is that our generation is used to instant gratification. This is how we’ve been raised. Our parents have always given us praise. We have grown up using Google where you can type in any question and get the answer instantly. We also want our friends and family to see that our lives are going great when in all actuality could be a total mess. But pictures can be deceiving and sometimes there’s a lot more to the story. It seems as though we are numbing ourselves. Should we really feel like we need gratification from people who aren’t even in our lives to feel good about ourselves? I’m not so sure. I am a victim and have been an advocate of this new plague.

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People call our generation “narcissists”, and that we are “entitled,” and maybe that’s true. But there’s a lot more to us. We have the freedom to say what we want and we take full advantage of that. Most of our lives our parents have censored things from us and maybe that is a part of it. We only want the truth and seek out the truth. We want to know what is going on in the world. Saying that our generation doesn’t care about current news is not true at all. We have access to all different news sources and are bombarded with multiple different news stories on Facebook everyday. Being able to say what’s on our mind anytime of the day about any subject gives us a sense of accomplishment. We want to change the world into a place that we deem suitable.

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Studies have also shown that we may be rewiring our brains because of how much multitasking we do during the day. Most of us can use three to four electronic devices at a time. Our brains are evolving. I was always told that multitasking doesn’t work and it might actually be true that it can.Think about it. We are constantly connected with people. People from around the world posting and sharing their stories that we can see and share and also interact with the people who wrote it. We interact with people from around the world which already gives us insight into different cultures and what problems they may face. There is so much that we can do online. Things that past generations couldn’t do.

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Many positives have come from the emergence of the rapid growth of social media. More awareness has been raised about issues like bullying and cyberbullying alike, body image, animal cruelty, police brutality,the war against ISIS, racism, LGBT issues, politics, etc. Websites like BuzzFeed, which I’m sure we are all familiar with, do a great job with this. Snapchat allows us to stay in touch and send pictures our friends. It also has stories of events that are happening around the world with snapchatters snapchatting from different countries, which is pretty neat in retrospect. Facebook and Twitter allow us to share what’s on our mind. Regular everyday people have been given able to gain large followings and become celebrities in their own right, whether that’s through the website YouTube, or through apps like Vine, Instagram, Twitter, and Musical.ly. Companies with large brand recognition have contacted these people and they actually post ads for them through their accounts. A lot of them are like mini-commercials. Some companies for example that have done this are Target, IKEA, and Coca-Cola. This is another thing that past generations can’t say that they did. There are so many good things that have come from social media, but there are also some negatives.

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A negative is that social media and dating apps have potentially killed the dating game. I don’t know how many times I’ve swept left on the dating app Tinder based solely on looks and I have recently thought to myself…”how can I be so judgmental?” It seems impossible now that someone can start a relationship through Tinder. But it’s easy if you want a quick lay. The phrase, “Netflix and Chill” has become a phrase that is commonplace among our generation. In a recent article done by Vanity Fair, they are calling it the “Dating Apocalypse.” We have become a hookup culture with no interest in building a strong relationship. This might be because it is so easy nowadays. We are so fast-paced in everything we do. Social media also has an affect on people already in relationships. Another negative is that most of us fail to live in the moment. We want everyone to know what we’re up to so we are always on Snapchat and posting to Instagram. I know we are all guilty of being somewhere and constantly being on our phones. Watching other people made me realize that we are missing out on so much.

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Maybe it’s just how our generation is. Every generation is different. Is it bad that most of us are more worried about self-improvement than having to get married and having kids? I don’t think so. The difference is that we know we can choose. If you weren’t married and already having kids back then straight out of college then what were you doing with your life? This generation is bent on getting a good career. Most of us have an entrepreneurial state of mind and that’s not a bad thing. We are on a journey of self-improvement. That’s why so many of us want to travel the world. We want to see the world and become more cultured. I don’t know how many friends I’ve had who have already studied abroad or have went on mission trips to help the less fortunate. We are a more open generation. I constantly say “we” in this article because that’s how we think. It’s a “we” generation because we are a bunch of collaborators, and open-minded individuals. Each generation is different and I’m proud to be a part of what I call The Peacock Generation, because the positives outweigh the negatives. There are  endless possibilities for what we can do.