Lazy or legendary?

It’s cheating to say both, but our generation does what it wants

To say there is a “raging debate” about the alleged laziness of Millennials would suggest there’s a debate at all, but many seem to take it as a given.

We’re lazy – or, as some clever people will say, “Generation Lay-Z” – gadget-dependent, spoiled rotten and culturally and politically ignorant. That’s what the media and the Baby Boomers say, anyways. And maybe they’re right.

Maybe they’re right in a broad sense. We’ve grown up with technology our parents could only dream of in one of the richest, most powerful countries in the world. Compared to the youth of years past, life is easier than ever.

Here’s the thing: Denouncing an entire generation is silly. For every iPhone addict who couldn’t name the vice president, there’s a kid grinding every day just to get a foot in the door. Technology may enhance the idiocy that was already there, but it doesn’t necessarily create it. Before, the lazy ones could only throw their ignorance in the faces of their peers. Now all of Twitter knows who does and doesn’t know the difference between “their” and “there”.

Standards are higher than ever. It’s possible to succeed without a college degree, but good luck being one of the few. Nice GPA you have there – too bad it immediately disqualifies you from your dream school. No community service on your resume? Sorry son, but we found another candidate who qualifies.

Life may be easier for some, but it’ll come back to bite them in the end. And it will, because there are a lot of people out there working day and night to get the jobs those people want; there are only so many to go around.

The lazier people might be louder than ever, but that doesn’t mean they define the generation. From the basketball court to the conference room, the competition is increasing. There may be more lazy kids, but there are also many more industrious ones. Technology is only exacerbating the gap.