Sitting on their bed. Staring blankly at their phone. Constantly on Twitter and Facebook, but disconnected from the world. This is Generation Z. Sitting at their computer. Working hard on a million school projects at once. Reading the news, and connecting with others from all over the world via Twitter and Facebook. This is also Generation Z.

Generation Z, kids born between the late 1990s to now, are receiving a criticism from generations before them. These older generations label kids in Gen-Z as easily distracted, uninterested, and lazy, they even gave them their own nickname: “Generation Lay-Z.” Despite the opinions from the more experienced generations, Generation Z cannot be stereotyped this way. Generation Z is a generation full of hard-workers, intellectuals, and diverse people, and are far from the one word that they are often correlated with: lazy.
Older generations say that the worst quirk about Gen-Z is all of the technology around them, as Elk Grove High School history teacher, Dan Davisson said, “You guys have all these devices like smartphones, touchscreens, iPhones, iPads, ‘iEverything.’ It’d be hard for you guys to spend your energy on things like volunteering if you have all these distractions.” Yes, cell phones are a very big distraction, but people often overlook their usefulness. Kids are now being born into this world with the ability to access all of the world’s greatest intellectual works in the palm of their hands. Smartphones allow kids to learn about whatever they want by accessing the Internet, and Gen-Z kids are the first generation that are native to this technology. Where previous generations struggled to understand computers and figure them out, Gen-Z is born with this knowledge. As Dr. Philippa Smith, the executive director of the World Internet Project New Zealand, put it, “Generation Z are well and truly digital natives…”Generation Z may have the biggest distractor in history, but that distractor helps make them smarter people, and better citizens of the world. As author Dan Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital, said,“This is the first time in history kids know more than adults about something really important to society — maybe the most important thing.” Kids now know technology more than their parents. Technology may be a distraction, but it is our future, and Gen-Z already knows it.

Generation Z is also labeled as apathetic and uncaring to other people, but Gen-Z is better than that. Huffington Post reported in 2015 that “Gen Z is the most diverse generation in history thus far.” Because we now live in a connected world, Generation Z’s kids are made up of many ethnicities. With all of these ethnicities in the classroom, kids become more empathetic towards other cultures and other nations. This level of tolerance towards others show that Gen-Z do care about the world around them, and the people around them.

Now for the big one. Generation Z has been stereotyped to death about how lazy they are. People describe them as people who stay at home all day and play on their phones. Boy, do we wish that was true. In reality, Generation Z  have a lot of good reasons to be lazy. First of all, Gen-Z has to juggle school and their many activities at once. Gen-Z are still learning how to manage time well. Unlike adults, Generation Z kids don’t have experience on managing time. As Psychology Today writer Dr. Carl Pickhardt said, "If parents had as much to do and think about as their teenager, sometimes they might feel like acting 'lazy' too."Also, doesn’t calling the young generation “lazy” bring up some déjà vu? Every generation has been called “lazy” by older generations before them, and it will continue  to be that way until the end of time. The stereotype of the old man stereotyping young hot shots carries on to every generation. We understand why you call us “lazy”, but at least remember the time that you were called lazy, and how you felt.

In 2012, Huffington Post described Generation Z as “lazy, unaware, and apathetic.”All of these words describe a horrible stereotype of a kid society believes is this generation. In reality, a Generation Z kid is one who works hard in school everyday, uses the technology around them to stay connected, and a person who shows love and respect to other cultures. Name one other generation who can do all of that. Sure, these kids are addicted to their phones, and may be a tad bit lazy at sometimes (I know I’m a culprit of that myself), but look at previous generations, and you will see a very similar pattern. When people peel away all of the stereotypes that society has depicted on Generation Z, they will see a group of kids, as youth group pastor Jin Kim puts it, “When I look at them I don’t see lazy or inattentive kids. I see kids that are caring and hard-working, not apathetic.”For all of the older generations worrying about the fate of our planet, don’t worry, Generation Z has got you covered.