Kids these days. Lazy, spoiled, cell phone addicted, Melanoma-endangered and rude. What happened to the days when kids worked for their parents, and didn’t complain? When talking on the landline was a privilege? When sunscreen was cool and so was being polite to your teacher, classmates and parents. What happened is that privileges turned into guarantees? What happened was that the first amendment turned into being able to do anything? What happened was that we began to classify kids into these stereotypes instead of showing them yet another way. However, what about the other children? Have we jumped to conclusions, too soon?
Generation Y is set to describe births beginning in the 1980s and up until 2000. Leaving them around thirty but barely, This whole era, which followed the parents of Generation X, have been classified as money driven states A USA Today article stated in November of 2005 that of Generation Y. "Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.” By fitting citizens into generation’s stereotypes, we’re only aggravating them. Generations may go through the same financial and media experiences, but what about personal? Won’t the child who saw his parents skip meals in order for him to eat see things differently that the child who lost track of the Oreos and big Macs? And won’t the child who did weekly chores do things differently then the child who never even knew where the broom closet was?

The US Census Bureau reported in January of 2002 that the number of cell phone users had increased significantly, “Nearly 110 million people in the United States used a cellular telephone in 2000 compared with about 5 million subscribers in 1990. Generation Y has seemed to experience yet another industrial revolution. Back in 1990 when cell phones was minimal and texting was obsolete and until now when cell phones are an extension of the hand and texting language has it’s own dictionaries. This labels generation Y participants as extremely technological advanced. It also labels them that they think anything is just a few texts away. A study done by C&R Research states that, “22 percent of young children own a cell phone (ages 6-9), 60 percent of tweens (ages 10-14), and 84 percent of teens (ages 15-18).” The market research firm, the Yankee Group reports that, “54 percent of 8-12 year olds will have cell phones within the next three years.” Spoiled, not exactly. Cell phones almost replace games these days, as communicating with fellows is just as fun as playing hopscotch or watching “I Love Lucy”, cell phones can be taken away and also restricted to emergencies only. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 74 percent of Americans say they’ve used a cell phone in an emergency. Cell phones also aren’t just texting devices. They can link children down with GPS, keep children with a permanent 911 button for when they’re out and about and just for orderly convenience. Today, children are socializing more than ever. With cars, no farm work to be done and communication replacing games being able to speak with one another is a necessity and shouldn’t classify children as spoiled.

No. Shut up. Screw You. Bite me. I hate you. Go die. FU. The things said by children today are disrespectful. It’s also more common. However, is that really kids fault? How are they being punished, an eye roll or a whip of the belt? With the, “it’s a free country,” response being more overused and exaggerated than gossip girl dramas, it’s obvious than Generation Y seems to not be to familiar with consequences. The first Amendment to them must seem like an excuse that they can do whatever they want. But wait, what about the kids who don’t even own a cell phone? And the ones who’s parents are too drunk to care about them. Generation X is a load of taking our the belt whipping on some? No, the stereotypes and generation classifications need to be reversed. We’re forgetting about the minorities. Instead of blaming children as lazy and spoiled because they have cell phones that are only looked upon as items to text on. And instead of showing punishment we’ve blamed it on how the world has changed.

The sooner we realize that not all children are lazy. Some have papers they spend night and day on because they’re proud of their accomplishments. The sooner we realize that not all children are spoiled. Because cell phones are more than texting tools. The sooner we realize that not all children are orange. Some of them actually do wear sunscreen, however that’s another story. And the sooner we realize that not all children are rude. Some of them do say please. Most of them might say please, however their aren’t statistics that make up generation Y that say so. The sooner we eliminate you were born in this era so you are this, the better. The sooner we realize that the girls with short shorts, toting around boyfriend too old, with too orange skin and bleach blond hair who are texting a million people while shopping, calling their mom and telling her to shut up and then going out to drink…doesn’t actually dominate high schools. So, what can we do? Well, we can start but telling the stereotypes to shut up…please.