By TIMOTHY ATAKORA, Columnist

As we cruise through the 21st century, we slowly adapt and move to the constant innovation of our technology and tremendous amount of competition among people. But before that, we must first thank Generation X, or the baby boomers, and all of their contribution to allowing constant growth and open doors to ideas. Whether that is a decline in racism or the next popular smartphone on the market, we should give our thanks to them. I, myself, take time to appreciate all the work that was brought into the world by our elders, while most of us don’t. Us millennials are so delved in social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or just trying to decide on which selfie is the best that day, that we become too distant from the past.

I’m not saying we are the bad guys here. My point is we should try to actually live life and not try to document every little thing we come across. We create a mentality of “the world revolves around us,” and we rely too much on mommy and daddy all the time. As of right now, we millennials are dealing with abortion, gun violence, profiling, gender dispute, drugs, education, and the list goes on. How our generation will deal with this will depend on how well we acknowledge our surroundings and our own judgments, and whether we can find solutions to the matters at hand.

I’m not saying we should put down our phones and leave our social media profiles behind. We need these tools to expand our knowledge on the issues in our growing society. If anything, I believe we are by far the smartest generation up to date and have the ability to make all kinds of changes and impacts. Whether it is today or tomorrow, this year or next year, we need to be acquainted and prepared for the circumstances that approach us.