Lazy, entitled, self-obsessed narcissists—this is the label Time magazine has given to the current generation of young adults in its 2013 cover story, “The Me Me Me generation.” As a society, we have turned time and time again to this generation-bashing slander in order to explain why young adults are not being socially active and aware. 

My mom often criticizes that I don’t go to downtown Raleigh and picket and protest in front of the capital building when I have something I believe in and want to change. There is a special type of bravery in this act, but I argue that picketing and protesting in this way is not as effective as it was in the past. Many more people are logged onto the Internet than are strolling past protests or rallies. 

We use different methods than our parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Our methods do take a lot less effort. However, though some might view this as lazy, these strategies are more of an innovation of minimizing effort that simultaneously increases effectiveness. The word “lazy” gets a bad rap by our elders, but “laziness” as they describe it is a sign that we have evolved to thrive in a generation of plenty, and have consequently learned to be savvy and efficient to this end. Whether it’s blogging, YouTube-ing or tweeting, Generation Y is more fearlessly vocal than previous generations.

The Internet has democratized information, and this has helped me in an era in which young people actualize important values rather than outwardly protest for social change. An online, and often anonymous, community of social activists or idealists has the power to affect social justice through individual behavior. 

Social media should not be scoffed at and devalued; after all, a 2012 study by the Pew Research Center indicated that 66 percent of social media users engage in political discussion.  

Andrew Swinand, the co-founder and managing director of Frequency540, claimed in a 2014 column that social activism is the “new religion” of the millennials.

Furthermore, 7 in 10 young adults consider themselves social activists, according to a study by TBWA\Worldwide and TakePart. This is nearly double the number from the previous year. Young adults were politically active, and a primary example of this was young adults claiming they would boycott or reward businesses based on a company’s values. 

With that said, the minimal effort that we now have to use to be socially active indicates that we can do so much more. If every college student skipped one Netflix series, maybe the collective could lower the drinking age, get an unfit politician out of office, decriminalize marijuana or come up with innovative solutions for economic problems. 

We have an easy wealth of information. It’s so easy to put news and politics in your everyday line of sight. Follow news organizations, politicians and socially active groups on Instagram, Twitter or Tumblr. Have news alerts installed on your search engine of choice. 

Finally, the critique that young people are rude and “don’t respect” those who came before them is encouraging. It shows that fundamentally, millennials and Generation Z are not sheep.  

Over the past few months I have felt the social climate changing from apathy to action. After Ferguson, the Chapel Hill shooting, ISIS attacks and so much debate about gender equality, racial and sexual orientation bias and discrimination in general, I have witnessed more and more people standing up to injustice. Hopefully this is not just some mirage of my imagination, because I’m very excited for the change I feel we are on the brink of.