Millennials- we are immersed in pop culture, and at the same time, most of us are intelligent and globally aware. Adults, however, tend to view these two things as mutually exclusive.

My generation, Millennials, are seen as social media-obsessed, fashion-forward, narcissistic idiots with only an ounce of intelligence scattered among all seventy million of us; however, this is so untrue. This is the image that pop culture paints of us: dumb teenagers taking selfies at the most inappropriate of times, twerking, and, overall, doing stupid, embarrassing things. But the truth is, pop culture does not detract from our intelligence, and in fact, many of us mock pop culture. A limited number of people my age that I know “duck-face” in their selfies or quote Keeping Up With The Kardashians without irony. But even if we did these things in all seriousness, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it.

Aspects of pop culture have changed, but pop culture as a whole hasn’t. Generation X, the people primarily guilty of criticizing the younger generation, had its share of meaningless yet catchy songs, poorly written reality TV, and odd, yet widespread “customs” as well. Like every generation, they had people who didn’t amount to anything (which wasn’t necessarily related to their immersion in mainstream culture), and many of them simultaneously worked hard and knew the lyrics to all of Billboard’s Top 100 songs. As Joel Stein wrote in the Time Magazine’s article, “Millennials, The Me Me Me Generation,” “...millennials’ self-involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations. They’re not a new species; they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment.”

Adults tend to judge Millennials by the pop culture that surrounds them. Not only is this not an accurate representation of the Millennials’ personality itself, but, as said before, there is nothing inherently wrong with pop culture.

Maybe this negative connotation that people have with pop culture is due to the fact that pop culture is typically associated with teenage girls. However untrue, due to stereotypes, people have the preconceived notion that teenage females are stupid, have high-pitched giggles, and are ridiculously obsessed with boy bands. Maybe the latter two are true (and even then, not for the entire female population), but in no way does that validate the former. My friends and I are all active in various fandoms, be it bands or TV shows, but in no way have these interests impeded my ability to get grades or participate in a variety of extracurricular activities. I love Fall Out Boy and Vampire Weekend, Sherlock and Doctor Who, I laugh maniacally, I take selfies, and I tell stupid jokes: in most ways, I completely resemble society’s stereotypes of the average teenage girl. But none of these things make me stupid.

I, like most of my generation, and like people of all generations have done, have successfully blended together the different components of my life. In addition to listening to music and watching music videos and TV shows and taking selfies and spending time with my friends, I work hard at school and get good grades, I play two instruments, and I have a multitude of hobbies. As Ezra Koenig, lead singer of the indie rock band Vampire Weekend, tweeted, “the rise of the selfy [selfie] says exactly 1 thing about modern society: people got more cameras.” Modern pop culture does not “make Millennials stupid.” In no way is having knowledge on mainstream media (the newest music videos, a certain Vine, etc…) harming any, dare I say, “useful” knowledge that I have.

We are Millennials. We are not obsessed with fame. We are not narcissistic. But we want to do something great, something worthy of recognition. We want to leave a profound impact on the world. We have a variety of interests, even obsessions, but they don’t invalidate our common sense, intelligence, and capability to be responsible, conscientious people. We have grown up with the hope of someday being successful, whatever that means, at our core; and while to many, success involves fame and recognition, it is a shared aspiration among all Millennials to do or create something substantial for the bettering of the world.