I spent most of my evening and then morning reading newspaper articles (online, of course) researching the media's perception of Generation Next. Here's some of what I found:

An ABC News columnist wrote: "When it comes to pop culture, hit music, electronics, fashion trends, celebrity-doings, sex and partying, (whew) most of you, American teenagers, are "ppssssttt"… sizzlin' hot. But if the subject is say, American freedoms, world history or current events, many of you all are clueless. Come on. True dat."

In a Fox News column, Luke Rampersad, a junior at Gunn High School from Palo Alto, Calif., said, "My generation's biggest icons aren't politicians -- they're rappers and rock stars."

From the same article, author David Mindich said, "What we're seeing is almost two generations of young people who haven't picked [a news habit] up and have no prospect of doing so. You see news consumption is down in all media, but then you can also look at how much people know. Not much."

I read articles that stated that we act the way we do because our brains don't develop as fast as generations past, articles that said we would rather read about Paris Hilton than about Iraq. There's been growing concern in the media industry that the youth of America have no desire to know what's going on in the world.

Who can blame us? Their sensational tactics force us to look to programs that aren't polluted with "scare-the-public-into-submission" reporting. And apparently our divergence from these newscasts causes older generations to make assumptions and conduct studies.

The real problem isn't us abandoning traditional mediums; it's in the quotes above.

The television networks don't broadcast images of youth helping in their communities; instead we see youth in the streets, strung out on drugs, completely starstruck and disrespectful.

Now, is it just me, or are they providing a model of what our behavior should be? The expectations of our generation are grim and sub par at best, and yet some have the audacity to be frustrated when we rise to that capacity.

I was offended when I first read the ABC News article by Carole Simpson on American youth. She belittled an entire populace because she couldn't understand how to reach us and attributed her inability to an obvious fault in our cranial development. Our generation doesn't trust the media, and Ms. Simpson's article exemplifies one of our reasons why.

Our role models are entertainers because they aren't afraid to be upfront about who they are. They put into their music what they feel; that openness is attractive to us. Politicians bowdlerize social programs that fund art departments in schools but mask it underneath "concern" for upholding the true meaning of the word marriage. I wouldn't want a politician as my idol; it would denigrate my own integrity.

We aren't clueless and we do care. We want to have our voices heard! We don't want constant rape, murder and kidnapping specials. We want the truth from all perspectives. Most of all, we don't want to be the object of constant criticism. We aren't material for scientific experiments nor are we the worst thing to hit planet Earth since the plague.

In response to the media's concerns, I think Ocean MacAdams, vice president of MTV news said it best in the Fox News article, "If there's one thing that has never changed, it's the older generation's complaints about the younger generation not taking things seriously. It's just the natural order of things."

-- Natalia