Millennials have such a terrible reputation that it makes me cringe to even hear the word “Millennial,” because it’s almost guaranteed to be accompanied by something negative. Sure, there are a lot of positive opinions out there, but almost overwhelmingly, the word “Millennial” has evolved into an easy shorthand for people to use when they want to convey the following common stereotypes.

1. All Millennials Are The Same

Shockingly, not all people born during the wide-ranging span of the early 1980s to the early 2000s have the same hopes, dreams, morals, ethics, principles, tastes and brains. Think about it this way: Someone born in 1983 is now 31 years old. Someone born in 2003 is now 11 years old. Both of these people are considered Millennials, but I’m guessing they have very different priorities, especially since one is young enough to be the child of the other.

2. Millennials Are Lazy

This myth seems to come from the fact that many young people have trouble getting jobs; apparently, everyone just forgot about the economic collapse that made it nearly impossible for new grads to become employed.

3. Millennials Don’t Want To Work

Yes, they do. But there are still no jobs. In fact, the job situation is worse than it was in 2008.

4. Millennials Don’t Want To Cut The Cord

Hearing about how young people are too unmotivated or too emotionally dependent to move out of their parents’ houses is, frankly, infuriating, because the simple truth is that wages haven’t been matching inflation; therefore, it is incredibly hard for someone just starting out in life to afford even the basics like rent and food.

5. They’re Obsessed With Technology

Not really; it’s just that technology is everywhere, so people use it. Unless you’re a hermit living in voluntarily solitude on top of a mountain, you have to use technology if you want to be part of the modern world. It’s like walking on sidewalks and driving cars: you just do it.

6. They’re Selfish

If a person wanting a stable job that they don’t despise — which also pays them enough money to live on — is selfish, then I’m not really sure what to think.

7. They Have No Attention Span

No one has an attention span.

8. They Can’t Interact With People

Maybe the problem here is that when Millennials are constantly bombarded with accusations like, “Your generation doesn’t know how to interact with people” and “Your generation is too lazy to work,” they mostly want to avoid eye contact and back away.

9. Millennials Are All Broke

Even though it’s trendy to focus on all the young people who have mountains of student loans to pay off, not everyone is in this boat; glossing over the details of the ones who are saving money and making it work makes it easy for people to paint a picture of all Millennials as struggling, perpetually poor adult children who will never survive in the real world.

10. Millennials Are Unbearably Naïve

This might be true of some new high school and college graduates, but it’s also true of the new grads of every single other generation. Everyone graduates with bright eyes and naïve dreams that are quickly stomped on by people who were once bright-eyed and naïve themselves. It’s the circle of life.

11. Millennials Are All Overeducated And Underemployed

Not to beat a dead horse by repeating the same point over and over, but Millennials are not aliens that were beamed onto Earth during the last few years; perpetuating myths that we’re all alike — i.e., undeserving, privileged and lazy — is doing a huge disservice to the people without college degrees, who, according to a recent Pew study, are struggling even more than their college-educated counterparts and probably don’t need potential employers thinking snotty things about them. Not everyone fits into the exact same category as everyone else; it’s an important lesson to remember.