As technology progresses and becomes more embedded in our daily lives, faith is shifting from what our founding fathers created as the fundamentals of our country to the latest gadgets Apple releases.

Let me take you back to a time when a teenager with a phone was so rare, it was usually the popular kid no one really liked; when having a laptop at an age under 18 was seen as an indication of your, or rather your parents’, socio-economic status; when instant messaging and MySpace was the cool way to talk to your friends. This time was nearly a decade ago, when technology was slowly emerging into the public eye and we were either the teen with the phone or befriending the one who had it.

Now, I am able to send an e-mail while calling my friend, who just updated their relationship status on Facebook, to learn all about the details. The signs of progress are everywhere, such as the students running into a tree while texting and walking at the same time, or the annoying tweeter who lets their followers know they’re walking to class while gulping down a chai tea.

These tools, being entrenched in our lives, are the very reason society sees our generation as the most apathetic age group, politically, socially and spiritually. Think about the reliability we put in our phones, our contact information, social media updates, professional e-mail accounts, mobile banking sites or merely browsing the internet for answers to random questions we have while sitting on the couch during our summer veg-out stage.

Now, think about losing said phone, and the feeling of disbelief and fear of someone else picking it up, or worse—stealing it. Picture someone pilfering your information from Facebook and e-mail to use it to steal your identity. Our grandparents, and even parents, are weary of putting this much trust in technology, so why aren’t we?

This trust comes from years of having technology forced upon us  from advertisers, peers and even the school systems. But what if we changed that? We could demonstrate we are no longer the apathetic group of young people.

These tools of technological destruction have been used to pull us further away from politics, religion and even social injustices. They might update us on the latest news for these issues, but we merely skip to the next Yahoo webpage for another mildly-entertaining story. By putting down the iPad and actually beginning to take a stand towards an issue we can change our generation’s stigma.

I’m not suggesting we merely do away with all technology in our lives, but rather use it for tasks other than playing Angry Birds during a less-than enjoyable class. We could utilize the tools to help us in taking a stand. By using it to properly educate ourselves and promote the issues we believe in and support, these tools will connect us to those feeling the same way we do and thus be able to help generate more support for our stance. The Occupy movement going on throughout our nation is a testament to the power of technology in uniting those for some type of reform. More of our generation should do the same.

No matter the stance, any position is better than no position at all. By taking belief in something other than a 42″ plasma screen TV, we have the potential to make an impact, which is better than merely wasting space and time in our society by doing nothing. This is not a personal bashing of the way my generation does business, but rather a call to action to unite and utilize our full potential, now and in the future.