I recently got an email from a Gen Yer sick of people writing about Generation Y, saying “We” and “Us” as if they have a God-given right to be a spokesman for millions. The other day I got an email from a twentysomething who was absolutely fed up with people writing about Generation Y. More specifically, young bloggers who consistently use the words “We” and “Us” as if they have a God-given right to be a spokesman for millions of individuals.

The funny thing is, I could relate. I write about Generation Y all the time and it’s hard to do without sounding a little disingenuous.

So why do I do it? Why does anybody do it? Are people like me doing service to Generation Y or are we making things worse for a group of people that has enough to deal with? I’m on both sides of the fence with this one.

We’re fortifying Gen-Y stereotypes.

And I’m not just talking about the negative ones either. There are plenty of stereotypes out there that may seem encouraging to some of us, but just don’t encompass the entire population.

For instance, I’ve heard some people argue that all Gen Yers are self-starting entrepreneurs. Not true. There are plenty of us out there who are happy with a structured corporate environment and wouldn’t want it any other way.

Look at me for instance, a founder of a startup. But I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a trademark entrepreneur. I owe the more entrepreneurial elements of our company’s success to my business partners. And lucky for me, there’s a newfound respect for the role of a community manager in the startup space.

We’re not traditional experts. So what are we talking about?

On the Internet you don’t have to be an expert to be considered an authority and that’s perfectly fine with me. But at the same time it’s dangerous for anyone who doesn’t understand that most bloggers are writing based on opinion, not fact.

Most Gen-Y bloggers are not experts. I’ve given speeches on the topic and I still have a hard time calling myself “expert.” Maybe it’s because I know that my opinions will inevitably change. Or maybe I just know that what I want now, in my twenties, isn’t going to be what I want when I’m thirty, or forty.

But, I also think I have a hard time playing the expert because everything we’re saying about Generation Y isn’t going to be true when we finally become the leaders of this world. Some of it will, but certainly not all of it. Nostradamus couldn’t predict things that accurately, either can we.

And still, I see a lot of value in putting our young voices out there for the world to hear. Just because we’re not going to get everything right, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be thinking.

It teaches us about the bigger picture.

Generation Y is given a bad rap for being narcissists, but the young people I know who are writing well about their generation are doing it with other people in mind.

Writing about Generation Y is important because it helps us analyze where we’re headed as a group of people. It brings up questions about what we can and can’t do, what we want and don’t want. And that means we’re getting a head start on all of the fantastic changes we hope to make in the world.

And maybe some of our expectations sound a bit delusional to disillusioned Gen Xers, but a lot of them aren’t as far-fetched as some believe. The import thing is that we’re thinking about it, and talking about it, together. And that means we’re much more likely to make something happen, learning from each other along the way.

If we don’t, somebody else still will.

When I first entered the blogosphere and wrote about Generation Y, there were a lot of haters out there. There still are. And while the media continued to bash us, story after story, nobody from our generation took the time to fight back.

Would it better if we didn’t talk back? Is it better to let our antagonists nitpick at all of our flaws and not even mention one of our many amazing qualities?

The obvious answer is no.