Contrary to popular belief, millennials are a pretty cool generation. We are easy to talk to and we care about others. We are highly educated, entrepreneurial and civic-minded. We're more accepting than our parents' generation and way less rebellious than the boomers. We are also dedicated to social justice and more diverse than any other generation prior. The millennial generation is defined as anyone born between 1978 and 1997, with some studies starting as early as 1977 or as late as 1982. This may come as a shocker to a lot of my readers, who probably didn't realize that they were millennials. (Not all of my readers are in their teens and twenties; some of them are in their late 30s.)
The millennial generation is really misunderstood, from its ethics and workplace attitudes to its behavior on social media. But the biggest misunderstanding of all, is how old millennials actually are. Millennial is now used as a catchphrase to categorize all young people (usually the 18-24 crowd). Yeah, not the same thing. Do the math on the birth year ranges and you'll find that the vast majority of millennials are a lot older than 24, with many of them pushing 40 now.
Why do so many people hate on millennials, including people who actually are millennials? This is probably due to two huge divides within the generation: the personal computing revolution and The Great Recession. Half of this generation came of age as digital natives. They've never known life without cell phones, laptops and the internet. Half of this generation also graduated from college and entered the job force in a vastly different economy than its older members.
When people say they hate millennials, what they really hate is technology. You can call us lazy, entitled, selfish, narcissistic, and politically disengaged (if you want to use these adjectives to describe a specific generation, let's explore the Baby Boomers), but you're mostly mad about 21st century culture of technological dependence, individualism and change. When it comes to tech culture, old people are just as addicted to their screens as we are. Look at how many old people use Facebook (one could argue that they're the ones who ruined Facebook with all their cat videos and baby pictures). Side note: if you complain that there are now too many social media platforms to keep track of, you're probably just old. Same goes for people who still use email instead of DMs, FB messaging, etc.
There is one more thing that you're mad about when you say you hate millennials and it might be the most brutal truth of all: your influence is shrinking and you fear becoming irrelevant. Millennials and Generation Z have plenty of time on their hands to try out different identities and make lots of mistakes. Generation X and the Boomers don't. It's a harsh truth and it's difficult to hear so you can either embrace the younger generations and give back to them in meaningful ways or you can just fade away and become invisible.
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