Millenials get slaughtered in the media for being ignorant, lazy, wishy-washy and entitled, but the ones Patrick Brothwell knows don’t demonstrate that at all.
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I was born in 1986. This makes me a “millennial,” those of us who were born in the 1980’s-early 2000’s and came of age as we transitioned into this new millennium. Since I am a millennial, so are most of my friends and acquaintances. Weirdly enough however, whenever I hear about anything millennial-related in the media, the descriptions seem foreign and doesn’t match the people I know.
Off the top of my head, I don’t think I know anyone who resides in Brooklyn, most everyone is working or at least trying their damndest to work. I can’t think of anyone I know sitting on their ass mooching of their parents while spending all their time trying to turn their blog into a television show or front an indie band. I’m even taking people I dislike, and would happily trash, into consideration here. You could argue that I’m basing this of a small sampling of the millennial generation, but I feel if anyone fell into the caricature the media draws up, it’d be this guy, with my comfortable middle class upbringing and English degree from a small liberal arts college in the Northeast.
I did some personal research and from what I was able to cobble together, my generation is entitled, over medicated, overly reliant on technology, lazy, ignorant and spoon-fed. We spend too much time whining and bitching about the way the world works while living with our parents. We spend the time we’re not whining and bitching being hyper-connected to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Vine until the next cool new social media startup is launched and then it’s out with the old and in with a new digital obsession. We’d rather not work, or tend bar until our dream job falls in our lap. We will not deign to climb the corporate ladder like the workforce lemmings in their 30’s.
We’ve been nicknamed “The Me Generation” for our penchant for rampant narcissism, the “Peter Pan Generation” for our penchant for reaching (or eschewing altogether) adult milestones later then the baby boomers and the “Boomerang Generation” for our penchant for boomeranging right back into our parent’s homes when we can’t get a job. None of these are meant to be flattering. In fact, in the course of my research, I was hard pressed to find anything positive associated with the word “millennial.”
I decided to focus on just one article, for the purpose of succinctness and chose one titled something to the effect of “20 Things Millennials Need to Get Over.” It mentions how we have to get over trying to find our dream job right away. We have to get over the fact that our blog probably won’t go viral and that our startup will probably fail. We have to learn that success comes after years of hard work. We also have to come to the terms with the fact that we are adults. It’s time to move out of our parents homes, stop hooking up and start embracing monogamy, and stop letting problems of “youth” dictate our lives.
You know why else this particular article spoke to me? There were traits the author identified as being intrinsically millennial that I found familiar. Many people I know are still actively pursuing their dream jobs, which mind you, I don’t think is a bad thing. I also know enough people who do have a blog or work for some startup company, people who possess an entrepreneurial spirit and some good old fashioned hustle. I know a number of people who believe that success comes after the amount of work, not necessarily the years of work, and many who don’t define success in occupational terms. I have a handful of friends who still live with their parents for a variety of reasons and I know people who are moving back in with their parents after a couple of years on their own, again not necessarily negatives. I know plenty of people who file the “adult milestones”, like marriage and home ownership, under “if it happens, great, if it doesn’t, no biggie.” I also know contemporaries who are married and who own property.
While I didn’t necessarily agree that all of these are things we need to get over, I recognized the millenials being described as friends, acquaintances and former schoolmates. This in itself was unique. I found the reoccurring theme of dissatisfaction to be authentic, and why not? The job market is in the shitter, student debt is crushing and the 24/7, go-go-go lifestyle of corporate America doesn’t make sense for a lot of people I know.
But you know what? No one is whining about it, much. I mean, we bitch and moan when we get together over drinks but in general most people are working their tails off to rectify the situation. That’s the main disparity between the media’s portrayal of the millennial and the millenials of my reality. Most of them are incredibly industrious, creative and not afraid to put in the necessary legwork. I know a number of people who hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet. I know others who work and simultaneously are trying to either advance or change their careers by getting additional schooling. I know those who devote their free time to side projects, but you know what? They’re not doing so on their parent’s dime (or if they are it’s not some one-way street arrangement) or their employer’s time or relying on the help of gullible internet strangers (I’m looking at you kickstarter).
The millenials I know are no less ignorant than any other generation. I mean, I have people I consider to be close friends who could probably name more Kardashians than Presidents. But they are far less ignorant and far more open minded when it comes to issues of race, class and sexual preference. The over-reliance on technology isn’t a huge issue either. Almost everyone I know has some type of social media, but most limit it to just one or two mediums and most people can exist if those mediums conked out for a bit. And maybe the fact that the majority of the millenials I know live in Pennsylvania has something to do with it, but I’d guess that’s not the case, my college friends live all over the place.
Most of the millenials I know are no more or less entitled than people of any other generation. Most are aware that they’ll need to start at entry level positions. Most are aware that hard work pays off, and most are aware that success is not immediate. I do know people who feel entitled enough as humans to say that just because they are entry level doesn’t mean they could be treated like shit, and I do know people who feel entitled to be rewarded for the amount of effort they put into something.
So I get confused whenever I read about the negative things the millenials are doing to society, and I just wonder where these writers and reporters and media personalities are meeting such folk. It’s as if they watched a season of Girls or interviewed three bitter baristas and used that to generalize an entire generation, which is my real complaint with the crucification of the millennial. If you’ve noticed, I continually use words like “most,” ”many,” and ”some”, versus “everyone” or “all.” It’s hard to make sweeping generalizations about everyone I know, just as it’s hard to make a sweeping generalization of an entire 20-years worth of births.
I’ll admit, the horrible millennial you read about online does exist somewhere, but it’s hardly indicative of everyone in that age range. If I were to generalize based on my own millennial existence, I’d say that our future is looking good. But this younger generation coming up? These kids in school now? We’ve got to watch out for them.
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Photo: amerainey/Flickr
The Millennials are fine. I remember the media hand wringing over my generation, gen x, being disaffected slackers.
Wellokaythen … I’m not sure “every generation” though the same way. Of course, even though I’m much older, I can imagine that the generation prior to mine (I was born in the mid 50’s) didn’t view the generation before as entitled much less lazy. Many of our prior generations dealt with wars, the depression as well as the industrial growth of this country. Child labor laws were developed so as to protect the young people from being exploited. Unions evolved from inferior work environments. I don’t see anyone saying that those generations were in any way lazy or entitled. Having… Read more »
‘Twas every thus.
For the past couple centuries, EVERY generation of Americans says the younger generation is lazy, spoiled, and selfish, in apparent contrast to the older generation which is always harder working, more virtuous, and morally better. The people calling millenials selfish are from a generation that was also called selfish by a generation that was also called selfish, back and back across the decades. The parents of “the Greatest Generation” thought that generation was ignorant, lazy, and doomed to screw up everything.
Rest assured that millenials will look on the generation after them as spoiled, selfish, etc.