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How Terrible are Millennials?

Lazy, unmotivated, atrocious, entitled, selfish, unmannerly, unholy- some quick synonyms older generations believe are appropriate for the term “millennial.”

Odds are if you were born after the year 1980 and before the year 2000, you are aware of the stereotypes that are attached to your birthday- because you are a millennial.  

It is almost guaranteed that any individual in this range of birthdays has heard Generation X (most likely your parents generation) or the baby boomers (most likely your grandparents generation) talk about how deplorable the young adults of today are.

After being told by older generations that my generation is truly a monstrosity for the entirety of my existence, I am going to list some of the millennial stereotypes and either prove or disprove them.

  1. Millennials are extremely narcissistic and only care about themselves.  

 

Living in a sort of “selfie” culture, older generations seem to think that millennials are self-absorbed, shallow, and only care about their physical appearance online and in the real world.

But as a frustrated millennial, I can say that having an older generation see rich, spoiled, and entitled teens serve as the spokespeople for this generation, *cough cough Kylie Jenner cough cough* is not at all an accurate representation of what we are actually like.

Yeah, yeah, we edit our photos to look better on Instagram and used to share our selfies on Facebook for more likes, but what about the fact that online donations to charitable organizations have recently grown by nearly ten percent? Also, millennials have proven to be very active in nonprofit organizations to meet the new found social responsibility among young people.

It seems as though self love and selfishness are confused very often in the media and in older generations. There is a difference between promoting positivity and narcissism. Just because someone has a positive image of themselves online does not mean that they are narcissistic and are incapable of doing anything charitable for the world. 

2. We all have commitment issues and are unable to make decisions.

This may be true, but it is justified. In the baby boomer generation and all generations before that, there were far less options. Instead of going to school to be a doctor or a lawyer, now the opportunities are limitless. Instead of getting married at age twenty and starting a family like the baby boomer generation, millennials are usually in school until their early twenties and are focusing on their careers first and putting their relationships second. Personally, it doesn’t sound like a commitment issue to be responsibly selfish. Maybe millennials are committed… to themselves.

How should we be expected to make smart decisions as children in a world full of opportunities? How are we supposed to decide our career paths before we are legal adults if our brains aren’t even developed by age twenty-five? Things are not black and white like they were fifty years ago when our grandparents were making their life plans. It seems as if most millennials struggle so hard to find a career because they truly want to have a passion for what they are doing, as opposed to choosing the most convenient career at a young age and working an unfulfilling job until age seventy.

3. We are not happy unless we have an iPhone glued to our hand/face.

In this digital age, most millennials do thrive on technology. But in all honesty, who can blame them? If our grandparents had a six by three inch iPhone screen that could help them easier communicate with their peers, provide them with a GPS navigation system, had a very decent camera, and provided them with music at the touch of a finger, they would have also been glued to their phones.

Isn’t the overall goal in the typical American life just to live as conveniently as possible? Why would we be using a map, carrying around a heavy camera, or even be communicating through the mail system if we have a five ounce device that can do it all for us?

To live in the absence of technology in this day and age is simply not practical, and to criticize those who utilize this luxury is just plain silly; because the truth is that if other generations had been provided with these types of elaborate devices, they would have been infatuated with them as well.

4. Millennials are entitled and hate working for anything.

We live in a world of accessing everything at the touch of a button. Apps like Postmates and Amazon make it possible to never leave your unless in a dire emergency. Inventions like hover-boards have made it so that you don’t even have to walk, you can just simply lean forward and arrive at your destination (this invention hasn’t exactly impacted the whole lazy stereotype in any positive way). Now, a baby boomer may wonder, “Why would a millennial ever leave their couch to go out into the world and achieve greatness if they don’t even have to leave their house to buy groceries?”

Statistically, with one-third of millennials having at least a four-year college degree, we actually prove to be the most educated generation. This may serve as a shock to everyone with the mentality that millennials are all spoiled and have everything handed to them, but this evidently is a generation full of hard-workers. In fact, it is nearly impossible to obtain any sustainable career without a degree in the modern age.

5. All millennials look and speak exactly the same.

Baby boomers say that every member of generation Y dresses exactly the same, uses the same dialect, or has the same “me me me” mentality. In a generation where individuality and standing out is promoted to the extreme, how is it even possible to say that everyone is the same?

In a very progressive time of history where diversity is not only accepted but appreciated, it is obnoxious to hear that we aren’t individuals. Respecting the different ideas and innovations of powerful minds of this age needs to become a more common practice if strides will ever be taken towards a more diverse and accepting society.

But, who is truly responsible for what has come out of the millennial generation?

Your parents. Your grandparents. Your elderly relatives.

To prove yet another negative stereotype wrong, be thankful towards your elders because in the end, they raised you to be this way.

But at your next family dinner, when your grandma says, “These kids and their technology. Constantly on their phones even when they are surrounded by their family. What a shame.”

Respond politely by saying, “Well, Grandma; if you don’t like the bread, blame the baker.”