I would first like to state that I'm actually not a millennial. I was born in 1999, so I'm considered Gen Z or "iGen." If you were born between 1977 and 1995, then you're technically a millennial or Gen Y, but for some reason, society has decided that all people born after 1977 are considered a millennial.
It is wild to me that one generation could get talked down to and criticized so much. We're either always on our phones or we use too much technology. We're always sleeping or shouldn't be eating that and my favorite is "that's not the right way to do that." I totally get that baby boomers and Gen X are very hands-on generations. If they want something done, they figure out how to do it themselves. They didn't have to rely on YouTube to get something done or ask Siri how to do it on their phones. At one time, they didn't even have phones.
What we're doing now is so much more effective and efficient, in my opinion. My generation was born into a technological era. Everything is progressing and the world is figuring out how to make things more advanced and better equipped. This is what we know, this is what we were thrown into.
We were always taught in school that there isn't one way to do something. For instance, in math class, it wasn't about how you got the right answer, but the fact that you got the right answer using whatever method works best for you. This is how my generation functions. We all do things in a different way but end up with the same results. Baby boomers and Gen X on the other hand, they think that there is one way to do everything and that it's the right way.
Another thing that always gets brought up is how we're spending and saving our money. I get that we need to be preparing for the future and saving our money, but it's our money, therefore why are our elders so worried about it?
We also get criticized and bashed for what major we're pursuing or the career we're going after. It either isn't going to provide enough money to support a family or my favorite question, "why on earth would you wanna do that?"
When it comes down to it, millennials are going to be your future CEO of big companies. They're going to be the president some day and protect our country. Instead of bashing them, try supporting them. Try understanding their ways of doing things, especially if it isn't how you would do it. Millennials get such a bad wrap, but yet we are becoming such well-rounded people because of the world they were thrown into.