There's no secret, millennials are killing industries faster than the "Emoji Movie" killed my will to live. The most notable casualty in recent memory would be the millennials ruthless campaign to eliminate dining room tables.
Now I know what you're all thinking, aren't you the author a millennial yourself? The answer is yes, but the best stories come from an inside source so allow me to share my knowledge.
First, we need to indulge in what exactly is going on here. There's been a lot of memorable deaths that have come at the hand of my peers, whether it be golf, diamonds, marriage, etc. What I'm trying to say is basically if it exists, we're killing it. When it comes to dining room tables it seems that nowadays my age group uses them as an expensive place to put keys.
It's crazy to think that we live in a world where young adults are too busy to sit down at a table and enjoy a meal. Between balancing work, a social life, staying active, classes at college, and other responsibilities, it's hard to imagine the future of this country doesn't want to spend time sitting at a table to break bread with others. It's almost like since we barely have any free time already, we'd rather eat on the go than waste time sitting around.
I'm not the type of guy to bash anything without giving it a shot so I conducted some research first hand. I share an apartment with three others and fortunately, we own a dining room table. I tried one time to eat at the table and it was probably in my top three scariest moments of my life, so never again, at least not for now.
The big question is, why is it just now that the staple of American homes is starting to be ignored by so many? All of the older generations were once young as well, why is it now that the industry is being affected? Are dining room tables no longer practical? Is it because most of us have wildly different schedules? Did we all conspire together as an age group to destroy yet another industry?
I honestly feel that maybe part of the reason millennials choose not to buy or use dining room tables is in direct result of the average price of a set being north of $500.
I don't mean to speak for an entire generation, but I'm so broke I don't even know what $500 looks like.
I needed to know more about what was going on, so I read an article the other day off of the good ol' Mother Nature Network titled, "The Death of the Dining Table" While analyzing the piece, the story lies with a loving mother talking about how thanks to the dining room, she gets a chance to connect with her kids and her husband on a daily basis, which I think is a really important thing.
She was extremely worried that my age group doesn't see the value in sharing precious time with loved ones. Yet, she immediately contradicted herself by consistently mentioning the fact that maybe the reason we don't purchase tables is that most millennials haven't started families to share a meal with.
Holy shit we might actually be onto something here folks.
Take this how you like, but maybe since a majority of millennials aren't at the same stages of life as our elders, that could be the reason we are living a different lifestyle. So instead of writing a bunch of articles claiming my age group destroys industries, maybe make an effort to realize we aren't killing anything, we are just not at that stage of life yet.
Just some food for thought ladies and gents.