Why Negative Criticism of Millennials by Older Generations Needs To Stop

Humans have existed on earth for over a million years. Given that earth itself has existed for over a billion years, humans have continue to survive/thrive on this planets. We’ve built huge cities, established powerful governments, created wondrous monuments, and have fundamentally changed the very nature of this earth. This has all been possible from the countless generations of humans who have preceded us, as they have established the foundations for human growth/development we have seen today. According to Dictionary. Com, a generation is defined as “the entire body of individuals born and living at the same time”, who hold similar ideas, experiences, interests etc. Through recent history, we have started giving titles to the types of generations that have come and gone throughout the ages. In the United States, we refer to the generation during the Great Depression and World War II as “The Greatest Generation” or ““The GI Generation” and we refer to the generation after that as “The Baby Boomer” generation. Since then, we’ve referred to generations by particular names all leading up to Generation Z, who are currently young kids/young teenagers.When it comes to my generation however, my generation is referred to as “The Millennial” Generation.Since we were the first generation to experience the rise of new technology such as the internet, cell phones and other devices amongst modern events, we have grown up with much more exposure to information and knowledge compared to previous generations.Lately however, “the millennials” have received a lot of flax by older generations/previous generations for being “lazy, narcissistic, wasteful, destructive and costly” among other things. At times, I have seen articles/papers that claim that millennials aren’t ready to handle the major problems/issues that are evolving in the world.They state that we are too “sensitive” or “soft” to handle the harsh reality of the world, and need to toughen up and “listen to the older generation” if we are to succeed. I even see millennials criticize other millennials for the exact same reasons, and act as if our best interest is to copy the older generations.

There are a few things however, that I would like to say about this concept and why this criticism is going to have a negative effect.

One of the main things that people of different generations understand about each other is that each generation has its own differences. Baby-Boomers grew up during the Cold war, we millennials grew up post-911. Baby-Boomers used to use land-lines for all calls, millennials mostly use cell phones. While these differences are obvious, one thing that isn’t as easy to point out is that each generation has its beliefs and quirks, and therefore each generation thinks differently to one another. One way how this is exemplified, is the concept that the Greatest Generation was a much harder-working generation who had better morals, were tougher and quick-witted, and are just light-years better than the current millennial generation. Something to point out however, is that the problems that the Greatest Generation faced were much different than the problem that millennials made now. While it’s very well-known that the Greatest Generation faced some of the toughest problems in the history of the United States and did a brilliant job of getting through it, they simply did not have to face the things that we face now. They didn’t have to face that United States consequences of 911, the rise of the cell phones/IPods, the development of 3-D imaging, the vastly improved developments of nuclear research, the AIDS epidemic, and the thousands of other changes that has happened since the late 1940’s. If you wanted to get see a movie back then, you went to the theater and saw whatever they had available. If you didn’t like what they had available, you left. The millennials however, if they want to see a movie, have several different ways they can do so. They can go on Netflix, go to theaters, Rent DVD’s, and Buy DVD’s. Millennials simply put, have much more information, consumer options, and choices that they can make that other generations didn’t have to worry about. While bratty behavior should still not be tolerated, older-generations need to understand that our pickiness/ behavioral issues might have to do to the fact we have an overwhelmingly large amount of choices. Keep mind that part of the reason why our generation might come across as lazy is because we simply do not have to do the same work our ancestors did to achieve the same result, as technology gives us the ability to do things with relative ease.

Second, I’ve heard that Millennials can come across as narcissistic at times, but keep in mind that we also live in a media age where sexuality, appearance, and personality are all highly advertised. This advertisement forces us to focus on our self-image/appearance, which can lead to the narcissism behavior that we all see. Keep in mind that these concepts of advertisements had first developed with the older generations, and that millennials grew up in an era where it is displayed to a much greater extent.
Thirdly, millennials are entirely at fault for all our economies woes, as older generations have issues to. Sure, millennials are shown to sometimes over-spend/under-spend in the economy and tend to struggle with some more basic job skills, but keep in mind that inflation has made it much trickery for things to be purchase. My mother showed me her tuition bill for college, which was a couple thousand under ten thousand. Many colleges, even the cheap ones, tend to cost at least twenty thousands, with some of more expensive schools being around $70,000 dollars per year. We are in an economy that is getting progressively difficult to enter without financial support, and that makes it harder for our generation to provide for ourselves.

To sum it all off, Baby-boomers and other generations need to understand that while we have our own issues that come across as faulty, millennials are still trying hard to make it in the ever-changing world. Millennials understand that the world is tough, that there are new major issues that we need to solve, and the future of the United States depends on us.Instead of looking as a failure, millennials would much better appreciate it if you would work with us with these new issues given our faults. All generations have their own faults, and millennials especially have ours. If the older generation would understand that our situation is different than theirs, it would be much easier to work them to solve the issues. Cooperation amongst generation is key, as it is what is going to drive the U.S. forward. Like it or not, mellenials are going to be a big part of the future, and it is your choice(Baby-boomers, Generation Xr’s) of whether you could help this develop into a good thing or a bad thing.