I am SO sick and tired of seeing the word "millennial". People have turned it into such a negative word. If someone calls you a "millennial" in today's time, you are automatically labeled as being dependent of others, irresponsible, always attached to your electronics, you do not have a care in the world and have no idea about what is going on in it.
What even is a millennial?
According to dictionary.com it is: a term used to refer to a generation, born from 1980 onward, brought up by using digital technology and mass media; the children of Baby Boomers; also called "Generation Y"
According to urbandictionary.com it is: Special little snowflake. Born between 1982 and 1994 this generation is something special, cause Mom and Dad and their 5th-grade teacher Mrs. Winotsky told them so. Plus they have a whole shelf of participation trophies sitting at home so it has to be true.
"In the U.S., millennials are the children of baby boomers, who are also known as the Me Generation, who then produced the Me Me Me Generation, whose selfishness technology has only exacerbated. Whereas in the 1950s families displayed a wedding photo, a school photo and maybe a military photo in their homes, the average middle-class American family today walks amid 85 pictures of themselves and their pets. Millennials have come of age in the era of the quantified self, recording their daily steps on FitBit, their whereabouts every hour of every day on PlaceMe and their genetic data on 23 and Me. They have less civic engagement and lower political participation than any previous group. This is a generation that would have made Walt Whitman wonder if maybe they should try singing a song of someone else." - Time Magazine
From other articles read, I have gathered what defines the millennial. We, millennials, are careless young people. We still beg off of our parents for money and a place to stay. All we eat is junk food because we do not care about our health, but yet we are so busy finding organic foods on Pinterest to make and post on social media. We are too busy caught up in our phones, technology, and social media to worry about what is happening in the world around us. We do not think twice about spending over $100 on a pair of jeans, but heaven forbid if we are asked to donate $10 to charity. Everything is "the struggle". Getting out of bed is such a hard job, and do not even get me started on "adulting".
Contrary to popular belief, others much like myself, are quite the opposite from that. I do care because I care for my future and for my kid's future. Luckily my parents are nice enough to lend some money to help me get by, but I still have to work. My sister has a full-time job teaching and a master's degree, and she lives with my parents. Why? Because her job is only 20 minutes away and she is trying to save up money for a house and her own car. I love my Chickfila and Zaxby's just as much as the next person. Chickfila is ChickfilBAE. You wouldn't catch me dead making some organic food because that is just a load of crap from the agricultural stand-point. I will admit that I do use my phone a lot. Why? That is where I keep my schedule, my family (since they are 4 hours away), school clubs and long-distance friends. I do use social media, it is a convenient way to access people and news. You wouldn't catch me dead wearing a pair of jeans that cost $100 (unless they were given to me as a gift). It is easier for me to spend more money on food than clothing if we are being honest.
Yes, life can be hard, it is survival of the fittest. There is a reason why everything is not just spoonfeed to us. So before you go labeling every millennial you see, get to know the person first. You will be amazed.
