Everyone always has something to say about millennials. Every time I go on the internet I see a new meme or video or article about us.
"Millennials are the worst."
"They're always getting their feelings hurt."
"They want don't want to pay for anything because they've gotten participation trophies their whole lives."
"They spend all their time on their phones talking about themselves and not actually working for anything."
Seriously, Google "millennials" and see what comes up. You'll find all sorts of gems like those where people express their unsupported views for hating millennials. You'll find the occasional article that is actually interesting and has real statistics or theories but, not surprisingly, people don't choose to make viral memes or videos about those. People continue to complain and perpetuate the idea that millennials are the "worst generation ever" who are "needy, emotional, politically correct weenies" that are "ruining democracy" instead of thinking about what they're saying or asking any questions.
What ages are actually categorized as being part of the Millennial generation?
What information swirling around on the internet about Millennials is actually true?
If any of it is true, why do Millennials act the way they do?
Things I Learned About Millennials
No one seems to know what age groups fall into the Millennial generation. While there are disagreements about the exact cut off years, Millennials are given that title because they are the first generation to grow to adulthood in the new millennium. The Pew Research Center defines the boundaries as 1981-1997. Some of the boundaries I've seen are as early as 1976-1994. Moral of the story, a lot of the people complaining about Millennials are, in fact, Millennials, and some of the people you're complaining about are not, in fact, Millennials.
We're all super poor. All those memes about Millennials living with their parents are partially true, considering about 1/3 of Millennials still live with their parents. While I'm sure people are happy to say this is because we're all lazy, it's more likely because we don't have enough money to live on our own. Millennials are considerably more likely to live in poverty than any other generation. We, on average, make around $2,000 less than our parents did at a comparable age. We're entering an incredibly competitive job market with low wages. It's not shocking we aren't investing in owning homes, because we simply can't afford to. Not to mention we witnessed the housing market crash and saw millions of families stuck in homes they couldn't afford and threatened with foreclosures.
We're educated...but also super in debt. We're on track to be the most educated generation, but we've also racked up an insane amount of debt in the process. A recent article from the Washington Post suggested the reason we are less likely to marry, purchase a home, or have children is because we're so riddled with debt. We can't afford the education necessary to get a job that will allow us to afford a normal, "successful" lifestyle.
We love to drink. A study done by the Wine Market Council concluded Millennials drank a whopping 42% of all the wine in the US last year. High five, fellow Millennials. I will gladly admit I contributed to that statistic. Those numbers, however, beg the question of why do we drink so much? Some might suggest it's because we're super sophisticated winos, while others say it's because our lives generally suck. Regardless of your opinion, it's clear we sure do love our alcohol.
We apparently don't like to have sex. Another article from the Washington Post (they're into studying Millennials) said that studies show Millennials have fewer sexual partners than the generations preceding us, and are even twice as likely to be sexually inactive than those generations before us were in their early 20s. When questioned about this, the article cites several Millennials who suggest they're just too busy working on things that are important to them to waste time on meaningless encounters. Suck on that, people who say Millennials are too lazy to work for anything.
Maybe we're more politically correct and "emotional" than other generations, but who decided that was a bad thing? Let's all take a moment to think about this like the rational human beings we are. Millennials grew up in the era of technology. We've seen so many technological advancements and know how to use the endless amount of information at our fingertips. I don't think it's a leap to suggest we care more about what's happening because we know more about what's happening. I, hopefully, have a lot of years left to live in this fine world. Maybe one day I'll even bring children into it. So I'm gonna be passionate about what's important to me. No, I'm not going to sit back and let people say racist things because we should be educated and compassionate enough to be past such bigoted views. Yes, I'm going to care about the environment because I can acknowledge the evidence that we've been destroying our world and don't want to keep contributing to that. And if something offends me, damn right I'm going to tell you it offends me. I'm educated enough to have support for my views and confident enough to share them. There's no denying we live in a crazy world, and I think that education and compassion is exactly what we need to make it a better place.
Sincerely,
A Millennial who's proud to be one
