I keep hearing it and seeing it. Even some of those I know and love will say it.
"I don't understand this generation."
"They don't want to work!"
"They just want to play video games!"
"I'm worried about the future in their hands."
"These millennials are so entitled."
Over and over again the curses against this latest generation continue. If they are having such problem it's no wonder! When no one believes in you it's really hard to succeed in anything.
I'm a millennial myself. In fact, I just found this out. After years of mistakenly thinking I was a Gen-Xer, (I could have sworn I had just made it!) someone pointed out to me that you now were considered a "millennial" if you had been born after '82.
Now I'm the first to admit that it probably doesn't matter. A generational label doesn't mean much of anything in an individual sense. But I have to admit, my first reaction when I heard that was disgust. I mean, really? Did I really want to be identified with the generation that everyone over 40 seems to hate?
The truth is, no, I really didn't.
There's such a stigmatism going around about the millennial generation that I hadn't even realized I had been affected by it too. Apparently getting negative about the next generation is a sick rite of passage into grumpy adulthood, and, well, I passed!
Unfortunately that's not something I want to pass. I want people to believe in me and I want to be the kind of person who believes in them. My parents raised me to always go after my dreams and what was in my heart. They raised me in a way that I always felt believed in. It has impacted my life in such a positive way that I want to be someone who does the same.
So I went looking. There had to be some good stuff about this generation, right?
It didn't take long. Thanks to Google (I love you) it took me about 5 minutes to come across a massive report published by the Pew Research Center. Some of its findings were fascinating!
Here are some of the things I found out about millennials:
* The exhibit more respect for their elders than previous generations
* They claim less moral superiority than previous generations (I personally find this as a positive)
* They are more racially tolerant
* They get along better across generations
* They are the highest educated generation
* They care most about family
* Their highest priorities are to be a good parent and have a successful marriage
* Their third highest priority is to help others in need (all of these over being famous or making money)
* They earn the least of any generation, but are the most optimistic about the future
* They are the happiest generation
There's more but I'll stop there. Suddenly I'm pretty proud to be part of this generation! My peers are respectful, less pious, less judgmental, less selfish, more educated, more optimistic, and happier than previous generations. I'll take it!
All of that is pretty amazing and runs hugely counter to what most of us have been led to believe. But let me put it in a perspective that is even more impressive:
Millennials have had a tougher start than the last couple generations.
Google "harder for millennials" and these are some of the headlines that will immediately pop up:
We're Making Life too Hard for Millennials - NY Times
It's Harder to a 20-Something Than Ever Before - Washington Post
Millennials Are Still Struggling to Find Jobs - The Atlantic
The Number Behind why Millennials are 'Generation Frustration' - Huffington Post
... and so much more
Millennials have grown up in a stagnant economy where good jobs are hard to find and college education doesn't bring with it the guarantees it once did. A bachelor degree today is worth the same a a high school diploma was worth in the 60s. For every corporate job there are 250 resumes. We are facing the most difficult economy to succeed since the Great Depression. Sure there are more jobs then back then, but wages suck.
The facts speak for themselves. Our median income for age 18-34 is $3472/yr LESS than the previous generation. Yet we have more bachelor degrees. Our median net worth is 43% LESS than Generation X in the same age range. We have more debt from school. We face higher costs of living.
Yet we remain optimistic and happy. Why?
In previous generations even the uneducated could get a manufacturing job and make a decent wage. Those are all but gone now. In the 1970s a teacher could buy a 3-bedroom home in San Diego. Now a teacher is lucky to be able to afford a house in the country.
Do we play video games? We do. We like to play, period. It's part of being in a good mood, which is essential when your best job prospect at the moment is working at Starbucks for $10/hr when you've been to college.
Are we less committal to jobs? Absolutely. Why wouldn't we be? Our job situation sucks. But we are going to keep trying! We'd rather work for love than money anyways.
Are we entitled? Turns out no. We're actually one of the most charitable generations most willing to sacrifice time and money.
Are we lazy? No. We're dreamers. And we actually tend to work smarter and more productively. We just don't take it as seriously.
I could keep going, but I don't need to. I can now proudly say I'm a millennial. I believe in my generation. I've gone from believing that millennials were a kind of lost generation to believing that maybe, just maybe, we could be remembered as the greatest one.
That's not a knock on other generations either. We've all had our moments! But as I see this generation growing in optimism with the deck stacked against us I can't shake it. The millennial generation cares about the right things and believes in ourselves. We are innovative and are willing to lead. We want to change the world, not just work for a paycheck. We care about others more than growing our bank accounts. We are the most highly educated generation the world has ever known.
All of this speaks of greatness to me. Do we have our issues? Absolutely! But who doesn't? The positives are here in full effect. So I'm not going to let the older generations speak bad about us anymore. I'm not going to let it affect me and I'll be quick to forgive. I know it's just spoken out of ignorance anyways. We are more tattooed, more easy going, and far more techy than they could have ever dreamed of being. So I can let that go.
As generation millennial starts to grow into our own element I'm firmly convinced we are going to change the world for the better. One day history will look back on us and marvel at how we impacted history. It's coming. I know it!
Now about that Generation Z... (just kidding)
