It's difficult not to come across a Millennial headline every now and then: "Millennials: Trust No One But Twitter;" "Why Millennials Can't Grow Up;" "Narcissistic, broke, and 7 other ways to describe the Millennial generation;" "Millennials are the key to saving retail." The Baby Boomers, and Generation X, are keenly interested in us -- the younger generation.
The geriatrics have spent their time studying our interests, buying patterns, and social media indulgences. There is enough data to make some conclusions. "Narcissists, I tell you." Or, "Lazy, entitled, and love video games too much," they groan. One book summarized the Millennial generation as "Generation Me." I wonder if the old timers are right.
Yes, we have grown up with the internet, laptop, Google, Facebook, and iPhone. Selfies are our creation. We love Netflix, personalized webpages, reality TV on cooking, relationships, celebrities, competitions, and so forth and so forth. It's true that we can post our feelings on a million different social media platforms. Well, maybe not a million, but you get the idea.
But, Millennials are also the most educated of all generations. And guess what: we are also more tolerant, optimistic, and civic-minded. We may even be the Next Greatest Generation because of our pragmatism. So, in a way, Millennials are both self-absorbed and community-oriented.
Articles may discuss, or highlight, our weaknesses but some of them do not put history into perspective. Millennials have gone through the worst recession since the Great Depression. We have also witnessed the most polarized and least efficient political body in United States history. If that weren't enough, we have also been victims of higher education malfeasance and unrestrained avarice. Companies have polluted our waters with DT-50-D. The food we have eaten has been laced with ADA.
We can thank all of the older generations for the above-mentioned realities. So do you think you can excuse Millennials for being a little skeptical, distrustful, alienated -- even a little "narcissistic." There is the notion that we cannot fit into the frameworks institutionalized by the Baby Boomers. It's actually not true. We simply reject their framework.
Family time does not need to be sacrificed for a better career. A liberal and a conservative can sit at a table together and compromise, without abandoning principles. A person can be wealthy, and successful, without trampling on the least among us. Everything in this world does not have to be so black and white, a zero-sum game.
When I read the articles analyzing Millennials, I can't help but think that this has been done time and time again. The older generations aging -- losing the institutions and values that they had built for a lifetime. Almost half a century-ago, Baby Boomers must have been similarly criticized. It's the way it goes, I suppose.
Do not get me wrong: the older generations have made our world possible. They were the ones who gave Millennials the tools to be self-obsessed. It's just that Millennials have been unfairly mischaracterized. We do not like the way things are moving forward. Millennials are going to do something about it though. We are going to change the world -- for the better.
