The Truth About Millennials
The fact can’t be denied. Sometimes teenagers can do stupid things. We tend to stick to ourselves. Get angry for no reason. Spend a lot of time on the internet. And there’s no point in denying the fact that hormones in our brains can lead to bad decision making on our part.
The world today has a fascination with the psychology of the teenage brain. “Why Teenagers Act Crazy” (New York Times), “What Teenagers Need Most From Their Parents” (Wall Street Journal), “Inside the Mind of a Teenager” (Telegraph) are all headlines of published articles. Big, influential newspapers are spending time trying to figure out what teenagers are thinking. Young people in the media are looked at as a separate group to collect data on, rather than human beings who are on the verge of turning into adults. We seem like an entirely separate species, and many seem to forget that they too were teenagers once.
Some could argue that this distinct line drawn between teenagers and adults is even more prominent now, in 2017, than it ever has been. The term “millennial” is used to refer to those born in the years leading up to the year 2000. Granted, most millennials have passed teenage-hood at this point, but many of the stereotypes about the subgroup have been used to describe young people in general.
Millennials have been one of the most negatively viewed generations of all time. Take the example of the May 20, 2013 Time magazine cover article titled “The Me Me Me Generation” depicting a young girl lying on the ground taking a selfie. Even young people themselves have a negative self-view. According to Pew Research Center, 59% of millennials see their generation as “self-absorbed”, and only 36% see themselves as hardworking. They are perceived by other generation as lazy, narcissistic, antisocial, and obsessed with gratification. Their obsession with social media is a hindrance to real-life social bonding. Their entitled mindset makes them think they deserve more even when working less. Their altered perspective of the real world makes them close-minded towards new and unfamiliar experiences. These are definitely issues that need to be addressed, problems that mainly affect young people themselves most harshly. But our best solution at this point, instead of complaining about our young generation, or trying to fix the blame on their parents, is to stop putting each other into rigid categories. A teenager who is accused of being antisocial and reclusive his whole life will only seclude himself even more. We should not see people as the generation they come from, but as fellow humans. Because the more that we try to label ourselves and others, the more we will find ourselves subconsciously fitting those stereotypes.