Millennials: The Myth. The Legend. The Reality.
Who are they, what do they really want and why should we care?
Millennials: It’s a term usually uttered with disdain, a term heard in the office when yet another story of a yoga-pants-wearing, 20-something does something disapproving. The page for millennials on Urban Dictionary includes such definitions as:
- “spoiled, self-involved, under-educated brat born after year 2000.”
- “pretty much the most spoiled generation in American history.”
- “thinks that the rest of the world is going to buy in on their progressive and socialistic viewpoint.”
- “special little snowflake.”
Unfortunately, these less than flattering opinions seem to be the general consensus about millennials. Even many millennials reject the term, but compared with other generations, millennials consider themselves more wasteful, greedy and cynical.
The real question is: Are millennials really as bad as their reputation?
Who are they?
The term first originated as a way of describing anyone who came of age during the new millennium. Doing the math, that means people who were born between 1981 and the present, currently age 18 to 35, are considered millennials.
Why should we care?
According to the Pew Research Center, starting early last year, millennials became the largest generation in the workforce. This year, they have become the largest generation period, surpassing baby boomers. Whether good or bad, millennials are changing the way the work world works, and they cannot be ignored.
Understanding millennials, both the good and the bad, is vital to businesses today. But understanding this generation is unfortunately not at the top of the priority list for most businesses.
“The dismissive attitude and lack of patience for this generation are preventing organizations from maximizing their investment in new hires,” says Joan Kuhl, founder of Why Millennials Matter.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek definitions on Urban Dictionary, millennials may not be so easy to define. In a recent TEDx Talk, Victoria Sun explained millennials cannot be put into a box.
“I belong to a new generation,” Sun says. “We are criticized for being narcissistic and lazy, but we are also praised for being progressive and optimistic. And we are both applauded and reprimanded for being so open to change. We are a new generation. We are dynamic and full of change with the power to change the world in ways you couldn’t even have imagined at our age. Millennials should be embraced as a generation that is learning to thrive in a constantly evolving world.”
In 2013, Joel Stein wrote an article in Time Magazine called Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation, in which Stein admits millennials are narcissistic, lazy and entitled, but poses the idea that “a generation’s greatness isn’t determined by data; it’s determined by how they react to the challenges that befall them. And, just as important, by how we react to them.”
Millennials have had to react to a lot. They didn’t just grow up in the age of technology; they grew up with the age of technology. As technology advanced more rapidly than at any other time, millennials can clearly remember a time when drinking out of a hose was not considered unsafe. They remember a time of hopscotch and street hockey, but watched as that lifestyle was slowly brought to an end. They are optimistically reaching for the future while nostalgically remembering the past.
In this way, millennials will always be an in-between generation. The generation that came before them didn’t have technology, but the generation that comes after will speak technology as a second language.
Many people who say millennials are entitled are quick to reference participation trophies. The real entitlement doesn’t come from the trophies though; it comes from millennials having to adapt to an ever-changing world. Millennials were the last generation to grow up with the good old American spirit of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The deal was if you work really hard and go to school, you could get a job and a house and the whole white-picket-fence dream. Then the economy fell apart. Since 2008, every college graduate has had to readjust the formula. It’s no longer hard work plus school equals success. Now it’s hard work plus school plus networking plus a bit of luck equal temporary success. Who knows how long that new job might last?
No excuses about it, millennials are everything you’ve heard. On one hand, they are narcissistic, entitled and lazy. (Case in point: There are plenty of stories of millennials lying about a funeral to skip work.) But on the other hand, those self-serving traits aren’t only limited to millennials, but rather young people in general, and they certainly aren’t the only ways to define this generation.
Millennials are also make up the most ethnically and racially diverse generation that America has ever seen, which leads to greater tolerance.
“Millennials are more accepting of differences, not just among gays, women and minorities, but in everyone,” Stein writes.
For the same reason millennials are called narcissistic, they are also incredibly globally conscious. Social media may have birthed demons (aka selfies) but it has also introduced a way for people to connect on a global scale. This international connectivity has allowed for millennials to have a larger passion for helping people worldwide than any generation before.
Mary Shea, a blogger for market-research company Forrester, lists six characteristics attributed to millennials in the workplace. They are adept multitaskers, savvy tech users, quick learners, expect fast career progression, prefer to self-manage and enjoy collaboration.
So, are millennials bad or good? That is simply the wrong question. Millennials are new and unlike any previous generation. But that does not make them any worse or better. Sometimes, change is just change.
“The world is growing beyond our ability to categorize and organize,” Sun says. “Millennials should not be made to feel like outsiders because we don’t fit the traditional expectations. … I challenge you to recognize our many facets and stop putting us into boxes that we don’t fit into. I ask you to praise us for our ambition and allow us to dream wild and crazy dreams.”
Millennials aren’t the end of the road. The generation after them will be just as different, complex and challenging to understand. And millennials will most likely be the first to call them lazy and celebrity-obsessed. And so, the cycle continues.
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