What the world will be like when millennials are in charge? https://t.co/vLwuI88XXN pic.twitter.com/oY2momGidx— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 22, 2016
Millennials—including
myself—are commonly stereotyped as one of the laziest, most self-centered,
overconfident generations yet. All of these accusations could entirely be true.
I speak for myself, but I know that I am perfectly capable of being lazy,
self-centered, and overconfident.
Maybe those qualities aren’t so terrible.
I never realized the extremity of these negative stereotypes until just recently I noticed the word ‘millennial’ surface in conversations. It's like when the word ‘surreal’ seemed to worm its way into every celebrity, TV host, and Bachelor contestants' mouth. Of course this millennial movement is of a much larger scale than the word 'surreal'. Lately the word ‘millennial’ has been tossed around in church services, school lectures, political debates and marketing pitches.
After some shallow digging, I was faced with the reality that after all the years my parents called me lazy and self-centered, the rest of my generation was being labeled just the same. Either we really suck as a generation, or we are being misjudged.
We were raised to believe that we could do anything or be anything we wanted. That we are all entitled to get what we want in life. And I will admit, I felt very entitled to a few participation trophies when I tried to play soccer or when I joined band in 7th grade. But I do believe we have access to the technology to seek out all of our available options in life. We were raised to believe that we are capable of anything, by the same generation that seeks to oppress us.
Unlike the last generation, our generation was bombarded by new technology at a young age.
When I was given my first smartphone, I was addicted. For years I was cursed with this constant fixation on my phone. Growing up, my dad introduced me to so many cool hobbies that I didn’t fully appreciate because I was more focused on what was going on with my phone. He would even tell me that, and I always denied it.
While I still sometimes find myself glued to my phone, it has become a much more reluctant activity. It has gotten to the point where I would rather talk on the phone than text—which that might be rare, because I am pretty sure most of my friends have a phone-call phobia. Either way, it’s real unfortunate when you are trying to hang out with someone and you can’t even have a conversation with them because they keep checking their phone like a nervous tick. Hopefully I am not the only one who has begun to feel this way.
But the choice to eliminate technology from our lives isn’t exactly an option, unless you want to alienate yourself from society.
We’re so lazy.
OK, maybe there are days when I don’t want to make my bed and clean my room. But, I wouldn’t call myself lazy, and definitely wouldn’t label an entire generation lazy. Maybe a few years ago college millennials did fall into a ‘lazy’ rut for a bit, but I believe millennials have initiated their comeback. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be such a hot topic of conversation right now.
Maybe there is some type of reverse psychology in categorizing a group with negative labels. Perhaps it created an entitled sense in millennials to step up and prove the stereotypes wrong. Being labeled overconfident and self-centered could be the misinterpretation of optimistic attitudes and millennials doing what they can to get by in a time where that can be very difficult.
Maybe those qualities aren’t so terrible.
I never realized the extremity of these negative stereotypes until just recently I noticed the word ‘millennial’ surface in conversations. It's like when the word ‘surreal’ seemed to worm its way into every celebrity, TV host, and Bachelor contestants' mouth. Of course this millennial movement is of a much larger scale than the word 'surreal'. Lately the word ‘millennial’ has been tossed around in church services, school lectures, political debates and marketing pitches.
After some shallow digging, I was faced with the reality that after all the years my parents called me lazy and self-centered, the rest of my generation was being labeled just the same. Either we really suck as a generation, or we are being misjudged.
We were raised to believe that we could do anything or be anything we wanted. That we are all entitled to get what we want in life. And I will admit, I felt very entitled to a few participation trophies when I tried to play soccer or when I joined band in 7th grade. But I do believe we have access to the technology to seek out all of our available options in life. We were raised to believe that we are capable of anything, by the same generation that seeks to oppress us.
Unlike the last generation, our generation was bombarded by new technology at a young age.
When I was given my first smartphone, I was addicted. For years I was cursed with this constant fixation on my phone. Growing up, my dad introduced me to so many cool hobbies that I didn’t fully appreciate because I was more focused on what was going on with my phone. He would even tell me that, and I always denied it.
While I still sometimes find myself glued to my phone, it has become a much more reluctant activity. It has gotten to the point where I would rather talk on the phone than text—which that might be rare, because I am pretty sure most of my friends have a phone-call phobia. Either way, it’s real unfortunate when you are trying to hang out with someone and you can’t even have a conversation with them because they keep checking their phone like a nervous tick. Hopefully I am not the only one who has begun to feel this way.
But the choice to eliminate technology from our lives isn’t exactly an option, unless you want to alienate yourself from society.
We’re so lazy.
OK, maybe there are days when I don’t want to make my bed and clean my room. But, I wouldn’t call myself lazy, and definitely wouldn’t label an entire generation lazy. Maybe a few years ago college millennials did fall into a ‘lazy’ rut for a bit, but I believe millennials have initiated their comeback. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be such a hot topic of conversation right now.
Maybe there is some type of reverse psychology in categorizing a group with negative labels. Perhaps it created an entitled sense in millennials to step up and prove the stereotypes wrong. Being labeled overconfident and self-centered could be the misinterpretation of optimistic attitudes and millennials doing what they can to get by in a time where that can be very difficult.
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