Millennials

Over time, societal tendencies shift. To an extent, it makes sense to look at generational trends. We are not only looking at these trends, but we have developed arbitrary labels to lump people together based off when they were born.


I hate labels. People tend to use them as a shortcut to getting to know people. Generally speaking, we seem to judge individuals more on the basis of labels than as individuals. With generational labels, we act as though being born one day later can have a substantial impact on who someone is. Changes within a generation will always necessarily be more than changes for that one day.

I'm not a fan of millennials, but I know better than to act as though all millennials fit stereotypes. There are good and bad millennials just like there are good and bad generation Xers. It's absurd to think that I should automatically hate anyone who was born too late.

When it comes to differences between labeled generations, most people my age praise generation X. By most definitions, I am a part of generation X. I have to admit that I'm not impressed with my own generation. We tend to be credentialed yet mindless. People my age are stupid, and I prefer not to be lumped together with them. In all honesty, my disagreements with my own generation might make it a little easier for me to look past other generational labels. I'm sure there are plenty of millennials who don't like millennials in general.

There are many factors in why generations differ. Being born on the wrong date doesn't drastically alter your DNA. The biggest influence on generational differences is the environment in which they live. Guess who created their environment. It's older generations. If millennials are as screwed up as we tend to claim, whose fault is that? That's right. It's our fault. Even if millennials are the worst generation, as so many people claim, they deserve far better than the world we are giving them.

Technology is frequently cited as a cause for problems associated with millennials. Overall, technology is a good thing. When adults spend time using their own technology instead of raising their own children, it makes sense that children could overuse technology to fill their lives. Is that their fault?

It should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that I will mention an even bigger influence on children, our schools. When we force children to abandon rights and freedoms while assaulting mental health, those children can develop serious problems. Our schooling system has been very problematic for a long time, but in many ways it's getting stronger. Children are expected to spend more time in the schools than ever before. We are trying to push early childhood programs then insist that it's unacceptable not to go to college.

Again, overall trends do not establish anything on an individual level. We have created an environment that is downright harmful to millennials. Some people my age are critical of this environment much like some millennials can overcome the environment. If you don't criticize me solely on the basis that I am from generation X, I won't criticize you solely based off of an arbitrary generational label that you have been assigned.