Millennial Generation: the Good with the Bad
“Technology is evolving and we have grown up with it while other generations haven’t … We are evolving with society, so I don’t think it is a bad thing that we rely on technology more than other generations.”
As a millennial Abby Wolfe sees her generation’s connection to technology as a positive thing, but not everyone else does. There is no denying that the millennial generation will have an impact on society, good or bad. This is because, according to the US Census Bureau, millennials are the largest generation in history with 80 million people ranging from ages between 37 to 17 (as of 2017). Millennials are often referred to as “tech natives” because people of this generation have the capability to create new jobs and foster innovative ideas. But growing up with technology also has given millennials a negative stigma.
Evan Wolfe, who thinks millennials will have a positive impact on society, feels the pressure of negative stigmas.
“It depends on who I am talking to,” she said. “I guess I know the older generation tends to look down on us and I become more hesitant to say that I am proud to be a millennial… But I still think overall we will do good things.”
Older generations place blame on millennials for being lazy, too sensitive and narcissistic. These claims are also reflected in media such as in the Time article “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation”. The article, written by Joel Stein, describes millennials as narcissistic and references a study by the National Institutes of Health that found millennials are more narcissistic than previous generations. The study showed 58 percent more college students in 2009 scored higher on a narcissism scale compared to college students in 1982. Stein also describes millennials as being lazy, not able to do simple tasks like adding and subtracting, and rely too much on technology to give them answers.
Sophomore Siena Porcello said millennials shouldn’t be looked down on just because they use technology more.
“...[Technology] is faster and more effective,” Porcello said. “…I think that every older generation always sees the next generation after them as lazier... so I don't think that phones or new technology makes a person lazy.”
Junior Ryan King said not all millennials are narcissistic and that the article was making too broad of an assumption. He said that there are narcissistic people in all generations and he doesn’t think of himself personally as being prone to narcissism. In reference to allegations that social media leads to egotism King said he agrees there’s a connection.
“There is such a willingness to call other people out...which I think is a little self-serving,” he said.
A New York Times article, called “Generation Nice,” wrote a similar narrative to the Time article about millennials, saying how the generation has been notoriously known for being narcissistic. It goes on to describe the millennial generation as, “Coddled and helicoptered, catered to by 24-hour TV cable networks, fussed over by marketers and college recruiters, dissected by psychologists, demographers and trend-spotters…” Because the millennial generation is seen as being coddled to others some think this upcoming generation is naive and not ready for the “real world”.
Wolfe disagrees with this, and said social media allows more access to information, allowing people to become more informed and willing to take action than previous generations.
“There are good things happening too and I think there are a lot of passionate people pushing to make changes,” she said. “There are movements to fix societal changes, or fix the environment…”
The negative stereotypes that other generations have of millennials have affected millennials’ opinions of themselves. A research study done by the Pew Research Center found that millennials were less likely to accept their label of generation compared to baby boomers and generation X, the two generations before millennials. In fact only 40 percent of millennials accepted being called millennials while 79 percent of the boomer generation accepted their name. The study also showed the boomer generation had a positive impression of their generation while millennials were far more skeptical of the strengths that they are attributed with.
Porcello would fall under the 60 percent of the millennial generation who are not proud of being in the millennial generation.
“I feel like I don’t fall under the stereotypes that millennials have been given, so I don’t feel like a millennial,” she says.
Wolfe and King on the other hand are proud of being part of the millennial generation, although they both acknowledge that there are millenials that may portray negative stereotypes such as sensitive or narcissistic, but don’t identify themselves in that way.
King goes on to say that he is especially proud of the millennial generation for creating new jobs and new companies.
“On the economic front millennials definitely had a positive impact so far,” he said. “You see these tech start ups all over the place and millennials are innovating in various ways. I think that it is moving society forward.”
Despite the negative stereotypes, there are many positives that the millennial generation is attributed with. One of them being having a healthier lifestyle than previous generations. Millennials exercise more and smoke cigarettes less than previous generations. Millennials are also using the most technology than any other generation, reshaping the retail space to be mostly online. Millennial workers are the most likely to have a bachelor's degree. Furthermore the millennial generation is more open about national identity than their elders, partly to do with the unlimited access of information due to technology.
Even John Stein writes in “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation” that the millennial generation will “save us all.” After all the negatives Stein points out he gives credit to millennials for being entrepreneurs and starting up new companies that bring positive changes to society. Stein quoted Scott Hess, who gave a Ted talk about marketing to millenials, “I think in many ways you're blaming millennials for the technology that happens to exist right now."
The millennial generation may be known for being narcissistic, and many can look at millennials and think that they are lazy and hypersensitive, but they are showing true promise thus far. With most of the generation becoming adults they are beginning to affect society by creating change with new technology that is being invented. For the next generation, who knows, maybe millennials will find things to complain about them as well.
