I spent this morning listening to the Diane Rehm show on NPR and they were speaking about the Millennial Generation. I get so worked up when this conversation starts and I realize how much I care about this discussion. After attempting to call about 40 times, I never managed to get through. Ah well...
As a pioneering member of the Millennials at 31 years old (born in '81), I feel so much information is misunderstood. People are attempting to define this generation while they are in their (rather prolonged) youth, but they are not taking into account what this could potentially mean for their future, which seems to be why analyzing generations would be a useful tool.
For example:
A recent study called The Truth About Youth by the Mccann Worldwide Group says the three most important issues to the Millennials are: Social Justice, Authenticity and Community. I whole heartedly agree with this analysis (mainly because they have the numbers to back it up) but also because of my own background in relation to my past, present and future desires as a member of this generation.
So many of the groups/books/sites are dealing with these three issues based on the 'current' scenario, not taking into account the future of these three issues. If we were to take the 'intial issues' of the baby boomers or to the Gen X'ers, we would see how these concepts nearly polarized as the generation developed. I call this "First Date Syndrome". When you begin to date someone, you are focused on the initial things you fall in love with, which later tend to annoy the crap out of you: "I love his/her laugh. I love how social he/she is. I love his/her desire for adventure."
As any married person knows, these are typically the exact issues we later come to hate: "Your laugh annoys me, Can't we just stay at home!, We can't afford another vacation!" etc... So, 20-30 years down the road, how will these 'first date' impressions of our generation affect us, the economy and our families?
While there are MANY pros to discuss in relatoinship to the The Truth About Youth, there are issues that, as far as I can tell, no one is discussing. For example:
Social Justice: In an attempt to change the world in our twenties, we'll feel great about ourselves, until we realize we aren't building actual skills companies are looking for. So we'll try to start our own businesses and, for the most part, fail. When we hit our thirties, we'll figure out that in order to have a family, we need real jobs, real homes, and actual skills. We won't have them. I predict the mid-life crisis for a Millennial will start to hit about 32-35 years old where they will give up their Peter Pan dreams and start applying to State Farm Insurance or Citigroup.
I believe this also provides evidence for the Hipster theory. When young people, either subconsciously or consciously, realize their inability to "change the world", their lack of overall purpose and desire to move on reveals they have little to no skill to offer to a typical job. In order to protect themselves, instead of learning skills, they return to, and glamorize, basic manual jobs. i.e. Butchers, Bakers, CandleStick makers. I even have the these same thoughts myself! There is absolutely nothing wrong with these jobs, but you'll see they are in direct opposition to the ideal jobs these groups/books/sites are predicting the Millennial generation will offer the world. (See: Portland.)
Authenticity: We are in awe of how Authentic our generation is. However, what is actually happening is that we are developing specific channels of authenticity. We 'share' our lives via facebook, twitter, but we are only sharing the good parts. We are completely skipping over the #Filterless portions of our lives which is leading each of us to a dual-personality disorder. Over time we will develop two distinct personalities: "on-line" and "off-line". No one is actually discussing this even though we all admit it's true. The most impactful voices on the internet today are those willing to call this out and truly admit their own flaws through a true authentic voice.
Community: The world is taken aback by how connected this generation is, yet the statistics show we are the lonliest generation on the planet. We want strong families and to raise children. Yet, both due to our economy and the desires of individual millennials, studies don't support this as truth. Only 20% of us are married in our twenties as oposed to the baby boomers who were at 60% in their twenties. I'm not suggesting this is necessarily a good or bad thing depending on your view of marriage or what happened to you baby boomer parents. PLUS, I'm choosing not to make too large of a statement on this concept due to my personal circumstances.
Here's a hint though: It seems successful families are built on emotional selflessness, communication and financial sacrifice. The Millennial generation is generally known for and spoken of as being elitist, self-oriented (long story to support this), and lonely. This simply doesn't add up. You really think our generation is going to 'save the family'? Married couples in the Millennial generation are just about to hit the 7-year wall. I can only pray they don't meet the same end I did. But, if we can count on historical generations to predict the future of generations... things are not looking good.
I am remarkably proud of my generation. I feel I can truly see the issues we are dealing with; both the pros and the cons, and I feel we need to look through a different filter at what 'success' means to this generation from outside the lenses of our parents and professors. We cannot judge the future using the same economic and social measurements as those who existed before the digital revolution (internet), in the same way as the people who judged the generation following the industrial revolution (early 1900's - 1920's).
It's true, The times are a changin', but let's make sure we're measuring these changes and predicting for their futures in accurate ways.
Sorry for my rant. But Diane... you gotta pick up the phone.
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Other rants for other posts: school debt, elitism vs. expectations, moving back in with mom and dad, start-up companies, etc...