I am sick of the negative connotations that come along with the word ‘millennial.’ Perhaps it’s because I am a millennial that I am particularly aware of everyone’s obvious distaste towards our generation, but I can’t help but find myself asking why?
Rightfully so, generations before us view us in this negative light because of the dismal depictions that are plastered all over the media. Selfies, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, social media and the fascination of getting ‘likes’ and being glued to our phones…listen, I get it. The figures in these examples certainly portray us as narcissistic airheads, you’re right. If we’re going to throw out titles and names that are based on such arbitrary things, then I will not sit here and disagree with any of that because honestly, I'd have no argument. These are all relevant and valid ingredients to a millennials overall makeup, which makes us easy targets to be the butt of all the demeaning jokes. As a 23-year-old female, I am constantly surrounded by people like this all day – admittedly, myself included. But I saw a video online once (LOL, living up to my stereotype) that basically stated that millennials were simply ‘dealt a bad hand.’ It was actually a pretty interesting and candid take on millennials – I recommend you watch it. However, I am not making excuses for us. Because quite frankly, I don’t really believe that there’s anything that needs to be excused for. The term millennial can mean a lot of things, but one thing that it means to me is change. In my lifetime, I have seen a woman run for president. I have seen gay marriage become legalized. I’ve seen transgenders gain wider access to all healthcare and even being portrayed on television. Millennials are open-minded and accepting, and I think that says a lot more than any of our stereotypes do. We are a diverse and progressive generation open to change. And don’t think that I’m naïve. I’m well aware there are some baby boomers and gen x-ers out there reading this right now laughing at me because you’re so stuck on your belief of what you think we are. And to your defense, some of your thoughts are 110% accurate. But I’m willing to bet we’d all own up to our faults. I certainly would. And that right there breaks a stereotype because everyone thinks that millennials believe that we know everything and cannot own up to when we’re being wrong. One day when I was feeling particularly frustrated with being stuck under this millennial umbrella that constantly is being pelted with negativity, I stumbled upon an article that was not-so-surprisingly titled “7 Reasons Millennials Are the Worst Generation.” Far from original, dude. If you type ‘millennial,’ into the search bar, there’s thousands more of your articles. But that’s besides my point. Two of his reasons were that “they smoke,” and “they don’t know anything about politics,” followed by five other lame and ill-supported reasons we apparently are all ‘the worst.’ But hey, if that’s all it takes to be considered ‘the worst,’ guys, then I think we’re doing okay. Mind you, this survey data was collected by only 2,000 young adults. Just to let you in on a little tidbit of overwhelming information, millennials have actually surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, checking in right around 75.4 million. Unfortunately, it looks like this minuscule fragment of young adults may skew the results a bit when looking at things big picture. If this article focused on issues that really matter, like race, religion, social injustice or gender equality, I have a hard time believing he'd have anything worthwhile to publish at all. Why? Because if he had focused on these things, he would've been overwhelmed with a preponderance of evidence, opinions and insights from young adults that prove just how accepting millennials really are. Listen, you will never find me denying the fact that many (most) of us millennials support our less-than-favorable stereotype. I will own up to that all day every day. Stereotypes suck. They're extremely frustrating. I mean, who really wants to be lumped under one blanket statement that essentially tells you "this is the kind of person you are." But having that said, I truly believe that no matter how small or large, there is some degree of truth behind every stereotype. Without enough supporting evidence, there'd really be no reason to create stereotypes in the the first place, right? With that in mind, however, I can’t help but ask you, what body of people doesn’t carry stigmas that reign true of their stereotype to some extent? Yes, millennials probably are all the things you believe us to be, but there is so much more than the negative connotations of our stereotype that make up the true definition of a millennial. And if you’re closed-minded enough to only focus on the narrow avenue of negative aspects that make up our generation, well…I guess you’re really not a millennial after all 😊
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