For a long time, older generations have liked to moan and bemoan about the younger generation. It has happened since at least the 1920s, when the new woman emerged and rejected the traditions of the Victorian era. Though this has almost become a “rite of passage” as said by Aaron Kaufman in “an Open Letter from a Millennial to Society,” it has made Millennials the “butt” of many mean jokes, and they have had to face many insults about how they are “the dumbest, laziest, most entitled, narcissistic, cocky and most coddled generation to ever live.” Fortunately, contrary to these assumptions, Millennials are not narcissistic or apathetic as they have a high percentage of volunteerism. They also aren’t wrong to feel entitled, which is the most common critique about them. Finally, the previous generations are being hypocritical by calling Millennials these things as those insults were used against previous generations by their parents when criticizing them. Millennials have always been considered narcissistic by Boomers.
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The reason for this is their love for selfies, posting photo albums on social media sites, and generally being obsessed by these sites. This, however, is a false accusation as older generations are just as obsessed by them. This is also said by Kelly Brown in her Ted Talks “Why Millennials are the worst.” Brown says that Millennials aren’t solely obsessed by social media sites because Boomers and Gen-Xers “like that too.” Noreen Malone, author of New York Magazine’s “The Kids are Actually Sort of Alright” also rebuts Jonathan Franzen’s claim that Millennials are substituting Facebook “liking” for “real-life passion.” She says that “the thumbs-up isn’t a substitution for anything.” and says that it is a form of kindness. She continues to say that “it is just a function of a generation’s giving out compliments in the volume in which we received them growing up.” This means that the “likes” on a Facebook post are forms of compliments and self-esteem boosts that the Millennial generation have grown up on. Millennials are also called apathetic, or lacking sympathy/empathy for others. This is just as baseless as the previous accusation because of their contribution to the community. Multiple Millennials have defended themselves in a similar way. For example, Jessica Grose from the Intelligence Square debate: Millennials don’t stand a chance” says that her generation has a more constant, and deeper, relationship with their community because of technological advances, including social media sites. David Burstein too says that Millennials have engaged more in volunteerism than previous generations. In fact, this contribution is accepted by many older people. Jeffrey Bosworth says that the young generation are “more connected to each other and the world than any other.” He continues to say that they “give time to a wide variety of good causes.” “Entitled” is the word that is most commonly associated with Millennials. Though it is associated with a negative connotation, one could argue against it by saying that they have been brought up with certain expectations. The expectations put on them was to have non-academic hobbies, good grades throughout school, going to a good college even if it meant taking huge loans as it would be worth it in the long run, etc. (Brown). By doing this, they were told that they would have a stable, high paying job in the field they are interested in, promotions, acceptance from society, etc. However, when these children grew up, they found out that this “path to success” didn’t really exist, or didn’t stand true anymore. This left them unemployed or working in an unstable, low-paying job in a field they had never asked for, promotions being a diamond in the rough, and pressure being pushed down on them from all sides: family, friends, society and they themselves. This would lead to feelings of entitlement …show more content…
The Boomers and Gen-Xers were responsible for the upbringing of Millennials. Most of the values and beliefs that the next generation have is taught to them by their parents. This is explained by Malone when she says that Millennials are the “product of two long-term social experiments” conducted by their parents: overloading children with self-confidence and encouraging them to follow their passions and interests that looked good on applications to create “little hyperachievers.” These upbringings led to the parents calling the generation “narcissistic” and
The reason for this is their love for selfies, posting photo albums on social media sites, and generally being obsessed by these sites. This, however, is a false accusation as older generations are just as obsessed by them. This is also said by Kelly Brown in her Ted Talks “Why Millennials are the worst.” Brown says that Millennials aren’t solely obsessed by social media sites because Boomers and Gen-Xers “like that too.” Noreen Malone, author of New York Magazine’s “The Kids are Actually Sort of Alright” also rebuts Jonathan Franzen’s claim that Millennials are substituting Facebook “liking” for “real-life passion.” She says that “the thumbs-up isn’t a substitution for anything.” and says that it is a form of kindness. She continues to say that “it is just a function of a generation’s giving out compliments in the volume in which we received them growing up.” This means that the “likes” on a Facebook post are forms of compliments and self-esteem boosts that the Millennial generation have grown up on. Millennials are also called apathetic, or lacking sympathy/empathy for others. This is just as baseless as the previous accusation because of their contribution to the community. Multiple Millennials have defended themselves in a similar way. For example, Jessica Grose from the Intelligence Square debate: Millennials don’t stand a chance” says that her generation has a more constant, and deeper, relationship with their community because of technological advances, including social media sites. David Burstein too says that Millennials have engaged more in volunteerism than previous generations. In fact, this contribution is accepted by many older people. Jeffrey Bosworth says that the young generation are “more connected to each other and the world than any other.” He continues to say that they “give time to a wide variety of good causes.” “Entitled” is the word that is most commonly associated with Millennials. Though it is associated with a negative connotation, one could argue against it by saying that they have been brought up with certain expectations. The expectations put on them was to have non-academic hobbies, good grades throughout school, going to a good college even if it meant taking huge loans as it would be worth it in the long run, etc. (Brown). By doing this, they were told that they would have a stable, high paying job in the field they are interested in, promotions, acceptance from society, etc. However, when these children grew up, they found out that this “path to success” didn’t really exist, or didn’t stand true anymore. This left them unemployed or working in an unstable, low-paying job in a field they had never asked for, promotions being a diamond in the rough, and pressure being pushed down on them from all sides: family, friends, society and they themselves. This would lead to feelings of entitlement …show more content…
The Boomers and Gen-Xers were responsible for the upbringing of Millennials. Most of the values and beliefs that the next generation have is taught to them by their parents. This is explained by Malone when she says that Millennials are the “product of two long-term social experiments” conducted by their parents: overloading children with self-confidence and encouraging them to follow their passions and interests that looked good on applications to create “little hyperachievers.” These upbringings led to the parents calling the generation “narcissistic” and