When someone says “millennials”, what pops into your head? Perhaps it’s an image like the one above. A bunch of young people, heads glued to electronic devices, caring nothing about the world around them.
Or maybe you think of some douchebag hipster talking about microbrews or their latest backpacking trip through Tibet, or whatever. Maybe you picture a shadowy generation laughing as they kill off all the industries you grew up with and love.
Or, if you’re sane, you just think of a young person. If you do, congratulations, you’re not a fearmonger.
This article isn’t for you. It’s for the people who think millennials are the scourge of the country, nay, the world.
Don’t leave though, because I’m here to bust some common millennial myths, and everyone likes their opinions being validated. Let’s get started with one of the most popular.
Millennials Are Killing Industries!
Check out this article. Isn’t it precious? Millennials are killing so many things! This article is similar to dozens of others, all of which bemoan the fact that young people aren’t spending money on things. Take a look at this tweet which helpfully compiled a list:
That’s a lot of things! Millennials seem to be almost as omnipotent as Susan Sarandon.
Anyone with half a brain could figure out the real reason why all these industries are suffering, but let’s go through it anyway.
Income Inequality! It Was You All Along!
Yea, it’s not a shock. It turns out when you have very little disposable income, your first priority is not to blow it on diamonds, or fancy weddings, or golfing. You just try to survive.
This article actually does a good job of explaining this point in detail. In brief, the reason certain industries (and notice, the trend is mostly “luxury” industries) are failing is because of the broader economy; specifically the recession caused by the older generation, sometimes known affectionately as “boomers”.
You could almost call this tendency to point at millennials as the cause of all ills victim blaming. The boomers destroyed the economy through their terrible tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulating the banks, and so many other things. This caused a whole generation of people – millennials – to graduate from school into a desolate job market. Then they turn around and blame those same people for the economy failing.
Stunning, I know.
Debt & Housing
The article I linked above also brings up the fact that we are living in an unprecedented era of student debt. It’s a full blown epidemic.
The other day, I was having a work lunch and since my job was picking up the tab we went to a fancier place. I know, I’m privileged. Not the point.
While I was eating, I overheard a conversation being held by two businessmen at the next table over. They were lamenting the fact that younger people don’t seem to be buying real estate anymore. Not too much later I heard the words that made my blood start to boil:
“Millennials just don’t seem to want to own houses anymore.”
Guys. It took me so much self-control to not turn and start laying into this douche.
As I’m sure most of the people reading this are aware, it isn’t that millennials don’t want to own property. It’s that we literally can’t afford it.
In an economy that is in shambles, with high unemployment and -less discussed – underemployment, how are people supposed to save enough money to afford property? When 70% of the country is living paycheck-to-paycheck, it’s laughable. The average millennial has less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. 40% can’t afford a $400 emergency.
It’s no wonder why. When a meager paycheck has to stretch to cover rent, utilities, healthcare premiums, food, and more often than not student loan payments, what is there left to save?
So forgive us if we’re not springing to buy that $700,000 house in the suburbs.
Millennials & Their Phones! Look Around a Little, Dagnabit!
This is a sillier complaint, but nonetheless prevalent. How often have you heard it? A young person pulls out their phone around an older person and there’s a 1-in-3 chance that there will be some comment about how they “live on their phone”, or something similar.
Sure, maybe some younger people spend entirely too much time in the digital world. Internet addiction is a real thing. But, young people are also the most informed generation in history. Because of their phones.
We have unprecedented access to information. Basically the depth of human knowledge is literally at our fingertips. Sure, we use it to look up recipes and cat pictures, but we also use it to read the news, and educate ourselves far more easily than previous generations.
The proof of this is the massive movement gathered behind Bernie Sanders, and other Bernie-style politicians. That wouldn’t have been possible without social media and the free flow of factual information.
Sure, there is a lot of what has been called “fake news” floating around as well. But millennials are also the most educated generation. We tend to know when we’re being bullshitted, even better than your parents at a used car lot.
Millennials Are So Lazy! Look At Them, Sitting There!
You’ve heard it before. Millennials are so lazy. They order delivery instead of going to the store. Millennials are too lazy to improve themselves. Millennials just want everything handed to them. It goes on.
By now I’m sure you know none of this is true. Except the ordering delivery thing. That’s totally true. But hey, why go to a store when you can have everything you need delivered? You can use that saved time to do other things. Like catch up on housework you’ve been putting off.
Millennials aren’t lazy. We’re good time managers. Also, exhausted. Many of us work insane hours for very little pay. Forgive us for wanting to save time when we can. If we go right to sleep after getting home from 12 hours on our feet dealing with the nightmare that is retail, maybe we need it.
Now, the counter to this is “I worked 80 hour weeks down in the mines and still managed to do x, y, and z!”
Ok. Yes, that does suck having to work 80 hours in a mine. But you’re not taking into account the disenfranchisement that comes from today’s current working world.
Working in a mine is backbreaking work and sucks, but at least you have something to show for it at the end of the day. You dug a new tunnel, or excavated something new. You didn’t spend 8 hours at a desk shifting numbers around on a spreadsheet for little tangible purpose.
“Get a job you like”. How? I’ve already gone over the terrible economy earlier. Plus, the shift to more automation and more office-based work makes this extremely difficult.
There’s another reason the lazy millennial is a myth. Consider how many younger people are not only supporting themselves, but also their families, as this article points out.
When you peel back the onion, millennials are not lazier than previous generations. The reason we’re perceived as “lazy” usually boils down to the fact that we’re pursuing success in a different avenue than our predecessors, which they don’t understand and therefore dismiss.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, millennials are often dissatisfied, not lazy. We’re not killing industries, we’re victims of a shitty economy crafted by previous generations with the express purpose to fuck us over.
We’ve been sold a bill of goods that if we follow a certain life path, we’ll succeed. Then it turns out that life path is a mirage. Student debt has crushed us. “Healthcare” in the United States is killing us. And then we’re told it’s our fault, somehow.
We believe that our lives, and the wider world, should be better. And unlike previous generations we’re trying to do something about it. We want to make the world better for future generations, as well as ourselves. We don’t believe in the “I got mine, so fuck you” attitude of our ancestors.
I’m not saying we’re heros, but we’re heros.