I am sick of hearing Baby Boomers (those born during 1945-1964)) say that Millennials are “the entitled generation” that “everything is handed to us” and “we don’t know the value of hard work.”
Excuse me? You are saying that the generation completely crippled by student debt and a job market that won’t even accept us for an entry level position unless we have five to ten million years of experience is entitled? You are saying that we don’t work hard when right out of college we need to instantly jump into a roiling black hole of competition, cover letters, and doom?
The stigmas Millennials live under are absolutely ridiculous. I understand. You see us living in our parent's homes rent free and judge us. But we live in our parent's homes because we need a place to stay while we apply for jobs, go to interviews, and try to get our heads in the game (excuse the "High School Musical" reference). What do you want us to do? Move to the city, magically summon the perfect job through spells and incantations, and just make everything appear with a snap of our fingers? No. That is completely unrealistic. We need a grace period.
So. Why do Millennials have such a bad rep?
For two reasons mainly: a) we have different values and b) we have something that no generation before us had: social media.
As a generation, Millennials are more open to change, more career driven, and more accepting. Due to social media, we are more connected than any other generation before us. As a result of this connection, we are more aware of problems, and as a result of the confidence that being a Millennial in a competitive world has given us we are more assertive and act on a desire to enact change.
Our values are different than those of the Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are more focused on family, children, loyalty, they have this romanticized concept of the “All American Family.” They want what’s best for their children according to their beliefs: family, education, children, and opportunity. But Millennials have a completely different value system due to factors such as popular culture, social media, and personal desire. Millennials want fame, fortune, and happiness. While they value love and family, they just want to be successful. But the definition of what is successful and leads to happiness is what causes the rift between Baby Boomers and Millennials.
Millennials want to move to the city, get an amazing job, the starting a family and settling down part that Baby Boomers prize so highly? That is all stuff that can happen later … or never.
Just because we want to be happy, just because we want to have fun, just because we want to live life to the fullest, does not mean we are narcissistic, greedy, and entitled. It just means we are driven, motivated dreamers who don’t want to settle for anything less. We want to live life while we are young. While we can.
So the next time you claim that Millennials are a generation of self-entitled and self-obsessed narcissists, ask yourself: is it really so wrong to want the best? Is it really so wrong to be a dreamer?
