Recently I've seen a clip of the TV show "The Newsroom" being shared online. In this clip, character Will McAvoy silences an auditorium of college students by arguing that America is not "the greatest country in the world" anymore. In his speech, Will makes a few points about the state of our nation and then he starts to point his finger to the group of college students he's addressing. "None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period," the enraged speaker yells to the audience. My mind shut off at this point, I couldn't listen to any other thing that came from the screen of my phone. Ye,s the speaker acknowledged that we're not the reason for the state of our country, but why are we "the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period?"
After a quick Google search of "stereotypes of millennials," the first words that popped up were "lazy, entitled, and narcissistic." But, honestly, I don't think that's what we are.
We are not lazy. We are exhausted by everything that we're faced with today, but being lazy is not how we respond to it. Today, nearly 20 percent of teens suffer from depression, which is a higher rate than our grandparent's generation. Does this mean that we're lazy and just can't pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and move on? No, it means that we're exhausted from all the things going on in the world. Divorce rates are over 50 percent, social media constantly tells us it's not OK to be unhappy, and our great nation has been at war with the Middle East for the majority of all of our lives. WE ARE NOT LAZY. We are simply drained by the problems generations before ours have created.
Secondly, we are not entitled. Our generation is the first to have the ease of technology at our hands. If we ever want anything, we pick up our phones and we have it. Google provides all our answers and Amazon has everything we could ever need. We know what we want and we take every opportunity that comes our way. That's not entitlement. We do not expect everything to be handed to us; we know we will have to work for everything we get, so that's what we do. According to Newsweek, 13.8 percent of 18-29 year olds were unemployed in 2015, which is significantly higher than the national average of 5.4 percent. Our generation is not entitled; we know that we most likely will graduate from college with a small chance of being employed within six months. Because of this terrifying fact, we fight for the jobs we know we should have. We are talented and bold and brilliant—a combination that deserves recognition.
Lastly, we are not narcissistic. Yes, we seek gratification through social media, but it is more complicated than that. Social media allows us to share thoughts, ideas, images, and really anything that inspires us. We post these things so that hopefully they can, in turn, inspire someone else. Somedays we inspire ourselves and the selfies we post reflect that. But, there is a distinct difference between celebrating ourselves and basking in narcissism. Social media has allowed us to highlight diversity, uniqueness, and differences in a way that brings our world together. Sharing who we are is not narcissism; it is a collaborative effort to diversify the modern perspective.
At the end of the day, I'm tired of being seen as lazy, entitled, and narcissistic. Everyday I see and meet millennials who are breaking these stereotypes. I am constantly inspired by the thoughts, work, and ideas of my peers. I can no longer sit back and let these titles define how people view my generation and me. I am not part of "the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period."
