Generation Y, Generation Me, Net Generation, and Millennials.
These are a few names dubbed by the preceding Generation X, and Baby Boomers. For some reason we love to group other humans by specific features and categorize them. Just like how we categorize our movies, video games, television shows, and books. We factor in several different elements when categorizing a movie or TV show. But when it comes to humans we just set everyone within a certain age range into a group and call that a “generation.”
Grouping millions of individuals simply by their age will create unfair generalizations that don’t fairly represent that group as a whole. It’s what the Baby Boomers and Gen Y do to Millennials, and the same was done to Boomers and Gen Y and so on. These stigmas put younger individuals at a disadvantage that sometimes they can’t overcome. Here are two delusions that really need to go away.
“Millennials are entitled.”
Honestly, this is easily the most offensive. By this logic, a kid born to an affluent family in Bridgeport, Connecticut and kid born to a struggling family on welfare in Camden, New Jersey are both entitled. To be more precise, 65% of 1,000 Americans think so after a Reason-Rupe Poll was taken in 2014. When the 65 percent say “entitled” they are referring to the recent surges of social, economic, and political movements.
We are in a time where student debt is at an all-time high. Those same former students are getting paid less. But somehow, you not wanting to end up drowned in debt working at a job you hate as did your parents makes you entitled. This idea of entitlement that Americans think of only applies to those who actually have access to these “privileges”, the affluent. The affluent already have admission to “privileges” that every single human deserves regardless of race, gender, religion, orientation, or class. To make sure that it stays the same, a message is sent to Americans, “Don’t do what makes you happy or what’s fundamentally right, just stick with what’s been working.” However, nothing lasts forever and that includes outdated social norms.
Wanting to bring awareness to climate change, gender and class pay gaps, healthcare reform, police corruption, political corruption, along with racial and sexual orientation discrimination makes you an entitled narcissist. There is nothing wrong with wanting things to stay the same. Humans are deeply nostalgic and certain ideas and beliefs are ingrained to our minds at a young age, which makes it harder to change. But if that certain thing is a fundamentally wrong social norm then it has to change. We don’t always get what we want and people have to make sacrifices in order to compromise. The problem is that those sacrifices aren’t going both ways.
"Millennials are narcissists."
Millennials aren’t narcissists, it’s people who are narcissists. Narcissism doesn’t have a bias and we all are narcissists to a degree. The impression that Millennials are selfish or narcissistic is a symptom of age bias or “ageism.” The older demographic isn’t as accepting to change and because of that anything that anything the younger demographic does seems foreign or wrong. Who can blame them? If you’re a teenager or young adult with little to no responsibilities, you’re going to look out for yourself. Everyone is different so not every 13-25 year old have easy lives. Situations can change bringing on new responsibilities. But those with that freedom will try and do what’s best for them.
Our narcissism decreases the older we get. Millennials aren’t some anomaly generation. Younger people are inherently more narcissist. The older you are and the more responsibilities you have the less narcissistic you are. An 18-year-old college student doesn’t have the same responsibilities and mindset as a 35-year-old married adult. What’s different is that people are more aware of narcissistic behavior because the internet and social media activity. There are people of all ages who love to share many parts of their lives on social media sites. People seek validation on these sites hoping to get the most likes on their post. People love to be acknowledged for their life accomplishment regardless of age It’s what make us human and there is nothing wrong with that. Social media makes the quest for social validation a public event.
It basically comes down to this: every generation is “Generation Me.” The generalizations and stigmas that are being put on Millennials are the same that were given to Generation X, Baby Boomers, and generations before. It’s what people do to cope with the changing times. Rather than accepting this, people seek to place the blame of social ills to the younger generation without realizing that they themselves and those before are the ones to blame. Understanding and debunking fallacies placed by previous generation can help push forward the much needed social, economic, and political progression in society.
