Every generation has their title: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Z, etc. Whether they ring true or not, every generation also has its stereotypes and expectations, usually connected to the circumstances during the times in which they were reared. As someone born between 1981 and 2000, I fall under the 'Millennials' category. For some reason, it's becoming more and more common nowadays to see the word "Millennials" attached to unfavorable, degrading, and sometimes even hateful speech. Forgive me for being such a victimized, sensitive, coddled baby (as we Millennials tend to be according to the internet), but I can't help but wonder: what is it about today's youth makes us so hard to like?
I bet you're rolling your eyes now, saying that it's exactly like a Millennial to be unable to take criticism, to demand a safe space at all times, to take offense to every opposition and blah, blah, blah. If we're being honest, most of those attacks are just excuses to try to shut us down for standing against hate. Try as you might, we still won't stand for it. Sorry, not sorry.
Up until recently, the main criticism us youngsters endured was that we were too attached to our phones. Never mind the fact that we were literally raised in the digital age. Though for some people, the attachment to their cellular device and, more specifically, social media, is a bit obsessive, most of us actually can go without it. Also, when did cellular fixation become an issue exclusive to us? Facebook is riddled with Generation X-ers, our parents, and grandparents, who can’t seem to get enough of each others’ lives. Most of the political tirades under stupid videos are from older people who have decided they have voted for enough years to have gained some sort of superior proclivity for politics. My parents get into arguments about which one of them is more attached and obsessed with their social media.
While our cell phones can distract and create unnecessary drama for us Millennials, it’s where we learn the most about our global community and the international affairs that affect our lives. It’s where we are able to express our opinions and views and have them challenged by anyone who sees them, ultimately either teaching us a new perspective or helping us become better and more effective at articulating our own. The main point I’ve seen is that this constant availability of information has made us spoiled and impatient, always demanding immediate gratification. I’m a bit biased, but I think the continuous access to information has made us smarter and more assertive. The internet is also the avenue through which we have been able to enact the most social change.
Speaking of social change, the way Millennials are dragged through the mud for their social justice inclinations, you’d think it was a bad thing! Apparently, we have reached a point in time where hatred runs so rampant and deeply that “compassion and empathy” has been warped into “weakness and stupidity.” Being the most ethnically diverse generation thus far, Millennials are naturally more accepting towards difference and change. Partly because of the ever-expanding web, we’ve had so much exposure to cultures, ideas, and lifestyles different from our own. For this reason, it’s not uncommon for a millennial to call themselves an advocate for the rights of a marginalized group they may or may not belong to.
Still, too many times I have seen people invalidate an argument for peace and equality simply because the person presenting the argument classifies as a Millennial and therefore is too uneducated to be credible. Of course, since we spend all of our days with our noses in our phones, we have never absorbed any kind of formal education and are incapable of crafting an opinion of our own that isn’t based purely on what makes us “feel bad” and what doesn’t. At least, that’s what the generations before us like to think. People like Jesse Watters on the Bill O'Reilly show literally look at us as jokes because we find pointedly offensive things to be...offensive.
Personally, I feel like it’s something to be proud of - that in a world where there is so much evil and unnecessary hardship, there is a group of people who have enough hope and enough fight in them to work towards a better future. We Millennials do not live in some la-la land where we believe that no one should ever be offended and taxes should be paid in dreams and rainbows. We know the difference between facts and “feelings.” Contrary to popular belief, we have quite a firm grasp of the reality we are all living in. Why is it such an unbelievably crazy notion to know about our world and want to change it for the better at the same time? Who, exactly, is it hurting to demand that basic human rights should be upheld and respected in the way that we speak and refer to each other? Only bigots, it looks like.
The Internet is an open ground, and anyone can share their opinions as much as they’d like. Often times the attacks come to Millennials just because they see something in a different way and haven’t been trained to keep it to themselves. It seems most name-calling occurs when a young person has brought the facts to back up their argument and the other person can’t Google theirs fast enough. If simply opposing your close-minded, ill-supported, disrespectful point of view makes me a typical cry-baby Millennial, then I’ll wear the title proudly.
