I am a Millennial. I have accounts on pretty much every social media platform, I have had a smartphone for the entirety of my developmental years and my adult life, and I know how to correctly use a hashtag...and pretty much anyone born before 1985 (or anyone my age shaking their fist in the air whining about being "in the wrong generation") thinks that myself and my peers are terrible human beings.
If you have a Facebook (created by Mark Zuckerberg, who is not technically a Millennial but who I assume has the spirit of one), you have surely seen a video in the past week of blond-haired, blue-eyed Southern sweetheart Alexis Bloomer, who graciously took it upon herself to "evaluate what's so wrong with our generation" and discuss the Millennial experience. She, who is wise beyond the years of everyone else in her generation and knows how to read notecards she prepared for the video, breaks down exactly why everyone under 30 is so terrible, which is laughable, considering she is a Millennial, but more on that later. I will not rehash the whole thing (check out the Facebook timelines of your older relatives—trust me, you'll find it), but my favorite line throughout the entire video is that we, as Millennials, are not really "contributing anything to society."
I—again, a Millennial—attend college. I know lots of my Millennial classmates. We all have dreams and ambitions about changing the world and most of us have jobs, volunteer commitments, or student organizations we are a part of. Right here, in my tiny college town, I see Millennials contributing to society every single day.
Of course, though, anecdotal evidence does not really hold any water, so I took it upon myself to find some actual evidence, rather than just personal observations of people my age being kind or terrible.
Millennials are charitable with time and money. 75 percent gave to charity in 2011, and 63 percent volunteered their time. They're not giving blindly because they want to impress their peers or appear charitable. 9 out of 10 said they would investigate an organization before volunteering their time or giving a monetary donation.
The teen birth rate is at an all-time low. Those who are coming-of-age are more sexually responsible than any generation that came before them.
High school graduation rates have hit a record high, and the rate has increased every year for the past four years (though the methods of education, formulated largely by non-Millennials, are questionable).
Though Millennials reject the label of "environmentalist," the Pew Research Center has found that Millennials are the most environmentally conscious generation ever. Many are taking steps to reduce their footprint on the environment (and hey, whether or not you believe in climate change doesn't really matter here, the awareness of a problem and action taken to reach a solution are the highlights in this case).
Teenage drug and alcohol use is at an all-time low, too.
Plus, we are facing more financial adversity than previous generations have. Even when adjusted for inflation, the cost of attending college has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Millennials in many cities make 20 percent less than Gen-Xers, despite attending college at higher rates. The retired have more disposable income than working Millennials.
Millennials catch plenty of flak, too, for being "too entitled." Many gripe about younger people's support of progressive policies and complain about social revolutions expedited through non-traditional means (read: social media). It's almost dirty to say that you believe that everyone should have equal rights and nobody should have to starve, live in poverty, or go without an education if they are working hard for what they want. Really, though, I'm not sure why my generation is criticized for not having the "back in my day, we were poor and walked to school with no shoes and drank from the neighbors garden hose and we liked it" mentality. Social media has given us a vehicle for swift and forceful social change, so rather than stand by idly, we take it upon ourselves to change our world and make it a better place for ourselves, our children, their children, and so on. Additionally, isn't it a testament to the idea that the human experience is fragile and meant to be changed if something as simple and socially constructed as a hashtag can rock the world?
Millennials care less about financial success and material things and more about experiencing life, growing as people, and changing the world. We dream of living in tiny studio apartments and re-purposing thrift shop clothes so we can head to a job that we might not become rich in wealth doing, but rather rich in spirit and accomplishment.
And hey, non-Millennials—don't think we don't know what you did when you were our age. Don't think we don't know about the provocative music you listened to (having a hard time remembering? Remember all of the music Tipper Gore pushed legislation about? You know the words, sing along!), the Playboy magazines under your bed, the Polaroid pictures you took for your boyfriend, or all the damn drugs you did. Don't get me started on the terrible stories and images of you that would be on social media if Instagram (or even a flip phone) was around after your senior prom.
I shouldn't even be upset by your complaints in any way. History shows us that the older generation has always complained about the younger ones, so this really isn't anything new, but people my own age participating in the admonishment is laughable at best, pathetic at worst.
We communicate differently than you. We have different lives than you. We appreciate different music and ways of living than you did when you were our age. Does this mean, though, that we are not contributing to society? All signs point to no. Sorry.
