The Me-Me-Me Generation, as termed by Times magazine, is the generation of individuals born between the early 1980s, to the early 2000s. The first generation to grow up with technology, phones, laptops, the Internet. The generation which is often coined as lazy, self entitled, and technology-obsessed. Also, according to statistics, the generation which was most likely to voluntarily read as a child, the generation which is most likely to go to university, and the generation whose greatest aim is to become a good parent. The previous two statements don’t really match up, do they? That’s because, unfortunately enough, none of us millenials are (as yet) in great positions of power. Yet, from the way the media presents us, it seems that we’re despised by older generations, though there is a plausible reason as to why. Baby Boomers (1946-1964), and Generation X (1965-1981), grew up in a more clearly structured world, the clear-cut rules of a booming capitalist world. If you worked hard, and were ‘good’ at your job, your salary was raised, or you were promoted, and so on. Nowadays, however, employers prefer to hire those with a university degree. So- if we want to get a job, we have to go to university first. Seems simple enough, right?
Simple enough, if you remove the idea of crippling debt. Luckily for UK citizens, you’re only required to pay back your university debt if you earn over £21,000 a year, demonstrating that it could, in fact, be worse. The United States, however, is a different story. The amount of outstanding student loan debt in 2014, as recorded by the U.S. government was over 1 trillion dollars. With this kind of terrifying monster hanging over their heads, it is no surprise that we’re approximately 30% less likely to get married until we’re past 34, and 20% less likely to have children. Guess what? Those things cost money, which none of us have.
If we do actually manage to get a job, (even though one out of every two university graduates is unemployed, underemployed, or working in a field unrelated to their degree), it means we were also lucky enough to force our way pass the dreadful ‘experience paradox’. Employers not only want to hire college graduates, but individuals who’ve already worked for that specific field (because they don’t want to cost the company money by requiring a training program). So- you can only be hired if you get experience. And you can only get experience if someone hires you. I see a problem here…
So that explains why many millenials are classified as ‘lazy’. Now, my second main qualm with the criticism of millenials is that they are technologically obsessed. When did that become a bad thing? Technology allows you to connect with the people you love, no matter the distance between you. It creates an unbelievably large pool of information, aiding the instant education of anyone who wishes it. It creates new jobs, and helps people to share their talents of music, art, and even provides greater expansion for charities. Selfies are also attacked, being nicknamed ‘Selfies for self-obsessed’, solid proof of the millenials being, what? Proud of our appearance? That’s a disgrace- we shouldn’t be happy with how we look, and choose to document it, so we can feel good about ourselves! It’s ridiculously narcissistic- we need to learn to hate ourselves as much as everyone else does, right?
In short, I believe that our generation has been completely mislabeled, or, at the very least, the hardships we have, and are going to have to face have barely been taken into account. Namely, an economy, whilst slowly improving, could be better, a planet that appears to be dying, and a world where governments violate human rights on a daily basis. This is a millenials future. Personally, I believe that once we have reached powerful positions, we can demonstrate to our predecessors that we’re a generation who’s confident, who cares, and may just be able to fix what we’ve been left with.
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