Once In A Millennium: How Millennials Deviate From Other Generations
Millennials: We were born between 1980 and 2000 and witnessed first hand the birth of the tech-boom. We’re not so distant where technology looks like incomprehensible magic and not born into it so we’re grounded enough to remember life without it. We are young and often belittled, yet we now hold the most purchasing power of all age groups.
In the last days of 1999, there was great concern over the “Y2K” virus. But it wasn’t the threat of a bug that faded within seconds after the countdown to New Year’s. It was the little ones that would grow up to stay for many years past and many years to come. Welcome to the scene, millennials.
There is the freedom of truth and the burden of lies that come with every generation. Millennials are not exempt to this. It’s true that technological marvels have overtaken all facets of society, but it has had the most impact on millennials because we blossomed as people while it advanced in sophistication. Pacing alongside tech advancement is the liberal mentality, which appear to most millennials to lean closer to the truth than the conservatism that continue to engulf the rest of the world. Economy also shaped our perspective. Here are some lassoed truths and shrouds of deceit of our generation that make it deviate from others:
Technology is awesome. So awesome that it outdates itself exponentially. The technology inside the smartphone in your pocket has more computing power than NASA had to put people on the moon. Other generations perceive smartphones, tablets, and PCs as a relatively recent phenomenon. Millennials on the other hand practically grew up with the prologue to our familiar tech like night lights do with a little kid. While older age groups are more likely to be awkward with devices, we millennials toggle apps and pounce on updates with swag.
We’ve all watched TVs as our primary tech source and spoken through landlines as our predominant source of non-immediate verbal communication. The difference between older folks and millennials is modernization. While older folks are not as reluctant to switch to mobile phones, millennials have moved on and smoothly transitioned to the latest methods of living. There’s a reason why Verizon and Time Warner don’t promote their “Triple Play” packages anymore. Older generations, keep your bulky TVs and house phones; you can fester at home all day while we’ve got smartphones, tablets, and laptops to bring to work with us and our fancy Apple TVs waiting for us at home.
Technology and economy are constants that bless and/or plague every generation. So what truly separates us from our hippie counterparts? Hipsters. Well, at least that’s one way of looking at it. But it gets a lot more interesting than a funky thematic matchup. For one, millennials drive less than previous generations. We don’t buy cars that much as a group anymore because we don’t drive that much anymore. Our lazy asses would opt to hop on the nearest bus or train instead of getting behind the wheel. In fact, we drive a quarter less than our counterparts did 8 years ago. We’re less likely to buy homes. There isn’t just economic salting behind it. We’ve somehow lost a lot of motivation as a group. Only 18% of us between 18 and 34 make owning a home a life goal and many of us still live with mommy and daddy. Because we’re less likely to own homes and cars, where do we get our material? Delivery from bulk warehouse goods such as Costco. Our lack of motivation is indeed their great form of profit. And you know what? We’re bachelors as well. Millennials don’t like to be constrained by holy matrimony. Only 21% of people in their 20’s are married. No weddings. Just fun. Pretty soon Vegas will be everywhere.
On a more subtle note, we are more discrete about our salary, we’re not as dedicated to saving the planet as older groups, we prefer a more casual work setting (8 out of 10 prefer wearing jeans to work), we don’t make our own food, we’re less likely to dine out, we’re more inclined to exchange private information for cash, we buy cheaper clothing and are even more likely to wear others’, and statistically we even favor indie beers over the mainstream Millers, Bud, and Coors brands. Also, we may never truly understand the concept behind a drumstick. We eat boneless poultry food. Instead of a chicken leg or wing, we’ve assimilated the crunchiness of McNuggets. Decision-making is powerful in forging who we are. Older Americans are more likely to ponder over the referrals and suggestions of family and friends before committing to a purchase while millennials prefer to take the inside look themselves and make independent decisions.
Like individual strengths and weaknesses, every generation flexes its biceps while protecting its Achilles heel. What defines their standard is how much of each is revealed and how much concealed, respectively. The strength of being a millennial is the tech savviness that arises out of our immersion with the latest and greatest and our staunch support for the liberal pace that will ultimately propel us to a greater humanity. Furthermore, we’ve witnessed a great recession and the futility of war at a young age and are sure to learn from them. Sure, we don’t play instruments as frequently as older folk do, but who needs a guitar when you can program/record your own music on a computer? The flip side to all of this is that amidst all the technology, we have grown dependent on our devices. You can argue that it’s even an addiction. Oh yea, tech or not, everything gets simplified every generation for efficiency’s sake. Because of this, we millennials have grown very, very lazy.
Did I mention that we eat McNuggets? Awesome.
After all is said and done, we currently still hold the greatest purchasing power of all age ranges, making us a very formidable group. We’ll see how Generation Z blossoms, but for now the world is ours. We millennials are here to stay.
About The Author:
This article is written by By Li Huang. He is an Social Media writer and working with Fueled.
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