I’m A Millennial And My Generation Sucks

Full Disclosure:
I am NOT a Millennial...I'm a Gen.X'er...but I found this long article very interesting, as it is one Millennial's straightforward self-assessment of his generation, complete with a sober assessment of it's limitations and shortcomings.

I don't know what the demographics of ATS truly are...but I know you Millennials are here...and, for the most part, I find you very intelligent and well-spoken---much like the author of this article.

Does his impression of his generation reflect your own perceptions...or is this article just another vacuous literary 'selfie' by just another self-absorbed and falsely overconfident 20-something?

Millennials are the worst. I should know — I am one.

At 26, I’m stuck in the middle of the world’s most maligned, mocked and discussed age group. And I hate it. Imagine being forever lumped into a smug pack of narcissists who don’t just ignore the past, but openly abhor anyone and everything that came before them.

“My boomer co-workers get paid more and they have no clue what Reddit is!” drones the millennial victim as the tiny violin plays. Meanwhile, baby boomers gave us, um, computers, and our major contributions to society are emojis and TV recaps.

2016 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for the Lousiest Generation.

irst there was Talia Jane, the dopey, 25-year-old Yelp employee who was rightly fired for whining about her low salary on social media. Next came the 27-year-old Mic writer who told his boss he was taking time off for a funeral when he was actually building a tree house.

And then entered the Sandernistas, Bernie Sanders obsessives who preached reform and inclusion by berating their closest friends and family for daring to think differently. (One post on the “Bernie or Bust” Facebook group reads, “I don’t want to be friends with you if you support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.”)

Johnny Oleksinski, at The Attic Rooftop bar in Manhattan, is fed up with his generation of millennials.
This is what happens when parents slap their toddler’s headshot on a birthday cake.

Recently, a comment from a colleague hit me like a stray selfie-stick. She said, “In some ways I love being a millennial, because it’s so much easier to be better than the rest of our generation. Because they suck.” It was jarring to hear the truth so plainly stated. But she’s right. We suck. We really suck.

Like a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I must admit that I’m powerless to my biological age. Nonetheless I fight back every day against the traits that have come to define Gen Y: entitlement, dependency, nonstop complaining, laziness, Kardashians.

People like me are called “old souls,” or “26-going-on-76.” We’re chided by our peers for silly things such as enjoying adulthood, commuting to a physical office and not being enamored with Brooklyn. Contentment has turned us into lepers. Or worse: functioning human beings.

My millennial friends want me to be hopelessly nostalgic for the ’90s, obsessing over which “Saved by the Bell” character I’m most like, while ironically purchasing Dunkaroos and Snapchatting my vacant expressions for 43 pals to ignore. Or flying home for the weekend to recover from office burnout by getting some shut-eye in my pristine childhood bedroom. Thanks, but I’ll pass.

This is my number one rule: Do whatever millennials don’t. Definite no-nos include quitting a job or relationship the moment my mood drops from ecstatic to merely content; expecting the world to kowtow to my every childish whim; and assuming that I am always the most fascinating person in the room, hell, the zip code.

Millennials are obsessed with their brand. They co-opted the term from Apple and Xerox to be — like so many other things — all about them. “What’s your brand?,” millennial employers ask. The trouble is that a young person’s brand rarely extends beyond a screen: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube. When you meet them, they’re never quite as witty, attractive or entrepreneurial as they seem on Facebook. They’re fiction authors, spinning elaborate yarns about their fabulous lives: “The Great Cathy” or “Asher in the Rye.”

But the truth is more like “A Tale of Two Cindys.” She’s the life of the party online, dull as dishwater in person.

FULL ARTICLE (worth the read):
nypost.com...

IAMTAT

Nothing like a little self-hate to get the blood flowing.

I wonder how Millenials got so bad in the first place its not like they were raised by parents or... no wait, that's not right.

But yeah, let's disparage an entire generation of young adults, THIS IS YOUR FAULT!

Millenials should be ashamed of themselves for coming to age in a technocracy.

a reply to: IAMTAT

or is this article just another vacuous literary 'selfie' by just another self-absorbed and falsely overconfident 20-something?

And bingo was his name-o.

a reply to: IAMTAT

At the moment, I'm building a house next to a millennial who is also building a house. The impression in the article is right on...

soulwaxer

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

The author is generalizing his generation, yet exempting himself from the criticism he attributes to it.
How is that just another example of the 'I'm Special' attitude>

I have worked with lots of millennials over the last 10 years or so and I have come to the conclusion that they know all their rights, but none of their responsibilities. They are very quick to complain about wages, conditions and the like, but think nothing of arriving late for work and do as little as possible whilst they are there

Of course, not all millennials are like this, and to some extent it's the values they learn from parents. My own son is a millennial and I have instilled into him that no one or no thing owes him anything. If he wants to make something of his life, he needs to put in the hard yards and strive to be the best he can in any chosen capacity.

a reply to: IAMTAT
I'm not sure the generation sucks. Part of me wants to say that yes it does, but from my own experience they seem to behave just as any other generation would in their years of youth; that is to say with a certain positivity and lack of understanding of the world. Of course older members will argue that they were not this ignorant or whatever other term they wish to use, but the fact of the matter is that they are basing their opinion on this young generation on a vocal minority and stereotypes.

Without a doubt the millennial generation does support Sanders, have very liberal views and seek out to make the world their own which has its positives and negatives. I have not seen this type of millennial. Of course then it is possible that I do not have contact with too many of this generation. The millennials I know are willing to struggle for their relationships and continue them despite the "honeymoon" period as it is called being long past.

There may be some truth to a lack of motivation, but even this is untrue(in my experience) as it is based on the individual.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

I agree...I see many M's with a wonderful work ethic, who take responsibility for their own lives.
Conversely, I also see the attitudes the author illuminates in his article in many M's.

My god am I ashamed to be 27, going on 28. My mind set is definitely not that of the majority of the generation. I don't believe in an outside force to take care of me when I screw up and I actually take criticism well in person, up to a point of course.

Anybody got a link to what year millennial are supposed to start being born? I was born in the 70's..so what is my generation called? At least milleniesl have a group name.

The youngest adult generation always thinks they're the cats meow, hating on everyone and everything else.

Thats why they pick them for military service, for instance; they're young, dumb and full of piss n' vinegar.

originally posted by: peppycat
Anybody got a link to what year millennial are supposed to start being born? I was born in the 70's..so what is my generation called? At least milleniesl have a group name.

Gen X: '61-'79

Millennials: '80-'95.

a reply to: IAMTAT
What would the young people born after '95 be considered?

originally posted by: ksiezyc
a reply to: IAMTAT
What would the young people born after '95 be considered?

GEN Z: '96-'09

a reply to: ksiezyc

Generation F****d.

soulwaxer

This might be a little OT. I remember been in a convasasion with a small group of 20ish young people. They were hammering us oldies for not saving the world,not understanding whats happing you know the same B:S: we shouted at the oldies 40 years ago. I sat there and remembered how my generation fought for freedom for everyone, how we marched to ban the bomb. And I though these snowflakes with there "safe places" (we never knew a safe place we had to fight to stop the world from tearing its self apart) could never do what we had done. Two things happened in my mind, first I was happy we had done such a good job that these kids had the time to be snowflakes, the second was I started to sing in my mind Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction. And as I look around I was happy, we had done a good job

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: Hazardous1408

You win shot gun on the sunshine bus

a reply to: imod02

I remember it that way too.
In my 20's I was actually a Liberal. I don't know if Liberals changed, I changed...or we both changed.

originally posted by: IAMTAT
a reply to: imod02

I remember it that way too.
In my 20's I was actually a Liberal. I don't know if Liberals changed, I changed...or we both changed.

All things change and stay the same