Saturday, December 13, 2014

Old Boomer Reflects on Young Millennials

Ask me anything about the millennial generation. That's the group of people born between the mid 1980s and early 2000s.

I am an expert because I've been soaking up endless articles and broadcasts about them. Turns out, a fair number of hand-wringing pundits fret about handing the world over to this surging demographic.

Millennials are the biggest generation since the baby boomers. According to the media, they live with their parents because they are un- or under-employed and up to their ears in student loan debt. It is also said that they are lazy, self-centered, entitled, and unable to compete.

Older folks tisk and shake their heads and remind anyone who will listen that this is the generation where everyone who participated in little league got a trophy, even the team that lost. No wonder we're losing out to China! On the other hand, I like the idea of a whole generation where crushing your opponent isn't the most important thing.

As for laziness and being self-centered, that is said about every generation when its young. They said it about my generation, the baby boomers.

I acted pretty entitled when I was in my 20s. I was a legend in my own mind, so talented that no one could tell me anything. I was an expert on everything. I cringe now to think of how arrogant I was.  I outgrew it (I think) and so will the majority of today's younger people.

Studies have actually shown notable millennial strengths:


  • They are compassionate - probably because they weren't taught in little league that winning is all that matters. 
  • They are less likely to be racist and homophobic than their elders. Most, when asked about gay marriage, don't understand what all the fuss is about.
  • They are less materialistic. It is known that this generation is less interested in car ownership, for example, than any in modern history.
  • They are closer to their parents than we were. I think that's nice. When I was in college, I talked to my parents on the phone maybe once a week. Long distance was expensive in those days. Now, thanks to improvements in technology, college students regularly talk to their parents daily or more.
  • Technology is the key to the millennial generation. These kids eat, sleep, and breathe technology. It's no joke that when handed a new device, they figure out how to use it before I can get the instruction book open. And because of social media, they are connected to the rest of the world in ways we couldn't fathom in our day. 


Like everyone from every generation, I like to fret and worry about the up and coming younger folk and how they simply don't measure up. In fairness, I have to remember what it was like for  boomers when we were young.


  • The Viet Nam war, Watergate, and later AIDS, led to disillusionment and a life-long mistrust of government and authority in general. 
  • As a result, boomers rebelled against many sacred institutions, from industry to the military, from universities to religion. According to our elders, we simply had no respect. 
  • As boys, we grew our hair long. It was a visible way to separate ourselves from adults.
  • Girls wore their skirts short. I don't know what they were thinking.
  • Our music was a loud expression of our emotions and sometimes our politics - just a lot of noise according to our elders.
  • We didn't get along with our parents. We moved in different worlds and didn't understand each other. It was called the generation gap. As we matured, we were determined to have a different kind of relationship with our kids, and broadly speaking, we succeeded.


Now boomers are portrayed aging rapidly, set to soak up all of what's left of Social Security. We complain about government but can't wait to get our hands on medicaid. We bumble around technology, mystified by social media, and surrounded by vinyl and VHS which we can't enjoy because the machines which played them broke down long ago.

If I'm right, millennials will complain about the generations that come after them. I hope I last long enough to savor the irony.