A few days ago, I had the privilege of watching a video with my students of grade 10. In the video, this guy went on a rant about the millennials and their sense of entitlement. Who exactly is a millennial? A millennial is a person reaching young adulthood in the 21st century. What’s so special about that you may ask, well, it’s worth a moment of reflection for sure, especially when a lot of us find it difficult to wrap our heads around the attitudes of the current generation. And why is it so imperative that we figure this generation out? Because we created it.
The term millennial is used to refer to any individual born since 1984. That would make me one too, for those closer to the 1984 mark have a wider perspective as we have seen a bit of both worlds. Before we get into it, we need to be extremely clear that the individuals we are about to speak about are all around us, they are highly intelligent and are in no way responsible for any of their actions. What we are about to talk about are a few facts to which we need to wake up to as concerned elders and hope in the long run that we do in fact find a solution to some of the issues we see. Most of all we need to be extremely aware that this is not an article wherein we, as elders, point fingers at the youngsters and say ‘hey, we told you so’, because in reality, we need to look at ourselves and think ‘hey, what have we done’.
When we talk about our kids of today, a lot of us use a very condescending tone and discuss how they do everything wrong. The group that we refer to as falling under this millennial category are individuals living in a world where things are extremely fast paced. In keeping with this pace, are their expectations. They live lives of immediate gratification and that again is directly attributed to the way in which we have trained them to expect action. Communication, food, fun, work, research etc. are all instantaneous. A push of a button, a click here, a swipe there is all that is needed to achieve an end result. When such is the norm, patience, diligence and hard work become secondary. Right there is the first instance at which they lose the opportunity to learn a few basic all-be-it important values.
Another consequence of immediate gratification is the pace at which we as humans also change in terms of our relationships. There were times wherein binding relationships were the most basic norm. In the world of individualism caused by the development in technology, we have let slip, a crucial element necessary for our survival. We want what we want and we want it now and thus we also get it at that same speed. Once the novelty dies off so does the need for it and thus we allow ourselves to move on and do so quickly. What we have now created is a new race that thrives on relationships that are artificial and also instant. Social media has now replaced face to face interaction again because of the speed at which it satisfies the want. The attention one can garner through social media actually has been found to release dopamine which is the same neurotransmitter that is released when we indulge in addictive behaviours like smoking, drinking and gambling. The sad part is, there is no age limit to the use of social media. At a very young age, we are allowing the millennial to be raised in our families.
As a ‘semi millennial’ myself, I am in a very advantageous position. Being close to both, the pre and post millennial age group, gives me a perspective that sees both sides equidistantly. It is clear that change has occurred in a very short duration of time and of course the change is not all negative, but we need to understand that we need to stop grumbling about the way our kids behave because we actually started it. Another thing on the more millennial side of things is the fact that we need to act fast to save ourselves from being sucked into a digital vortex that will completely eat away at everything human and humane about us. The time is now, why allow the word millennial to hold such a negative feel. We can make large differences in small ways. Let’s resolve to progress in every way there is, but with our values and ethics intact. Cheers to the millennial in all of us.
- Charlene Farrell is a counselling psychologist who works extensively with children and adolescents. She also counsels and works with individuals of all ages. Emotional well-being, to her, is of utmost importance to a fruitful existence
