The Struggle of Being a Millennial

I googled "What have millennials...." and thanks to the power of Google, the first thing that came up was" What have millennials ruined...".

I have come across a number of articles, videos, and posts saying that millennials are destroying everything. According to news anchors and journals, we are destroying the economy, politics, and so many other things. This isn't the first time that we have been blamed for something like that, and I would like to bring to attention that instead of looking and blaming us for something, see why millennials act this way.

Now according to a Forbes magazine article, Millennials expect everything to be instant. I'll be the first one to admit that yes, I expect things to be done quickly because we live in a fast-paced and competitive world. We have to be quick on our feet as to not lose to the other person sitting next to us. Millennials are forced to be quick because we have been taught from a young age to work hard, or else we will be flipping burgers for the rest of our lives. Thus to avoid that, Millennials have created a competitive environment where we compete to see who can top the other person. We expect everything to be faster because we are an evolving generation. Even in school, teachers pit students against each other by using a rewards system such as golden stars to showcase others achievements... which is where the burger flipping fear comes into play.

Millennials are entrepreneurs. We don't like taking orders from anyone, we have an idea and we want to pursue it no matter what. Sometimes it isn't for the best, but one thing about us is that we will get back up and shake off our mistake. However, it seems that our mistakes define us. They do not. We are humans as well and we make mistakes just like the generations before us.

"Damn kids these days! Always on their phones!" Millennials are able to process information at a faster rate than the older generations. Which means that we can handle a situation at a much faster rate. In a business setting, waiting around doesn't exist anymore. You have a problem with something, either it is an item or a service and within 5 to 10 minutes it is fixed, especially when technology is involved. Fast, easy and with high-speed wi-fi, that's how the world is operating, and so the Millennials have had to evolve.

Not to mention because of our phones we are able to put pressure where it matters. For example, we are able to instantly sign petitions, contact our political representatives, and even live stream so everyone in the world can witness what is happening. We are more 'woke' than any other generation. We believe in equal rights and are willing to hashtag and tweet about it so much that it will get noticed by news channels and of course the political parties in power. The saying goes "Build it, and they will come," and the 21-century version of it " You tweet it and they will listen.

I was sitting, eating supper with my parents one night and my father brings up the subject that my generation likes to spend money we don't have, on things like unicorn frappuccinos, and avocado toasts. It's true, we like our avocado toasts and our Starbucks, and we will gladly spend our money on that. "Millennials are ruining the economy because they don't spend their money." No, we don't spend our money on things that don't interest us. The people in the marketing departments need to understand that Millennials will spend their money on things that interest them, things that are never seen before, unique and Instagram-able things. Going back to the avocado toast theme, it is something that is so simple yet ingenious and has gained mass popularity because of Instagram. Marketers that understand our generation have taken advantage of this and are profiting off of this. If all companies did this, then yes we will gladly generate more the economy.

Now I realize that I don't speak for a majority of Millennials, however, this is my understanding and view of my generation. Feel free to disagree, but I won't care because I will be too busy on my phone.