Millennials!

You are a Millennial if you were born between 1981-1996. You have been labeled with this term for the rest of your life and you have to live with it. Why? Well, because humans like to label each other. It makes them feel safe around you. However, millennials don’t like to be called millennials and the simple reason for that is because older generations like to blame them for everything. Sabrina Hoffmann of Business Insider described in the article “I was born in 1985 but I hate the “millennial” label- here’s why,” how most people over 40 years of age feel about Millennials. "For the love of God, not these Millennials with their work-life balance again!" This one word perfectly sums up the prejudices of the older generation, down to a 'T'. It's an attempt at grouping together an entire generation,” she wrote satirically.

Millennials are called many names including lazy, stupid, selfish, superficial, oversensitive and the list doesn’t end.

The older generations in the society have widely generalized attributions attached with the term “millennials” to describe a highly diverse group, which has led to this group having a “bad rap” and is not entirely correct. Malcolm Harris, the author of the book “Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials,” said in an interview with CBC Radio that there are a few things that media gets right about the cohort such as they tend to be more anxious, narcissistic, self-focused and less trusting. However, understanding how they receive such attitudes and character is often mistaken. “It's not out of a cracked iPhone but from the history,” he added.

The advent of technology has often been blamed for the bad habits of millennials. While it is true that technology, social media, and smartphones do change and affect behaviours and it has a part to play in the more anxious nature of the “millennials,” it is not right to label them with words like lazy and stupid. A recent survey by Project: Time off discovered the millennials work hard and are less likely to use their paid vacation days than their older co-workers. Even though most in focus in current times, Millennials are not the only ones that are faced with stereotypical statements. The boomers have been labeled greedy and materialistic and generation X with aimlessness.

It is only the human nature that one generation labels another based on generalizations made regarding a particular cohort by the society as a whole and the stereotypes it leads to often fail to recognize the wonderful, intelligent, ambitious, and dedicated people within all of these cohorts.

We inhabit a world where people love to put labels on each other. He is abnormal. She is sassy. They are entitled. Rich Brat, complainer, bad girl, good boy, innocent, millennials, boomer and the list goes on and on. Humans have been labeling each other based on religion, nationality, ethnicity, colour, caste, and gender for centuries and now based on when people were born but why do we do it? According to Whitney Virginia Morgan of Forbes, people label each other because it gives them a sense of how to segment, how to judge, and what to do with others. She adds, “You must have a label. Being a mutt of groups and belief systems confuses people and sometimes even threatens them. Labeling you makes them feel safe.”

Bibliography

Bauer, B. (2017, April 18). Why Do Millennials Get a Bad Rap? . Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/psychoanalysis-unplugged/201704/why-do-millennials-get-bad-rap

Carmichael, S. G. (2016, August 17). Millennials Are Actually Workaholics, According to Research . Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2016/08/millennials-are-actually-workaholics-according-to-research

DIMOCK, M. (2019, January 17). Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins . Retrieved from Pew Research Centre: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/

Hoffmann, S. (2018, May 2). I was born in 1985 but I hate the 'millennial' label — here's why . Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-i-refuse-millennial-label-2018-5

Lastoe, S. (n.d.). And This Is Why Millennials Get Such a Bad Rap . Retrieved from The Muse: https://www.themuse.com/advice/and-this-is-why-millennials-get-such-a-bad-rap

Martin, M. (2017, December 9). 'Millennials': Be Careful How We Use This Label Facebook

Twitter Flipboard Email .Retrieved from National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/569413425/millennials-be-careful-how-we-use-this-label

Morgan, W. V. (2017, September 11). How Labeling People Helps us Feel Safe, but Then Silently Destroys Us . Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@whitneyvmorgan/how-labeling-people-helps-us-feel-safe-but-then-silently-destroys-us-cb42be1ce82a

Most Millennials Resist the ‘Millennial’ Label . (2015, September 3). Retrieved from Pew Research Centre: https://www.people-press.org/2015/09/03/most-millennials-resist-the-millennial-label/

Radio, C. (2018, February 9). What we get wrong about millennials. The Sunday Edition. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: CBC.

Tadmor, Y. (2016, May 4). We Gave Millennials a Bad Name. It's Time We Look in the Mirror and Dispose of the Myths. .Retrieved from Entrepreneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273645

Whitbourne, S. K. (2015, September 19). 5 Reasons We Play the Blame Game . Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201509/5-reasons-we-play-the-blame-game