Why It's Cool to Hate Millennials

So I was in my senior project class, and students were reading parts of their work out loud. We were asking questions and offering constructive criticism, and everything was going fine. Then one student, whose project is a series of blog posts, starts reading his draft.

“This current generation consists of some of most irresponsible and idiotic groups of people in existence.”

And the class breaks out into laughter. Meanwhile, I was slowly coming to a new understanding of how millennials, like me, view themselves.

Generation Y, otherwise known as millennials, is the generation that has been regularly making the news as the ones floundering in the job market, living at home after graduating college, postponing marriage and large financial investments like houses and cars. It has also been the target of preceding generations’ complaints.

Last summer, I had an internship where the majority of my coworkers were baby boomers. Sporadically throughout the day, they would stand outside of my workspace and complain about how young people these days were rude and lazy (did I mention this internship was at a college?). They didn’t direct these comments at me specifically, but it didn’t matter. At the end, my supervisor only complaint about me was that she wished I had interacted more with my coworkers on a social level. Well, what was I supposed to say to them? “Yep, my generation sure is selfish and entitled!”

I could always understand the older generations hating the young; it’s been going on forever. But what I couldn’t get until now is why a lot of millennials actually could participate by shouting back, “Yes! I hate us!”

And it happened when the student continued reading his blog, blaming television for the decline in intelligence. He complained that young people are consuming and idolizing vapid garbage like “Jersey Shore” and the “The Real Housewives of [place name]”. Then I got to thinking about millennials’ opinions of television.

Bring up any mention of “90s kids” on the internet, and you’ll encounter a torrent of nostalgia gushing forth from the minds of millennials. They’ll talk about every single television show and commercial they remember, from Animaniacs to Doug to the board game Crossfire and continuing on to Goosebumps and Pogs and on and on. If you thought chain emails glorifying the 50s were annoying, you’ve never heard 90s kids reminisce.

But why cling so desperately to this time period that was only 20 years ago?

Because in the early 2000s, America became very different very quickly.

Suddenly, dialup internet disappeared, everyone started owning iPods and cell phones, and the writers’ strike and 9/11 completely changed the way television worked. TV executives learned that reality TV and fear-inducing news was more profitable than the old methods. And that’s what people watched.

Meanwhile, a barrier was formed between children who remembered what life was like before all that, and those who didn’t. And the 90s kids started complaining about the values and habits of the younger generation, who were their own brothers and sisters.

Dividing America into generations isn’t an exact science, but it is interesting to study it. And I say that there should be more research on how millennials divide themselves, socially. Maybe if people grow to understand us, they’ll come to realize that some of us remember floppy discs too. That because of the economy, we’re working hard and trying to be frugal like you. And that it’s okay that you raised us on television. Now can you please hate on our siblings in high school instead of us? We’re trying to get jobs.

Written by Renata Krach