Being A Millennial Sucks

I love my life. I love my wife. I love my friends. I love my fans. I love technology. I love that I can be whatever I want to be. But I hate being a Millennial.

I hate being a Millennial, because an entire generation of diverse, un-stereotypical people are all grouped into one condescending word by those who’ve failed to adapt. We’re not terrible people. We’re entitled in the true meaning of the word – we believe we are on equal footing with everybody else.

We’re the most educated group in history. We’re building more and more new businesses everyday. We’ve created more innovations than anyone else, and have impacted the world in a positive, tangible way. And yet we get a bad rap because 16 and 18 year olds whine and do dumb stuff. I’ve got news for you.

Every 18 year old whines and does dumb stuff, and always has! That’s no different! You whined and did dumb stuff, and if you didn’t realize it, it’s because you were too young to even notice! You want us to be tough and quiet? Stoicism works real well with personal and interoffice relationships, doesn’t it? Just because you were one way doesn’t mean we should be that way. And that’s okay!

I hate being a Millennial, because as soon as someone learns my age, I’m condescended by the very people who raised our generation. How does that make sense? That’s like the CEOs of every Fortune 500 company in America saying, “Man, all of my employees that we’ve spent years training really suck! I hate this great organization I’ve built! I wish everybody had my same mindset, because since I’m older and at the top, I’m clearly the best! And my third marriage is working out great right now. Ho ho! Go me.”

I hate being a Millennial, because the term is associated with punk college kids and teenagers, even though the generation includes people between 20-40. Being labeled as a Millennial sucks. We’re not lazy. We’re not stupid. The stats and research all say the opposite. You confuse our independence with self-absorption. But God bless your little heart for me not holding the door open for you!

Cultures change. Things change. Norms change. Behaviors change. Environments change. If you’re over 40, I guarantee your parents and previous generation thought terrible, horrendous things about you. About how you were clearly going to ruin the world for everyone else. How do you feel about yourself? You did pretty okay, right?

Millennials expected to go to college, because we were taught that’s just what you do. YOU taught us that. Obviously not everyone does their best work in academia, and now we have to have the discussion over and over and over that it’s okay not to be a scholar.

People post dumb stuff on social media, because we’re the first ones to have ever had the opportunity. Also, we’re not the ones still sending out Candy Crush invites! How many mistakes have you made? Do you realize there are caution signs galore because people made mistakes when doing things for the first time? What do you expect to happen?

We’re dependent on technology because it does awesome stuff that has now become necessary for us to do our jobs everyday! We want more and do more, because we understand there’s opportunity out there. And in our terribly entitled mindsets, we think that we’re actually capable of attaining that. I’m sorry for being so optimistic!

Being a Millennial sucks. I hate it! And it has nothing to do with other Millennials, except those hating on their own generation. We all looked up to our parents’ generation – those of us that still had parents in the house – and so we grew up thinking how they did it is how we should do it. That’s natural! But things change. Circumstances become different.

Now I’m judged – we’re all judged – on some outdated, subjective, unfounded set of accusations that do no good for anyone! It’s just prejudice. Who does prejudice help?

Why do I have to be put down for being different? Why can’t I as a Millennial be given credit for what I do and be accepted as a legitimate contributor to society? I hate being a Millennial! I just want to be judged by the quality of my actions, not the date of my birth.