Members of our generation, known as Millennials, have lots of opportunities that previous generations didn’t. Growing up surrounded by revolutionary technology has made us tech-savvy as well as highly educated. Being involved in social media has connected us closely with the people around us.
The Millennial generation is one of the most open-minded and tolerant generations and addresses many equality and humanities issues, like LGBTQ rights. According to the Huffington Post, an estimated 70 percent of Millennials are in favor of same-sex marriage, a level of support significantly higher than that of previous generations. Our attitude has greatly affected the country’s overall mindset: while only 38 percent of Baby Boomers support gay marriage, 49 percent of all Americans do.
However, as always, there are critiques from older generations. They call us narcissistic, lazy, entitled and coddled. A recent article in Time magazine labeled us the “Me Me Me” generation. Our enthusiasm about things like selfies and social media accounts has made us seem self-centered and materialistic. Our interest in trivial matters has made us sheltered and naive.
The reality is that Millennials do pay more attention to ourselves than previous generations did.
Researchers have suggested that a possible source of our self-absorption comes from the so-called “helicopter parents” who are over-involved in their children’s lives. Having people pay such close attention to us can give us a sense of importance and entitlement.
Older generations like to scoff at us for posting constantly on social media about our everyday lives, but this “obsession” we have with ourselves is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be a mark of self-confidence. As Millennials, we belong to the first generation that has been given the opportunity to fully embrace ourselves by sharing parts of our life with the world, thanks to technology like smartphones and social media.
It’s not surprising that older generations grumble at us. We’re in a new environment and age, so of course our personalities and behaviors will be drastically different from those of our predecessors. However, we are high achievers faced with a lot of challenges to solve; it is no doubt that our generation will have huge impacts on the world.