Millennials

[Bootstrap]

Taking this out of the mid-life thread for separate discussion.

Part of the challenge for millennials is that all they ever hear from prior generations is how they are whiny, spoilt, entitled, and have it so much better than prior generations. (Of course, the prior generations never stop to think that the behaviour of millennials is 100% a product of how they were raised - which is 100% decisions made by Gen. X'ers, Boomers, and to a lesser degree Silents.)

Millennials strike me as a population that has become accustomed to the kind of abuse you sometimes see where someone is constantly told that they are no good whilst simultaneously being coddled and protected from facing too much hardship. They are a generation imbued with learned helplessness in every area of life. And it doesn't look to be getting any better.

For an example of the kind of abuse generally heaped on them,

in history, children were not generally coddled or even encouraged as is often the case in contemporary western culture. neither does coddling guarantee happiness, or worry-free life.

[Bootstrap]

Part of the challenge for millennials is that all they ever hear from prior generations is how they are whiny, spoilt, entitled, and have it so much better than prior generations.

If its any comfort, I think each generation has heard that for a while now. My generation certainly did.

[Josh]

Boomers are a unique generation: they expressed disdain for both the prior and subsequent generation, and I think are the only generation that's proudly boasted they aren't planning on leaving anything for their descendants. There's really never been anything like it.

[ohio jones]

Boomers are a unique generation: they expressed disdain for both the prior and subsequent generation, and I think are the only generation that's proudly boasted they aren't planning on leaving anything for their descendants. There's really never been anything like it.

But they are leaving something: debt and deficits. This is indeed an innovation, though not a particularly welcome one.

[KingdomBuilder]

How many millennials are on this forum? I'm one..

[Bootstrap]

Boomers are a unique generation: they expressed disdain for both the prior and subsequent generation, and I think are the only generation that's proudly boasted they aren't planning on leaving anything for their descendants. There's really never been anything like it.

Do you think that's true of the boomers here on MN? There are plenty of us. Regardless, it's funny that I spawn a thread to discuss millenials from the mid-life crisis thread because you were discussing millenials there and the topic instantly switches to boomers ;->

How many millennials are on this forum? I'm one..

I was hoping the millenials might share their experiences here. I most certainly am not one. I don't think "mid-life crisis" is really what millenials are experiencing, so I thought it would be helpful to have a similar thread for what millenials experience.

[Josh]

Boomers are a unique generation: they expressed disdain for both the prior and subsequent generation, and I think are the only generation that's proudly boasted they aren't planning on leaving anything for their descendants. There's really never been anything like it.

Do you think that's true of the boomers here on MN? There are plenty of us.

It's possible to speak about Boomers as a broad group across North America without taking into consideration individual people in MN who happen to be age 55 - 75.

For example, I bet few people in MN are squandering their wealth or even acquiring debt in their 60s in order to buy RVs, Harleys, and Spyders, but this stereotype is definitely true of Boomers in a broader sense.

Likewise, Boomers are not prepared at all for retirement, and simultaneously raised their own children (particularly millennial children) to be the least well equipped to take care of them in old age, and also plundered society so that it won't be well-equipped to take care of them. We're going to hit a crisis in elder care soon.

Regardless, it's funny that I spawn a thread to discuss millenials from the mid-life crisis thread because you were discussing millenials there and the topic instantly switches to boomers ;->

It's impossible to discuss how millennials came to be without discussing the conditions that created them.

How many millennials are on this forum? I'm one..

I was hoping the millenials might share their experiences here. I most certainly am not one. I don't think "mid-life crisis" is really what millenials are experiencing, so I thought it would be helpful to have a similar thread for what millenials experience.[/quote]

Millennials are going through more of a "whole-life" crisis.

[Bootstrap]

Millennials are going through more of a "whole-life" crisis.

Can you say more about that?

[Josh]

Millennials are going through more of a "whole-life" crisis.

Can you say more about that?

They've never experienced stability at all. The most obvious example of this is not growing up in two-parent homes with parents who are married to each other, or willing to stay married to each other.

The next example is the lack of long term job security; millennials simply haven't ever existed in a job market where one can keep a job for more than a few years.

And after that comes the expectation that in order to advance themselves at all in life, they need to acquire a great deal of debt to get an education - often well into the six figures. Even a modest state school where I live now has tuition costs in excess of $15,000 a year, and that doesn't include housing, and a typical degree program in something like education takes 5 years. That's $75k in debt just to become a schoolteacher.

Prior generations simply didn't have to deal with this, unless you want to go back to times of indentured servitude or serfs.

[shadrach]

Can someone define what millenials are?

Btw I think I'm am one too, it's confirmed that I'm younger than KB