In recent years, there has been much controversy over the differences between Millennials and other generations. I often find myself incredibly frustrated with negative comments about my generation, so I decided to compile a small list of what Millennials are sick of hearing.
1- We are entitled for wanting free college.
College prices have significantly risen in the last 20 years, and by significantly I mean 296%. The increase in price is making it increasingly difficult to pay for college. It is wise to invest in education for young people because they are the future leaders of America. It does not make sense to me that a country would invest so much in funding destruction (aka the military and war) and invest so little in education which helps to brighten the future of the nation. The U.S. spends billions on the military every year, more than 500 billion, actually. While the military has a colossal budget, the federal government will only spend about $79 billion on education per year, based off of data retrieved from 2016 education spending.
2-We are snowflakes.
I fail to understand what part of standing up for what we believe in makes us “babies” or a “snowflakes.” If anything, standing up for what we believe in and being bold enough to try to make a change makes us the complete opposite of a so-called snowflake. In a world where intolerance is abundant, those who stand up in opposition of said intolerance are noble, not fragile.
3-“Put down that phone!”
First of all, there is no way of knowing what someone is looking at on their phone. They could be texting a distant relative they never get to talk to or they could even be looking at a major research paper for their for a class. It could even be other important documents for their job. Cell phones are not always necessarily used for viewing pointless social media posts and memes.
Not only that, but how much someone uses their cell phone does not concern anyone else. In an age of technology, I fail to understand why everyone is so obsessed with the idea that technological progression is a bad thing. I think it is fine to want people to look up from their phone every now and again, but condemning young people for the technology that has been provided to them is ludicrous.
I know that I am frequently checking my phone for updates on my articles as well as emails from my university, so why is everyone so quick to judge young people for use of cell phones?
4- We made being gay a trend/We are creating genders and sexualities
We are not making up sexualities or genders, we are just providing language for ones that have existed for a very long time under guilt and shame. Actually, there is evidence that homosexuality has been around for a very long time. How on Earth would Millennials be around during ancient Egyptian times to make up homosexuality? (Hint: we were not there, gay people have just always existed)
We also did not make being gay a trend, we just made it more acceptable to be openly gay. There is most definitely nothing trendy about being afraid of who you are and being scared to love someone because you do not know how others will react. There is nothing trendy about worrying for my safety or the safety of my my gay friends. There is nothing trendy about having to fight for fundamental rights and protection under discrimination laws. To be honest, if I had a dollar for every time I was told that I was gay because it is “trendy” I would be able to afford the 296% increase in college prices.
5- We are all lazy
All of my friends are millennials and we all have jobs and are in school working for a degree. I have been working since I was 16 years old. Not only that, but I went out and got a job on my own. I did not go get this job because someone told me I had to, I did it because I wanted to and I have a good work ethic. Lumping an entire generation of people together and calling them lazy because they operate differently from how the previous generations did is ridiculous.
Finally, I would like to say that it is time to stop having outlandish expectations for Millennials. We are a different generation. There is no reason to not expect change from us.
