Let’s Stop Labeling People as ‘Millennials’

The word millennial has been thrown around a lot in the last few years. It’s been used as an insult by older generations when talking about a group of young, lazy, and technology-obsessed people. Marketing companies think of millennials as an easily defined group that can be studied to track spending trends. People today should be defined on an individual level based on their actions, rather than a pack born within a specific time period.

Millennials aren’t the future, they are the now

Older generations talk about how they are worried about the way these millennial “kids” will run the country one day. What many people don’t seem to understand is that this age group of 18 to 34-year-olds is already a major part of the United State’s work force. They have run for varied levels of political office, worked their way up the ladder at their respective companies, and started businesses of their own. In the upcoming presidential election, millennials can officially run for office.

As much as people want to overlook millennials, they are a big part of this country. Now that this age group makes up over a fourth of the U.S. population, they are the majority generation. Rather than looking at them as being different, they should be seen as equal to later generations.

Naming generations is dated

Generations were once grouped and named based on what was happening in the United States at the time. This tradition should have ended when it came time to name the millennial generation. There is no single event happening that can capture the millennial generation or later. So much is happening at once that it is almost impossible to define a generation by even a handful of events.

Life changing advances in science, medicine, and technology occur on an almost daily basis, and have for the last couple of decades. The United States has had ups and downs with the economy and has fought in many wars over the last 25 years. Trends are changing constantly, to the point that the idea of a single image defining the millennial generation is laughable and impossible. It’s unlikely that labeling future generations will discontinue, but it is completely unnecessary.

They are a group of individuals, not millennials

Young adults today are defined by their individual styles and images, rather than a group mentality. Being different is now celebrated, and because of this we have a generation of people that strive to stand out. Why define them as millennials when they are all so different?

It’s easy to look at someone in the millennial age group and assume that they are anti-social and attached to their phones and computers. What most people fail to see is that the people in this age group are responsible for opening the lines of communications through other mediums. The baby boomers sparked the internet/technology age, and the millennials have grown up using, understanding, and improving it. Because of this, businesses can communicate easier with customers, families can keep in contact while thousands of miles apart, and relationships can survive long distance much easier. It’s easy to brush off millennials and call them bad communicators, when in reality they are the generation that will continue to transform the way we communicate in the future.