I swear all I hear about is Millennial these days. Millennials this. Millennials that. Milennials. Milennials. Milennials. Hate em or love them, they are everywhere. Most likely they do not like you calling them a millennial. Nor do they enjoy you being judgemental (ageist) in anyway. Cause let's face it. THAT Sucks. So stop!
I'm talking to you baby boomers!
I don't know exactly what Generation I am. Am I Millennial? Am I Gen X? But I'm not Gen X. Then there is Gen Y. Where did that come from? All of the labels and timeframes are different depending on who talk to. So, I am choosing a set (and definition) to make writing this easier.
Gen Y is defined as roughly anyone born between 1977 and 1995. But I think Gen Y should be split by the acceleration of technology. Those born between 1977 to 1984 usually have a totally different perspective than those born 1984 to 1995. Which makes sense because then that would make each timeframe a generation and not a window of eighteen years.
This is how I would break it apart.
Gen Y (a) or sometimes called Xennnial
Born 1977 to 1984
This is the cross over generation. Holding the benefits of both Gen X and Millennials. We remember a time before the technology boom. Our televisions had knobs, we used pagers, we used phone books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. We were eighties children. We are tech savvy. We both understand how it works and how it worked. We remember both the Challenger disaster and the Berlin wall coming down. (I cried for both.)
We are pragmatic. We tend to get annoyed with the negativity of early Gen X as well as sightlessness of late Gen Y. We are realists and tend to be thick skinned and tire of the bullshit. We work hard, are educated, and aren't concerned with safe spaces. We didn't really define race and sexuality as a rule and let things be “as they are”.
Most importantly we were socially adventurous (even the most awkward of us) and dated before the internet ruled our world.
According to Australian Sociologist, Dan Woodman, "The theory goes that the Xennials dated, and often formed ongoing relationships, pre-social media. They usually weren't on Tinder or Grindr, for their first go at dating at least. They called up their friends and the person they wanted to ask out on a landline phone, hoping that it wasn't their intended date's parent who picked up."
Gen Y (b) or sometimes called Millennial
Born 1984 to 1995
This is the first tech-savvy generation. They grew up with computers, cell phones, video games (and I am not talking about the Atari age), and most importantly the Internet. They are nineties children. They understand technology intuitively but do not always understanding the basics of how things work. They remember both Y2K and the Monica Lewinsky Scandal.
They are self centric. This does NOT mean self centered or narcissistic. This means they are more withdrawn from communities (at least the ones that they have not chosen for themselves) and that they less likely to be influenced from outside sources. This is seen in their brand loyalty, how they respond to advertisement, and their political views.
This age group generally either creates their own jobs or underemployed. They are also the most educated generation and often suffer with unemployment because they do not have, "experience". They are much more ethnically and sexually diverse than previous generations, which makes them more gender and race fluid. They enjoy selfies, safe spaces, and interestingly are most likely to use a public library over previous generations.
It is within Gen Y (b) where I believe that many have fallen through the cracks and where a lot of the “negative” stigma comes from. Worse than that, it seems about half of Gen Y (b) weren't raised by their parents, suffer from depression or anxiety, were ignored in school, and were spit out by a system that didn't give them the life skills they need.
Here is video that is going around that reflects this:
