This is an absolutely fascinating explanation of millennials and how and why they tick.

Technology and dopamine. Addiction. Instant gratification.

Worth watching.

If You Haven't Yet Seen This Amazing Video On Millennials, Stop What You're Doing And Watch It Immediately. - Chicks On The Right

[-jimi-]

I know plenty of millennials and many actually feel quite hurt about how they are always seen as the worst generation ever. Those I know really have nothing wrong with them. My generation was never treated like that and many kids in my generation were total brats.

[obscurity]

"an absolutely fascinating explanation of millennials and how and why they tick"

Wow, really? What are we an alien species that needs to be observed or something? Lol
Want to understand "millennials"? Try talking to one. And by talking, I don't mean in a condescending way, like so many Gen Xers and Baby Boomers like to do. Millennials are no different than anyone else. Addiction and instant gratification have spanned throughout humanity's existence. Its about the individual, not the generation they come from. No generation needs fixing. One generation is a group of millions of people with different cultures, families, upbringings, needs, and wants. Some of the most entitled, lazy jerks I've ever met were from generations prior. I know you didn't specifically bring that up, just threw it out there for when it inevitably comes up. Oh, how many millennials I know who spend their days balancing college and long hours at work. Marrying, raising kids, doing their jobs, just like the people before them.

Originally Posted by obscurity

"an absolutely fascinating explanation of millennials and how and why they tick"

Wow, really? What are we an alien species that needs to be observed or something? Lol
Want to understand "millennials"? Try talking to one. And by talking, I don't mean in a condescending way, like so many Gen Xers and Baby Boomers like to do. Millennials are no different than anyone else. Addiction and instant gratification have spanned throughout humanity's existence. Its about the individual, not the generation they come from. No generation needs fixing. One generation is a group of millions of people with different cultures, families, upbringings, needs, and wants. Some of the most entitled, lazy jerks I've ever met were from generations prior. I know you didn't specifically bring that up, just threw it out there for when it inevitably comes up. Oh, how many millennials I know who spend their days balancing college and long hours at work. Marrying, raising kids, doing their jobs, just like the people before them.

Actually, I spend every day with millennials, 24/7, and I didn't post this video as criticism of them. Interesting that some people take it that way though. I simply found what this man had to say about the unique challenges of that generation interesting and even helpful in many ways because I do see a difference/changes from older generations that are worthy of understanding. I don't think this man was even being critical of millennials; he is one after all. Sounds more like someone trying to bridge a gap in understanding between generations than someone criticizing. In fact, he was pretty critical of older generations and their responsibility for their lack of understanding of millennials more than he was critical of millennials themselves. I don't agree with everything he has to say, but I do find it interesting and compelling.

[obscurity]

I'm sorry, the wording threw me off a bit. As well as the comment under the video in the link about "fixing these kids".

Though, I have to rant about the comments under the video, lol. They make my skin crawl. Its amazing to me how a lot of people in prior generations don't want to take responsibility for the way they raise their kids and then want to blame the kids for how they ended up. They just love using "special snowflake", too. So annoying, I swear -_- Imo, I think that someone who has to constantly talk about how much better they are than their kids are more self absorbed than anyone else.

[Onward2wards]

Originally Posted by obscurity

They just love using "special snowflake", too. So annoying, I swear -_- Imo, I think that someone who has to constantly talk about how much better they are than their kids are more self absorbed than anyone else.

I hate that phrase too. I am beginning to detect a hint of jealousy in it, or maybe that's just my imagination?

People have been blaming the younger generations for being too wild and self-absorbed, and the older generations for being out of touch and cynical, since at least Roman times.

[*Laurie*]

My children are Millennials and I have cousins who are, too. I find the Millennials to be a delightful generation!

Originally Posted by LauraBeth

My children are Millennials and I have cousins who are, too. I find the Millennials to be a delightful generation!

I do too. I've devoted my life to working with teenagers and have great love and respect for them. I posted this video because, while I don't agree with all of it, I do find it does a good job of explaining the differences we in the education system see in this most recent generation of kids. They deserve to be understood and we have a responsibility to find ways to help them maintain their esteem and reach their goals. We can't do that if we just keep sighing and saying "The problem with the younger generation is . . ." That's why I like the video, it explains some things that we've observed but couldn't quite define. By the way, I have three millennials living in my own home who agreed in great part with the video; again, not all of it, but with much of it, and we've had some interesting conversations about it.

[lizardlady]

I'm going to echo what some others have said. Each upcoming generation has been criticized by older generations. I some times say it started in cave man days. I don't believe every person in each generation is the same. It's as prejudicial as saying all members of a racial group are the same.

Does anyone know if what he said about dopamine and electronic devices is correct? It would explain a lot about the apparent obsession some folks, not just millennials, have with their electronics.

Like Lolagrace said, I work with millennials, either as co-workers or clients. In the case of my co-workers the stereotypes do not fit. In the case of the adolescents I work with, yeah some of what he says applies to some of them, but not all of them.

I disagree that it is the employer's responsibility to "fix" problems of employees, what ever generation they belong to.

[-jimi-]

I'm a Gen X and everyone I know my age has a smart phone which they use many many times daily.

Millennial timeline here.

"No fault of their own"
While I do understand the statement, we need to remember that each of us should have some form of responsibility for our actions, regardless of the outcomes we have been put in, especially as grown adults who should be responsible people.
The capitalistic life has always been based on corporation, it's just that the increasing corporation can make some realize what is going missing overtime - the humanity.

As someone who has employed and managed milenials I have the attitude and animosity towards them described in this gentleman's opening remarks. I have found them difficult to manage and I admit would prefer not to hire them at all (but given this was the service industry I had little choice).

This sounds incredibly insensitive I know, but I rarely had a member of the team that did not fit the mold we have put them into. A sense of entitlement is in fact at the top of my list. In my view, loyalty and respect from an employer are earned - not a right.

I blame the parents. We have a generation of parents afraid to be a parent. They are afraid to say 'no' and are more concerned about being a friend. We are NOT friends of our children! We are parents. It is our job to teach resposnsibility, independence, and resilience.

I have endured parents attending their ADULT child's job interview (not hired). I've had parents dictate to me their ADULT son or daughter's schedule and holidays (not going to happen). I've had ADULT employees who have never mopped a floor, dusted, tidied, or cleaned a bathroom - and parents who called up threatening me for having 'forced' their ADULT] to do so. I've been threated by parents with legal action because I haad to let their ADULT go on account of laziness and poor work ethic. I've had resumes of ADULTs who have never had a job before.

Granted not all of them can be painted with this brush but my personal experience is that this sense of entitlement is pretty broad.

[-jimi-]

Actually my parents settled me in when I moved to a new school, even though I was technically an adult. They helped me move out too when it was time for that. I did most of the contacting them, but my parents did some as well.

Also around that age (17=adult) I worked with old people for a while. Even being a gen x I couldn't mop and I couldn't manage a washing machine. I was a very independent soul, I just hadn't learned everything yet. I could shop, do most cleaning, and cooking for the clients though.

Think back to when you were a young adult. Did you have all the skills you do now?

People my age asks me to lend them money. I am past 40!!! and so are they! Why aren't they planning things better? Why aren't they perfect being in the "better" generation?

Also it doesn't cease to surprise me things gen x'ers cannot do, like clean fish, cut a bird properly, know their edible berries and mushrooms, make a fire in a fireplace or a fire pit, read a map, make jam, squash and wine and bake bread. To me it feels like they are entitled, they always think everything should be ready for them in the store. Their whole existence is based on if the store is open for their impulse shopping.

[mar33]

I understand that establishing technology addiction as an outlet for millennials (which, by the way, includes me) is badly approached and badly handled. Moreover, millennials do experience an increase in entitlement compared to past generations, BUT they are also viewed from a completely misinformed standpoint. The school I attend is full of so called "millennials" who work harder than I have ever seen. They use technology not as an outlet for addiction, but as a tool to learn and to succeed and it is one of the most competitive environments I have yet to witness.

Just thought it might be valuable to input that a generation intertwined with technology has a huge amount of information at their fingertips and young people can use or abuse it as they choose. It should not be generalization that technology only establishes addiction. For some individuals it can establish possibility.

Is it just me or does the younger generation use the word "like" repeatedly until it gets so annoying. I overheard 2 people talking "like I don't know", then "like I think she isn't going to" , every other word was "like", it just sounds lame, broaden your vocabulary a bit people.

[-jimi-]

At least they never said "groovy"...

[ADeepSandbox]

I've come to the conclusion, personally, that all the fuss over Millennials is nothing more than a carefully engineered bunch of hand-wringing perpetuated by aging, bitter, technophobe columnists and pop culture scientists trying to make a quick buck by half-arsedly analyzing trends.

This is normal. It's what happens when one generation ages out and another ages in. There's nothing wrong with Millennials. We're going to be okay. The world will keep spinning even if we like playing games on our phones, just like it kept spinning when our parents burned their bras, smoked pot, and rocked out to Hendrix while their parents sadly shook their heads. What goes around, comes around.

I think the reason we hear more complaints about millennials is because for the first time in history we have unfettered access to hearing these complaints and adding to these complaints on social media. Yeah, sure, I'm a gen X-er, tail end, and when I came of age the internet and technology was just starting to take off. Most of my generation was well into adulthood and had families of their own. There were so many better things to do online than make fun of the younger generation (gen X)! But now social media is everywhere. People are connected to technology 24/7. Shyte rolls downhill as they say, and so its always the latest generation to come of age that gets blamed for everything. Just wait, we'll see the same thing happen with the next generation, when they come of age in the next 5 years or so (I'm assuming given a 20 year span per generation....? Or have they officially shortened it to 15?....Either way....)

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

Originally Posted by justafriend306

. I've had resumes of ADULTs who have never had a job before.

I didn't have a job until I was 21, and it was given to me by a work program because I couldn't get one on my own. The closest thing I had to work experience was volunteer work. My mom, a Baby Boomer, didn't work until she was 22, so that probably influenced the lack of pressure. But, since when is a person supposed to be completely financially, socially, and professionally self-sufficient by the time they're legally allowed to hold a job. I see so many people online brag about how they plan to make their kids start working and paying their own way as soon as they turn 13/14, and it's totally alien to me.

Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst

I didn't have a job until I was 21, and it was given to me by a work program because I couldn't get one on my own. The closest thing I had to work experience was volunteer work. My mom, a Baby Boomer, didn't work until she was 22, so that probably influenced the lack of pressure. But, since when is a person supposed to be completely financially, socially, and professionally self-sufficient by the time they're legally allowed to hold a job. I see so many people online brag about how they plan to make their kids start working and paying their own way as soon as they turn 13/14, and it's totally alien to me.

I must respond. Call it 'bragging' if you will. My own children are millenials, but they are far from typical. By 12 they had responsibilities around the house, by 14 they had part time jobs (one of my children had his own snow clearing business at 12). At 17 and 18 they were off on their own to university. Through hard work all three of them were able to graduate university with no debt. Two own their own property before the age of 25.

Meanwhile, most of their friends still live at home rent free with very little responsibilities. I understand most of their parents pay for their cars and provide weekly allowances. Most remain unemployed. Perhaps it is their sense of entitlement that keeps them jobless. This is my picture when I think of millenials.

[Artchic528]

Originally Posted by justafriend306

I must respond. Call it 'bragging' if you will. My own children are millenials, but they are far from typical. By 12 they had responsibilities around the house, by 14 they had part time jobs (one of my children had his own snow clearing business at 12). At 17 and 18 they were off on their own to university. Through hard work all three of them were able to graduate university with no debt. Two own their own property before the age of 25.

Meanwhile, most of their friends still live at home rent free with very little responsibilities. I understand most of their parents pay for their cars and provide weekly allowances. Most remain unemployed. Perhaps it is their sense of entitlement that keeps them jobless. This is my picture when I think of millenials.

Well, I counter argue that todays economy, plus lack of folks hiring in the job market today contributes to many millennials still living at home with their parents. It's not necessarily their fault they can't get hired.

[bronzeowl]

I find the best way to understand a group of INDIVIDUALS is to not lump them together as though they all think the same way, were raised the same way, have the same personality, etc.

I'm sick and tired of people talking down on my generation. The trophies didn't damage me. You know what did? Having to take on a broken economy. Because uh, yeah, when we entered the work force it was BROKEN. I'm sick of people lumping us all into the narcissist category (never mind that it's a legitimate mental illness), the lazy category, the "entitled" category (nevermind that our PARENTS gave us the trophies, we literally didn't care about them), etc. It gets old. It gets exhausting. Especially when I spent most of my adult life trying to find a job that wasn't out there. Not because I expected my "mommy" to get me the job. But because... it literally wasn't out there. Literally no one would hire me.

It's a different world out there. You can't just walk in, dressed in your Sunday's best, and get a job that day. No. You walk in, ask for an application, get told to "go online", and fill out an impersonal application, that has a series of questions you have to answer, and if you don't answer those questions the way THEY want you to (they being the computer system) you probably won't get the job.

Anyway. this cracked article sums up my feelings on this video
This Millennial Rant Deserves A Trophy For Being Most Wrong

[bronzeowl]

Originally Posted by justafriend306

I must respond. Call it 'bragging' if you will. My own children are millenials, but they are far from typical. By 12 they had responsibilities around the house, by 14 they had part time jobs (one of my children had his own snow clearing business at 12). At 17 and 18 they were off on their own to university. Through hard work all three of them were able to graduate university with no debt. Two own their own property before the age of 25.

Meanwhile, most of their friends still live at home rent free with very little responsibilities. I understand most of their parents pay for their cars and provide weekly allowances. Most remain unemployed. Perhaps it is their sense of entitlement that keeps them jobless. This is my picture when I think of millenials.

Due respect. You're from the outside, looking in. You don't know their lives. You don't know their entire story. You only know what YOU see.

I lived at home until I was 25. I was, also, a straight A student until I was 12 (at which point I developed depression, and could not focus on my studies anymore). I did drop out at 16, but that was because after my first strike I was expelled from school. I had to attend an alternative school, which I could not afford to (gas, they had no bus system) due to being in literal poverty. So, I dropped out. I returned to school, however, promptly at 19. I finished my GED program, started college. But... I still lived at home.

And wait! There's more! I did not have my first job until 23. This was NOT for lack of trying. Though, to an outsider looking in... it probably was. I did not want to live at home. I hated it. I loathed having to rely on my mom to support me. This probably made me "appear" selfish and unmotivated sometimes. Really, though, I was just depressed and struggling to survive because during the time I was growing up, jobs weren't out there... and now, now 19 year old's are getting them right out of high school because people don't want to "deal" with me (another poster LITERALLY said this... but w/e).

So, I got my first job only because I knew someone. And I was 23 when I got my first job, despite filling out hundreds of applications while in college. I was not able to move out until I was 25, because I could not AFFORD to. I did not make enough to pay rent, bills, etc. Once again, not because I was lazy/unmotivated/not as good as your kids (that I would argue is bias, btw). I moved out at 25 because I finally found a partner, and was able to afford to.

You're biased. Plain and simple. Millennials are NOT as lazy as you claim. We just grew up in a terrible economy. Period.

*drop mic*

Oh, and my mom was a good parent, too. TYVM.

[ADeepSandbox]

-Deleted-

Y'know what, never mind.

[Molinit]

One thing I notice with them and those younger - they think online stuff is real life. They call texting or emailing or chatting with someone they've never met a REAL RELATIONSHIP. They are convinced it's so. Bizarre.