We stand up for what we believe in, and we’re not afraid to call it out. So what are we doing with our time and energy?
Millennials are multi-taskers, despite the fact that multi-tasking is actually harmful to the brain and leads to a huge decrease in productivity. But, you know, we have to work all these jobs and get everything done, lest we die penniless in the gutter, eulogized as people who just didn’t want it bad enough.
Millennials are engaged and expressive: 75 percent have a social networking profile, 20 percent have posted a video of themselves online, 38 percent have between one and six tattoos, and 23 percent have non-earlobe piercings. The research indicates a trend toward “self-promoting,” which some skew to mean that Millennials are self-confident (yay) and self-absorbed (sigh). Others take this data to conclude that Millennials are identifying their passions and making their own path instead of following others’ paths for them.
Interestingly (or morbidly), Millennials are the first generation in over a hundred years to have a decrease of their average lifespan. [Insert joke here: Something something working themselves to death].
Millennials have a high graduation rate from high school (72 percent in 2012) and high college enrollment rate (68 percent in 2012). Over half (58 percent) of Millennials who enroll in a four-year college graduate within six years.
Data from the New Strategist Press, a consumer trends resource, shares that in 2013, 34.9 percent of Millennials had a bachelor’s degree or higher (compared to 34.6 percent of Gen Xers and 31.1 percent of Baby Boomers). Even without graduating, Millennials and Gen X received more college education than the Boomers (63 percent of Millennials, 62 percent of Gen Xers, and 58 percent of Baby Boomers).2
Speaking of college, Millennials have an average of twenty-five thousand dollars in student loans. There is more student loan debt than credit card debt in the United States, and tuition rates are rising faster than inflation. However, enrollment continues to increase.
Millennials Struggle with Mental Health
Many Millennials struggle with mental illness to some degree: anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and more. You have to wonder how much of that anxiety comes from being told that wanting a living wage, affordable college, or adequate healthcare means that you’re a dependent leech guzzling from the government teat.
The generations before us had a more accessible living wage, tuition cost, and adequate healthcare. But now, inflation has reduced the value of the minimum wage, college tuition and loan interest rates are through the proverbial roof, and medical bills are the top cause of bankruptcy in America.
These things were not caused by Millennials, but after a steady diet of hearing “You’re entitled” as we developed our adult identities, we don’t even need to hear it from other people now. We believe it about ourselves. As a society, we now romanticize struggle, busy-ness, and “the hustle.” If you’re not losing sleep and working two or three jobs, you must not want it enough.
Conclusions (For Now)
Millennials have begun waking up to the fact that the ways we were treated as children and as young adults in the work force are not normal. We’re understanding that our generation is bigger than the last. We’re coming to terms with the fact that we will inherit the earth and want to make it very, very clear that while we absolutely intend to clean up this mess, we are not the ones that made it.
Part I
Millennials Are Entitled, Disrespectful Punks
Chapter 1
Millennials Are Killing the American Dream
“Millennials Say the American Dream is Dead? They killed it”
—Red Alert Politics, 2014
“American dream slips out of reach for Millennials, study finds”
—LA Times, 2016
“Millionaire to Millennials: Lay off the avocado toast if you want to buy a house”
—CNN, 2017
The American Dream: having a home, a family with 2.5 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. The stuff of Pleasantville and the ‘50s and housewives with dinner on the table when dad gets home from work. Maybe it was this way for our grandparents, but the new American Dream is more like having affordable health care, a therapist who takes you seriously, and being able to afford your expenses with only one job. When did the American Dream become a struggle to wake from the slog of reality?
Enter the Millennial troublemakers, screwing things up. We’re told that our wasteful and luxurious spending on hipster foods and specialty coffees prevents us from buying a home, but when faced with mountains of student loan debt and spending on necessities like shelter, running water, and medical care, it’s hard to find the wiggle room to save up an appropriate down payment. The wiggle room to treat yourself to a latte is much more feasible—and small treats are a normal part of human life, not an opportunity to victim-blame and heap responsibility for the entire economy on a group of young adults who just want a damn cup of coffee between jobs.
On top of a laundry list of skyrocketing living expenses without a comparable wage increase, we see predatory lending schemes that promise young first-time home buyers a zero-percent-down plan with an adjustable rate mortgage. This loan structure is a recipe for economic disaster and another housing crash that will be messier than a smashed avocado. These mortgages are a booming business due to the conventional wisdom that owning is always superior to renting; unfortunately, that’s not true at all. Owning a home comes with risks and expenses that renting doesn’t, and it’s just not wise to purchase a home based on fear and scare tactics from brokers who just want to make a buck before you figure out what they’re up to. It’s a far better plan to rent affordably while saving up for a modest home, and it has nothing to do with macchiatos.
A note about lattes: Starbucks does charge pretty exorbitant prices compared to a bottomless cup of joe at your average diner. But it’s also one of the few employers in the United States to offer comprehensive insurance coverage (medical, dental, and vision) to both full- and part-time employees, as well as a 401(k) with a company match, and a stock equity benefit, in addition to tuition assistance for continuing education and paid vacation time. Starbucks even has a dependent care reimbursement program to help employees pay for day care, life insurance, and disability insurance. But sure, let’s get grouchy about the fact that their holiday cups don’t have enough Jesus. This is obviously why houses are expensive and the minimum wage is a joke.
Defining the American Dream
The definition of this great dream depends on who you ask. Hearkening back to yesteryear, the American Dream was a promise of a better life in the United States. The tired, the poor, and the huddled masses were promised a new home where anything was possible if you were willing to work hard for it. For as long as there has been a United States of America, there has been a safe refuge for the disenfranchised—at least in theory.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the American Dream as “a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the US especially by working hard and becoming successful.” If we put our minds to it, live within our means, and work hard, we can achieve anything! If this sounds familiar to Millennials, it’s because it’s the classic refrain of our Boomer parents, who really could hope to achieve their goals with a little elbow grease. Spoiler alert: hard work doesn’t really cut it anymore.
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