• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Are Millennials really the next "Great Generation"?

Status
Not open for further replies.
pls don't fuck it up

No.

#FuckingItUp2015

Let's pretend the millennials's future weren't already sold up the creek by the previous generation

The worst part is that millennials' kids, if things don't go well, will probably struggle even more, and somehow the people who say "stop blaming the previous generation for your problems" will forget all about that and treat Millennials like it was them who made the country go to shit.
 

Pizoxuat

Junior Member
Gen X here, only issues I have with Millennials are
  • They forget Gen X exists when they write editorials about how the Boomers need to retire so they can take over the Boomers' management positions
  • They take articles about how they are entitled loser babies seriously. They wrote so many editorials about how Xers were going to be slacker drug-addled losers who couldn't ever make money or hold a job outside fast food and music stores. No reason to let the clickbait get under your skin.

But I like the Millennials I work with. They try to not harm others.
 
I don't know if I'm Gen X or Millennial. I do know every generation has far too much ignorance, but I seem to have reserved a special place in my hate for the boomers.
 

HariKari

Member
The worst part is that millennials' kids, if things don't go well, will probably struggle even more, and somehow the people who say "stop blaming the previous generation for your problems" will forget all about that and treat Millennials like it was them who made the country go to shit.

The boomers let things rot away. It won't be good for anyone until the various flaws in the system (minimum wage, cost of college, healthcare etc...) are fixed. I have a good amount of student debt I'm working through, and it's crazy to think that kids enrolling today are going to have it even worse, perhaps significantly so, in terms of cost. That can't last forever.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Society itself is a tribalistic cult, if you want to just throw generalizations around.
I mean cult by its definition, a cloistered set of approved ideas that only make sense within a cut-off pocket of society. Being trapped within these cloisters restricts the free flow of accurate information.

Nations and ideologies can work the same way. But you're perfectly free to find yourself in "America" or "democracy" and not be a card carrying devotee of its information controls. But if you're not a card carrying devotee of religion? You're not in that religion.
 

ChouGoku

Member
I feel like the current generation is going to be something crazy. I've had the internet as long as I can remember (born '91) but its not the same thing as it is now. The exchange of ideas will be too rapid, change will happen more rapidly, and new tech is going to be something that seems extremely sci-fi to us now.
 

Foffy

Banned
The boomers let things rot away. It won't be good for anyone until the various flaws in the system (minimum wage, cost of college, healthcare etc...) are fixed. I have a good amount of student debt I'm working through, and it's crazy to think that kids enrolling today are going to have it even worse, perhaps significantly so, in terms of cost. That can't last forever.

It can't, and we might have another bubble bursting for the Millennial generation: the idea that one may have to work may finally cause more social harm than good, due to automation.

Technology is going to change our whole society, and will absolutely take people out of the labor force. Getting an education is not only a net-negative against automation, but counting the student loan issue, they'll be even deeper in a hole that they can't ever realistically escape from.

We're in for a massive series of growing pains, here. We have an almost insurmountable serious of problems that just by themselves seem mind-boggling. But we have so many of those.

- Make health care something humane in America
- Fix the student loan crisis
- End poverty by ending the social inference of mandated labor (this creates poverty)
- Egalitarian rights for all people, not just those who are whiter or have more paper
- Allow a right to die (the amount of places that allow assisted suicide can be counted on just one pair of hands...)
- Deal with climate change
- End the problem of Big Money in every domain it's corroded

Look at ANY of those, and you have such an enormous volume of people saying these things cannot be fixed because of how bad they've become..

The closest one I can see happening is a right to die, but the religious right will of course find a way to make this an issue, just like abortion and women's rights.
 

Miracle

Member
I don't get the need to generalize people in groups like baby boomers or Millenials based on what time they were born.
 
It will be in cool seeing how me and my generation will grow up over time

If you're a senior in high school from your chrome book thread wouldn't you be Generation Z?

Fake Edit: Looked it up and I guess it goes to the late 90's. Still seems weird considering it's such a wide gap from the early 80's. I've been out of HS for 10 years. Dang.
 
I don't like being put in the Millennial box though it seems 1982 or 1983 is the commonly agreed upon year. I think some of us are more a part of Generation X...
 

bro1

Banned
Well, if we have another draft we can thin the heard like we did from 1940-1970.

On a non-dark note, no. With the generational/economic shifts going on, the idea of a generation are going to change soon.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I assumed this comparison would bring up the Strauss–Howe generational theory.

The theory basically postulates that certain characteristics of generations of Americans have repeated themselves in a cycle that goes through four generations, the cycle starting again roughly every century, all the way back to the late 1500's. This theory compares millennials with the "Greatest Generation" by suggesting they're at the same point in the cycle. There's a lot more complex stuff explained in the link and obviously criticisms have been made, but I think it presents some interesting ideas.
 

Croatoan

They/Them A-10 Warthog
People explained why it's positive that religion is becoming less influential as time goes on. Religion often relies on archaic ideas, and as has been shown, religious convictions often lead to it being forced on others. Our society for instance has used religion to justify some pretty shitty stuff.

And in general, being less religious doesn't mean that you are necessarily without faith, or without having an idea of there being a higher power.

Exactly.

I believe that having faith and believing in a god is fine on a personal level. I myself believe in a god. But when religion becomes organized it all falls to shit.

Good intentions or not organized religion breeds an us vs them mentality. By its very nature it has to. Add in humanity's propesenty to be assholes and you get murders in the name of God by the millions. And that's just the history of Christianity.

Look at modern Christains and their hate for anything lgbt. They traded being hypocritical murderers for hypocritical bigots. All while pointing at Muslims, who are still killing people, and saying, "At least we are not those assholes".
 

Toxi

Banned
"The baby boomers fucked up the planet," cries the gen Xer/millenial contributing nothing to environmentalism.

"The millenials are too easily offended," whines the baby boomer/gen Xer on social media.

"Gen X is too lazy," mutters the sedentary baby boomer/millenial in front of the TV.

Despite changes in society, people will always shift their own flaws onto others and take credit for the achievements of their peers.
 
"The baby boomers fucked up the planet," cries the gen Xer/millenial contributing nothing to environmentalism.

"The millenials are too easily offended," whines the baby boomer/gen Xer on social media.

"Gen X is too lazy," mutters the sedentary baby boomer/millenial in front of the TV.

Despite changes in society, people will always shift their own flaws onto others and take credit for the achievements of their peers.

I mean to be fair, the lack of involvement in fixing the environment by people today is in part because of older generations in power trying to downplay the environmental issues. It's also a lot harder to fix the problem than it was in earlier generations, so they might feel "what even is the point?" kind of desperation.
 

G.ZZZ

Member
Entitlement generation is another of those shitty ideas invented by the rich to keep the lower classes poor. Median income in term of real spending power have been going down for more than 30 years, to the point where nowadays an average work can't sustain a person that has also to pay his rent.

Compare to the 70 where an household could easily live off a single worker. Yes, we are entitled, we are entitled because the previous generation sent the world to shit and now we have to fix it, while probably living in the worst economical conditions since the last war, and we won't ever get to pension probably, because there's also global warming on top of the economical crysis that is gonna ruin the world in 15-20 years from now.
 

oneils

Member
I fully understand technology and use most current day tech, but I do take issue with the way it gets utilized with a lot of people. Having to hashtag everything or take a picture/status update of every interesting or mundane aspect of your life in order to gain social credibility is a serious issue for example. Selfie generation and so forth, really annoying overall.

Of course we've always been insecure and in need of being accepted as a species, but modern technology has made that come into the front in a much more annoying way than before. Though that isn't really what the topic is about, but I do think there is such a thing as a fair critique of younger generations, and not just the 'back in my day I had to turn a dial and wait 11 times to call a number, kids these days' sort of thing. Superior technology is great, but it is often used in pretty awful ways that just make us all look like shit.

Put me in the camp that doesn't understand Twitter, snapchat, tinder and all of the shenanigans that go with it. It all looks awful to me...because I don't understand the behaviour (maybe that is the more appropriate way to say it - as opposed to not understanding the "tech.").

Even so, every single generation does this. I am very much an "mtv" baby, and my parents' generation did not get it (even though their contemporaries probably invented it).

I really do think that when older generations criticise behaviour like this it is because they don't get it (obviously, I am talking in generalities).
 

Ashok

Banned
As someone born in the 1980s, I have nothing but deep respect for the WW2 generation. And there is nothing "negative" about the religious values or work ethic of that era.
 

NYR

Member
As someone who was born in 1982, I would like no part in being associated with this generation.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
The greatest generation literally killed literal Hitler, that's why they're the greatest.

Unless aliens attack and the Millennials stop them, they're never gonna be #1.
 
As someone born in the 1980s, I have nothing but deep respect for the WW2 generation. And there is nothing "negative" about the religious values or work ethic of that era.

Those religious values were and still are used to justify really horrid things. You can argue that people ignore all the good religious does, but it's erasing the experiences of people who are harmed by religion to say that there is nothing negative.

Unless you are using religious values to mean "moral values", in which case it's a misuse of the word.
 
You know what GAF, how about we get rid of the generation labelling and just continue bitching about people from different age groups.
It's a relic of the previous century and doesn't need to be continued.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
The greatest generation fought WW2, but give me a break; try being black, gay or a woman back then. People are way more tolerant now and it keeps getting better, we've got them beat soundly in that department.
 

etrain911

Member
I worry that this generation won't be able to reform the system and it definitely needs it. The income inequality between the rich and the poor is growing quickly, the police are out of control, etc.
 

esms

Member
I'm interested to see the effects of more millennials in public office. I predict fuckery, but we'll see.
 

Mrmartel

Banned
Millenials are also The most intolerant of religions and intolerant to the extreme of ideas a certain region does not agree with and false Knights which makes them potentially the ww3 generation

True in some ways. I'd say that the Millenials are very aggressive against religion online, but are much more passive in real life situations with it. That could change and if it does manifest into actually RL confrontations then the shit could hit the fan. Islam is going to get the brunt of the criticism and anger. They'll still be hammering on Christianity as well, but the boomers/gen X already did most of the work shitting on it.

I'd say overall we are a very passive generation. We keep our heads low, only to return home and spout whatever righteous beliefs we have in the comfort of the online environment.

Also the OP mentioned Risk Takers, why in the world would you think that? What have Millenials done to make that a pro? A fellow member of our generation invented Facebook? Is that Risk taking now
 

Mrmartel

Banned
One future prediction I'd have for the millienials is that they are the least religious generation thus far, but will die in a much more religious world.
 

Severance

Member
Well considering the millenials are largely responsible for legalizing gay marriage, electing the first black president and the legalization of weed happening as we speak, I'd say we turned out pretty alright. I remember growing up being told all those things would not happen for at least another century. It all happened in spite of growing up with Dubya as our President, in spite of being tricked into massive amounts of college debt, in spite of being sent into a bullshit war straight out of high school, and in spite of the war on drugs.

Also in terms of being the least religious generation, I'd say it's more that people are putting less faith into organized religion. I find millenials' faith is much more personal and not confined under the umbrella of one all encompassing religion. This is nothing but a good thing and hopefully the trend continues on through the next generations to come.
 

Surface of Me

I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
While Buzzfeed articles(likely written by bitter oldies) do paint us in a bad light, nearly every teacher/professor I've had since High School has expressed just the opposite. The most negative things I can remember from them is them saying they are glad they arent us. They are glad they dont have to fix the shit their generation fucked up, we do. Thus, yes we will be the next greatest generation or America will fall.
 

kevm3

Member
We were a generation lucky enough to taste America at it's epitome before it's downward slope. We got to stand on the top of the mountain, and now we get to tumble down, sadly enough.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Millennials aren't the greatest anything... they're barely viable members of society! The statistics all point to them being cockloaded adult-babies with parental issues as their crutch for chronic failures in life.

I honestly don't mean all Millennials. There's obviously some good ones like those who post on GAF.
 
Being human has a history of association with horrible acts.

Anything that is reliant on divisive ignorance for part of or all of its core tenets/dogmas amplifies the output of horrible acts achieved. Simple as that. Ignorance, isolation, and hatred contribute to more violence. Knowledge, empathy, and understanding dampen the tendency towards violence.
 
Millennials aren't the greatest anything... they're barely viable members of society! The statistics all point to them being cockloaded adult-babies with parental issues as their crutch for chronic failures in life.

I honestly don't mean all Millennials. There's obviously some good ones like those who post on GAF.


I was reading some stuff written in the 80s about Gen X-- all the same assessments.

it's almost like there's a difficult post-high school through early career transition phase and you don't suddenly become an amazing, philanthropic hard working person the second you graduate college!

My point isn't to compare though, it's more just to say fuck worrying about generational shit. The older folks will always be tougher on the younger folks and the younger folks will eventually be the older folks. The bottom isn't just gonna fall out from under society because of some weird behavioral occurrences unique to a generation.
until VR porn destroys us all
 
Heck yeah, us Millenials are awesome.

We're more of a Lost Generation though. That student debt and recession :( (although I'm in Canada and my debt is just $8k going into my last year, but I feel for my American bretheren). A lot of us won't live the high life like Boomers and Gen X'ers did.

I'm really loving this decade and all the change it's rushing into society though. I can only see the world becoming a better place as we start assuming more leadership roles.

I have a 10 year old sister (born 2005, not millenial) and she used to just be stuck on her iPad all day. My parents nagged at her to get off: "back in my days all we did was play outside! No TV, no computers no nothin'"! Ineffective. I wrote a Python script that changes her host files to block ROBLOX (a game) after 8PM. No more excuses!

My parents bought her an ereader and I borrow ebooks for her from the library without leaving the house.

It's a whole new different world and the tech literate Millenials are most well-equipped to handle all the changes IMO.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
I was reading some stuff written in the 80s about Gen X-- all the same assessments.

it's almost like there's a difficult post-high school through early career transition phase and you don't suddenly become an amazing, philanthropic hard working person the second you graduate college!

My point isn't to compare though, it's more just to say fuck worrying about generational shit. The older folks will always be tougher on the younger folks and the younger folks will eventually be the older folks. The bottom isn't just gonna fall out from under society because of some weird behavioral occurrences unique to a generation.
until VR porn destroys us all


I sort of agree with this view. people are different because times are different; humans like to adapt. I do think people seriously should and do look at trends because its not like people are always aware of the long term consequences of the choices they make. It pains me to say it but a lot of the problems that millennials face today are because of some boneheaded thing Gen-x'ers and Boomers did so when people were saying those things about them and then and not liking where things are today with the newer generation, it deserves some serious looking into. Leaving it alone will likely not fix anything.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom