Since some people nowadays believe that it’s possible to be confused about your gender identity, I say it’s possible to be confused about your generational identity. And not just your own. I see/hear a lot of older people mis-generationing (new word I just made up! ) young people today. By young people I mean Millennials and Generation Z. (Sorry Gen X’er’s, you’re official old!) Both generations share some similar traits but please don’t mis-generation them or they will all probably need to find a safe space to go to and bring their stuffed animals and blankies to comfort them.
Before we dive too far into each of these generations we should try to more closely define what age groups we are actually discussing. I have witnessed older people claiming the the 20 year old barista at Starbuck’s with blue hair, nose ring and BLM t-shirt is a Millennial and that is simply not true. While it can be tricky to pinpoint exactly when Millennials age range starts, they are broadly defined in the Oxford Living Dictionary as "a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century”. I think we could safely say early 1980’s to mid to late 1990’s for Millennials, which would make them between the ages of 26-41. As for Gen Z, they are typically defined as being born in the late 1990’s to mid 2010’s which makes them around 10-25 years old.
Now that we know who we are talking about, let’s begin! In the battle between the generations up first we have the Millennials. I feel like Millennials get a pretty bad wrap. To me, “Millennial” always seemed to be synonymous with the term “special snowflake”. The internet appears to back me up on this as they are called things like the “participation trophy generation” and “Generation Me”. But are those monikers really deserved? (Spoiler alert: Yeah, they’re deserved)
Some alleged characteristics of Millennials (according to the internet) include:
Tolerant
College educated
Tech savvy
Global citizens
Sheltered
Inability to take or give criticism.
Entitled
Pragmatic
Liberal
Compassionate
Places importance on tasks rather than time
Conscious on health, social, economic, and environmental issues
Next up we have Generation Z , which seems to be less hated than the Millennials, at least for the moment. Of course, that might be because they are younger and, well, we expect kids to be stupid, don’t we? I know when I was 25 I was still kind of an idiot so it would have been unfair to judge me or anyone at that age! The oldest Gen Z are just now turning 25 so the jury may still be out on whether or not they deserve our disapproval or not.
Here are some supposed characteristics of Gen Z:
Tolerant
Think College is unnecessary to succeed
Process information faster than any other generation
Less validation expectations
Motivated by security
Driven by career/financial goals
Shrewd consumers
Health Conscious
Can multitask very easily
Have a “do it yourself attitude”
Prefer to communicate face to face
Optimistic
Shorter attention spans then Millennials
Called the “Loneliest generation”
Independent, entrepreneurial, competitive
As I look at the lists side by side I feel a bit better about the fact that all 6 of my kids are Gen Z. There are troubling things about this generation of course. It’s sad that they are already called the loneliest generation but it makes sense since the majority of them seem to be in front of technology 24/7. In fact, most of them don’t know a world without the internet, smart phones and social media. And while they may process information quickly that doesn’t mean that they have the critical thinking skills necessary to make good and informed decisions. But there are some positive things about them that I appreciate seeing. I do like to see that they are independent, entrepreneurial and competitive! Those are qualities that I do see in my kids and that, at least, gives me some hope for the future.
Full disclosure time now: I should probably mention that I am most likely a Millennial. I was born in August of 1980 and I’m 41. If not a Millennial I’m definitely a cusper (not my word) which means that I have traits of both Gen X’ers and Millennials. Sometimes they are called Xennials because everyone has to give cutesy names to everything. Those damn Millennials!
The only reason I mention this is that I feel like maybe I can be a bit harder on my generation because I’m well aware of the negative traits of my cuspy Millennial friends and that is probably why I avoid people my age and younger to have as friends. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and there are great people in all age groups but there is a certain shame in calling yourself a Millennial. Although, many are so full of themselves that I doubt they feel too much shame in it.
So, who is the winner of the battle of the worst? I’d have to say, in fairness, that we really can’t judge that yet. With the oldest Gen Z’s only being 25, I think you have to have more data on them to make that call. Although, my fellow Millennials, I don’t think it’s looking good for us!
All kidding aside, I think the most important take away here for anyone out there reading this is to know that people are people and while stereotypes can be true, it’s always up to the individual to decide their own destiny. For example, I can choose to use some of my (cuspy) Millennial qualities for good and not for evil. Which is what I strive to do!
So take heart, Millennials. You are the big kids on the block now but don’t worry, soon enough you’ll be old enough to criticize the Alpha Generation and mutter the phrase “these kids today” and you’ll be just as annoyed with those kids as the rest of the world is with you right now!