“Those millennials — they’re so lazy and attached to their phones.”
We’ve heard this plenty of times. Older adults have been slapping this stereotype on us ever since we could teach them how to use the internet and how to figure out that one thing on their phone they’ve been having trouble with.
We were born post-internet and have grown up with advancing technology. We got our hands on the very first iPod and learned how it worked, and were tuning in every time Apple released the next big product. We knew what starting with the bare minimum technology was like, and we grew with its advancements. While we were young, our minds were growing at rapid rates, and it wasn’t too difficult to integrate technology into our learning capabilities.
But it’s just that: we’ve grown up. We are no longer those lazy, technology-obsessed teenagers that older people mistake us for. When that title gets attached to all younger people, they often get confused with stereotyping everyone who is young as a millennial. The age bracket for millennials is now 20-36 years of age, so those millennials that older people talk about could possibly be well into their careers and even have high-paying executive positions.
It’s difficult when the umbrella of millennials is so broad that it envelops every single young person there is. Generation Z, or post-millennials, are considered anyone 2 to 19 years of age. These are the people in high school who also grew up with technology. The difference is that they were born post-internet and grew up with technology when it already had some traction. They have different habits than us millennials, and we are two different types of people.
So yes, millennials are good at technology. We grew up with it and have learned how to integrate it in our daily lives in ways that are effective and productive. We are the future of technology and will be the ones to further advance it to benefit others. With the basic understanding of technology, we know where to take it next.
The next time you try and group all young people into the category of millennials, remember these things: you might have the terminology wrong and could actually be calling your co-worker a lazy millennial, and we could be the ones to make further advancements in technology that you could very well need one day.