Dear Millennials,
Not holding doors open for the person behind you, not knowing what the words please, thank you, yes ma’am, or yes sir mean, always asking what do I get out of it or questioning the fairness of every activity, using the credit card your parents gave you to pay for everything, always having your face glued to a cell phone and posting your hourly activities and thoughts to either Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or all three (seriously, do you know what TMI is?), or never cleaning up after yourself because there are “people” for that; any of this sound like characteristics you’re accustomed to? Yes? Well good, because this article was written especially for you, so keep reading.
Don’t worry, the way you are is only partially your fault, the other party to blame is Generation X (a.k.a. our parents). Want to know how we ended up this way? Here’s my theory.
We are a product of our environment, and our environment is shaped by bad parenting, an escalation of technology, lack of emphasis on religious or spiritual faith, and social media (only to name a few things).
Divorce rates have drastically increased in the past 10 years which has caused an increase in dual-income families, leading parents to buy their children’s affection as a remedy of their guilt. Divorced parents have to trade off their kids every week or so, causing distress and tension between them and their kids, especially if the kids are bystanders or the subjects of heated arguments or disagreements. As a result, each parent might try to “buy” their children’s affection and love as a result or try to act like their child’s friends instead of an authority figure. I have witnessed for myself numerous times in high school and especially now in college, parents will participate in “party” festivities with their kids, shot-gunning beer, smoking, and twerking with their sons and daughters who are half their age, in order to be the “cool” parents. Honestly parents, get your act together and start acting like adult’s because how are we supposed to become strong leaders if we have no role models?
OMG, LMAO, LOL, LMK, and BRB are all texting abbreviations that have become a staple in millennials’ everyday vocabulary. Does no one else see what a dysfunctional problem this is? I can’t tell you a single one of my peers that doesn’t always carry their cell phones in their hands EVERYWHERE they go, including the bathroom; for the sake of not being a complete hypocrite, yes, I am guilty of this sometimes to, however I am able to identify and admit I have a problem and be willing to change, that has to count for something, right? Just the other day I was at Dunkin Donuts here on campus and I ordered a coffee and picked it up and walked away, and when I was walking away, I realized one of the employees had written their phone number on my cup in hopes of me texting them. It caused me to pause and think of who it might have been, when I came to the realization that I couldn’t even tell you who took my order, let alone who was in contact with my cup behind the counter, because I had my face glued to my phone the whole time, I was genuinely disappointed in myself. Sad, right? We are too worried about what’s happening online instead of right in front of our faces. Our generation needs to reinitiate the importance of face-to-face interaction.
Out of all of you that have grown up in a religious or spiritual family, can you honestly tell me the last time you went to church or said a prayer? If your family was anything like mine, your whole family attended church every weekend growing up, rain or shine, sick or healthy, no questions asked, it was expected of you as a member of your family. In high school, I became more creative in my excuses or reasons why I couldn’t attend mass and now in college, I “can’t find the time” which is not completely true, I have just stopped prioritizing it. This is a problem. We are the next generation, if we don’t start stressing the importance of incorporating faith in our lives, our world is going to turn into an unguided, demoralized war zone.
Freedom. That seems to be the only thing on the millennials’ mind. We have the freedom to do almost anything we want. Freedom to post whatever we want, to say whatever we want, to buy anything we want (most of us already have credit cards), to wear whatever we want, and to be whoever we want. With that, we feel this overwhelming need to post EVERYTHING we do, think, or buy, on social media. There are many different explanations of why each of us post what we do, but a general classification of why we are obsessed posting everything is that we try to appear “cool”. We very selectively choose things to post that we think will appeal to our peers in order to create this “cool” online persona of ourselves in order to be “accepted”. Very few of us actually look as polished in person as we do in our Instagram posts, keeping up the illusion that you’re glamorous 24/7 is exhausting. The next time you post a photo, I encourage you to post it without editing it, just 100% original, no filter or anything. I think you will be pleasantly surprised the feedback you will receive. As far as the constant posts about where you are, what you just bought, or what you’re thinking, I think it would do us all good if we were a bit more selective about the information we share with social media, because trust me, there are creepy people out there who actually take note of what you say online.
I hope this letter finds you in good faith and that you take my words as a reality check rather than criticism. We need to start cleaning up our acts now, that way when we finally get to be the people with the influential voice in society, people we actually listen and respect us and we will be able to make a change. We are young now, but the people that matter, the people that we are going to be asking for jobs in the near future, they are watching us now, observing our behavior now; so remember that every decision you make, whether it be a post on social media or the way you carry yourself at a networking event, it matters. Make yourself and our generation proud.
With love,
A Fellow Millennial Craving Change