The Millennial Question

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Seems like every generation feels that the following generation has problems.

I do not think that "picking on the current generation" is the purpose of the video, and it is certainly not the purpose of my OP

I cannot speak for other nations, but my experience with young 20 somethings here in The US is that they are prone to Apathy and there is a wave of entitlement and a general feeling that the results of their efforts should be almost immediate, and they tend to feel dissatisfied, disappointed and at fault when the results are not immediately recognizable.

I also refuse to continuously paint millennials with a broad brush stroke because i know several people who are 10-15 years my junior who are hard working people who have the vision to see a long term goal of perhaps 3-4 years in length or longer through to fruition - though these sorts of millennials are often the exception rather than the rule

additionally, the video makes the point that technology has impacted the current generation more so than any generation previous to them. it is verifiable fact that the areas of the brain stimulated during use of personal electronic devices, social media and video games are the same areas stimulated during the use of illicit drugs. But then again, so does sex.

i am not making the argument that society will crumble if we dont get these meddling kids off their pesky cellular phones and reduce their use of the new fangled myfacespacebook (because i am a daily user of Fb) - i am simply saying that the video makes some interesting observations, and provides some verifiable data and cause / effect relationships to explain those observations. Whether you stand on one side of the fence or the other does not matter here... what matters is that the man in the video makes points about millennials in a way that is interesting, tangible, understandable and perhaps most importantly not derogatory.

it is undeniable that the last 20-30 years have made society into an "instant" society. things that used to take hours or days now take minutes or seconds.

and, largely as a result of technological advances of the last 15-20 years the generation gap experienced between me and my parents, was not nearly as large as the generation gap experienced between my children and I.

For example. My dad and i can sit for hours and listen to music from the 50s, 60,s 70s etc without batting an eye. We can occupy a space with little stimulating activity and keep ourselves entertained with mild chit-chat. We both know what its like to have to wait all day to call someone after 9pm because of long distance charges. We both know what its like to order something by catalogue and wait a week or two for it to show up, or write a letter to a friend, colleague or family member and wait a week or two for a response. We both know what its like to spend a week in a library researching for a biology paper.

When it comes to my kids, 5 minutes of the rolling stones is a punishment.

They also need near constant stimulation, generally of the electronic caliber.

if you want to talk to someone anywhere in the world, all they have ever known is to just call from the phone in their pocket. Children actually made special trips to my house to see a rotary phone in action when i plugged one in here. one of whom lifted the receiver to make a call and simply put their finger into the holes as if pushing a button (without rotating) to make a phone call and wondered why the phone didn't work.

my kids want to buy a movie, rent a movie, buy a product online? just get on steam and download it and its ready to play in hours. just get on netflix and press play. there's no waiting. and if you do have to wait its never more than a day or two.

want to write a letter to a friend? send them an e mail, they will get it in two seconds and respond within a minute generally

and libraries... i cant understand how such places still exist to be honest. virtually all of my kids' homework is done online. i busted at least one or two backpacks per year at the seams due to the amount of text books i had to carry around in school.