“Millennials are lazy and whiny, all they do is wait to be told what to do.” Does this sound familiar to you? If you are between the ages of 19-35 in 2016. Most likely, you will be categorised as a Millennial. The Taiwanese term it as “Strawberry Generation.” They represent a generation who are unable to endure hardship. Just like strawberries that need lots of nurturing, the strawberry generation requires lots of help growing up.
Now it almost seems degrading to be called a Millennial. More often that not, they are labelled as entitled, lazy and reckless. However, we shouldn’t form a stereotype that everyone born in that era behaves that way.
Instant Gratification
More often that not, people have a misunderstanding that Millennials are only willing to put in little effort for instantaneous result. However, it is because they are too used to getting things instantaneously, from shopping online and getting it delivered to your doorstep to getting freshly squeezed orange juice from vending machines. Naturally, Millennials would expect to be rewarded almost immediately. However, aren’t we all guilty of this. We want to have chiseled abs but how disciplined are we when it comes to sticking to our healthy diet and workout plan? Instead, we look for other methods such as liposuction or a body slimming treatment package. In addition, stories about overnight success are widely celebrated but stories about hard work rarely get the same amount of attention. Since Millennials are constantly exposed to such stories, it is certainly not a mystery why they have developed a penchant for instant gratification.
Narcissistic
To a certain extent it is true because we are in the middle of a selfie movement. But, it isn’t just millennials that are snapping photos of themselves, almost everyone, regardless of age has taken a selfie before. And one of the reasons to take a selfie is because we need a profile picture for our social media accounts. This probably brought about the so called narcissism that millennials are associated with. However, lets not forget that even your CV photo is imperative in getting an interview. Shouldn’t we give them a break because after all they are just trying their best to match up to the standards of what society values as beautiful.
Lack of Communication Skills
Millennials are often criticised for being unable to strike a decent conversation. However, what people don’t realise is that being born in an era where mobile phones was all the rage definitely has its drawbacks. When SMS(Short Messaging Service) was rampant, we would take some time to squeeze as many words as we can before sending the message to the other party. Now that we are able to send unlimited messages for free through WhatsApp, we do not take time to craft a proper message, neglecting proper grammar and vocabulary altogether. Thus we have become so reliant on typing to get our message across that we have difficulties when we try to speak to get our point across. With the introduction of Tinder, even dating has become reduced to a nice profile photo and a cheesy pickup line. It is not because Millennials are unable to strike a decent conversation, it is because they were never given the opportunity to do so in the first place.
Instead of labelling an entire generation as entitled and lazy, shouldn’t we try to think of how we can help them instead? Being too critical about others doesn’t make you better than them, it makes you smaller than them. Likewise, we should check ourselves before we judge others, because negativity begets negativity.
Anecdotes 