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The older generation is constantly talking about how millennials have poor social skills, however, I've noticed that millennials are actually more lively when conversing and have more interesting things to say. The older generation is often too concerned with being polite and this detracts from the depth of conversation.
Anyone else agree?
I'm not trying to start a war, it's just something that I've picked up on. And of course, this is a huge generalization and I don't mean every millennial has better social skills than every older person.
Last edited by rathernotsayyy; 03-12-2015 at 07:11 PM..
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Interesting question, although I suspect you're also reasonably close to the "millennial" generation yourself, which might bias your observations just a bit. But that said, it does seem more like millennial folks place a higher priority on 'connections' and relationships in general (or at least whenever it's in their interest…lol))!
Unlike say, the Boomers who occasionally might even have experimented with 'communes', but on the whole were still very big on the importance of 'personal freedom' and 'independence' (for example it would've probably been unthinkable for most, to be adults and still living with their parents).
I haven't noticed what the OP mentions. I've known plenty of all sorts of people with poor social skills, and encounter others at every age with great social skills. I don't think that one generation does this better than any other generation.
But I think that older people often have learned not to make statements that cause bad feeling, or other rash statements, because of their life experiences. Of course, even there, there are exceptions.
I think millenials have this strange self-entitlement that should have died off when they were teens. Everyone goes through the teen phase of feeling invincible, then you grow up. Millenials seem to carry that through each stage of life.
I do think they do not socialize as well, but across every generation you'll find individuals who fail to socialize appropriately. With millenials failing to realize that the internet should not be taken into RL, things tend to getsticky and their poor social skills are highlighted.
Social skills and subject matter are two different things. Social skills include manners and an awareness of the world around them, as well as the ability to be professional in the workplace.
Therefore, no, in very general terms, Millennials do not have more social skills than older people, by a long shot--which is more an indictment of the people who raised them than it is of Millennials. Boomers, I'm looking at you. Doesn't help that many Millennials have a crippling over-reliance on technology for social interaction.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lilac110
Social skills and subject matter are two different things. Social skills include manners and an awareness of the world around them, as well as the ability to be professional in the workplace.
Therefore, no, in very general terms, Millennials do not have more social skills than older people, by a long shot--which is more an indictment of the people who raised them than it is of Millennials. Boomers, I'm looking at you. Doesn't help that many Millennials have a crippling over-reliance on technology for social interaction.
Aw, come on…. you mean now they're also "entitled" to be "victims" too?!!
Us Non-Millennials say "Millennials lack social skills" we mean "Millennials seem to lack the basic concepts of politeness and respect, appropriate and inappropriate"
Millennials who say "Millennials have better social skills than non-millennials" actually mean "Millennials are more interesting and fun to talk to."
So if by "social skills" I weigh politeness, respect, and appropriateness heavily, and the Millennial weighs how lively the person is in conversation, then we have completely different concepts of what "social skills" are.
So if by "social skills" I weigh politeness, respect, and appropriateness heavily, and the Millennial weighs how lively the person is in conversation, then we have completely different concepts of what "social skills" are.
I work at a university, and I laugh when I get phone calls from students who don't seem to know how to make a professional phone call. So instead of "Hello, my name is [name]. I'm enrolled in X program and I was wondering if I could get some information about...," I get, "Um, hi? <chewing noises> Um, I was like, wondering? if, like I could find out about, like, ..." Obviously it's not all the students we talk to, but it's enough that it's a running joke in the office.
I work at a university, and I laugh when I get phone calls from students who don't seem to know how to make a professional phone call. So instead of "Hello, my name is [name]. I'm enrolled in X program and I was wondering if I could get some information about...," I get, "Um, hi? <chewing noises> Um, I was like, wondering? if, like I could find out about, like, ..." Obviously it's not all the students we talk to, but it's enough that it's a running joke in the office.
I had a Millennial who I asked to run an internal task force at my company. He held the first meeting, and a few days later I asked for the minutes. He said he hadn't even thought to have someone take minutes (or attendance for that matter) but he kept saying that they'd had such a great discussion! To him, the great discussion they had about the topic was more important than following the protocols to ensure that the company actually benefited from that discussion.
Us Non-Millennials say "Millennials lack social skills" we mean "Millennials seem to lack the basic concepts of politeness and respect, appropriate and inappropriate"
Millennials who say "Millennials have better social skills than non-millennials" actually mean "Millennials are more interesting and fun to talk to."
So if by "social skills" I weigh politeness, respect, and appropriateness heavily, and the Millennial weighs how lively the person is in conversation, then we have completely different concepts of what "social skills" are.
I agree with this post 100%.
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