Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Every older generation is convinced that every younger generation is filled with complete screw-ups, and is it never true. It isn't millennials who have an entitlement mentality, it is the average 20 year old who does. Check back with millennials when they are all in their mid 30's and we will all be saying how all Gen-Z'ers (or whatever comes next) are lazy pieces of crap compared to those of us in the hardworking millennial.
Now instead of looking at anecdotal evidence let's look at a few different points of view:
* Between 1989 and 2006, the share of teenagers who were volunteering doubled, to 26.4 percent from 13.4 percent (source here)
* Gen-Yers are more likely to be much better team players than any other generation to date, due to the abundance of team-based thought which comes from growing up digital (source: Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World)
* To millennials, the boundaries between work and play are fuzzier, which fosters even greater teamwork, rather than backbiting and individual competition seen in Gen X and boomers. Fuzzy lines between work/play also have been proven to lead to greater overall productivity (Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics)
Much of the evidence to date actually shows that the typical Millenial attitude is more productive in terms of output than the attitude of a typical Gen-X/Boomer.
And one final point...just to give you an idea of how dramatically younger people have changed over time, here is a quote attributed to Socrates by Plato:
"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer
rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their
legs, and are tyrants over their teachers."
I am a Millennial and I can see both sides of the debate being valid. We have been handed a poor economy and declining America by the generations preceding us. America's best days are unfortunately behind it. We are a product of our environment. The internet, phones, sex culture, drug culture, etc. arose in the generations before us so it is now the norm for us. We didn't cause it, we grew up with it.
At the same time, it is very true that many in my generation are lazy, entitled, and clueless on what's going on in the world. Our Hollywood culture, the internet age, etc. has produced an uninformed generation. Many of my peers are clueless when it comes to matters concerning the economy, healthcare, and other things that matter in day-to-day life. They are too hooked on to Breaking Bad and Facebook to pay attention to what's going on in the world. Their impressionable minds are easily molded by media biases, Hollywood, and swoopy campaign speeches.
What bothers me most is that many Millennials reject the idea of American exceptionalism and American values, because they are too young to see what a great country this was in the past. They don't understand what this country is all about.
I personally feel out-of-place in my generation, and wish I was born in the '60s or 70s. That generation grew up in a time where the United States of America was the clear leader of the free world. Music was great, the economy was strong, life was simpler, and family values were more prevalent. I feel like I missed out on the golden days.
These things are cyclical. It's tough now but eventually we'll dig out of the hole. Think about what it must have been like during Carter's years. Gas lines, the Iran hostages, massive numbers of people thinking the best days of America were behind us. Then we had Reagan and it swung the other way. Having a leader that inspires Americans to want more, to work harder, and to strive for the American dream goes a long way towards turning around the morale of the American public.
These things are cyclical. It's tough now but eventually we'll dig out of the hole. Think about what it must have been like during Carter's years. Gas lines, the Iran hostages, massive numbers of people thinking the best days of America were behind us. Then we had Reagan and it swung the other way. Having a leader that inspires Americans to want more, to work harder, and to strive for the American dream goes a long way towards turning around the morale of the American public.
And having a federal reserve chairman who does what is best for the economy instead of playing politics didn't hurt in Carter's years either. We definitely aren't going to get another Volcker anytime soon.
Every older generation is convinced that every younger generation is filled with complete screw-ups, and is it never true. It isn't millennials who have an entitlement mentality, it is the average 20 year old who does. Check back with millennials when they are all in their mid 30's and we will all be saying how all Gen-Z'ers (or whatever comes next) are lazy pieces of crap compared to those of us in the hardworking millennial.
Now instead of looking at anecdotal evidence let's look at a few different points of view:
* Between 1989 and 2006, the share of teenagers who were volunteering doubled, to 26.4 percent from 13.4 percent (source here)
* Gen-Yers are more likely to be much better team players than any other generation to date, due to the abundance of team-based thought which comes from growing up digital (source: Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World)
* To millennials, the boundaries between work and play are fuzzier, which fosters even greater teamwork, rather than backbiting and individual competition seen in Gen X and boomers. Fuzzy lines between work/play also have been proven to lead to greater overall productivity (Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics)
Much of the evidence to date actually shows that the typical Millenial attitude is more productive in terms of output than the attitude of a typical Gen-X/Boomer.
And one final point...just to give you an idea of how dramatically younger people have changed over time, here is a quote attributed to Socrates by Plato:
"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer
rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their
legs, and are tyrants over their teachers."
Good points there, perhaps the way millennials work is what generational parents don't get and lead to the whole "this generation is lazy, entitled,, contradict parents, ect." Both sides don't try to work with each other and rather just point fingers at each other and fail to get things done. Kind of sounds like congress at the moment...
I think this is something we need to ponder over and think about. Perhaps millennials in it of themselves aren't whiners, they just got misled by those who raised them and when they graduate and find nothing, it hurts them, even if it was an unintended consequence. And because there isn't much they can do, not many have bootstraps to pull themselves up by and because they have been socialized by liberals perhaps they have a liberal stance on it. Sadly, there hasn't been balance to teach millennials that schooling isn't the most important thing until it is too late and normally it is the condescending tone you see on C-D.
I am by no means trying to start a generation warfare thread by this. I just want to see if we can get some understanding.
I think you're right in some ways.... they are getting a raw deal.
But don't imagine it was better for Boomers when we were young.
The economy sucked bad from about 1974-1983. That corresponded to my 20's.
Yet I didn't live with my parents at all during that time and figured out how to support myself despite a terrible mid 1970's recession, ridiculous inflation that blew out around 1979-80 and the worst recession in my lifetime in 1982-3.
Don't imagine that yours is the first generation to experience this.
We elected Jimmy Carter in the middle of this and learned very quickly what the left has to offer.
20 and 30 somethings are responsible for this nitwit in the White House today. We weren't dumb enough to reelect Jimmy Carter, I suspect because, no matter what, we supported ourselves.
I am a Millennial and I can see both sides of the debate being valid. We have been handed a poor economy and declining America by the generations preceding us. America's best days are unfortunately behind it. We are a product of our environment. The internet, phones, sex culture, drug culture, etc. arose in the generations before us so it is now the norm for us. We didn't cause it, we grew up with it.
At the same time, it is very true that many in my generation are lazy, entitled, and clueless on what's going on in the world. Our Hollywood culture, the internet age, etc. has produced an uninformed generation. Many of my peers are clueless when it comes to matters concerning the economy, healthcare, and other things that matter in day-to-day life. They are too hooked on to Breaking Bad and Facebook to pay attention to what's going on in the world. Their impressionable minds are easily molded by media biases, Hollywood, and swoopy campaign speeches.
What bothers me most is that many Millennials reject the idea of American exceptionalism and American values, because they are too young to see what a great country this was in the past. They don't understand what this country is all about.
I personally feel out-of-place in my generation, and wish I was born in the '60s or 70s. That generation grew up in a time where the United States of America was the clear leader of the free world. Music was great, the economy was strong, life was simpler, and family values were more prevalent. I feel like I missed out on the golden days.
I agree with a lot of this as well. I am a Millennial on the 'older' side though.
Interesting about the idea of the internet age producing an uninformed generation.
But, I can see how that could be the case.
Many view the internet as informational/educational but in reality it's probably more used for entertainment or as a replacement or supplement to television.
Millennials and others on CD though are probably generally the type that like to be informed about things.
I can see the benefits to coming to age in the past, but I don't think i'd want to grow up during those times. The past had it's challenges as well.
Regarding music.. I believe there is great music out there these days..it's just not the stuff being played on most radio stations.
Actually now is the best time for music because we can listen to the classic hits from the past and the current stuff, and it's cheaper and most accessible because of streaming and services like Spotify.
another thing is everyone only remembers the hits...for every Beatles, there were probably 100+ crappy bands back then. It just feels like everything put out back then was a hit because those are the songs/artists that lasted the test of time.
Believe me there will be bands that you went to see that you're grandkids will be jealous of you for seeing or being around during that time.
One advantage to the past at least where I live (L.A) would be the cost of real estate. You used to be able to live in a nice safe area and own a home on an average salary.. , but now you need to make way over $100,000 for this.
Since housing is a big cost this is actually a big deal.
Regarding family values...not sure bout that one either. People still got divorced, abused their family, did drugs in the 60s and 70s.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,140,130 times
Reputation: 2677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goinback2011
I think you're right in some ways.... they are getting a raw deal.
But don't imagine it was better for Boomers when we were young.
The economy sucked bad from about 1974-1983. That corresponded to my 20's.
Yet I didn't live with my parents at all during that time and figured out how to support myself despite a terrible mid 1970's recession, ridiculous inflation that blew out around 1979-80 and the worst recession in my lifetime in 1982-3.
Don't imagine that yours is the first generation to experience this.
We elected Jimmy Carter in the middle of this and learned very quickly what the left has to offer.
20 and 30 somethings are responsible for this nitwit in the White House today. We weren't dumb enough to reelect Jimmy Carter, I suspect because, no matter what, we supported ourselves.
I'm a baby Baby Boomer. I wasn't even old enough to vote in the Jimmy Carter election. You can't blame me.
I think that that is the thing that our millennial's need to remember. When we boomer's we growing up we had about as much control of what was going on as they do now. Zilch for the most part. D.C was then and still now is a place where there power brokers play and make deals. We were at the mercy of the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation ahead of us. We've been in their shoes. It's just the way we handled it that so far is different.
I think you're right in some ways.... they are getting a raw deal.
But don't imagine it was better for Boomers when we were young.
The economy sucked bad from about 1974-1983. That corresponded to my 20's.
Yet I didn't live with my parents at all during that time and figured out how to support myself despite a terrible mid 1970's recession, ridiculous inflation that blew out around 1979-80 and the worst recession in my lifetime in 1982-3.
Don't imagine that yours is the first generation to experience this.
We elected Jimmy Carter in the middle of this and learned very quickly what the left has to offer.
20 and 30 somethings are responsible for this nitwit in the White House today. We weren't dumb enough to reelect Jimmy Carter, I suspect because, no matter what, we supported ourselves.
I find the Carter argument interesting. So I looked up the 1976 and 1980 elections for Carter and again in 2008 and 2012 for Obama.
1976 Carter lost to Ford 49% to 51% for 18-21 year old voters but won 56% to 44% for 22-29 year old voters. By 1980 Carter barely beat Reagan 45% to 44% for 18-21 year old voters and tied at 44% for 22-29 year old voters. Third party candidate Anderson won 11% in both demographics.
2008 Obama beat McCain 66% to 32% for all voters between 18 and 29 year olds. 2012 Obama lost 6% of the youth vote however Romney only gained 5% for the same 18-29 year old voting block.
The 6% of the Youth who left Obama's block between 2008 and 12 differed from Obama's opinions on unemployment, job creation, taxes, regulation and big government. Source. For Carter, I cannot find an actual hard proof of why Carter was voted for. I do find it interesting that Carter's numbers fell and so did Obama's. Sure more youth voted Obama but if you look at both of Obama's racial breakdown, he only lost on the white votes and only lost the male vote in 2012.
In all did the youth vote help Obama, yes but it was also a coalition of minorities as well.
I'm a baby Baby Boomer. I wasn't even old enough to vote in the Jimmy Carter election. You can't blame me.
I think that that is the thing that our millennial's need to remember. When we boomer's we growing up we had about as much control of what was going on as they do now. Zilch for the most part. D.C was then and still now is a place where there power brokers play and make deals. We were at the mercy of the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation ahead of us. We've been in their shoes. It's just the way we handled it that so far is different.
The one thing I want to know is what were the unemployment rates during the time that the boomers were the age of college graduate aged millennials. It is at about 12% currently for 18-29 year olds as of labor day. This information is from Forbes.
The only age groups that voted in the majority for Obama are under age 40. The 18-29 year olds are particularly stupid.
Freakishly stupid to vote for O twice.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
