Millennials...

In your experience, what are the characteristics of the typical Millenial?

I find that many of them have a chronic lack of responsibility. If they do something wrong at work, it's a shrug of the shoulders. If they screw up in life, same thing...although if they perceive the slightest wrong to them, it's drama and strops all round. Just an inability to perform simple tasks. I think this may be down to them being the children of baby boomers, and treated in a way that other generations before had not experienced.

An obsession with looks, physique, appearance. See the way gyms now focus on the body rather than training to run faster and lift more, or simple athleticism, and there are suggestions that steroid use is frequent. We live in an era when some people actually look to the likes of Roz Purcell for advice. Scary. Presumably linked to use of social media where images are so crucial to communication. Can us Gen Xers imagine the laughter if you went into school with pics of your lunch and a dozen selfies every day?

An inability to accept criticism or challenge. I had one person at the upper end of the Millenial age range recently get very annoyed at my dismissal of the gluten free fad, and say I had just told her that her parents, siblings and everyone she knew was suffering from a fad. I pointed out that the prevalence suggested both self diagnosis and over diagnosis. Cue amusing tantrum and silence. Again, probably linked to their being the children of doting baby boomers.

On the plus side, they are generally more liberal and tolerant than preceding generations...though Gen Xers may argue that they were the generation where taboos were really smashed.

Anyone note any other characteristics? Incidentally, I know that this is purely based on observation, I am not claiming this is a sociology study. Oh and us Gen Xers are aware we have flaws, pointing to them can be a matter for another thread if any Millenials would like to open one.

andekwarhola

Deleted User wrote: »

In your experience, what are the characteristics of the typical Millenial?

Anybody that annoys people over the age of 35.

osarusan

I think it's a fairly empty term to be honest.

mada999

I hate the word Millenials

D3V!L

Oh moi gawwwwd OP your sooo old :rolleyes:

hidinginthebush

THEY WEREN'T EVEN ALIVE FOR ITALIA 90!!!

I honestly have trouble wrapping my head around that fact whenever I meet someone under 26

tomwaterford

What's wrong with wanting to look better and going to gyms ??

What harm if they do steroids etc.. ...it's harming noone but themselves


As for that whinge about not taking responsibilities.....
How many young people were involved in bankrupting the country/refused to pay mortgages etc

mada999

mada999 wrote: »

I hate the word Millenials

20 somethings isn't far off, but IMO the characteristics are evident in people in their early 30s too.

Lollipops23

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

CINCLANTFLT

I think it describes my younger siblings and relatives... good is that they are quite chilled and good fun to chat with etc.
Bad is an odd indifference to career, settling down, etc.

I don't mind the second point until they get snotty with slightly older people like me for being " one of the 1%" with my long term career, kids, house etc. They ask why they can't have all this...

I tell them simply:
- I studied hard in School
- I did a boring but needed subject that I liked in Uni
- I got a graduate job and did it straight out of Uni
- No year out in Asia to "find myself"
- Continued to study interesting and needed subjects
- Work hard to provide for my family
- The occasional "boring" holiday for my family and I in Spain

In contrast, most of them:
- had a transition year and studied arty subjects
- went onto 3rd level and studied art or English lit
- or worse got a job laying blocks at 16 and now can't get any work
- never getting into a career as it "is for suits" or "takes from my time with the band"
- a year here in Oz, a year there in SE Asia
- not studying or learning...

I know I will get flamed for being a square, but I am 40 soon and I have kids... I had to grow up a long time ago... but now I have a good career, family and I like what I do

They all seem bitter about a system that "works against them"

CINCLANTFLT

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

There it is again :-(

Samaris

Millennial Traits: Anything that people born in the preceding forty years had levied against them by their elders until they had a succeeding generation to annoy.

I find that many of them have a chronic lack of responsibility. If they do something wrong at work, it's a shrug of the shoulders. If they screw up in life, same thing...although if they perceive the slightest wrong to them, it's drama and strops all round. Just an inability to perform simple tasks. I think this may be down to them being the children of baby boomers, and treated in a way that other generations before had not experienced.

Many Millennials are so desperate for work that they will give absolutely 110% for fear of losing said job and being reliant on the dole. They grew up in an easier era than the one they're working in and, same with any other group, it's adapt or perish.

An obsession with looks, physique, appearance. See the way gyms now focus on the body rather than training to run faster and lift more, or simple athleticism, and there are suggestions that steroid use is frequent. We live in an era when some people actually look to the likes of Roz Purcell for advice. Scary. Presumably linked to use of social media where images are so crucial to communication. Can us Gen Xers imagine the laughter if you went into school with pics of your lunch and a dozen selfies every day?

http://www.anabolicsteroids.net/steroids-in-sports.php

Bear in mind that with the eternal movement of the medical industry and research, there are always more dubious things to try, and also more things being banned, sometimes retroactively (or at least, banning them, and holdovers from when it was legal may still be present in the body when tested). Increased testing and more high-tech testing also reveals things accidentally ingested that likely would not have shown up before.

Also, I guarentee if GenXers had phones, they'd have done the same :P We're a narcissistic species!

An inability to accept criticism or challenge. I had one person at the upper end of the Millenial age range recently get very annoyed at my dismissal of the gluten free fad, and say I had just told her that her parents, siblings and everyone she knew was suffering from a fad. I pointed out that the prevalence suggested both self diagnosis and over diagnosis. Cue amusing tantrum and silence. Again, probably linked to their being the children of doting baby boomers.

I'm sure much the same was said about lactose intolerance. I screamed solidly for about eighteen months after I was born and no-one could figure out why this baby was so permanently enraged. In retrospect and looking at family history, it would appear I was reacting to lactose and the accompanying pain and making my feelings very much known about it! But lactose intolerance wasn't well understood back then.

Same side of the family also tends towards gluten intolerance and while the numbers of people with that intolerance are likely nowhere near as great as the amount who think they are, to dismiss the people who have gone off gluten and subsequently had less bloating, less pain, less discomfort after eating is a bit silly just because there are also some that buy into a fad.

Also, no-one reacts well to it being implied they're a blind and gullible idiot!

On the plus side, they are generally more liberal and tolerant than preceding generations...though Gen Xers may argue that they were the generation where taboos were really smashed.

Now, yes, this is true, but again, not by a huge margin. As you point out, it was the hippy generation that really started off the tolerance kick. And many Millennials are now turning more conservative and right-wing, due to the influence of the world they live in.

We go through boom and bust periods in advancing our society in how we deal with others, linked far more strongly to stability and wealth than strict generational bias, but there is a long-term trend to more openness and more tolerance. So this one is hardly surprising, and doesn't really speak positively or negatively about Millennials.

TLDR: People is people. Nothing you've shown is unique to the "Millennials" and the mere difference of being born in 1979 rather than 1980 makes far less difference than personal circumstances growing up.

VinLieger

They are made of glass and will report the slightest perceived wrong to the nearest authority figure so they can get all self righteous about it.

Generation snowflake is my prefferred term for them.

Oafley Jones

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

Those are some old gen x people. Oh the stories Bertie Ahern and Sean Fitzpatrick could tell about attending The Prodigy gigs in the 90s.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

gossamer

This seems to be a real hobby horse of yours. Running down "millenials" won't make you any younger, I'm afraid.

Lollipops23

I'd consider generation X to be those who would have been in their early teens to early adulthood in the late 80s-mid 90s. The ones who were buying houses with 100% (or 110% mortgages) back in the boom.

lawlolawl

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

Are millenials the only people who pay tax now or something? We'll all be "cleaning up the mess" for decades.

Millenials would have had a much better life growing up than Gen X for one. Teenagers with cars? Never heard the like until the 2000s.

mansize

Not so old man yells at cloud

dudara

We had a guest speaker at work recently, who gave a very funny and insightful talk on the whole generation thing.

For reference, here's a quick guide to the generations (it's a subjective opinion)

Greatest Generation. These are the people that fought and died in World War II for our freedom, which we appreciate. But it's a little over-the-top as far as names go, isn't it? Tom Brokaw made the name up and of course everyone loved it. What, you're going to argue with your grandfather that he isn't in the greatest generation? The generation ended when the war ended.

Baby Boomers. This is the agreed-upon generation that falls within DiPrete's punctuated timeframe. It began when the Greatest Generation got home and started having sex with everyone; it ended when having sex with everyone was made easier with The Pill.

Generation X. George Masnick, of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies puts this generation in the timeframe of 1965 to 1984, in part because it's a neat 20-year period.

Generation Y. Masnick addresses this group, too, putting it "anywhere from the mid-1970s when the oldest were born to the mid-2000s when the youngest were." But mostly Generation Y is a made-up generation when it became obvious that young kids didn't really fit with the cool Generation X aesthetic but not enough of them had been born to make a new generation designation. NOTE: Generation Y is a fake, made-up thing. Do not worry about it.

Millennials. In October 2004, researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss called Millennials "the next great generation," which is funny. They define the group as "as those born in 1982 and approximately the 20 years thereafter." In 2012, they affixed the end point as 2004.

I'm Gen X technically myself, but as I'm getting older, Im seeing a lot more of the "millenial" generation at work. And yes, they do work differently. No doubt about it.

There are pros & cons to that. On the plus side, I find them quite ambitious and driven, very energetic and interested in social responsibility. Areas of improvement that I see could include having more realistic expectations, better written English skills and an ability to better absorb constructive criticism.

I'm sure that back in the day, some Baby Boomer was making similar comments about my generation.

andekwarhola

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

Don't mention it. Thanks for taking the bullet.

Dravokivich

Deleted User wrote: »

In your experience, what are the characteristics of the typical Millenial?

I don't know, I've only ever seen it mentioned in life style type media or bickering on the internet.

I always assumed it was a word for kid's born throughout the noughties, but now I'm not quite sure going by the rest of your OP.

So now I'm left with the perplexing possibility of being Abe Simpson no longer knowing what "it" is anymore... and I've only gone 32!

Or maybe this "it" thing about Millenials doesn't matter a whole lot it's only really prevalent on life style type media or bickering on the internet.

GLaDOS

I Love being told how shít my entire generation are, fantastic way to start the day.

Nonsense generalisations, of course.

Btw, young people are working harder than ever: http://www.officegenie.co.uk/blog/20150904-official-young-people-work-hardest

And getting less wages for it than they would have 10 years ago.

endacl

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

Everybody sorts out somebody else's mess. We sorted out the ozone layer and the church.

Get over yourself and get paying.

Oafley Jones

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I'd consider generation X to be those who would have been in their early teens to early adulthood in the late 80s-mid 90s. The ones who were buying houses with 100% (or 110% mortgages) back in the boom.

So you're blaming the cohort who (stupidly) loaded themselves up with ridiculous levels of debt.

smash

Next year you'll be legally allowed to bone a Millennial!

Oafley Jones

smash wrote: »

Next year you'll be legally allowed to bone a Millennial!

Given that some are in their 30s now I'd imagine you don't have to wait.

Lollipops23

It won't just be us paying it off- our kids and probably grandkids paying for the CT mess, long after those who defaulted on their mortgages are dead and gone. At least they got to experience some of the fun.

VinLieger

Going off that calculation im technically one of them but tbh i always though of them being 90's babies rather than 80's ones

smash

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Given that some are in their 30s now I'd imagine you don't have to wait.

Ah ffs, I thought it was someone born after 2000.

J Mysterio

hidinginthebush wrote: »

THEY WEREN'T EVEN ALIVE FOR ITALIA 90!!!

I honestly have trouble wrapping my head around that fact whenever I meet someone under 26

Apparently a Millenial is someone 'reaching young adulthood' at the year 2000. That would indicate all Millenials were alive for Italia 90?

GLaDOS

I was alive for Italia 90, albeit only a month old :pac:

iguana

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

For the most part Gen Xers have been far more fuçked over by the turn of the century mega boom and bust. Millenials may find it harder to buy a house but I'd rather rent indefinitely than be stuck with a debt so big I'll be paying it long past normal retirement age for a tiny home unsuitable for my family/in an area that doesn't suit my life. Which is what many Gen Xers, especially the younger ones, have been left with.

tomwaterford

iguana wrote: »

For the most part Gen Xers have been far more fuçked over by the turn of the century mega boom and bust. Millenials may find it harder to buy a house but I'd rather rent indefinitely than be stuck with a debt so big I'll be paying it long past normal retirement age for a tiny home unsuitable for my family/in an area that doesn't suit my life. Which is what many Gen Xers, especially the younger ones, have been left with.

Surly this is their own fault??

Why take their bitterness out by sneering at younger people

J Mysterio

Samaris wrote: »

I screamed solidly for about eighteen months after I was born and no-one could figure out why this baby was so permanently enraged.

:pac:

Samaris

Samaris wrote: »

Also, I guarentee if GenXers had phones, they'd have done the same :P We're a narcissistic species!

Oh I fully agree.

I guess the point of me referencing that the fault may lie with parents or their environment, such as social media, is to stress that I don't think they are inherently "worse" or anything, merely that they are shaped by very different influences to those faced by previous generations. It's not good or bad, it's different.

J Mysterio

VinLieger wrote: »

Going off that calculation im technically one of them but tbh i always though of them being 90's babies rather than 80's ones

Same

smash

GenX : Most demographers and commentators use birth dates ranging from the early 1960s to the early 1980s.

Millennials : Most researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

So if you're born in the early 80's you get to decide who you are based on the topic of discussion.

pumpkin4life

Characteristics:

Physically: Taller, but smaller builds. For men, higher pitched voices. For women, the opposite. More extremes; more ripped lads, badly obese lads, than previous generations. More lads with poor eyesight/glasses.

More prone to mental illness, be it depression, narcissism etc. This is due to safe, risk averse, bubble paper, nothing can hurt little Timmy childhoods, where being able to adopt to struggle and pain is not allowed, in addition to a piss poor job market with far lower purchasing power, (thank you Boomers) opportunities and higher taxes. I said this in another thread: expect more Bressies, depression, medication en Lexapro, quack psychology and therapies in the next few years. Just mental health weirdness in general.

More ideologically extreme. Example from a night out; talking to a Millenial one about how she found it offensive and sexist that a North Dublin lad called her love, then talking to a guy who was talking about being in support of the alt-right. Far more nihilistic; YOLO and all that craic. Far less nationalistic, and far more into virtue signalling and being a good person: look like a good person by liking the right movies, music etc. This in contrast to the high cynicism of lads in the X generation.

More of a stratification between working class and middle class Millenials. Seems the Boomer and Gen X generation didn't have that as much, or at least thats my wc background.

More socially retarded than older generations.

More ambitious than other generations.

I'm in my twenties and I've always found it easier to talk to/get along with Gen Xers for the above reasons. Though all generations have their weird ****e I suppose.

MilesMorales1

Considering this isn't the first thread you've made on this subject OP, I think you're just a bit odd, or have a problem with people younger than you, or whatever.

MilesMorales1

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Considering this isn't the first thread you've made on this subject OP, I think you're just a bit odd, or have a problem with people younger than you, or whatever.

Actually, I think it is. Though I have raised concerns in other threads, such as the increasing fixation on gyms. Not gym work to run faster or punch harder, but to lose weight, to develop abs, to look better. So steroids and Roz Purcell are in. But even if it's not, so? I mean, on the football forum, you'll find lots of people post a few different threads about...football.

As for the personal comment, I think you may be a Millenial. Did you deliberately set out to provide a demonstration of...

Deleted User wrote: »

...although if they perceive the slightest wrong to them, it's drama and strops all round...
...
An inability to accept criticism or challenge...
...
Cue amusing tantrum...

if so, thanks.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

How old do you have to be to be a millennial

Turtyturd

Can't wait for the OP's thread on the bad movie tastes of millennials

pumpkin4life

pumpkin4life wrote: »

I said this in another thread: expect more Bressies, depression, medication en Lexapro, quack psychology and therapies in the next few years. Just mental health weirdness in general.
...
Far less nationalistic, and far more into virtue signalling and being a good person: look like a good person by liking the right movies, music etc. This in contrast to the high cynicism of lads in the X generation.

2 good observations.

The person who was banging on about being gluten free has gone to a faith healer, a life coach, someone who applies those suction cups, has praised the "work" of a homeopath, and likes those clichés on facebook like "surround yourself with those who laugh".

She has been told to go to a Psychologist but won't. I mean, why try someone with proper qualifications?

And she has no cynicism about any of those treatments. Or indeed about anything. The poor thing is so gullible is almost endearing.

I am 26 op and I agree with you that people my age or younger now possess way more contemptible traits than those who were similar ages 20 years ago. I suppose when you get down to it they're just a product of the times and culture they grew up in- doesn't mean they don't possess the contemptible traits though

See that video going around of the Mayo nightclub in 1990? That took me back to my youth in the mid to late 90s when adults seemed so much more laid back, less concerned with their appearance, more living in the moment, down to earth. Now men go around extremely groomed, all with variations of that same haircut, tight on inside, hair up high, where they are afraid of looking bald.
Wearing self-indulgent tight tracksuit bottoms, jeans, well fitted jackets because they are afraid of looking the least bit overweight. Wearing sunglasses like arrogant un-Irish douchbags! Every single lad going around with big bulging muscles, imposing them on everyone else, wearing those tight v-necked t-shirts, the physical evidence of their self-focus and unnatural efforts to stave off insecurity but websites like Joe.ie etc. describe it as "becoming a 'better' man".. In reality they are fuelling the arms race of insecurity about appearance that social media had sparked. I can't imagine what kind of children are going to develop from the psychologically toxic world they are finding themselves born into!

MilesMorales1

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually, I think it is. Though I have raised concerns in other threads, such as the increasing fixation on gyms. Not gym work to run faster or punch harder, but to lose weight, to develop abs, to look better. So steroids and Roz Purcell are in. But even if it's not, so? I mean, on the football forum, you'll find lots of people post a few different threads about...football.

As for the personal comment, I think you may be a Millenial. Did you deliberately set out to provide a demonstration of...



if so, thanks.

Alright, lets see


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100170060 - getting old and hating everything


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99735371 - 20 somethings...does their attitude stink?


Seems like you do have a problem with them, in fact.

Kev_2012

Aren't millennials people born between the early 80s and early 00s? So effectively ages 16-36?

That probably encompasses a lot of people on boards.

I think the one you want is generation snowflake. those f*ckers can't handle any banter.

Actually let's focus on anyone who is too PC. They suck the fun out of life, clowns.

It's quite funny that you say that about the young fellas going to the gym because they physically look built, but christ they are as weak as water when it comes to sport. Works in my favour not having to play rugby against the tough bastards from older generations anymore and these apes look twice the size but wouldn't knock the skin off a custard

Pat Mustard

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Basically Millenials are the generation who didn't get to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger, but who will be cleaning up its mess for decades to come.

Thanks for that, Generation X.

Gener-ation X
Wrote a lot of cheques
Now Millen-ials can stress
And hope - at best
To try escape the mis-ry
(Of) austerity and usury
That's okay

We'll send on a postcard
From the Costa Concord
While you pay our pensions
You keep up the work
While we pop a cork
Just you pay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhF47Zny_Fk

Mickeroo

This just a classic case of "Young people today eh?". People get older and find young people annoying because they don't have good taste in music and dress funny. The cycle continues.

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

This just a classic case of "Young people today eh?". People get older and find young people annoying because they don't have good taste in music and dress funny. The cycle continues.

I am the age the op is complaining about and I basically agree with him. Every generation might have the old complaining about the young but the traits complained about by the older generation change. The current batch of undesirable traits possessed by my generation are particularly loathsome to me anyway!

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

I am the age the op is complaining about and I basically agree with him. Every generation might have the old complaining about the young but the traits complained about by the older generation change. The current batch of undesirable traits possessed by my generation are particularly loathsome to me anyway!

Well, I just found out today that I'm a millenial too. I'm going to have to throw all my Pearl Jam CDs out. sign up to snapchat and Instagram and get a gym membership this evening. How do you think that makes me feel?