Millennials in the Media Project

 We've all heard it from someone before: "you've got it so much easier than I did when I was young," and we've probably all said it to someone too.  In today's culture, there seems to be quite distinct gaps between one generation and the next.  These gaps are simply caused by the fact that each generation grows up learning different values and ways of life that the next, creating a barrier of sorts.  With these differences come good and bad reputations and thoughts about generations themselves. Today, the millennial generation is faced with one main stereotype.  Millennials are lazy.  Of course, being a millennial myself, I would like to disagree on that view, and instead explore the ways in which we simply think differently, have different work methods, both of which are greatly influenced by technology.  

Millennials are those born anytime around the 1980s to the early 2000s, and these days we are subject to a lot of criticism.  We are called entitled, narcissistic, and technology-obsessed, but most commonly, we are called lazy, by our parents, educators, and basically anyone in the generations older than us.  Our parents are constantly nagging us to get off our phones, laptops, and other devices in order to do schoolwork, help around the house, and basically do something better with ourselves.  It seems to be a general belief for adults that technology, in a personal context, is a distraction, anti-intellectual, and always congruent with laziness.  When I think about the technology that has most impacted the way we think, the computer, and more specifically, the Internet come to mind.  For millennials, this tool has completely changed the way we think compared to other generations who didn’t grow up with the Internet at their fingertips.  “The tools we use to think change the ways in which we think,” says Sherry Turkle, author of “How Computers Change the Way We Think."   Nowadays, kids are introduced to various tools like word-processors, e-mail, PowerPoint, and social media sites, “they are learning new ways to think about what it means to know and understand,” Turkle adds.  Before, say, in our parents generation, there were much different ways of obtaining information. When faced with a question, they might have had to go to the library, use an encyclopedia, or find some other way of solving it, whereas when millennials need to figure something out, we turn to the internet.  It is never really in our thought process to go look up something in the encyclopedia unless that encyclopedia is an online version.  

Does this make us lazy?  Well, yes, technology makes things a lot easier, but more and more is being expected of millennials in the educational, social, and professional worlds.  People don't have to go to the library all the time or drive across town for a meeting with tools like the internet and email, but they are expected to do so much more with these tools.  Where you might have had a meeting with a small group of people before, now you are expected to email tens of people.  With that being said, we are actually much more hard working that meets the eye.  Catherine Rampell’s “A Generation of Slackers,” takes a look at why millennials aren’t exactly the slackers they are made out to be by older generations.  She explains the ways we have it easier these days with the availability of technology, yet counters those facts with evidence that we are a very hardworking generation, which aims to get ahead.  According to the article, millennials have higher GPAs than other generations, are very focused on the future, participate in more community service, and work well in collaborative, team-oriented activities.  Rampell basically believes that our generation simply works differently than those before us, and that it’s okay.  

Stephen Parkhurst’s  “Millennials: We Suck and We’re Sorry” video also takes a look at how millennials may appear lazy and unfocused, but he contrasts those ideas with facts that we are faced with many serious issues that have been caused by older generations.  They started two wars, jacked up college tuition, and destroyed the global economy.  Millennials were born into a recession and must face the fact that ninety percent of jobs since 2009 are part time.  Maybe we appear lazier because our actions are imperative to the future of the world, and others are anxious about that, or maybe it’s technology that makes us look lazier than we really are. 

            Instead of being on technology all of the time, our parents want us to do schoolwork to prepare us for jobs later in life, and housework to maintain a home in the future.  Ultimately, they want to teach us how to be an adult, but who says we aren’t learning the same things on our own terms.  According to the Department of Commerce, “Ninety-six percent of working Americans use new communications technologies as part of their daily life, while sixty-two percent of working Americans use the Internet as an integral part of their jobs.”  So that fact alone shows that technology should in fact be a vital part of our education and lives, to prepare for the future.  Not to mention the fact that just because we are using technology, does not mean we are stalking our friend’s friend’s cousin on Facebook, watching dumb YouTube videos, and updating people on our lives every second of the day.  We have grown up with technology at our fingertips, and have lived through its changes, so it makes sense that we would be somewhat attached to it.  We use different technologies to help work more efficiently, especially in educational terms, but the Internet is by far the aid we use most.  Maybe it is seen as the easy way out to some adults and educators, but for millennials, it is a resource that is most efficient, easy to use, and, advantageous to our work, and lets face it, if older generations had grown up with the internet, they would be using it to their advantage too.  
Technology has also made millennials pros at multi-tasking.  As I sit here writing this, I am surrounded by friends who all have their laptops out, headphones in, and are writing in notebooks, highlighting, and reading all at the same time.  Although research shows that millennials are doing these tasks at a much lower quality and standard, it can be a useful skill, to be able to focus on many different things at once even if not as thoroughly.  According to a study done by UNC's Kenan-Flagler business school, "millennials switch their attention between social media platforms like laptops, smartphones, tablets, and television twenty seven times per hour on average--as compared to only seventeen times for previous generations."  It is something that we have built in to our everyday habits, and I think it has only made us better at managing everything in our lives, and is certainly not a form of laziness.   

           Time Magazine writers, Josh Sanburn and Joel Stein, authors of the article “The Me Me Me Generation” provide an alternative viewpoint.  They say we are fame-obsessed, development stunted, and just plain lazy.  Part of this stance comes from the technology that millennials have at their fingertips.  It portrays us as lazier than we actually are, in a lot of cases, and adds to our sluggish image.  They raise the question of whether or not millennials are preparing themselves for adult responsibilities or hindering that development.  They agree that technology is an aid that millennials have come to depend on, adding that “The Internet has democratized opportunity for many young people, giving them access and information that once belonged mostly to the wealthy.”  Take things like elections and issues like the Ferguson trial; there is so much media coverage and information available to the vast majority of people on topics like these, which gives the opportunity for people to speak out, and take sides, and develop a point of view.  
Sanburn and Stein also talk about the prolonged life stage between being a teenager and adult that millennials seem to have, explaining the changes that has caused.  With texting and social media, children and teens are under the constant influence of their friends, which is “…anti-intellectual…” according to Mark Bauerlein, writer of “The Dumbest Generation: How Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).”  He thinks that young people must relate to older generations to develop intellectually, but I think millennials are as intellectual as any other generation before them.  Something I really see in my generation is the idea of a fangirl or fanboy.  Because technology is so widespread, it gives young people the opportunity to discover people or things they like and learn about them so deeply that an infatuation begins.  Yes, for some it may be silly obsessions like cats or stupid youtube videos, but for others it becomes an idol or someone they aspire to be like.  I am obsessed with writers like Tavi Gevinson and Leanndra Medine, as well as bloggers like Natalie Suarez, and I will admit to being a complete nut when even a word about them is mentioned.  My point being, I think a lot of older people see the way millennials act, especially in this 'fan' type of way and associate it with being anti-intellectual, but really, for a lot of us, it is expanding our knowledge of the world and connecting ourselves to something bigger.  

            Because of technology, I think kids are growing up a lot faster in a social sense.  The constant social media pressure from peers is overwhelming at times, which forces kids at younger and younger ages to tap into the technological world and not only use it, but be good at using it.  Just the fact that I, myself, don't have a Facebook keeps me out of the loop on more things than you would think.  Obviously, there has never been a time when i really needed to get one or else I would have by now, but there have been countless times where not having one made me feel weird, stupid, and disconnected.  Sometimes I wonder if this limits opportunities for myself, or if in the future I will wish I had gotten one.  I also think about the fact that I have never been out of the loop in regards to big issues in the country or world, and that makes me feel more confident in my choice to not get a Facebook.  Recently, I was very aware of the Ferguson trial and riots, and without checking a social media sight, I was able to fully understand and comprehend the situation.  It also helped that I live about twenty minutes away from Ferguson so I was even more connected, but nevertheless, I knew what was happening without the use of Facebook.  It is times like these where I can see how technology can be a very useful tool, but facets of it aren't truly necessary.     

Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (or, Don't Trust Anyone under 30). New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2008. Print.

Millennials: We Suck and We're Sorry. Dir. Steven Parkhurst. Perf. Sara Jonsson, Nick Schwartz, Ronnie Fleming & Bridget Araujo. 2013. Youtube Video.

Stein, Joel, and Josh Sanburn. "Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation."Time 9 May 2013: n. pag. Web. <http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/>.

Turkle, Sherry. "How Computers Change the Way We Think." Chronicle of Higher Education 30 Jan. 2004: n. pag. Web. <http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/pdfsforstwebpage/Turkle_how_computers_change_way_we_think.pdf>.