Identities
Harriet Brewis
Apr 23, 2021
Simon Maage/Unsplash
Silenters, Boomers, Millennials, X and Z – no matter your age, you can expect to be lumped into a generational pigeonhole.
Born in the wake of the Second World War, Baby Boomers are commonly characterised as self-sufficient and competitive, while Gen Z – the youngest of the cohort – are ambitious tech-pros.
Meanwhile, Millennials – born between around 1980 and 1995, and also known as Gen Y – are often derided as greedy but lazy; spending all the money they should be saving for a house on avocado toast.
A psychology graduate and marketing researcher has run with this theme in a recent opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune, in which she describes why the Covid pandemic is forcing “some Millennials” to “finally start #adulting.”
The writer, Jennifer Rosner, credits her father with correctly summing up the lived experience of both his daughter (who is a Millennial herself) and all other members of this age group.
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His key theories, Rosner explains, are as follows:
1) Many Millenials “have been given things without having earned them (like As for just showing up to gym class). As digital natives, they only know a world in which an endless supply of options in the form of information, products, and people are acquired on demand via the internet.”
2) As “collateral damage from the Great Recession” who “never stood a chance at developing principles around saving and planning”, Millennials have found themselves stereotyped as “entitled, self-absorbed, overly picky, noncommittal Peter Pans with very short attention spans”. She adds: “From an older person’s perspective, these characteristics are all signs of immaturity and a failure to launch.”
Rosner then suggests that her father is “not wrong” in thinking these things, but adds that she has a “feeling” that the end of the pandemic will see a “cascade of life changes for the 30-something elder Millennials.”
She jokes: “Even the trusty millennial brunch couldn’t drown out the debilitating terror that was 2020. After all, where could we brunch?
“Instead, we went home — back to our parents — which is ironic given some of us never really left. We started crafting and baking, watched a lot of PBS, and learned how to play online mahjong.”
Millennials apparently love to spend all their money on brunch
Rosner then continues by pointing out that the oldest Millennials “will turn 40 this year” and it is, therefore, “time to grow up”.
The Chicago Tribune shared the essay on Twitter using the caption: “Writer Jennifer Rosner predicts COVID-19 lockdowns will force easy-breezy millennials to grow up.”
Hilarious. I don't think I've ever been easy-breezy. I've always been stressy-depressy https://t.co/hL80BzTe4k— Mapl3Waffl3 (@Mapl3Waffl3) 1619040645
The suggestion that people aged 25-40 are having an “easy-breezy” time of things has not gone down well, with scores of users lashing out against the op-ed and the sweeping generalisations it perpetuates.
Here is just a glimpse at the impassioned reactions the piece has provoked:
@tindsaylurner This is also another great example of people not realizing that millennials are 35, and are the peop… https://t.co/CbYkZS7TGX— Emily Galvin-Almanza (@Emily Galvin-Almanza) 1619018717
"Easy breezy millennials" face a climate change future brought on by the greed and inaction of previous generations… https://t.co/nI5wUDUtr9— Walker Bragman (@Walker Bragman) 1619029594
@tylerevansokay I graduated in 2000, the literal definition of a millennial/ coming of age in the new millennium.… https://t.co/vJuhsIFOIA— Tiffany (@Tiffany) 1619024421
I've also not met many, if any, 'easy-breezy' millennials. We're all riddled with anxiety and depression from livin… https://t.co/vKDxYZFtr3— Tyler Evans (@Tyler Evans) 1619020563
@BoozyBadger Me too! I got my first paying job, not babysitting, at 14. I will be 39 this year. "easy breezy millen… https://t.co/Vl1m6sHstY— Moredena 🌹 (@Moredena 🌹) 1619023665
good morning to easy-breezy millennials and easy-breezy millennials only.— Kimeko M. (@Kimeko M.) 1619097684
the idea of the easy breezy millennial ready to quit their job because flush with savings is so funny because me an… https://t.co/sLZpCEawNF— bettina (@bettina) 1619025848
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Excuse my millennial self while I go back to cramming a days' work b… https://t.co/SR2EylXe83— Jonathan Wong 黃沛恩 (@Jonathan Wong 黃沛恩) 1619047740
@tylerevansokay @jbouie I just can't get over describing one of the most financially fucked-over generation in US history as "easy-breezy."— Michael Somers (@Michael Somers) 1619021581
how millennials actually live https://t.co/JA0lWDYy05— Allison Kilkenny (@Allison Kilkenny) 1618936208
Suffice it to say, Millennials do not consider their lives “easy-breezy” or, indeed, easy full-stop.
The Chicago Tribune later removed its tweet to the article, stating: “We deleted an earlier tweet because some comments in replies violated our guidelines for social media posting.”
We deleted an earlier tweet because some comments in replies violated our guidelines for social media posting.— Chicago Tribune Opinion (@Chicago Tribune Opinion) 1619056750
However, Rosner’s piece can still be accessed on the news site.
And despite the fallout, as some Twitter users pointed out, opinion pieces are exactly that: opinions, not fact. They are there to be debated and to provoke a response.
In that case, this op-ed most certainly achieved its aim – the responses keep pouring out.
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