http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/millennials-generation-y-guide-to-much-maligned-demographic

Millennials are accused of being lazy, self-involved, cosseted, politically apathetic narcissists, who aren’t able to function without a smartphone and who live in a state of perpetual adolescence, incapable of commitment.

Can’t be arsed commenting . I am 34 so sneak in . Selfie time !

“You want me to sum up the main issues facing an entire generation in an entire country? That sounds less scientific than a **** horoscope, you mad bastards.”

Which explains why so many spend their lives consuming comics, orc fantasy novels and space cowboy movies.

Doesn’t every single generation just give the one coming after it a name, then write that exact same article about them being a bunch of pampered, feckless wasters?

Which explains why so many spend their lives consuming comics, orc fantasy novels and space cowboy movies.

As oppsoed to growing up when houses were cheaper in real terms, when the NHS was at it’s best, when there were jobs for life and decent pensions – the same people who despite living for decades more than their expected retirement, continue to expect that they should be allowed to sponge off the state whilst the rest of our pensions get pushed back? The same generation that left us with this smouldering, litter infested planet and constant threat of nuclear ahnihaltion hanging over us?

Ever wondeed why we’re apathetic narcissitsts? Maybe we don’t like the world your cockwomble generation managed to create.

Be thankfull for the comics, they’re probably distracting generation-y from burning society and your pensions down to the ground.

Ha, that first line sums it up for me:

Millennials are currently aged 20-35, or born between 1980 and the end of 1994 (with some more generous definitions taking in those born up to 2000).

having to explain to the reader how to work out the year people had to have been born in to be between 20 and 35!

constant threat of nuclear ahnihaltion hanging over us?

Is that a real threat? I certainly don’t worry about it. Too busy with my fantasy comics and tinder apparently.

constant threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over us?

This one always makes me laugh, as though the science could just be shut back in a box and no one look at it ever again. WWII saw some massive technological acceleration and changes; some good (antibiotics, radar, jet engine, computers) and some less so (nuclear weapons). But ultimately all would have come about as the basic science & engineering was already know pre-war.

when the NHS was at it’s best

Really when was this magic era? Breast cancer survival stats have improved year on year throughout the life of the NHS. And other things like keyhole surgery, IVF or an MRI scan weren’t even available till the 80’s.

cosseted?

that’s the baby-boomers shirley?

(free education and health care / ludicrously cheap houses / massive, massive pensions, etc.)

Meh

I agree with ferrals.

Really when was this magic era? Breast cancer survival stats have improved year on year throughout the life of the NHS. And other things like keyhole surgery, IVF or an MRI scan weren’t even available till the 80’s.

I’m afraid you have medical science confused with the NHS, which has never been this close to being fully privatised since it’s inception. Also, on the whole, MRI scanners and camcer tend to help/afflict old people. 😀 We are partly in this mess because we consider it more important to give expensive anti cancer drugs to some old person with alzheimers than a young homeless person.

You also got free or mostly free higher education, yes?

This one always makes me laugh, as though the science could just be shut back in a box and no one look at it ever again. WWII saw some massive technological acceleration and changes; some good (antibiotics, radar, jet engine, computers) and some less so (nuclear weapons). But ultimately all would have come about as the basic science & engineering was already know pre-war.

Still doesn’t make it right. The boomers thought they could change the world by smoking dope and going to hippie fesitivals, it didn’t work, so like the spoilt little brats they were, they gave up at the first sign of dicculty and settled into the same roles as their parents.

Generation-Y has more maturity than that – and understands that they can only change the world by working for think tanks and becoming opinion makers/trend setters. Hence their obsession with social media.

Generation-Y has more maturity than that – and understands that they can only change the world by woring for think tanks and becoming opinion makers/trend setters. Hence their obsession with social media.

Nah, once they win X-Factor they can make their voice heard about underlying social issues of the day. Certainly whilst appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.

Nah, once they win X-Factor they can make their voice heard about underlying social issues of the day. Certainly whilst appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.

…..

as opposed to watching and talking about Jimmy Saville on Top of the Pops.

That was sooooo much more intellectually stimulating than the x-factor. 😀

The boomers thought they could change the world by smoking dope and going to hippie fesitivals, it didn’t work

What do they teach instead of history at schools these days?

Hence their obsession with social media.

Yeah, because “hitting like if you agree” will really change the world.

Gen X are a bit of a non-event aren’t they? Apart from a few decent authors I can’t think of any significant impacts, good or bad.

which has never been this close to being fully privatised since it’s inception.

Blame the Tories 😆

Worked in Greece didn’t it? 😆

What do they teach instead of history at schools these days?

Hit a nerve? The boomers are on the whole, cynical, fat, lazy ex hippies who expect to live off the state for another 20 years.

That’s as good of a sweeping generalisation as some of you are making. 🙂

Blame the Tories

Who’s major voting demographic is…..wait for it….. old people 😀

And don’t hit me with the “you young people should vote more”, theres more old people who consisently vote as a homogenous bloc for the tories. Even if we all voted, it wouldn’t be a homogenous vote for a party that represented our interests….as one doesn’t exist that is capable of winning.

The first Top of the Pops had the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Dusty Springfield on, compare and contrast with X-Factors winners such as Little Mix or Ben Haenow.

You’re just jealous because Gen Y’s music is so sh*t.

The first Top of the Pops had the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Dusty Springfield on, compare and contrast with X-Factors winners such as Little Mix or Ben Haenow.

You’re just jealous because Gen Y’s music is so sh*t.

Oh great, you brought us rock n roll. A derivative genre based on blues that was in turn appropriated from black music….the 1800’s had Brahms….

Your generation was still a failure. 😆

Hit a nerve?

Not really, I’m a bit too young to be a baby boomer.

And the most damning indictment of the boomers is that they, unlike their pre-war parents, were the generation that gave up trying to make tomorrow a better world for their children.

Gen X are a bit of a non-event aren’t they? Apart from a few decent authors I can’t think of any significant impacts, good or bad.

+1 on this. As someone closer to X than Y but sort of caught awkwardly between, you’re not old enough to be blamed for all the worlds problems and not young enough to be angrily hip.
Pimp My Ride and Cribs on MTV are the crowning achievements. 🙂

When I look at the opportunities/the world left to the Millennials by their parents I can’t help but think of the irony of what their generation was saying to their own parents at the time:

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand

Plus ca change. Each older generation leaves the world a worse place for their own children… except maybe my grandparents’ generation who got us through WW2 and created the prosperity that followed

I feel massive sympathy for the Millenials – when I graduated, it wasn’t that hard to find a reasonably well-paid job with a good pension and an affordable place to live. I really don’t know why they’re not on the streets. Mates of mine with kids say they’re head deep in social media and just trying to make do as best they can rather than getting angry…

There was a recent article in the FT where, if you read the comments, quite a few were simply saying the odds were so stacked against them, they’re not even going to bother playing the game e.g. why save to buy a house and all the sacrifice that means if prices are continuously pushed out of your reach and leaving you with such a massive debt burden that you’ll have a suppressed standard of living for your whole life.

That alone will bring the system crashing down – if they’re not prepared to put money in at the bottom of the system then those at the top won’t be able to take it out…

Gen X are a bit of a non-event aren’t they? Apart from a few decent authors I can’t think of any significant impacts, good or bad.

Thats a tad unfair. Their was some decent typography

Same as it ever was:

The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.”

That was from a sermon by Peter the Hermit in 1274, but you could paraphrase it and it’d look quite at home in a Daily Mail op-ed piece.

For reference I’m a ‘millennial’, work full time, pay a mortgage, married with 2 kids, have no facebook, twitter or instagram accounts, have a degree in political science and I only got a smart phone last year when Vodafone pretty much sent me one unprompted.

Sweeping generalizations in ‘largely bollocks’ shocker.

Pimp My Ride and Cribs on MTV are the crowning achievements.

Thats a tad unfair. Their was some decent typography

And britpop I suppose.

Each older generation leaves the world a worse place for their own children

A bit of a generalization. In many ways the world is a better place now because of our parents and grandparents and in many ways its a worse place.

All I know is I’m glad to be alive now than in say, the 18th century.

Why not?

My wifes cousins live in pretty much 18th century conditions in Manila, but because that country is so devoid of any kind of regulation….now that it’s economy is growing, it’s fairly easy to forge your own destiny. Want a house? Find some cheap land (plenty) and build one, no planning permission invovled. Life there is fast and cheap, but there’s a feeling among the youth that they are more in control of their own destiny.

Each older generation leaves the world a worse place for their own children

No they don’t, both the life expectancy and standard of living has massively increase across the globe every decade.

Gen X includes the founders of Google and Jonathan Ives, plus bands such as Nirvana and Daft Punk.

No they don’t, both the life expectancy and standard of living has massively increase across the globe every decade.

Thanks to the inexorable advancement of science, not a generations political ideology or philosphical/cultural leanings – which you can thank your enlightenment ancestors for.

Standard of living is also debatable.

Can’t wait till Tom is 50 😆 😆 😆

Who do you think the scientists are and from what generation are they? Yoof is wasted on the young 😉

I was trying to explain what a party phone line was to a 19yr old at Christmas, they didn’t believe me, I think there actual quote was “you have a hell of an imagination” 😯 😆

There was definitely more sunshine when I was in my 20’s. And a lot less rain.

I can’t work out what this means as a generational social commentary, but its probably something really important

A bit of a generalization. In many ways the world is a better place now because of our parents and grandparents and in many ways its a worse place.

You’re right. After all 20th century saw two world wars centred around Europe, in which we lost literally millions of (mainly) men, so our grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t do a great job either, really.

tbh the real problem is that the boomers grew up in a time of unprecedented increasing economic growth and living standards and mainly absence of war, but forgot it was unprecedented and didn’t do enough to set aside some of the gains for the future. A bit like kids of rich self-made parents spanking the family wealth because they didn’t appreciate it wasn’t a never-ending flow of cash.

We (I’m 43, born 1973) saw what our parents have and expected the same and now we’re finding we won’t get it, we’re upset – when actually it was a one-off time of plenty and we’re just going back to trend in terms of wealth inequality and economic growth…

Maybe gains in automation and technology will simultaneously reduce the cost of living whilst providing higher standards of living. who knows

somewhatslightlydazed – Member
All I know is I’m glad to be alive now than in say, the 18th century

Nothing wrong with 18th century where there are many death.

Why prolong the suffering when a person can die young if they are poor or poorly?

In 18th century perhaps dying young is a blessing to avoid prolong suffering.

The more people that survive the more the earth’s limited resources will be consumed and the more suffering/stress it will create.

Human population is like parasite lurking on and they need to be culled from time to time.

I just hope the generation Y or whatever will degenerate further into full scale nuclear war to wipe each other out.

Yaaa … that’s my opinion on them. 😈

I feel sad for the youth of today.

They will never experience the unbridled joy of a two foot long Curly Wurly.

#wontanyonethinkofthechildren

We (I’m 43, born 1973) saw what our parents have and expected the same and now we’re finding we won’t get it, we’re upset – when actually it was a one-off time of plenty and we’re just going back to trend in terms of wealth inequality and economic growth…

I’m a couple of years older than you, and I think when most of us left school into the post-industrial wasteland that was 80’s Britain, we were aware that the gig was up as far as jobs for life, and all that was concerned.

I still look at it in the respect that it could be a damn site worse. We live in a country that isn’t war ravaged, and most of us have everything we could conceivably desire. As long as you’re a realist, obviously, and don’t think a Porsche is a basic human right.

Its all relative innit? 😀

Who do you think the scientists are and from what generation are they? Yoof is wasted on the young

Most scientists, apart from the paradigm shifters, are just monkeys that dance to the tune of science. 😛 1000 monkeys on 1000 typrewriters etc. They go into work because it’s a job and they never really change anything massively that wouldn’t be thought of by someone else.

It’s almost as if you’re asking me to thank older generations from planting crops, as opposed to the ancestors who thought of the idea in the first place.

We (I’m 43, born 1973) saw what our parents have and expected the same and now we’re finding we won’t get it, we’re upset – when actually it was a one-off time of plenty and we’re just going back to trend in terms of wealth inequality and economic growth.

Yes, in a way, they were “lucky” to be born when they were but I don’t begrudge them that.

But we are still pretty lucky to be alive in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century. We do have unprecedented physical, cultural and moral wealth. And (at least in northern Europe) we live in a time of unprecedented peace.

Admittedly the future looks pretty dark, but then it often looks pretty dark to those about to experience it.

not a generations political ideology

But the politicians set the frame work for science and engineering to progress.

I dunno what you want as no political ideology is going to work in a deterministic way, the world, people etc are far to complex. In fact we know from the maths that there is no way to even predict with any certainty the outcome of policy changes. Hence, smart politicians change their views based on the data (unfortunately people seem to not like this).