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(New York Magazine)   Move out of the way baby boomers, there's an even bigger difference between old millennials and young millennials   (nymag.com) divider line
    More: Interesting, Generation Y, Justin Bieber fans, New York Times, youngest Young Millennials, substantively different lives, San Diego State, term millennial, millennial generation  
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8753 clicks; posted to Main » on 26 Apr 2017 at 7:50 AM (6 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Copy Link



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foo monkey [TotalFark]  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (4)  
2017-04-26 7:36:17 AM  
"I'm not a millennial.  I'm a snowflake!"
 
Munden [TotalFark] [OhFark]  
Smartest (7)   Funniest (3)  
2017-04-26 7:37:16 AM  
but we can still pretend that millennials are all cut from the same monolithic block, right?
 
UberDave [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (6)  
2017-04-26 7:44:17 AM  
One tastes great, the other is less filling?
 
UberDave [OhFark]  
Smartest (10)   Funniest (4)  
2017-04-26 7:51:51 AM  
Now in our 30s, those of us who have had the most successful career trajectories are taking on many of the same young management roles that similarly privileged, middle-class boomers and Gen-Xers did when they reached those ages.

Oh, you mean those management roles that a tiny percentage of Gen-Xers were moving into.  The Boomers moved into those positions and set up shop for the long haul.  We Gen-Xers didn't get to move to shiat.

...and to then log onto Facebook and see so many people settling into exactly the lives expected of people in their 30s.

Heh.  Yeah.  I can make my life sound pretty farking awesome on FB as well.  Do you want the go-getter Sr. Software developer version of the cubicle code-monkey version?
 
2017-04-26 7:52:11 AM  
So overwhelming generalizations about an incredibly large group of individuals are sometimes inaccurate? Who knew?
 
equusdc  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (5)  
2017-04-26 7:52:29 AM  
So, you're saying they're...special? And Unique? Surely there's a metaphor for that...
 
somedude210 [TotalFark] [OhFark]  
Smartest (25)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 7:53:00 AM  

foo monkey: "I'm not a millennial.  I'm a snowflake!"


the precious snowflake and participation trophy schtick, did you ever stop and think that it was the parents of the millennials and not the kids who insisted on all that?
 
digistil  
Smartest (6)   Funniest (1)  
2017-04-26 7:54:08 AM  

UberDave: Now in our 30s, those of us who have had the most successful career trajectories are taking on many of the same young management roles that similarly privileged, middle-class boomers and Gen-Xers did when they reached those ages.

Oh, you mean those management roles that a tiny percentage of Gen-Xers were moving into.  The Boomers moved into those positions and set up shop for the long haul.  We Gen-Xers didn't get to move to shiat.

...and to then log onto Facebook and see so many people settling into exactly the lives expected of people in their 30s.

Heh.  Yeah.  I can make my life sound pretty farking awesome on FB as well.  Do you want the go-getter Sr. Software developer version of the cubicle code-monkey version?


To be fair, boomers are the Vampire Generation.
 
2017-04-26 7:55:20 AM  
pretty safe to say there's a difference between the generation that grew up without widespread cellphones and rare instances of dial-up internet than the younger folks.
 
Fast Moon  
Smartest (6)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 7:57:26 AM  

somedude210: foo monkey: "I'm not a millennial.  I'm a snowflake!"

the precious snowflake and participation trophy schtick, did you ever stop and think that it was the parents of the millennials and not the kids who insisted on all that?


And those parents have been getting participation trophies for years by winning the right to go to the media and be taken just as seriously as someone who actually knows what they're talking about.
 
2017-04-26 7:59:13 AM  
That guy sounds just as annoying and self-absorbed as your stereotypical "young millennial".
 
orangehat [TotalFark]  
Smartest (15)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:03:27 AM  
 This is very true.  There is a very big difference between the oldest of this generation and the rest.  The oldest remember life before the internet which causes a lot of blink stares from anyone younger than them.  Even a few years of age difference results in a statically different worldview.
 
2017-04-26 8:06:43 AM  
I tuned out as soon as I read "Patriots fan".
 
al-Mundane  
Smartest (9)   Funniest (2)  
2017-04-26 8:06:49 AM  
I've been in the Army 16 years, I've been married twice, I have 4 kids, 3 deployments and I'm on my second mortgage.  I retire in 3 1/2 years.  But I was born in 1982, so I'm a millennial.  I don't mind it.  Like all generations, it's no better or worse than the others.  And that word snowflake...it just makes you look sadder and older than you are, internet.
 
2017-04-26 8:06:56 AM  

Munden: but we can still pretend that millennials are all cut from the same monolithic block, right?


Is there some reason to not believe that everyone born within a 20-50 year period is identical?
 
2017-04-26 8:09:04 AM  
This is why I prefer the term "Generation X". Just shoehorn it in between Gen X and Millenial. When I started college everyone still had a flip phone or (egad!) no phone. Computers still had floppy drives.

Only once did I receive a participation trophy, and I thought it was bullshiat. We got last place in the bowling league, just let us enjoy the pizza party and don't give out tiny shiatty trophies that say "participant". That money could have gone to more pizza.
 
2017-04-26 8:11:05 AM  
Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.
 
Carn  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (1)  
2017-04-26 8:14:26 AM  
Ridiculous scarf, wearing a suit, sitting on a wall reading the paper, with a skateboard.  He's a hipster.
 
2017-04-26 8:15:29 AM  
Younger millennials had fewer toys that could cause grievous bodily harm.  Lawn darts were still around when I was a kid and those toy ovens for stuff like creepy crawlers could cause severe farking burns.

And yeah, computers not being commonplace and the internet being even scarcer develops a completely different worldview.
 
2017-04-26 8:16:24 AM  
did it really wordfilter the Y to an X?
 
SpaceyCat [TotalFark] [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (2)  
2017-04-26 8:20:31 AM  
popkey.coView Full Size
 
Egoy3k  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:21:28 AM  
Yeah and we are even more crotchety about millennials when they lean into the stereotype because it makes us look bad.
 
2017-04-26 8:22:35 AM  

orangehat: This is very true.  There is a very big difference between the oldest of this generation and the rest.  The oldest remember life before the internet which causes a lot of blink stares from anyone younger than them.  Even a few years of age difference results in a statically different worldview.


Absolutely concur.  Also the age at which one graduated from college can play a huge role.  I graduated and found a job right away.  1.5-2 years later was when the housing bubble popped and there were zero jobs to be had.

/shared a flip phone with my brother until I graduated college
//AND a car
///lets just split the generation between hipster/non-hipster?
 
2017-04-26 8:22:57 AM  
Do you know what a library card is, remember when flip phones were new, took advantage of a NetZero/AOL offer, can write in full sentences? You might be an early millennial.

/mid 80s
 
2017-04-26 8:24:38 AM  

cyberbenali: Do you know what a library card is, remember when flip phones were new, took advantage of a NetZero/AOL offer, can write in full sentences? You might be an early millennial.

/mid 80s


/internet high five!
We had AOL right up until I made a full presentation about the cost/benefit of cable vs. AOL to my parents.  TLDR: cable was cheaper!
 
cybrwzrd  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:24:59 AM  
One could argue that the iPhone's invention and apps and subsequent rise of social media kind of split the millennial generation in half.

I was born at the end of '81. I did not have my first cell phone until Sr. year of high school. This was before texting was really a thing. I had an old Nokia 5160. I had a pager before that. The Iphone 3 didn't come out until 2008, I was out of college by the time Facebook became a big deal, let alone the rise of social media.

I don't think I have much in common with someone born in the 90's. They grew up with high speed internet, with cell phones and helicopter parents. 9/11 was their Challenger explosion - something historic that you remember but not vividly.
 
2017-04-26 8:25:50 AM  

baronbloodbath: Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.


I agree. There's a major difference between us. I am 33, so a Millennial, and I'm a high school teacher. Technically my students are Millennials. We are very different.

I think the article isn't the best written, but the discussion of Millennials really does need to take this difference into account. We need another way of organizing generations, because things change much more quickly now. A 20-25 year spread doesn't work anymore.
 
Guybird  
Smartest (5)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:27:06 AM  

baronbloodbath: Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.


I've said it many times here before but while the 08 crash definitely had an impact, the world before and after 9/11 is the biggest of all I believe.  From the ease of boarding a plane to getting groped, from getting in school suspension for threatening someone to being expelled or arrested, from the ability to sweet talk/con someone to giving you cigarettes or alcohol underage to almost certain arrest there is a huge difference in how seriously things were taken before and after 9/11.  I seriously think I would be in jail or worse if the current way of thinking was applied to me as a teenager in the mid-late 90's.
 
Subtonic  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:27:45 AM  
I am technically a millennial.  I'm in my mid-thirties and hold a stable and professional career, I have never paid for internet access or owned a computer.  I just got my first smart phone last month and know what the phono option on stereos is for.  If you think i should be in the same category as some teenager that can't change a tire and never wrote a check, I don't know what to tell you about your flawed generational definitions.  I have far more in common with boomers and x'ers than the current crop of jabronies.  The tech divide was massive and much more consequential than the metrics being used to delineate generational cohorts.
 
Egoy3k  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:28:04 AM  
Something else to remember is that a huge part of the assumed root of the differences between millennials and other generations is technology and the increase in the ubiquity of technology in our daily lives was strongly altered along geographic and socioeconomic lines.
 
2017-04-26 8:29:05 AM  
"There's a sensation you get when you hear the name of a group you're a member of. If someone says "Bostonian" or "liberal" or (sorry) "Patriots fan," my brain perks up a little. Oh, they're talking about me. Over the last few years, though, I've found I'm getting less and less of that ping from the term millennial."

And there is your problem in a nutshell. You need to be a member of one or more groups instead of focusing on your individuality and sense of self. You need a "ping" from someone or something else no matter how abstract. This isn't anything knew. All young people go through this. In previous generations, most people moved beyond this by about 22-24 years of age. But not Millennials it seems.
 
2017-04-26 8:29:55 AM  

Dodger: NeoCortex42: Younger millennials had fewer toys that could cause grievous bodily harm.  Lawn darts were still around when I was a kid and those toy ovens for stuff like creepy crawlers could cause severe farking burns.

And yeah, computers not being commonplace and the internet being even scarcer develops a completely different worldview.

My parents bought me this electric rod toy that, when plugged in to 110v, heated up red-hot. By design!I played with it for hours and hours and surprisingly, my sisters and I only have a few small burn scars that haven't faded in the last 50 or so years... We called the heated rod a "Wood Burning Kit".


I had a wood burning kit as well.  I told a few people about it a couple years ago, and the concept of it as a toy just made zero sense to them.
 
cgraves67  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:30:30 AM  
Basically, people who make assumptions about a person based on artificial constructs like generations are just as shiatty as people who make assumptions based on other generalizations.
 
dennysgod  
Smartest (6)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:32:02 AM  
I thought those born in the 80's-90's where Generation Y anyway and Millennials were after the 90's and actually grew up during the change between millennia, thus being called Millennials.

Did something change with these arbitrary names?
 
2017-04-26 8:32:45 AM  

cyberbenali: Do you know what a library card is, remember when flip phones were new, took advantage of a NetZero/AOL offer, can write in full sentences? You might be an early millennial.

/mid 80s


I remember all that (I was a fan of the RAZR) and where I was during 9/11. I also had a dad who was big into computers when I was growing up so I learned computers at the age of 2. (I was born in 89) As I entered high school, I also took over the mantle from my father as the family computer builder. I remember the early days of the internet and the advent of social media.

and I *hate* text speak. Even in high school with my first cell phone (in junior year), I would always write out everything. My friends might hate the 6 text novella I wrote them but at least you'd understand what I damn well wrote. Hell, I can't even say that for some of the older Gen Xers and Boomers I come across.

my cousin, who is 5 months younger than me, is all sorts of weird (to me). She's started doing some bizarre thing where she uses the last syllable of a word as the word. I blame working in the fashion industry in NYC for this.
 
Guybird  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (1)  
2017-04-26 8:33:10 AM  

NeoCortex42: Dodger: NeoCortex42: Younger millennials had fewer toys that could cause grievous bodily harm.  Lawn darts were still around when I was a kid and those toy ovens for stuff like creepy crawlers could cause severe farking burns.

And yeah, computers not being commonplace and the internet being even scarcer develops a completely different worldview.

My parents bought me this electric rod toy that, when plugged in to 110v, heated up red-hot. By design!I played with it for hours and hours and surprisingly, my sisters and I only have a few small burn scars that haven't faded in the last 50 or so years... We called the heated rod a "Wood Burning Kit".

I had a wood burning kit as well.  I told a few people about it a couple years ago, and the concept of it as a toy just made zero sense to them.


I too still bear multiple puffy scars on my fingers from burning myself.  Between those, lawn darts, creepy crawler type ovens and all of the other crazy 80's toys its a wonder we lived through it all :)
 
Hyjamon  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (3)  
2017-04-26 8:34:21 AM  

UberDave: Now in our 30s, those of us who have had the most successful career trajectories are taking on many of the same young management roles that similarly privileged, middle-class boomers and Gen-Xers did when they reached those ages.

Oh, you mean those management roles that a tiny percentage of Gen-Xers were moving into.  The Boomers moved into those positions and set up shop for the long haul.  We Gen-Xers didn't get to move to shiat.

...and to then log onto Facebook and see so many people settling into exactly the lives expected of people in their 30s.

Heh.  Yeah.  I can make my life sound pretty farking awesome on FB as well.  Do you want the go-getter Sr. Software developer version of the cubicle code-monkey version?


I am a logistics and inventory manager for a multi-national corporation

/I stock shelves at wal-mart
 
UberDave [OhFark]  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:36:54 AM  

digistil: UberDave: Now in our 30s, those of us who have had the most successful career trajectories are taking on many of the same young management roles that similarly privileged, middle-class boomers and Gen-Xers did when they reached those ages.

Oh, you mean those management roles that a tiny percentage of Gen-Xers were moving into.  The Boomers moved into those positions and set up shop for the long haul.  We Gen-Xers didn't get to move to shiat.

...and to then log onto Facebook and see so many people settling into exactly the lives expected of people in their 30s.

Heh.  Yeah.  I can make my life sound pretty farking awesome on FB as well.  Do you want the go-getter Sr. Software developer version of the cubicle code-monkey version?

To be fair, boomers are the Vampire Generation.


That's no shiat.  I figure we (Gen-Xers) have about 10 more years before we are all lumped in with them yet we suffered at their hands more than any other generation.
 
2017-04-26 8:37:28 AM  

baronbloodbath: Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.


I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to be in the same generation as someone who was 3 when in started college.

Arbitrary delineations, how do they work?
 
2017-04-26 8:37:30 AM  

Guybird: baronbloodbath: Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.

I've said it many times here before but while the 08 crash definitely had an impact, the world before and after 9/11 is the biggest of all I believe.  From the ease of boarding a plane to getting groped, from getting in school suspension for threatening someone to being expelled or arrested, from the ability to sweet talk/con someone to giving you cigarettes or alcohol underage to almost certain arrest there is a huge difference in how seriously things were taken before and after 9/11.  I seriously think I would be in jail or worse if the current way of thinking was applied to me as a teenager in the mid-late 90's.


I absolutely agree with this. We have a much larger modicum of fear.

I was watching a documentary on the OKC bombing and was shocked (though not too shocked) at just how quickly the "I bet muslims did this" rumor spread with such truthiness behind it. Now its all but a foregone conclusion that anything heinous is going to be perpetrated by Islamic terrorists. Thanks 9/11
 
Hyjamon  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:39:52 AM  

alternative girlfriend: baronbloodbath: Oregon Trail Generation here.

Younger millennials, those who do not have firsthand memory of the events of September 11, 2001, are sheltered, in my opinion. I have a completely different value set than they do.

But I've seen Gen-Xers who couldn't get their shiat together, too, so I guess it varies.

I agree. There's a major difference between us. I am 33, so a Millennial, and I'm a high school teacher. Technically my students are Millennials. We are very different.

I think the article isn't the best written, but the discussion of Millennials really does need to take this difference into account. We need another way of organizing generations, because things change much more quickly now. A 20-25 year spread doesn't work anymore.


you're students are only millennials because no term has been developed yet.  High school seniors today were born around 1999-2000, they cannot even be considered in the same cohort as someone born in the 80's if someone was being realistic.

/79 here; Oregon Trail Generation describes the gap between Gen X and Millennials quite well.
 
Joafu  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (5)  
2017-04-26 8:41:10 AM  
Generations should be divided by ease of visual breast access. My parents had to hope to find a box of porn in the woods. I (29) had to hope no one called the house for up to half an hour during the dialup days. My younger siblings (early and mid 20's), have fricken snapchat.
 
2017-04-26 8:41:10 AM  

Guybird: NeoCortex42: Dodger: NeoCortex42: Younger millennials had fewer toys that could cause grievous bodily harm.  Lawn darts were still around when I was a kid and those toy ovens for stuff like creepy crawlers could cause severe farking burns.

And yeah, computers not being commonplace and the internet being even scarcer develops a completely different worldview.

My parents bought me this electric rod toy that, when plugged in to 110v, heated up red-hot. By design!I played with it for hours and hours and surprisingly, my sisters and I only have a few small burn scars that haven't faded in the last 50 or so years... We called the heated rod a "Wood Burning Kit".

I had a wood burning kit as well.  I told a few people about it a couple years ago, and the concept of it as a toy just made zero sense to them.

I too still bear multiple puffy scars on my fingers from burning myself.  Between those, lawn darts, creepy crawler type ovens and all of the other crazy 80's toys its a wonder we lived through it all :)


I prefer thinking that in the 80s, you all thought nuclear was was inevitable during Reagan's term so f*ck it, get rid of the safeties. You all are gonna die in a nuclear holocaust anyway
 
2017-04-26 8:43:32 AM  

somedude210: foo monkey: "I'm not a millennial.  I'm a snowflake!"

the precious snowflake and participation trophy schtick, did you ever stop and think that it was the parents of the millennials and not the kids who insisted on all that?


Hang on.  Wait just a minute.  Are you saying that the parents may be playing a role in all this and that kids don't have much say in how they're being raised? Or that how kids are raised affects how they view the world and how they behave?  Holy crap.  I think you're the first person to notice this and I feel like it just might qualify as ground breaking.  Great job, snowflake!
 
Guybird  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (0)  
2017-04-26 8:43:47 AM  

somedude210: Guybird: NeoCortex42: Dodger: NeoCortex42: Younger millennials had fewer toys that could cause grievous bodily harm.  Lawn darts were still around when I was a kid and those toy ovens for stuff like creepy crawlers could cause severe farking burns.

And yeah, computers not being commonplace and the internet being even scarcer develops a completely different worldview.

My parents bought me this electric rod toy that, when plugged in to 110v, heated up red-hot. By design!I played with it for hours and hours and surprisingly, my sisters and I only have a few small burn scars that haven't faded in the last 50 or so years... We called the heated rod a "Wood Burning Kit".

I had a wood burning kit as well.  I told a few people about it a couple years ago, and the concept of it as a toy just made zero sense to them.

I too still bear multiple puffy scars on my fingers from burning myself.  Between those, lawn darts, creepy crawler type ovens and all of the other crazy 80's toys its a wonder we lived through it all :)

I prefer thinking that in the 80s, you all thought nuclear was was inevitable during Reagan's term so f*ck it, get rid of the safeties. You all are gonna die in a nuclear holocaust anyway


Meh, think we were a bit too young to have really thought much about that, I know I didn't.  Maybe those born in the tail end of the 70's were old enough.  Can't say I really recall any amount of fear back then.  Was more concerned with Nintendo, Thundercats & Transfomers at the time.
 
2017-04-26 8:45:42 AM  
We should probably just keep our gross generalizations, about people we don't, to ourselves.

As a Fark Independent, I'm going to have give some thought to the implications of this.

Both these guys are Baby Boomers
1946
Fark user imageView Full Size


1964
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
2017-04-26 8:46:44 AM  
'85-er here. I've been tired of this conversation since grad school.

The more interesting question to me is how central smartphones are to modern life, and whether/how parents of different ages mediate phone use by their children today. I bet there are probably some interesting generational differences there. My kids are likely to get crappy burner phones until they can afford their own smartphones, but we'll see.
 
2017-04-26 8:46:55 AM  

Plant Rights Activist: pretty safe to say there's a difference between the generation that grew up without widespread cellphones and rare instances of dial-up internet than the younger folks.


I think you can apply this to older millennials and younger millennials as well. Broadband access was very limited until around 2000, and (I assume) a smaller portion of the population had internet access at the time. Some kids had Nokia phones and pagers at my high school, but they were banned (including possession). Many of us finished college and entered the workforce before (or in the midst of) the recession.
 
2017-04-26 9:01:25 AM  
Who could have imagined that 35-year-olds have more in common with 40-year-olds than with 25-year-olds?
 
Flogster [TotalFark]  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (2)  
2017-04-26 9:07:51 AM  
I heard Millennials were responsible for the black plague, Hitler and Ishtar.

They're truly the most evil of arbitrary generational categories.
 
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