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Millennials Are Ready to Own Up to Everything We’re Blamed For
I constantly hear that industries are dying thanks to millennials. But just like these worn-out stereotypes, millennials are getting old.
Sometimes I imagine how my parents reacted to my birth. Surely there was cooing. They probably fawned over my little conehead, declaring it cuter than all the other coneheads.
They couldn’t have known that years later, their daughter would be branded a literal “cereal killer.” But people didn’t use the term “millennial” back then. They weren’t yet aware that the new tiny human they were bringing into the world would be joining a generation blamed for killing off everything.
The slightly older, always cooler Gen Xers I rode the school bus with are struggling to throw off the yoke of “slacker,” but as a millennial born just this side of 1982, I’m still trying to pretend I’m worthy of being asked to sit in the very back seat. If I don’t tell anyone when I was born, will they think I’m one of them?
Linguists say “millennial” has become a title so complicated it’s officially a “skunk word.” Like the skunky weed we tried to hide from our parents, it’s a label we’re anxious to shed, for those of us born any time between the year the Challenger blew up and when we feared Y2K would destroy the world.
I know what I am. I’m just loathe to admit it.
What I’m not is a kid. I was a toddler when Sally Ride took to space. I remember (ever so vaguely) when we transitioned from Operation Desert Shield to Operation Desert Storm. I came of age before cellphones and online shopping, before texting and emoji. I’m older now, and I’m ready to own up to everything I’ve been blamed for.
I’m a millennial nearing 40, and I’m raising a teenager with gender-neutral pronouns who has no qualms about walking out of school when they want to let the world know they’re scared of something. They’re scared all the time — of being shot in school, or the sun exploding in a hot ball of fire.
I’ve lived through a lot, which is why it’s getting old to hear the same tired stereotypes about millennials killing off outdated industries by refusing to buy products…
