We’re literally sick of hearing the term “millennial” thrown about every article, headline, or baby-boomer rant about what young adults are doing wrong.
So, let’s switch it up.
In a recent article, The New York Times is asking those of you born after 1995 to name yourself.
Even though millennials are America’s largest generation (79.8 million in 2016), we’ve been getting a bad rap for years. We’ve been called everything from lazy to entitled, and even snowflakes (whatever that means). Some have gone so far as to suggest that millennials need regular naps. To which we say: doesn't everyone?
Yeah, we invented selfies. But we’re not all bad.
Millennials are delaying marriage and having babies more than any generation before them; the average age of first marriage is 27 for women and 29 for men, up from 20 for women and 23 for men in 1960. About 9.2 percent of millennials cohabitate with a partner, but are holding off on other big ticket items while they pursue careers, advanced degrees, and other ways of "finding themselves."
As of 2016, Millennials headed only 28 million households, many fewer than were headed by Generation X (38-53) or Baby Boomers (55-73). That’s because most young adults still live with their parents or in a dorm room, and make up almost half of the nation’s renters.
Still, it’s time to pass the proverbial generation torch on.
Millennials are getting older, but just how much older is a part of the naming problem.
In 2014, researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss defined millennials as “those born in 1982 and approximately 20 years thereafter.” Others have suggested that millennials are those born between 1981 and 2000.
Even once agreed-upon parameters have been established, it’s apparent that naming a generation isn’t that easy.
Pew Research asked people what the group should be called, and people came up with some pretty terrible ideas. Generation Z, Post-Millennials, The Homeland Generation, iGeneration – c’mon guys, at least we have some originality!
So, new generation, help us name you so that when us old fogies need someone to pass the blame on it’s at least fun to say.
The New York Times asks those “22 or younger [to] do us a favor and tell us what to call you and why. Or what NOT to call you and why.” Cast your vote here. The results will be published in a follow-up article.
Who knows, the name may even stick.
[H/T: New York Times]
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