Why Society Hates Millennials.
Ok it might be a bit of a click baity title but I wrote this on a rant.
Millennial;
Noun 1. "A person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century"
A millennial is me. Us. The majority of my readership. Those of us who now are in our twenties, the newest generation of workers and homeowners. The current generation of young people.
I was having a discussion the other day with my Mum and then again with Joss' Mum about how where I live there is no housing being built for young people and families in mind. The county I live in is expensive to buy in and full of fancy houses and we'd have zero chance of buying in the next 10 years if we wanted to stay here - which we do.
The only reason we've been able to get our own place is because we haven't. We have a bunch of rooms to ourselves in my boyfriend's parents house.
And it got me thinking - I think society hates millennials.
Hear me out here, I appreciate what I am about to say is VERY much first world problems and very much the privileged complaining about not being privileged enough but it's still valid, it's still what the majority of us are going through.
The world has changed since our parents and grandparents were young twenty somethings, we have more opportunities for sure, there's more technology, the world is a far less simple place (not always for the better) and life is more expensive.
But interning for free is also a thing as are zero hour contracts. Our wages have gone up since our parents started work but life and houses have gone up faster and further. University is available for all...except we're all 30K in debt before we're 21.
I think the world has changed but society's expectations for twenty somethings hasn't.
How many of us have been given THAT look when a stranger finds out we live with our parents. How many of us have jobs that we're qualified for from our degrees? How many friends do you have working in bars and pubs and supermarkets hating on life because they just need something to get by. How many of us can actually spare money every month to save for a house? How many of us get asked when we're settling down/getting married/having babies?
For our grandparents and even our parents you left school, got a job and got married, bought a house and had a family young.
Nowadays you're lucky to get that all achieved by the time you're 30.
Now when you leave school you go to university for anywhere between 3 and about 8 years, spend a lot of money and spend a lot more you haven't even paid back yet. When you qualify you either get any job just for the cash or you work for 'experience' or spend all your life filling in applications for your dream job. Like actually how many people do you know working in a career they did a degree in?
If you're even in a relationship in your early twenties after finishing uni you might get engaged but it'll be years until you can afford a wedding and don't even get me started on kids.
Chances are you'll have graduated and moved back in with your family and be saving for 5+ years to afford a mortgage or you'll have moved out in desperation for some independence and not be able to afford to get on the property ladder cos lol all your money is going on your rent.
The world has changed but society's expectations of what millennials should be doing hasn't.
We're told we've got everything handed to us on a plate, that we should be behaving this way and that way and hitting these milestones in this many years. And yet we're also told we're young and we should travel the world and experience all we can whilst we're not settled down. Sorry Susan how do you want me to travel the world AND get that graduate job and 3 bed house you've been nagging me about?
So to all the millennials stressing about houses and mortgages and shitty jobs and our apparently ever ticking body clock and babies and marriage and finally getting out of Mum & Dad's....it's not you, it's them.
Society hates millennials.