Millennials have been in the news regularly for a number of years, but have recently been especially prominent because of their being targeted as a demographic group whose vote will play a huge role in electing the next President. For that reason, I thought that I’d take a closer look at the whole subject of Millennials, including who they are, how they seem to have been shaped in their rise from childhood to their present state, their apparent attitudes and behavior, and what seem to be their primary interests.
Millennials have been defined as being people who were born in the years starting approximately in the late 1970’s through the early 2000’s, which corresponds at this time to ages ranging from approximately 16 through 38, give or take. As the definition is pretty fuzzy, we must also acknowledge that all these people have many dissimilar traits, so anything we say about any of them is certainly not cast in concrete, and likely varies wildly throughout a full spectrum of ranges.
Millennials have been described variously as Generation We, Generation Me, New Boomers, and a few other descriptors that are probably off the mark to one degree or another. It seems to be rooted in an observed propensity for being concerned with themselves as a group, rather than society in general, although that generalization is probably as far off as any other commonly used description.
At the present time, in the United States, particular focus is on the Millennials as a target demographic group because the various political parties see them as a critical source of votes for the next Presidential election, probably with good reason. If indeed they act and vote in anything resembling a bloc, they are going to be a powerful voice in the determination of whoever occupies the Oval Office for the next four years. So, a lot is at stake.
Let’s talk about them for a bit, starting with their childhood. As with most children in the United States, when they first arrived upon the scene it was to parents who absolutely adored them, but who had no clue as to how to begin caring for the cute little babies they had been blessed with, as there have never been any manuals that could be consulted. There are plenty of people who can offer advice, that advice varies wildly, and so the parents are pretty much left to their own devices. Given this cute, adorable, creature, who also issues forth all kinds of substances from virtually every orifice on the body, parents lovingly take care of cleaning, feeding and nurturing the little angels, and dreaming of what their little angels will grow up to be under their watchful eye. Most parents sacrifice to a greater or lesser degree for the benefit of these kids, and have nothing but the best of intentions. The sacrifices range from going without food, clothing, sleep, medical care and numerous other things that might come to mind an hour after I post this.
Peculiar to this particular group of people, the parents, to a much greater degree than the generation that preceded them, tended to both be employed outside the home, which resulted in these children being left without parental guidance for a significant part of each day, and so were exposed to influences from outside the family a good deal of the time. While that may not sound significant, it is known that children’s personalities and personal knowledge are guided not only by what their parents tell them, but also by what they observe their parents doing. All this is learned behavior, but oftentimes the parents, including myself, were not aware of at the time. Many a time I have been very surprised to hear my own son expressing thoughts that sounded familiar, and under questioning about where he learned that particular bit of information, I have been told, “…from you, Dad. I heard you telling…etc…” So, what the parent does is at least as important as what they say. Without having a lot of time with the child, I believe the parent has lost a lot of the influence they might have otherwise had on the child, and this is exacerbated with both parents away from the child on a regular basis. This is regrettable, and I’m not sure how this can be, or could have been avoided, given the economic situation of the past few decades. It does, however, explain some of the behavioral differences I’ve observed in this particular generation. It is not uncommon for children, reaching their teens to adopt an attitude that more or less says, “My parents aren’t very smart,” and it’s not uncommon for this attitude to remain until the child reaches the mid-twenties or beyond before realizing that perhaps their parents are a lot smarter than they originally believed. We tend to accept this as being the result of the child finally experiencing life, and realizing that living life isn’t as simplistic as they might have thought during childhood. With the generation we’re speaking of, this drastic difference in attitudes seems to have been perpetuated much longer than anyone anticipated, and is perhaps going to be a permanent thing, and for very good reasons.
The Millennials are experiencing a situation that has been developing for some time, but is maturing rapidly as we slog our way into the twenty first century. For generations, everyone with any knowledgeable perspective on the likelihood of success has been emphasizing the necessity for a good education to ensure a successful career. The majority of people whose lives can be considered successful have not necessarily been college-educated, as many have found success in trades and crafts and other traditional employment areas. However, in order to give one the best chance of success, a college degree, and perhaps post-graduate degrees can obviously give one an edge and a better chance to succeed. This extra education can be costly, however, and another factor must be considered, that of who is going to pay the bill?
The cost of college is significant, and most parents are ill-equipped to provide that, although many do, through continued denial of their own personal needs, such as food, medicine, savings, retirement considerations, etc. For those who can and have taken this path, they are to be congratulated, but when the time comes for retirement, and they are not prepared, they will have other problems to deal with. I wonder who will sacrifice for them?
For many young students pursuing an advanced education, a significant portion of them win scholarships, work at nearly full-time jobs, and also obtain student loans. Both of the first two are admirable, and shows me a lot about character. The latter is not dishonorable, but the size of some of those student loans are of a size that resemble home mortgages, and they may never be forgiven! They must be paid back, and sooner or later become real burdens, particularly when the incomes these students anticipated while being educated, do not materialize. Folks who anticipated walking into a $80,000 per year salaried job are all too often lucky to find a job at half that salary or less, and often not even in the field in which they have been educated. I used to frequent a restaurant on University Boulevard in Orlando, near the University of Central Florida, and got to know a waiter there from frequent visits. I asked him once when he was going to graduate. His response was, “I graduated eighteen months ago, but haven’t been able to find a job in my field, so I’ve been working here until something opens up. Besides, I make pretty good money here, with tips.” I don’t doubt a word of this, and suspect that it’s not an unusual situation.
So, here we are with thousands of young people graduating from college each year, with educations ranging up to Master’s degrees and Doctorates, who cannot find jobs they need with which to pay off student loans, and just to get on with the business of life. What are they to do?
We also have many thousands more who for whatever their individual reasons, decided to forego college, and find work in different trades, and there are many of them. Most of them are working, but don’t have the prospect of student loans to deal with, but also don’t have the possibility of stepping into a job paying six figures or more. There are not as many of these folks out of work, but the situation isn’t exactly rosy either.
What do both groups have in common? We are currently faced with a situation, not only in the U.S.A., but also throughout the world where there is an ever expanding population. In the U.S.A., we also have not only an expanding population through natural means of childbirth, but also from immigration from all over the world. This country has always welcomed immigrants from all over the world, as witness the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…”. This entire policy has been liberally discussed throughout this political campaign. Well, we have this situation of an expanding population, not only dealing with the normal sequence of events, but also with a refugee situation where people are pouring into the country, and all of them needing jobs, over and above the normal demand for jobs.
Meanwhile, for the past few decades, science and technology have been on a tear, creating new systems that are essentially designed to put people out of work! Don’t get me wrong, I think science and technology are good things, and individually each endeavor is very worthwhile. However, anyone can look back and see how robotics have taken away many decent jobs, and put them in the hands of machines who don’t have families to support. This is true in factories all over the country. Jobs that require actual hands-on action on the part of real people have been exported to other countries who have people who will work at these same jobs while being paid pennies on the dollar as compared to what it would cost for people in the United States to perform the same task. Right now, finding a job that is export-proof is difficult, and anyone who has skills in those areas is in an enviable position. There is a concentrated effort to automate jobs performed by people.
Witness what is going on in many chain restaurants. Be seated in many modern restaurants and be presented with a tiny little terminal with which you are encouraged to place your own order, and at the end of the meal pay your bill through a series of steps that asks for your credit card, validate it, and even suggests how much you should tip your server (for what?). The server, in this case, doesn’t even bring your food out. This step is performed by a “runner” from the kitchen. So, the entire experience has pretty much put the server out of a job. Personally, I refuse to use them, and at the point where they insist, I will sever my ties to those restaurants, because, as I told one server, “When I go out to dinner, I want to be waited on.” I don’t think this is unreasonable. As a matter of interest, my mother raised us on the tips she earned as a waitress (you could call them that back then, nobody took offense.). Had it not been for tips, we would have starved.
Anyway, the same thing is happening in many other industries. Many mortar and brick department stores are closing and moving to on-line operations only, or converting to catalog stores. So, we have two trends on a collision course, increasing population, and rapidly decreasing job availability. These two factors cannot be ignored. The Millennials are facing a crisis, and nobody seems to be focusing on the fact that this trend even exists, much less seeking a solution. So, can you blame them for at attitude that has them being labeled “Generation Me”?
The population explosion on a world-wide basis is such that, combined with the decreasing availability of potable water, the pollution of the waterways, including the seas, rivers and lakes, as well as the global warming (whether it’s man made or not, it’s happening), and our decreasing ability to grow enough food to feed the world’s population, we are rapidly exhausting the resources that existed on this planet when it was first created. How it was created is a subject that you can decide for yourself, but nobody can deny that when the Europeans first came here, it was pretty much pristine, because the Native American were pretty damned good stewards of their world. They left little impact where they traveled, and left it to us to pretty much soil the whole country.
When the human race is gone, it’s going to all be over. We talk of sending somebody to Mars and colonize that planet, but so far it’s all talk. Sending a hundred or so people to Mars, in what will likely be a one-way trip, will not solve this problem. So when your kids come to you and say, “Mom, we’ve signed up to go colonize Mars”, I’d advise you to give them one last hug, say goodbye, and tell them, “This is a hell of a way to get out of paying off your student loans.”
Tags: colonize, Education, Employment, Mars, Millennials, political, Population, Student Loans
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