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Why the Word "Millennial" Makes me Cringe

2016-01-29 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:45 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life · mode: Personal essay

Responding to John's article, Hank argues the label 'millennial' was imposed by older people to generalise about and belittle a diverse generation, and that the real pressures on young Americans go undiscussed while elders complain they have it too easy.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Anecdote: the young woman on the plane who flies the same route for a job she does not love

  • ★★ A few weeks ago Hank sat on a plane next to a young woman, maybe 23, who had taken the same flight 150 times in two years for her job. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says she disliked the flying and her job but got a degree to get a good job, needs five years' experience to advance, and was happy working hard and waiting for a good life. — 00:00:13

00:00:38 — An American millennial: ridiculed as entitled, but facing new pressures and problems

  • ★★★ Hank presents her as an American millennial: universally ridiculed as entitled and self-centred, but understanding the world differently, under new pressures and facing unprecedented problems. — 00:00:38 · United States

00:00:53 — John's WEF article: the word 'millennial' assigned by boomers, the three habits of millennial op-eds

  • ★★ During this week's (week of 25 January 2016) Dear Hank and John recording John told Hank about his World Economic Forum article 'Why the Word Millennial Makes Me Cringe', which Hank read right afterwards. — 00:00:53 · Dear Hank and John
  • ★★ Hank agrees that the word 'millennial' totally makes him cringe. — 00:01:04
  • ★★ Hank relays John's point that the word 'millennial' was assigned not by millennials but by baby boomers, and popularised in articles and op-eds by non-millennials. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ Hank says such articles generally made sweeping generalisations about America's most diverse group of young people, complained young people acted unexpectedly, or stoked other generations' anxiety about 'unknowable snake people'. (playful) — 00:01:20 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank sums up: one group created a term for another and used it to call them scary, belittle and mock them, which is going to make people cringe. — 00:01:35
  • ★ Hank grants that the word's original definition was separate from its use to talk about how weird young people are, but says that use has happened and continues. — 00:01:45

00:01:58 — America too diverse for generational trends; internet access; professional opinion-havers

  • ★★★ Hank thinks America may once have been homogeneous enough to talk intelligibly about generational trends, but that time has passed. (hedged) — 00:01:58 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says the idea that millennials are the first generation to grow up with the internet ignores that some young Americans still have no internet access. — 00:02:05 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says these conversations replace the real young American with the kind of young American that professional opinion-havers tend to meet. — 00:02:13 · United States

00:02:24 — Young people's real challenges: told to be everything; writers chasing clicks

  • ★★★ Hank says we rarely talk about young Americans' real practical and existential challenges: many are told they must be everything, with a meaningful job, perfect relationship, ethical eating, a home and paid-off loans. — 00:02:25
  • ★★ Hank says he doesn't want to be mad at anybody and is happy to cringe, but that for the most part these people are just trying to get clicks. — 00:02:48 · sensationalism

00:02:55 — Previous generations made life better but added pressure; the "too easy" complaint; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank believes previous generations worked hard to make life better for him than it was for them: gay people can marry, Buffy and all of Netflix cost $7.99 a month, and cars are much less likely to kill people. — 00:02:55 · progress
  • ★★★ Hank says that while solving problems those generations also created problems and put tremendous pressure on the upcoming generation to expect more of themselves and their lives. — 00:03:14
  • ★★★ Hank finds it very strange that a chief complaint of the older generation, which worked so hard to make life easier for its kids, is that young people have it too easy, when increasingly they clearly don't. — 00:03:28

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Hank is concerned that young people won't vote, but understands that it is hard to be civically engaged in a world divorced from your reality. — video description
  • ★★ Hank feels that people raised amid deep partisanship and infinite, sensationalised information find not just politics but life itself overwhelming, as if every decision could save or destroy the world. — video description · sensationalism
  • ★★ Hank says he was born in 1980, the cutoff between Generation X and Millennials, and spends a lot of time with and thinking about young people, so it is unsurprising that he is sympathetic. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says talking about young people's behaviour without their challenges is dumb, and blaming slight generational differences on a new parenting technique such as helicopter parenting is awful sociology. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Millennials · Why the Word Millennial Makes Me Cringe

Also: Projects: Dear Hank and John

Works: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Organizations: Netflix · World Economic Forum

Groups: Baby boomers

Concepts: internet access · progress · same-sex marriage · sensationalism · stereotype · Traffic collision

Places: United States

Only in the description or credits: Generation X · helicopter parenting · political polarization · voter turnout · Youth

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