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Confession: I am not a Millennial, but I’m Surrounded by Them

May 2, 2012 by Kenna Griffin

I should start this post with a confession.

I am not a Millennial.

I am a member of another highly-stereotyped generational cohort. I’m a Gen Xer. You know us as the generation that wears flannel and is too lazy to care about anything, including personal hygiene.

I’m not sure the Gen X stereotypes ever fit me, although I have a fondness for Dr. Martens. Hey, some habits die hard, right?

CircleI do, however, spend every day surrounded by Millennials. They are in my classrooms, and I serve as their boss, adviser and, sometimes, mentor. I also listen to others in positions similar to mine lament about all of the things they don’t understand about “this generation.”

Because of this I was drawn to a post by my friend Daniel Newman, who blogs as Millennial CEO.

Dan attempted to set the record straight about some negative stereotypes attributed to the Millennial generation in his post, Time for a Millennial to Speak For Millennials. He specifically addressed five myths about Millennials related to entitlement, self centeredness, laziness, fragility, and an inability to leave home.

Because Dan’s post resinated with me, I took it a step further and asked students (read: Millennials) in my media law and ethics class to answer the following question:

Do the media fairly (ethically) portray the Millennial generational cohort?

The class was divided almost in half (9-8) by the question, with many of those who believed the media fairly portrayed Millennials saying the stereotypes came from survey research.

Regardless of their stance, most of the students agreed with Dan that the majority of the rhetoric critical of Millennials comes from older generations.

“They believe they can speak for our generation, despite their shallow understanding of us,” one student wrote.

The student later quoted an article from The New York Times (which I see him reading almost daily. Not too Millennialish, in my opinion), noting that the article was void of interviews with actual 20-somethings.

Students pointed out that every generation has dealt with stereotypes, with a student writing that most people are pretty comfortable with grouping others, but not with being grouped themselves.

Regardless, a student pointed out that labels can’t really hurt a generation. She wrote that labels don’t do anything, people do. She also pointed out that nothing positive or productive comes from complaining about stereotypes.

“You can either prove these stereotypes wrong time and time again or you can sit around, whine about how ‘unfair’ they are and prove these statements about your character to be right,” she wrote.

Another student disagreed, writing that these stereotypes and generalizations may cause caution and timidness for older generations who would work to employ Millennials.

Students who believed Millennials are fairly portrayed listed the following as attributed to their generation: multitaskers, creative, innovative, involved, proactive, equality driven, highly educated, upbeat, positive, open to change, ethically diverse, and less prejudice than former generations.

The students were proud of these traits, and thought they overruled negative perceptions.

In talking about the commonalities of her generation, one student ended her paper with a joke: “And here I was thinking I was special… I think I will go tweet about this paper now.”

Let’s Talk Nerdy!

Do you think media ethically portray Millennials? What traits do you attribute to this generation?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above (typically those to books) may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I promise that I only recommend products or services I use personally and think will provide you value. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comments

  1. microagent says

    May 2, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    @PegFitzpatrick Millennial Osmosis?

    Reply
  2. LCShah says

    May 3, 2012 at 1:01 am

    @TedRubin @profkrg Just wrapped up chatting w/ students about generalization/perception of entitlement! Great read. Thx for sharing.

    Reply

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Prof KRG

Prof KRG aims to create an ongoing educational dialogue among media professionals, students and educators.

Please let me know what resources you need or topics you wish you better understood. If I don't know the information, I'm happy to seek out someone who does.

Contact me via email at kennagriffin@gmail.com.

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About Kenna Griffin

I am a mass communications professor, journalist and collegiate media adviser. I teach classes including those on writing, reporting, media law, media ethics, social media marketing, and public relations. I am married, have two children and live in Oklahoma. More about this site's purpose

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