Millennials on Millennials: Tell Us About Your Generation

I Hate When Everyone Calls Me A Millennial
– Richard Ioannou

Hello, my name is Richard, a 24-year-old graduate student at NYU who has held six internships to date. I have been the president of my graduating class, co-chair of a charity I created with my youth group, and am able to afford a studio apartment in Chelsea, NY, (mostly) on my own. However, since I have been dubbed a #millennial, none of my accomplishments define me as much as the terms “lazy,” “selfish,” and “entitled” do.

This ugly word association with “millennial” really bothers me as much as the disdain toward us, for us wanting to “enjoy” our work rather than stay in a boring, dead end job. It’s an unfortunate stigma to have, but I’ve found that choosing a career that I absolutely love is the key to hard work—I will be that much more motivated each day.

As a millennial, I always assume that anyone who is using the term is definitely not my age and is either trying to sell me something, or explain me to their customers so they can sell me something. When I asked my peers if they too hated being called a millennial, more than half stared at me as if I was identifying them as an exotic animal, while the other half laughed and assumed my boss had me ask them (which is somewhat true).

As the generations that have gone before us, we’re being sorted into a category that is based more on stereotypes than what we are capable of doing and accomplished. Many of us do share certain characteristics such as a positive attitude, interest in being protected, a belief in meritocracy and yes, unusually high self-esteem. Some of us live with our parents but some of us own homes. Others work in finance while our similarly aged peers slave away as baristas. So, our only true commonality is age.

So whenever you feel the urge to refer to 20- or 30-somethings as millennials, consider opting for a term with less baggage, like “young people.” I don’t want to be undermined by the word, referred to as some self-absorbed child of the hashtag generation, or a dreamer who doesn’t follow through, especially when there are so many people my age working to refute that notion.

There’s probably someone out there just itching to brand me as your typical, whiny millennial.

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