Why Being a Millennial Should Be Celebrated

The Spice Girls, Tamagotchis, Furbies and Beanie Babies- being a child of the 90s was all about fun, noise, and creativity. The media is all too quick to paint a negative image of millennials, we’re hailed as being lazy, entitled, self-centered with poor financial habits amongst other things. But there are many merits to our generation, and we may well make the biggest, positive impact on the planet than any other before us. Here’s why.

We care about climate change

For the first time since polls began, younger people, across the board, are more motivated to act on climate change than their elders. Our generation has grown up with more exposure to the effects of global warming than our parents and grandparents, meaning it isn’t really surprising that polls find young adults are particularly concerned about global warming. The millennial generation sees that climate change as a major problem, with around fifty percent people over the age of 55 saying they’re worried about climate change compared with around 70 percent of millennials. We’re more inclined to take steps to reduce our carbon footprint, from buying electric cars to having attic insulation fitted at home to reduce heat loss. 

We’re technologically proficient

Due to the time that we were born as millennials, we have a strong understanding and utilise technology in both our work and personal lives- but we didn’t necessarily ‘grow up’ with the modern technology of the day. Many of us didn’t have the internet or even a computer at home until we were older. We didn’t get our first mobile phone until secondary school- and then our first smartphone until college. This means we have the advantage of living through and understanding older methods, yet picking up and evolving alongside technology, This can make millennials assets in the workplace- from new software to understanding hardware, these are things most millennials are used to using and can quickly figure out and understand.

We excel in collaboration, community, and partnership

Being in constant contact with friends and family via the internet on computers and mobile devices, millennials have developed a solid sense of community connection. There’s a strong need for belonging there, although we understand better than most that social media connections and online friendships don’t always give the same emotional impact as face-to-face relationships. With that being said, we’re great collaborators which can be incredibly useful in the workplace. 

We’re health focused

We drink less and smoke less than generations before us– millennials are also much more likely to be vegan, vegetarian or follow other diets that are both good for health and the planet. Mental health is important to millennials, and it’s our generation that has paved the way for breaking the stigma and removing taboos relating to mental health and wellness. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic in the western world, there’s no denying that and there’s still a lot more that needs to be done. But millennials do care about their health, it’s one of the reasons you see health shops, healthy fast food and changing menus springing up all the time.