SWEETIESAL

What is a 'Millennial?'

Google tells me that a 'millennial' is; a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century.

Digging a little deeper, Urban Dictionary cites Millennials under the following description;

'Millennial is an identity given to a broadly and vaguely defined group of people. There are two wings of "Millennial" that are often at odds with each other: Generation Y (people born between 1981-1991) and Generation Z (born between 1991-2001). People of Generation Y often have characteristics similar to Generation X, which is why Generation Z will confuse Generation Y with Generation X and then claim to be the generation that represents "MIllennial," when in fact, birth years for Millennial range from about 1981-2001, just as the birth-years for Baby Boomers ranged from 1946-1964'

'Both Generation Y and Generation Z can be called "Millennials," with the primary difference between the two being technology. Generation Y grew-up on personal computers, cell phones, and video game systems, while Generation Z has grown up on tablets, smartphones, and apps. Yet, the common ground between both generations is that both have been transforming and altering communication and identity.'

What does this mean for me?

I guess this means I am a 'generation Y' millennial, born in 1985 and remember a life where school work and projects were not typed, there was no Google, to find stuff out you had to use encyclopedias and to talk to my friends I called the house phone and had to undoubtedly speak to a parent before getting through to my bff to discuss boys and lipgloss and all the other fun stuff a younger me felt necessary to talk at length about...

Today's Communication

I think being the earlier 'millennial', I am quite shocked sometimes by what I see on the internet and how people speak to each other. Whilst this post isn't intended to be a rant about Twitter-beef, I do have to say that I often feel disappointed by what I read and the ease at which young people become such keyboard-warriors. I use social media and so enjoy the experience 80% of the time. Communication is real time and you stay connected 24/7. Things that used to feel out of reach are suddenly more accessible and I've made actual friends off the internet! Which leads me to;

'Millennial Dating'

In a world where 'someone better' is just a swipe away, this is the aspect of modern life which infuriates me. There's so many memes and inspo quotes about not making your online persona too fake and to acknowledge the rough with the smooth, yet this seems to be precisely what online dating is like. Again, I won't use this post as a platform to bash the whole dating-dating app game (this is a whole other post) but for me, if you are looking for something genuine, you have to BE genuine.

WERK

Is it just me or do us millennials get unfairly labelled as being lazy or high maintenance?! In the workplace, I do think we see alot more fluidity in terms of what people do from one job to the next. The benefit for me of a potential or contracted employee who is more in touch with what is out there and learning things online, self taught via YouTube etc is that they won't get stuck in a rut. Some of the most inspirational managers and business leaders I have met have been of the view that each of us has a 'product' that we sell; ourselves. Employers 'buy' our product and employees need to be confident in what they are selling. AND. Enough with the recruiting and seeing a few jobs as being a bad thing... I am no job hopper and unfortunately as a result of the recession (that sh!t was not even our fault!!) I have been made redundant a few times. I find it insulting that recruiters will say something negative about the amount of jobs on my CV. The truth is that my experience in a number of industries sets me completely apart from someone who has stayed at the same company for ten years. PREACH.

What are your favourite and least favourite parts of being a 'millennial'?