In defence of millennials

I often hear people say that my generation is “losing their social skills” or how we apparently “are dependent on computers” and it pisses me off intensely. Not only because people creating this argument are taking the first pause of the day from their Ipads for casual drinking and bitching, but also because they’d do the exact same if they had the ability. Now I’m not going to bring up how my generation are the closest to equality that we’ve been or the minimisation of smoking and teen pregnancy in young people. I could spend ages with stats and facts about us. But instead I’m going to convince you that we have it better than the baby boomers.

Firstly we live in the fast lane, but there’s nothing wrong with that. We have the potential to do in a day what it would have once taken a team of people a week to do. We have maximised productivity providing enough time for entertainment and personal projects. We have free utilities that allow people an audience for their particular talent that wouldn’t get one before. It isn’t just the entertainment industry either, people can create projects on Kickstarter and receive the financial aid they require without a crippling loan. Often when baby boomers say that us kids are “impatient” what they really mean is “They have an advantage over us and we’re jealous.”

Secondly it isn’t just the speed at which we can access the word either. We have an all access pass to the internet which allows us to see things we’d never see anywhere else. I can order an Australian surfboard or a Japanese TV and it’ll arrive within weeks. I can contact people over the other side of the world just for a catch up and or meet attractive strangers briefly and intimately without leaving my house, let alone going to a bar. I can track down any piece of information available and use it to my advantage, learn any skill within a three minute video. With the internet the world is literally your oyster.

Third is a pressing issue, a main argument is about how vain our generation is. People view apps such as twitter and Instagram as a place for smugly attractive people to plaster their face over, but in reality that’s far from the truth. It’s used to boost self-esteem sure, I’ll give you that one, but it’s closer to a time capsule or a scrapbook. People use social networks to look back at fond memories and smile. They also provide instant news from the people I care about, be them famous or otherwise, about their day to day life and how their doing. This means I don’t need to constantly contact people and ask the way a nosy parent would. Social networks allows a portal into the world of the user, the closest we’ve come to seeing through another’s eyes. What’s not to like?

Finally our social skills aren’t decreasing, I contact hundreds of people each day. I have the potential to talk to anyone from any background and get opinions from anyone. We have dozens of new things to talk about and share including an extensive collection of world shattering and emotionally intense new TV shows, constant news from all four corners of the globe and dozens of enlightened professionals who can whittle very serious issues and inspiring ideas into 5 – 20 minute shots of information. So next time you see a teenager glued to three devices at once, don’t judge them, because the odds are they’re doing twice the work you ever could.

for further persuasion check out author John Green's view on the subject: 

http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/stop-patronising-young-people-and-start-listening?utm_content=bufferac21d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer