The Elder Millennial - A generation lost in time

For years, viral media posts asked how millennials would save the world. But now things seem less certain than ever, the promised changes have yet to materialize, and millennials born in the early 1980s (also known as elder millennials) are entering their 40s. Ultimately, millennials as a generation have been defined by the loss of potential, but they have found new and exciting ways to adapt and reshape the culture – proving that rather than being “snowflakes” they’re actually quite resilient.

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We are The Take (formerly ScreenPrism).

00:00 Will Elder Millennials be okay?
01:38 Millennials just may be the unluckiest generation...
07:02 The dawn of the internet, a millennial revolution
09:24 What does an elder millennial's family look like?
13:10 Elder millennials actually deserve way more credit

[jcherry]

As a Gen z person I do like millennials. They normalised so much and made a more empathetic society. Of course not all but they started a lot of important conversations and try to end a lot of cultural and generational curses. I also feel like they are more friendly to gent zs than boomers were to them.

[steamynators]

Even as a late millenial (born in '95) I feel this deeply. We're a generation born in an opportunity gap. Too late for the 90s economy boom, too early for the Gen Z affluent influencers. We are quite an unique generation being the ones that grew up right at the crossroads of analog and digital. We got to see massive computers with a few kilobytes of storage turn into pocket processors with gigabytes of memory. We grew up with the promise that our lives were going to be as successful as our parents' were only to have that shattered right before our eyes. One thing I envy about Gen Z is how they never grew up with a promise of prosperity, they know how shitty all is. Us, in the other hand, had to pretty much restart our goals and perspective after our mid 20s. Being seen as the "weakest" generation out of the bunch we easily become the scapegoats of all problems in the world.

[knju]

I feel like the accusation of narcissism against Millenials was just projection from their truly narcissistic Baby Boomer elders.

[alissaj]

Boomers: “Millennials believe if they work hard they can have what the want.”
Millennials: “And who told us that?”
Boomers: “You got too many Participation trophies!”
Millennials: “And who gave them to
us?”

[jenn]

As an elder millennial, I don't want cultural capital or cache. I just want to do what I like, enjoy my space, and be left alone. Gen Z can have the spotlight we didn't ask for. Go nuts.

[CuriosityRover]

Considering we keep experiencing "once in a lifetime" events back to back to back, no I don't think we will be okay. We have another recession right around the corner, the climate disaster is getting worse, and governments all around the world aren't listening to what their citizens are directly asking for. The greed and corruption of the older generations screwed us all.

[annejohnson]

As a gen x-er, I think millennials have it tougher than previous generations. They graduated college drowning in student loan debt, entered the job market during the worst economic downturn since the great depression and had to deal with all of the adversity of a worldwide pandemic. In the past few decades, wages have not kept up with inflation and buying a home and having children have become pipe dreams, yet I have read a lot of articles hand wringing about the lack of new people being born. When I was raising my son in the 90's and 2000's, it was extremely difficult. It has only gotten worse for younger generations, and I know I would never be able to do it now.

[laurelrosegardens]

Elder millennials were in high school and middle school when the Columbine school shooting happened. That kind of massacre was UNHEARD-OF then. I was 15 at the time. On my second day of college at age 18 I woke up to news of 9/11 and the entire world shifted from everything we grew up knowing. At age 23 the housing market collapsed and the world plunged into recession. I lost my job and could find nothing but part-time work for YEARS. I still have not recovered from that and it was almost a decade before I could make more than $15/hour. Now in my late 30's we are entering the 3rd year of a global pandemic the likes of which have not been seen in over a century. Millennialls did not cause any of these problems.
I read articles where boomers rail against millennials demanding more flexible work schedules, remote work and better conditions. They say we are entitled and should stop complaining and pay our dues like they had to. All this while boomer politicians funded by corporations have been working FOR DECADES to erode workers rights and protect corporate profits under the false flag of "job creation." Now there are too many low-paying jobs and not enough people willing to work for nothing while CEO's become billionaires. Give me a break, boomer. All of this was YOUR legacy to the younger generations. Excuse me if I don't want it. That does not make me entitled.

[Bunny-chul]

Middle Millennial here. (1989.) To me, a huge reason so many Millennials are unhappy is that we were raised to believe that everything hinges around work. We were all taught that it was supposed to be the most fulfilling, most stimulating, most important part of your life. Anything you're good at, or that you enjoy, you're supposed to turn into work. (See: Side Hustles, monetized YouTube channels, etc. ) We're not supposed to have hobbies. Other generations were taught that work is work, and most work isn't soul satisfying. That's what hobbies and outside interests are for. Soul satisfying jobs don't generally pay the bills, but they never really did. I don't think anyone's grandfather enjoyed selling vacuums door to door. They enjoyed building model ships, or gardening, or volunteering, or whatever. We have to stop expecting work to be the most fulfilling part of life, and choose work that isn't miserable, and allows us to find fulfillment elsewhere. There is so much value in doing things just because they're valuable to you. *Don't turn your passion into a frustrating side hustle because someone told you to open a fucking Etsy store.* You don't have to make money at something for it to be meaningful and important.

If you want to make art, don't take the $12 an hour job that tangentially includes making art in some capacity, where you have to work sixty hours a week. Take the desk job, where you put in eight hours, and leave. Go home and paint. Work doesn't have to be your passion, and it's not a mark of failure that you couldn't turn your passion into gainful employment. (Moreover, you'll be shocked by how much less money you need to spend if you can actually enjoy yourself.)

[UnboxingAlyss]

At the age of 36, I really appreciate this take. When people talk about "Millenials", I wonder which ones? Older Millenials (Xennials) like myself are VERY different from the younger ones. I do get sick and tired of us being blamed for everything when much of it has been out of our control. I don't get the dig about participation trophies (that no millennial asked for), or the fact that we are "lazy, entitled, and still live with our parents". Many millenials like myself DID graduate when the recession started, so how are you going to work with no jobs available? How are you suppose to pay rent with no job and massive student loan debt? I'm fortunate that my parents helped me with college costs, but the vast majority were not that lucky.

It does annoy many like me that the generation that seems to shit on us the most (Boomers) are also the reason we are in this mess. There is a lot of grief over how we were raised "spoiled and entitled", yet Boomers seem to forget that THEY were the ones that raised us (for the most part). Still, I do enjoy having conversations like these with my own parents, who are Baby Boomers. They can see that it isn't all on us. Are some millennials lazy, spoiled, and entitled? Of course. There are people like that in every generation. While our generations have come up in very different circumstances (ie. my parents had to deal with racial segregation), we enjoy learning about each other and we do find common ground.

[ShannonLynn]

Millennials are the Prince Charles of the generations. By the time they take the throne, it'll be too late to really do anything and will have to pass the baton almost as soon as they got it.

[---wqxp]

I'm genuinely worried for everyone born after the boomer generation. There's just SO much fixing to do and by the time they're out of positions of power, it may be too late

[amigadecachorros]

I think this was supposed to make me feel better but now I’m a sad millenial without a tumblr to cry on.

[cheapypeepy]

I just find it odd how until 3-4 years ago every young person was considered a millennial. Now millennials are considered old hags (even those of us still in our 20s) and everyone is OBSESSED with gen z

[yassi]

I’m 27. I’m a millennial & I feel like I haven’t found what gives me a reason to live and thrive. I just go through the motions. But I can not pursue joy because I don’t even really know what can make me happy and optimistic anymore😩😫🙃

[sparkle]

I'm 35 and I'm convinced our generation has had it the worst (besides maybe the Greatest Generation). Graduating in 2009 amidst a recession with no job prospects, jumping around career-wise because my first jobs were so low paying but it was all I could get. I know everyone had their own experience, but let me tell you Covid as a 33 year old single woman in a studio apartment was tough (in my mind, at least 20 somethings/teens still had their youth, and older people were already settled with kids and family). I was wasting my final "good years" in lockdown. Older Millennials are NOT QUITE in our prime anymore - we're approaching or at the time where we should be settling down and enjoying the fruits of our labor... but now we have more things to stress about - country is in political turmoil and extremely divided, climate change is a huge issue, womens rights are getting taken away, mass shootings every other day etc.. And yes, I know every generation has their problems, but I can't help think we've gotten extremely unlucky. The only good thing is not having my entire life online in my teens and 20s because god knows some of that stuff will come back to haunt Gen Z. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU POST ON THE INTERNET!!! It's there forever!

[ruru]

When I was in middle school Columbine happened and suddenly school wasn't safe anymore. In fact the adults were now scared of us. When I was in high school 9/11 happened and the entire country wasn't safe anymore. I watch the towers fall while in social studies class learning about how America is an inspiration to everyone. I graduated high school when the Iraq war began and some guys I graduated with went in the army and right into the war. It was also around this time that I realized the government will actively lie to you for their own profit. I graduated college in 2008, just in time to not be able to get a job. I was told all my life how important a career and financial independence was to be an adult and then it was like adulthood was closed off to us. All while we were being told how spoiled and entitled we were. Everything we were promised turned out to be a lie.

[SurrealSurrender]

Gather around youngsters. As THE eldest millennial (born in 81’), I can tell you that adulting is hard af, NO ONE has the answers, and we all are making it up as we go. No matter what your age is, being a human is difficult.

[skakirask]

Graduated in 09, right after the housing collapse, and at the peak of unpaid internships. I worked in retail for 2 and a half years, spending a good solid year job hunting before landing a job relevant to my field since I didn't have wealthy parents who could subsidize me while I interned. Laid off from the first job after a year, it took 8 months to find another. I was pretty lucky to hold onto that job for 8 years especially since they got picked up by a larger company, but when it became clear I would be passed over for promotions so upper management could hire their friends, and I would not receive a decent pay raise to actually support a family, I started looking elsewhere. It took a year and a half to land something better paying. 34 now, married, doing ok financially, but no kids. Thanks Boomers.

And as for the "entitlement" attitude, Millennials are checking out of working hard because in the modern day, hard work just means getting more work for the same pay. Yes, our parents and grandparents could've started out as errand boys and ended up the CEO with the right amount of work ethic, but that just doesn't happen anymore. Because of hyper-specific hiring requirements and nepotism run amok, if you're good at your job, employers would rather keep you where you are than invest in your professional development and move you into better positions. The whole system is completely broken.

[Angi_]

I was born in 1993, so I’m not an Elder Millennial, but I really wish the Millennial and Gen Z generations stopped trying to one up each other in terms of how much harder life is for them. Both of our generations are all dealing with the consequences and selfishness of the Boomers. We are all dealing with circumstances outside of our control. We need compassion and understanding for one another.