Just for reference, a millennial is anyone who was born between the early 1980’s and the mid 1990’s, about 10-15 years. That doesn’t seem like that much of a gap but when you really drill down into you start to realize that the term is inclusive of two very different sets of people. Think about it. Someone born in 1985 vs 1995 will have vastly different experiences in all aspects of life - especially socially. They’d have the same overarching idea of the world around them but the context would be so different you’d swear you couldn’t be considered “the same”.
Let’s start with cartoons as an easy example. Spongebob is a wildly popular cartoon that in hindsight was weirdly inappropriate but has spanned nearly two decades. For someone like me (born in the 80s) I recall seeing a weird a** sponge screaming I’M READY and not understanding what it was about when it first aired in 1999. My little sister though, that was her end all be all favorite cartoon ever. She wore everyone out screaming about it every chance she got. An even better example of the vast differences between us is the ever present use of the internet. My counterparts born in 1992 will never understand the pains of dial up internet, using napster to download songs, or spending half a day to download a movie. I also will never understand the constant need to take a selfie every 5 minutes, but get that being born into a flourishing new system allows you to manipulate it far better than anyone else. I can’t really code nor do I want to learn.
Like I mentioned before, we do share similarities in which only our generation could truly understand. The Freeform show Grown-ish is a great depiction of my college struggles dealing with sex, love, freedom, and drinking way too much in a time where Beyonce & Jay-Z were lit and progressiveness is at an all time high. The only difference was social media was non-factor and I worked at a movie rental store (Yes, before Netflix there were stores you rented movies from) and wasn’t an inspiring fashion designer like most of today’s youth. Our career goals are even somewhat aligned. We’re all “woke” and trying to create our own destiny the best way we see fit. At some point we love the same shows and vibe over the same memes.
That aside I still can’t seem to question if we all are millennials. I mean, I am, but the young mumble rapping social media influencer just has to be a Gen Z’er right? They can surely kick with us at the party when Old Town Road comes on but when they play Candy by Cameo it’s time for them to go. (Haha)
Hashtags: #millennial #imthisold #grownish #freeform #beyonce #jayz #80s #90s #netflix
