If you’re a millennial, chances are you spend more time justifying your life choices in a day than people who were born before 1985. Fortunately, you can find millennial living suggestions with a search online.
You’ve gotten used to your family questioning your job, housing, and personal life. If this rings true for you, take a look at this list to see a few of the most common things that millennials are tired of hearing.
1. You should buy a house
If you’re like the majority of millennials populating Instagram and Snapchat, you probably live in a big city that has recently experienced a meteoric rise in housing prices.
Cities all over the United States have seen their housing prices climb sky-high in the last 10 years because of the rise of the tech industry – young people living in San Francisco, Seattle, and other cities that are tech-industry heavy have found themselves virtually priced out of the housing market.
2. Why haven’t you started your career already?
In our parent’s generation, working for one company for the majority of your life was common. Many people chose to go in this direction because it was easy – you joined the company in the most junior position after you graduated, and worked your way up the ranks because the path to success and higher earnings was clear. Now, most millennials will have more than 4 different jobs before they hit their early 30s.
3. You should just get a better job
This is one of the most frustrating things a person can hear, especially within a few months of graduation.
In school, more students are being encouraged to specialize – pick one major and stick with it. Then, they’re summarily ejected from the cozy halls of academia, and are forced to compete with tons of other people for a coveted few jobs, all while trying to widen the scope of their education. Most millennials will end up working in service jobs until they find their dream job for at least a few months.
4. Millennials require lots of positive affirmations
Yes, we know that not everyone gets a participation trophy in real life. However, whose idea was that in the first place? Most books published these days on leadership and workplace management are specifically on how to “handle” needy millennials. Next time you’re confronted with that criticism, apologize that your productivity and drive threaten your co-worker’s complacency.
5. When are you going to get married?
Even though it may seem like the case to your grandma and grandpa, the world won’t end just because you refuse to settle down and churn out babies. With the advent of online dating and apps like Tinder and Bumble, more millennials are choosing to play the field before settling down into comfortable monogamy.
6. Your generation is so much more promiscuous than my generation
Actually, it’s been shown that the most promiscuous generation in recent memory were the baby boomers. Remember that decade of Free Love? That’s probably what tipped the scale.
However, it’s easy to see why people say that the millennial generation is more promiscuous. Conversations about sex and romance have become much more public in the last 20 years, and we’re benefitting from being able to talk openly about our experiences.
7. You’re so entitled
Just because we don’t passively accept the social contracts that baby boomers have laid out for the last 50 years doesn’t mean we’re entitled. Usually, it means that we’ve seen through how stupid that arbitrary rule is, and have decided to do our own thing instead.
8. You’re so disrespectful
Actually, the millennial generation is the most educated generation in history – with the crushing student debt to prove it. Of course, there will be people who don’t respect others, but in general, expressing your opinion and contradicting others isn’t disrespect, it’s just respectful disagreement.
9. Millennials are so lazy
In this scenario, the opposite is true. Millennials are so eager to prove to their bosses that they aren’t lazy that they take way less time off than the average worker. Plus, many millennials aren’t able to secure full-time employment and are forced to work multiple jobs, many of which don’t include luxuries like sick or vacation days.
10. Can you help me with my computer?
This is a common one with grandparents, and you should tread lightly depending on how well you know this person. Your grandma loved you, fed you, and helped raise you. You can take 5 minutes to install her Adobe Reader updates.
11. You’re responsible for the death of the auto industry
Auto manufacturers are lamenting that millennials are holding off buying and leasing cars, and instead have chosen to rely on public transit to get them where they need to go. Especially if you live in a city, having a car these days is simply a useless luxury. Between the insurance payments, gas, parking, and the occasional ticket, the convenience of having a car isn’t that convenient anymore. Good news for bike manufacturers, bad news for the American auto industry.
12. Millennials are more bogged down in debt than any other generation
This is a sad truth, but it doesn’t mean that we want to hear it repeated over and over again! The millennial generation has more debt because of their crushing burden of student loans paired with a high unemployment rate. This means that their loans are going unpaid longer than ever before, which is stopping them from doing things like buying cars and taking out a mortgage.
13. You have two jobs?
Most millennials have perfected the art of the side hustle. Having just one job simply won’t cut it anymore. This doesn’t mean we want to hear our uncle talk about how he doesn’t imagine how he could ever find time to do more than one job because his is so fulfilling. Trust me, if you need to pay rent, you’ll find the time.
14. Millennials are just too sensitive
Baby boomers love to grumble about how “sensitive” millennials are, and how they feel like they can’t say anything that they used to. While it may be hard for some people to watch what they say, truly it means the world is a better place if more people feel like they can express their opinion about what makes them uncomfortable, rather than just shutting up for the sake of keeping the peace.
15. Millennials aren’t involved in politics
Maybe it’s because we’ve watched over the last 20 years and seen the failure of every program that could potentially help us? Plus, the ads that target young people are just offensively patronizing.
16. Millennials are always on the phone!
People love to make fun of millennials because of how addicted they are to their phones. I mean, it is true, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Shouldn’t we be happy that we’re raising a generation that’s engaged in the world? As well, a phone can hold a wealth of information. Nowadays, you can read the news, learn a language, and do charity work all on your phone.
17. Millennials are just blind followers
Oh come on, who’s never followed a trend before? Just because trends move faster than ever before doesn’t mean that we’re the first ones to ever jump on a bandwagon. What about the poodle skirt, or the even more ridiculous Alexandra limp? In case you were curious, a bunch of 19th-century aristocrats copied Alexandra, Princess of Wales’ limp in order to appear more fashionable. It makes planking or bleached hair seem completely reasonable in comparison.
18. Your generation only wants to party
Actually, it’s been proven that time away from work can lower your stress level, which in turn makes people more creative and productive. That in itself is justification for unplugging every so often. Plus, connecting with family is becoming more important than ever in a time when individual activities and extra work commitments often take people out of the house until late at night.
19. They ruined music
This is simply untrue. People forget that for every “Yesterday” and “Let It B”’ that the Beatles produced, they put out ridiculous tracks like “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” and “Revolution 9.”
20. What’s going on with Kanye West?
Literally, no one knows. Stop asking us!