Local teen Emma Snow writes about various topics and events each month in the Grapevine. “A voice for the young people in our Community”. Millennials You’re probably wondering what a millennial is. It sounds like an alien species. You could be right there! Many people don’t understand millennials because we are a different generation; the first generation to fully embrace new technology. The name ‘millennial’ is given to those born around 1984 onwards. What exactly are the problems with millennials? Well, we are the generation who are deemed hard to manage, narcissistic, unfocused and lazy. We apparently confound leadership. We grew up this way due to ‘failed parenting’ and because we were told we can have anything we want, just because we want it. Things like getting a reward even if you didn’t finish first, so that we wouldn’t feel discouraged. This has resulted in us not knowing how to work, for example, in businesses. Social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat hasn’t helped either and is a whole different issue. We are so good at putting filters on our lives! Not only that, but using social media makes us feel good. When you receive a text message or receive 100 likes on an Instagram photo, it improves your
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wellbeing. This is because it releases a chemical in your brain called dopamine, a chemical that is highly addictive and one that is also released when you gamble, smoke or drink alcohol. We want more of it. We then become addicted to social media where we need constant approval from our online ‘friends’. If our likes start to dwindle, or our followers start to decrease on Twitter, we get worried. We start to ask ourselves questions. What did I do? Am I not cool anymore? Does no one like me? So now, there is a problem. In workplaces, we have a new generation with lowered self-esteem, who want to give up after just a few weeks of starting a new job because they feel as though they aren’t making an impact. They aren’t gaining the instant gratification they would get from receiving likes on social media. The real world just doesn’t work like that. Of course, these are just sweeping generalisations. Take myself, as an example. Someone who uses social media every day, but for a different reason. I use social media to build myself as a brand and to promote my radio work, my writing or the latest interview I have carried out. It can become a tool, one that is very useful to create contacts and opportunities. But everything isn’t instant. Real life isn’t like the online world and I know that opportunities come with hard work.
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