Final Major Project: IMAGE Magazine

MAY 18

IMAGE 1982-2004

What Matters To This Generation?

The Millennial Issue

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MAY 18

IMAGE THE MILLENNIAL ISSUE

DEAR READER,

‘Millennials’ is a phrase coined by demographers William Straus and Neil Howe, who define this generation as consisting of those born between 1982 and 2004. Recently, there have been a lot of global events that have had a significant impact on our modern society. As we have seen these events occur, we wonder what effect they have on future generations and how younger people feel about it. In the UK, our recent EU referendum caused a lot of controversy amongst young people due to the fact that citizens aged 16 and 17 were not allowed to vote. It was argued that such a big decision with such impactful consequences should’ve been made with the inclusivity of those who would be directly affected in the future. At IMAGE magazine, we wanted to give young people the opportunity to have their voices heard through a creative platform, on subjects that matter to them. This generation has often been subject to criticism particularly from older generations, due to their reliance on technology. This is roughly the first generation to grow up alongside the development of technology and therefore have a lifestyle that adapts along with it. It is a completely different way of living than what older generations have experienced, so criticism is expected and somewhat understandable. However, we find it important to adopt a positive mindset in regards to the people we share a society with, including Millennials. We think that in order for us to live in a peaceful, moral society, we need to be accepting and tolerant of others and their cultures and lifestyles. This way of thinking is already dominant amongst Millennials due to the vast social change that has occurred throughout their lifetime, meaning the majority of them have liberal values that we think are positive.

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Niamh Honey niamh.honey@outlook.com

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56-57 - Problems for Millennials 60-71 - Values 78-87 - Friendships and Relationships 94-109 - Millennials as Employees pg 78-87

08-17 - Misconceptions 24-35 - Politics Just Causes Arguments 42-53 - Computer Vision Syndrome

“Generati insight ca helpful, bu doesn’t de an entire generatio After conducting two surveys for Millennials, an overwhelming majority of participants were optimistic and proud of their generation, whilst strongly disputing comments made by Simon Sinek that added to the ongoing stereotype that all Millennials are materialistic and purely self interested. Their optimism was largely based on their desire to ‘make a difference’ and an ‘impact’ on the world, something that Sinek mocked throughout his speech.

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ional an be ut it efine

on” “Millennials have grown up in a time where a lot of things have changed in the world and we have grown and changed with it.

We have a unique perspective on society.”

Millennials have developed a reputation for being heavily criticised by older generations. In a recent speech ‘Millennials in the Workplace’, made by British-American author Simon Sinek, he states that this generation is ‘subject to failed parenting strategies’, as they were ‘told they can have anything they want in life’.

“Millennials will say “we want free food and beanbag chairs” and yet when provided with this they are still not happy.”

Furthermore, Sinek accusses the Millennial generation of being ‘entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocussed and lazy’. But what about the other perspective? The perspective of Millennials themselves? Is it fair to make assumptions of an entire generation based on opinion? As part of the development of this publication, we ensured that Millennials got their perspective across, some even describing their generation as a “powerful force that care about other people considerably more than other generations”. They also referred to the consistent activism that Millennials have played a significant part in, for causes such as gun control and discrimination. These are just a few of the complex issues that this generation has to face, making Sinek’s comments about ‘beanbag chairs’ and ‘free food’ seem trivial in comparison to what Millennials really care about and have to deal with.

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“Politics Just Causes Arguments”.

For many young people, the topic of politics has always been daunting. Traditionally, younger people aren’t engaged with this aspect of our society, but as we have seen in the most recent general election, things have changed.

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“There is a huge disconnection between the classes and politicians.”

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ccording to an article in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper, age was “one of the most significant factors in the most recent general election”. The voting statistics showed that 60% of voters aged 18-24 came out in force for the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, whilst 61% of voters aged 64+ voted Conservative. The co-founder of ‘Who Targets Me’, Sam Jeffers, monitors social media advertising by political parties during election periods, and said it was “clear” that Labour had a significantly more effective presence on social media than the Conservatives. Through these advertisements, Labour targeted 464 constituencies in the final two days of the election campaign, whilst the Conservatives only targeted 205. Furthermore, the nature of these adverts proved to be very significant, as the Conservative Party almost entirely focused theirs on the strength of Theresa May and the weakness of Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour Party however, focussed on a positive message overall, emphasising the social movement that they wanted to create. This evidently proved more appealing to younger voters than the tactics of the Conservatives. Another factor that helped the Labour Party to gain young votes was viral videos. One of these being “Daddy, Why Do You Hate Me?”, a fake political broadcast that concluded with the message, “Vote for Theresa May, because your children deserve worse”, and was viewed 7.6 million times across various social media platforms. Becka Hudson, from the #Grime4Corbyn campaign, said “Jeremy Corbyn had offered young people a programme they can believe in and a better future”.

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“Jeremy Corbyn had offered young people a programme they can believe in and a better future�.

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“When I post a photo and people like or comment, I feel so confident�

Social media and new technology has become synonymous with the Millennial generation, often portraying Millennials as narcissistic due to their development alongside it. We want to offer new perspectives on the subject, highlighting the positive and negative effects of social media, as told by Millennials themselves.

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Computer Vision Syndrome noun A condition resulting from focussing the eyes on a computer or other display device for protracted, uninterrupted periods of time and the eye muscles being unable to recover from the strain due to a lack of adequate sleep.

The idea that Millennials are just a bunch of technological zombies with square eyes has been a well-known stereotype for some time. However, older generations often fail to recognise that new digital media and technology has been very much a part of this generation’s development,and the way in which they communicate. In addition, 48.9% of our survey participants of only Millennials said that they spend approximately 3-5 hours per day online, with 17.8% only spending 0-2 hours online. So to say that this generation spends all of their time glued to their phones is an exaggeration, but it has to be expected that Millennials use technology as a vital part of their lifestyle.

“I am actually very grateful for social media as it has opened up politics and allowed the public to engage in political conversation and activism in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

However, the mainstream media still have a clear political bias. Thus it makes sense that

many from older generations who may not be as active on social media, a place where there are diverse perspectives, are more Conservative as they rely on mainstream newspapers such as the Daily Mail.”

“Social media has allowed me to stay in touch with

friends who have chosen different paths and allowed me to discover art, fashion, well-being accounts and similar websites.

It can sometimes negatively affect my self esteem, and having news so readily available can be distressingknowing all the bad things taking place today”.

“The artists I follow on social media can provide me with a lot of inspiration, but I think seeing unrealistic standards in terms of how people should look has a negative effect on me”.

“Social media affects my daily life in the sense that I can often spend too much time

online. However, it gives me the opportunity to connect with people all over the world”.

“I won’t always post a selfie because I feel like I look weird compared to other people I follow. I also find myself purposely trying to take photos for Instagram.

However, when I do post a photo and people like or comment, I feel so confident”.

“Social media adds more pressure to my life because everyone edits everything you see. Not having a perfect life makes you feel inferior because we never see anybody’s imperfections”.

“Not having a perfect life makes you feel inferior”

“I think it’s dangerous how influencial the media is. It is often our main source of information and ifluences our political opinions, idea of beauty standards and plenty more. I think people are generally aware of its influence, however, barely any efforts are made to ensure the media doesn’t incite judgements and prejudice towards others- be it in politics or society in general.

I feel like social media has tricked me into needing

validation from others online and the toxic beauty standards that are imposed on me have a negative effect on me. On the other hand, social media has educated me about various events happening around the world and has helped me to realise that there are problems that people deal with daily that are so much greater than my own. Basically, social media has humbled me and made me grateful for my life and everyone in it”.

“I think the media allows a lot of people who don’t have enough interest in politics to go out and research it and gain basic information in order to make an informed decision. However, I don’t think that mainstream media platforms should be allowed to be politically biased”.

“When I was younger and first started using social media, it had a very negative effect on my mental health and lead to various different issues with body image”.

“I think social media encourages and enforces narcissism, e.g Instagram.

We have so many platforms where we can express ourselves and our opinions that it’s hard not to be selfentitles and self interested. Although, I don’t think we are any different from previous generations in these respects, we’re just more public and open about it because we have more of a voice thanks to social media”. The extremely controversial stereotype that Simon Sinek introduced, that Millennials are “entitled, unfocussed, self-interested, narcissistic and lazy” comes from the perception that when older generations scroll down an Instagram feed, they are inundated with copious amounts of ‘selfies’

and pictures that are focussed on image. What older generations that agree with this stereotype fail to see, in my opinion, is the psychology behind this and why so many young people take these types of pictures. As I found in my surveys, an overwhelming majority saw social media as a pressurising environment that exposed them to ‘perfect’ images and that ‘selfies’ helped them to seek validity from their followers through the ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ they receive. Others, however, feel that their own pictures would be deemed inadequate in comparison to the ‘perfect’ pictures that they are exposed to on their feeds on a regular basis. I feel that this generation

has a lot more going on beneath the surface, and older generations do not see this depth due to their lack of understanding. This itself is understandable however, as older generations did not develop alongisde new digital media and technology. I do believe though, that in order to escape these stereotypes, the negative effects of social media and new technology has to be vocalised and users need to be made aware that this is not reality. Social media platforms have allowed users to build their own individual online identity, something that is now deemed seperate from their real identity and this is where it is wrongly perceived that the whole generation is narcissistic.

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or many Millennials, their future is something that makes them incredibly anxious. Various events in society have caused an increase in instability amongst this generation and younger, due to the financial impacts they have. For example, Millennials are becoming more and more anxious about employment, housing and pensions. On the 8th May 2018, the ‘Resolution Foundation’ publishes it’s two-year investigation on Millennial Britain.

The foundation says that, “intergenerational fairness is a major issue, but so too are the troubling inequalities within the generations”.

“Intergenerational war doesn’t reflect how people feel about the issues or how they live their lives as families”, says Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation. The intergenerational commission at the Resolution Foundation claim that it is time to remodel the welfare state, as it was created at a time when a pension was only expected to last for a short amount of years. Austerity, the financial crisis and a reluctance by governments to confront challenges in housing, employment and health and social care have led to a definite lack of wealth amongst Millennials as well as those belonging to the Silent Generation (those born between the mid 1920s and mid 1940s).

According to the Resolution Foundation, for Millennial women, ethnic minorities and LGBT groups, they have achieved progress in terms of their rights and personal freedoms. It could be argued that this is a result of the activist nature of Millennials due to their welcoming of social change and a more positive future.

However, aspirations of housing, decent employment and a higher wage than previous generations are getting more and more out of reach. According to Yvonne Roberts of The Guardian newspaper, “Two out of five nongraduate jobs are filled by people with degrees, so the less qualified, who formerly went into proper apprenticeships, are pushed into selfemployment, zero hours and agency work.

The proportion of low-paid work done by young men increased by 45% between 1993 and 2015-6. Millennials who changed jobs in their mid-20s enjoyed 14% pay rises, higher still if they moving around the country for work.

But insecurity reduces the appetite for risk, so many are staying put, receiving minimal salary increases”. Furthermore, Torsten Bell states that “More and more young men have moved into the low-paid, part-time, service-sector jobs that women have traditionally done. They never expected to do that, and their dads didn’t do it. If a measure of your self-esteem is how well you have done compared with your parents, that’s a blow. The good news is that women’s full-time employment prospects have improved a great deal – but the goal wasn’t to improve poor job options for women while making them bad for young men”.

Retirement is also something that worries a lot of Millennials, due to Brexit, high rents, low wages and the troubling debt of university tuition fees. Problems such as these have caused a significant rise in the need to take action amongst this generation, and social activism is deemed highly important.

For example, a new student campaign group to stop Brexit has received praise after appearing on national television and “outlining why a majority of young people want to remain in the European Union”, according to an article

by Tom Embury-Dennis for The Independent newspaper. The group was launched by Femi Oluwole, a 27 year old law graduate who states “It’s our (young people’s) future. Who’s going to be looking for a job in that economy? Who’s going to be raising a family in that economy?

Who’s going to be looking for a mortgage in that economy? It’s the people that voted not to have this”.

So, all facts considered, wouldn’t it be reasonable to sympathise with the young people of today? Though, it would be fair to say they just simply want you to listen to them.

“The goal wasn’t to improve poor job options for women while making them bad for young men”

“Millennials can offer the world an open mind, resilience, acceptance and kindness”.

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hen asked in our surveys, Millennials were extremely optimistic about what they could offer to the world based on their values and beliefs. The importance of liberal values amongst this generation has been something that sets them apart from older generations and helped to create this ‘revolutionary’ image, through activism and social media.

It is well known that older generations are more likely to

hold differing beliefs and this has helped to create a strong contrast between these generations. In 1975, 8 in 10 people were married by the time they turned 30, whereas now, 8 in 10 are married by the time they turn 45. This is just an example of the gradual diversion from tradition that Millennials have taken onboard. Generational values are, of course, a result of the experiences of each generation,

which will differ greatly.

Millennials have had to deal with the consequences of a lack of wage growth and the housing crisis, meaning that a large majority of this generation are strongly opposed to right-wing politics and align themselves with the values of left-wing political parties. We wanted to highlight what is important to them and why, as well as how this impacts a possible change on society.

“The importance of liberal values amongst this generation has been something that sets them apart from older generations�.

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“Millennials were consistently optimistic about what they could offer the world based on their values and beliefs�.

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“Millennials have had to deal with the consequences of a lack of wage growth and the housing crisis, meaning that a large majority of this generation are opposed to rightwing politics and align themselves with the values of left-wing political parties�.

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“Constant communication can put a strain on my relationships and friendships”.

In Simon Sinek’s ‘Millennials in the Workplace’ speech, he states that technology provides this generation with “instant gratification, except, job satisfaction and strength of relationships”. We want to provide Millennials with the platform to voice their perspective on the strength of their relationships”.

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n this article, we wanted to address the issue of the strength of relationships amongst Millennials, as it is believed that they are weak. This is yet another aspect of their lifestyle up for criticism by both author Simon Sinek and the 77,000+ people who ‘liked’ his video. In an in-depth article by Nic Wolfe entitled ‘A Rebuttal to Simon Sinek “About the Millennial Paradox” ‘, Wolfe argues that “The idea that it is the Millennial’s fault for not creating deep, meaningful relationships or job satisfaction” is just like “creating a world then faulting those who are placed in it by being

efficient”. I definitely believe that a large majority of Millennials share Wolfe’s perspective, as they are aware that their generation has grown alongside the development of technology and new media, at no fault of their own. In a survey we did amongst Millennials, 93.2% of participants described their friendships and romantic relationships as ‘strong’, and 95.6% said that they could see themselves being friends with their current friends in three years time. This thereforecontrasts with Sinek’s statement that “Many of their (Millennials) relationships

are superficial, they will admit that they don’t count on their friends, they don’t rely on their friends”.

He continues to claim that “Deep meaningful relationships are not there because they never practiced the skillset and worse, they don’t have the coping mechanisms to deal with stress”. What we want to ask, is where is your evidence for this?

What exactly has helped you draw this conclusion?

Because, throughout his speech, no research, evidence or statistics are mentioned. Therefore, we thought it would only be fair to offer a counterargument.

“Creating a world then faulting those who are placed in it�.

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“This generation has grown alongside the development of technology and new media, at no fault of their own�.

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“Employees still have to be treated as individuals that have different personalities�

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on beanbag chairs. between Millennials An article written by and Baby Boomers. It is Jay Gilbert entitled refreshing to see this “The Millennials: A contrast created in a New Generation of positive light rather than Employees, A New Set painting one generation of Engagement Policies” as superior to the other. he largest generation of on iveybusinessjournal. It would be useful for active workers currently is com, states the employers to also take the Baby Boomers, as research following: “Millennials this approach and adapt has shown that this particular their systems in order to group of people have attributes have a drastically different outlook on provide an environment that contribute to a strong what they expect from that is conducive to work ethic. Such as optimism, their employment development for these organisation and willingness experience.

Millennials two different types of to work longer hours. This people. However, it is generation grew up in a society are well educated, skilled in technology, important to note that with large corporate hierarchies, very self-confident, able whilst these personality rather than teamworkto multi-task, and have traits are valid and have based workplaces. Simon plenty of energy. They been backed up with Sinek’s speech references have high expectations research, employees the stereotypical workplace for themselves, and still have to be treated culture that Millennials expect, prefer to work in as individuals that have although definitely in an teams, rather than as differing personalities. incorrect manner and focussed individuals. Millennials It is important that seek challenges, yet leaders in a work place work life balance is have a strong sense of of utmost importance emotional intelligence, to them. They do, as this is a vital factor however, realize that in the wellbeing of their need for social an employee- as it is interaction, immediate important that they results in their work, feel understood and and desire for speedy supported. Millennials advancement may be are part of a generation seen as weaknesses that encourages social by older colleagues”. movements and social This statement draws change. Therefore, attention to the contrast their expectations for a in attributes and workplace to be fair are personality traits rather reasonable.

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“Millennials seek challenges, yet work life balance is of utmost importance to them”

“Millennials have a drastically different outlook on what they expect from their employment experience�

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“It is important that leaders in a workplace have a strong sense of emotional intelligence�

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