The millennial generation has been a focus for the past decade or so. Millennials have undergone observation and scrutiny, especially from the older generation. The reason is that millennials seem to behave differently than their predecessors. Back then, it was common for people in their 20-somethings to have a stable job, a house, a family, and marriage. Today is quite so different, and millennials aren’t the ones to blame in full. The world is different than it used to be.
Emerging Adulthood
The concept of emerging adulthood has become a more prominent topic of conversation. Most Millennials enter a phase that’s somewhere in between being a teenager and adulthood. They’re no longer teenagers, but they’re not quite at the adult phases of their life yet. The reason for this new phase in life is a variety of changes in the environment.
- Higher unemployment rate and lower job security
- Higher student debt
- The Internet
- Technological Advancements
The Modern World of Employment
In today’s generation, work isn’t about finding a good corporation and climbing the ladder; many millennials no longer see the point of being a salaryman for most of their life. Pension and retirement are no longer reliable sources of income during old age due to hyperinflation. They also realized that working at an office is optional.
Today, you can either work for a company or start one yourself. Many millennials focus on exploring their horizons. They look for paths that speed up their journey to a more stable and comfortable lifestyle. The reason for this is because of the environment they live in.
Hyperinflated
The cost of everything is steadily increasing — at a faster rate than ever before. Many of today’s college graduates have student debts they aren’t able to pay until their mid-30s or early 40s. Yet, with this increase in prices and taxes, most of everything else is still lagging. Wages of once-reliable jobs still pay the same way, and many industries are stuck in archaic practices.
As a result, millennials are more concerned with managing their debt and saving up. They rarely think about houses, cars, or other big-ticket items until later on. Some even forgo them to buy things they’d enjoy right now, like the latest smartphone. In turn, it has created an environment of a slower pace, where millennials are not in a hurry at all to settle down and start families.
The Connected Digital Community
Another reason why millennials have changed their behavior is because of the internet. Today, people are more connected than ever before to their peers. As a result, most of the current behavior of the generation comes influenced by things viewed by the majority in importance.
They see others that want to focus on careers or self-fulfillment first, and they focus on it themselves. In the past, there was no point in comparison since there was no easy access to other lives. Today, millennials seem to be moving in waves similar to the people they connect to online.
Technology Today
Another aspect that has slowed down millennials compared to the previous generation is technology. Today, you can preserve a woman’s reproductive state by freezing their eggs. That way, they don’t have to rush with their concern about their biological clock like in previous generations.
Studies even show that most women who marry much later in life experience more stability and satisfaction than others. One of the emerging trends in their generation is that there isn’t a rush to move forward fast, and it’s showing.
Over Scrutiny?
There seems to be a clear focus on millennials, as many of them have noted. Even with the emergence of Generation Z, millennials continue to be the topic of conversation for many. However, the reason for all of this attention is that information is now more accessible. Previous generations also received the same scrutiny from the ones before them — it’s just easier to see with the rise of the internet.
In the end, each generation will find a way to make it work as they always have.