Millenials are also known as Generation Y. Depending on who you ask, Millenials started being born in 1977 or 1982. I was born in 1977 and have always thought I was the last year of Generation X. After reading this post on Brazen Carrerist I have started to think that I am pretty much a Millenial. While the post is actually about long-distance relationships, check out this descriptionof Millenials:
Their relationship reflects one of the big changes that millennials have brought to dating: The long-distance relationship. It’s becoming more and more mainstream as young people increasingly rejigger what it means to step out into adult life.
The trend starts before college, when young people are tied to technology, communicating with people all over the world, and making friends with people they’ve never met in person.
Then college comes, and the experience includes much more travel than it used to. Junior year abroad used to be the time to travel. Now there’s also a summer internship for most students, and many students travel to another state every summer for a coveted internship of one sort or another. Among college students 78% say they have been in a long-distance relationship.
After that, traveling for a job seems normal. Thirty years ago, people would generally look for a job out of college in a city they wanted to build a life in. Today, the first job is just a first step.
And millenniels are experimenters. They see their twenties as a time to try out a bunch of different jobs, and they also see it as a time to try out a bunch of different cities. It used to be that you could tell where someone was living by the area code on their phone. Now that area code on their cell phone only tells you where they started.
Additionally, millenniels are acutely aware of the problems generation X encountered from putting off having children. Baby-boomers mothers told gen-X daughters: “Don’t worry about getting married, you have time. Focus on your career. You can have kids later.”
That describes me to a tee. Let’s see, I am almost 30. My family is situated. I have lived in New Hampshire, Philly, Washington, DC, and Nashville since college. My relationship with Sabrina started long distance. I have had 8 salaried jobs since I left college. Though I have never travelled outside of the country.
One Comment
Hi, Jackson.
There has been a bit of discussion on my blog about how to determine what generation you fall into. And I am thinking that it’s not about when you were born, but how you use media. And, by that definition, it sounds like you are dead-on in your post where you look at yourself in terms of how you communicate instead of your birthday.
Here’s a post I wrote about determining your generation:http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/03/09/friday-smorgasbord-estimate-your-real-age-and-ability-to-contribute-at-work/