Everyone likes to talk shit abut Millennials. Old fogeys are always like, “You don’t know the value of a dollar and a hard day’s work!” Hey, all you oldies. As a millennial, I know what hard work looks like. One time, my parents didn’t get me an iPhone when they just came out even though I worked really hard as a hostess at a restaurant. They told me I should pay for it myself, but like, I had to put my paycheck towards cute outfits for hostessing! I deserve an iPhone, Dad! Why can’t you understand that?!
A new research focused on high school seniors in 2005, 2006, and 2007 has found that materialism in Millennials is at historically high levels, while their attitudes towards work don’t reflect the kind of pay offs they, or shall i say “we,” expect. Participants were asked to rate how important various materialistic goals were for them, like buying a new car every few years, owning a sick pad (that’s what we call a nice house these days), and having a lot of money. In the same survey, they were asked whether they thought they expected work to be a central part of their lives and their attitudes towards work in general.
Surprise, surprise. The results show we suck, and not only do we suck, we suck a substantial amount more than our predecessors. “Materialism rose substantially from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s, peaking among members of Generation X,” the report reads. “Although materialism then declined slightly, youth in the late 2000s were significantly more oriented towards materialistic values than they were youth in the 1970s.”