An Open Letter to Younger Millennials

Dear Fellow Gen-Y’ers (or the Millennial Generation, as we’re fondly referred): those of us born between the early 1980’s and the early 2000’s,

We’re getting a bad rap. It’s not all of us; it’s a select few of us…and mostly the younger ones.

I don’t think it’s your fault; and I actually blame technology.

I like to think I grew up during the perfect time, so I’m lucky. I had a Walkman growing up, not an iPod. I played in real forts, not cyber ones. I started out with an MS-DOS computer, where you had to know computer code to access the floppy disk you just inserted.

When the Internet finally surfaced, it was using – brace yourself – dial-up. And, when it was invented, we used AIM…not Gchat, not Skype.

AOL Instant Messenger.

There was no Facebook until I was in college, and it had less functionality than the current version of MySpace.

I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 16 years old and that was simply so my parents knew I didn’t crash their car. At that time, all we could get were those lovely Nokia phones. They didn’t have Caller ID, it didn’t text, and they certainly didn’t surf the Internet. I’ve lived in a world where you weren’t able to reach someone right away.

A world without email. Without cell phones.

I feel old and crotchety saying all of this; but the truth is, being a child of the 90’s made me appreciate technology. I was lucky enough to be able to see things being invented; not coming into a world where they already existed.

You can’t help when you’re born, but you can help how you act. The fact that so many younger Millennials act as though the world owes them something puts a bad taste in everyone’s mouth about our entire generation. Guess what? No one owes you anything.

It’s important to remember that we all need to work for what we get.

If you do nothing else, please never forget that.

With love,
Your fellow Millennial