Personal Challenges of Millennials and Youths

Millennials are the children of the Baby Boomers. The oldest Millennials are born at the early 1980s.

Youth is the time of life when one is young and often means the time between childhood and adult hood (maturity). The intergovernmental organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) defines youths as “those between 15 and 29 years of age”.

These young adults are shaping our culture today. They have outpaced the Baby Boomers in population. They will increasingly become the driving force behind technology and new trends in products and services.

Millennials are too often touted as spoiled, brunch-loving, debt-incurring 20-somethings chipping away at traditional values and societal norms.

To describe the to and fro of this generation in the scheme of things, let name the protagonist, R.man.

R.man has been dubbed as lazy, having entitlement mindset, demanding and impatient among many others, and a member of the cohort of the “Why” Generation. If he has a say, what will he tells us about his feeling of things said about him, his wish to express gratitude to people who care for him and the many things that he hopes others, especially those who have opinions, could hear him out and understand him better.

 

 

R.man has been raised as a latchkey kid (like many of his peers) as both of his parents were hard at work to bring home the bacon. To compensate for their guilts, his parents provided him with many luxuries like smartphone, toys,  overseas trip, etc. money can buy.  

In his personal front, R.man felt loneliness, boredom and fear during his growing up years. Friendship bonding with his peers was not easy for him. He had university education and smartphone for companion. Thanks to Google and social media, he could find most of the “answers” to his queries from the internet. He found comfort and sense of belonging in an on-line community. Unfortunately, he was still too young that time to know that the difference between real and make-believe worlds. He could easily be separated and alienated by technology even when he thought it was connecting them. He saw so many happy and successful photos on social media, and he did not realize how inaccurate a picture they painted.

R.man on growing up into adulthood, acquired certain personality traits, namely, fiercely independent character, view everyone as equals, doesn’t want to screw it up, like most of his parent generation did, e.g. bringing up children and less trustful of authority. These resulted in behaviour that do no auger well with others when he stepped into working world. His relationship challenges are very real to him. R.man feel he is being penalised for being himself in adulthood. He has been classified as anti-social, lack of communication skills and grace in face-to-face relationships. The list of items goes on…

He is caught between a rock and a hard place. He is frustrated that most of the his adult seniors do not give credit to his plus points but mostly highlighted the bad ones. He is sad. He perceives unfairness in the adult world.

Knowing what we know now, will you treat him differently?

Provide him with support and encouragement so that he can find his strengths to build a meaningful and fulfilling life for himself.