Just Call us Snake People: Why No One Should EVER Use the Word Millennial

This was originally posted on LinkedIn.

Recoiling at the mere sound of it

I just turned 25 years old. According to society, this means that I am a millennial, since I was born between 1982 and 2004. But despite what society says, whenever someone calls me by the M-word, my gut reaction is to recoil. Then again, I don’t hear people say it to my face too often, since the only people who use “millennial” in conversation seem to be press outlets, politicians, and investors.

Yet the term persists as part of our lexicon.

Reacting to a Dismissive Generalization

On CampusJob.com, you can post a “one-time gig” for college students throughout the country to fill out a survey in exchange for $1… So I did just that, and asked what students think of the cursed “M-word”. And guess what? The survey confirmed that I’m not the only passenger in this boat.

The survey questions were basic:
First, I asked people to evaluate how they like/dislike the term “millennial”, by ranking it from 1 (hate) to 10 (love). The average response (4.4) and median response (4) were surprisingly higher than I expected, but still were in the negative. There was also an open-ended question asking, “When someone says the word “millennial,” what’s the first thing you think of?”

Here’s the word cloud of responses:

Maybe because employment is always top-of-mind for me, but I’ll admit that I was especially surprised by how many people referred to unemployment as being a highly-correlated word.

And, of course, a few responses that made me smile:

• “Barf in my mouth”
• “Really?”
• “Overuse of a vague word that means nothing”

On the whole, the survey confirmed my suspicion that, like me, most people my age (give or take 5 years) hate being called millennials. While we’re often aware of what the term is technically supposed to mean, we don’t like being associated with the word.

Snake People Unite

These survey results echo a growing sentiment among so-called millennials that’s gathering steam. You could almost call it a backlash (and I say, “It’s about time!”).

There’s even a Chrome extension that emphasizes just how annoying the word is by replacing all instances of the word “millennial” on the Internet with the term “snake people.” Anyone else agree that this is brilliant? Well, it is.

Yes, I’m aware that every generation has its own moniker: the baby boomers, generation X, generation Y. The sweeping generalization inherent in the naming of a whole generation is bad enough, but what bugs me the most is that the “millennial” term has primarily negative connotations. The assumption is that we all fall into a pre-defined, pre-designated mold of technology-obsessed ADHD slacker-dom, and that these projected negative qualities are somehow built into the DNA of everyone who falls into this age group.

The truth is, we Snake People are a diverse group with a range of personality types, strengths, weaknesses and foibles — just like every other generation. If you must refer to our age group, say something less incendiary, like “twenty-somethings” or even “snake people”… But please, please, just stop using the M-word!