How will today’s 20 year olds be seen in 20 years?
In the eyes of our parents, the millennial generation is a is group of selfish, tech-savvy young adults who cant hold a real conversation. Whether that is the reality or not will play out in the next few years, but the impact of our generation begins now.
Each generation leaves a lasting impact on the next. The baby boomers were workaholics leading generation X to be independent yet career oriented with a healthy disregard for a life work balance. This lead to generation Y, or the millennials, to be a free spirited generation changing the way we work and think.
The question is, how will we impact the next generation? How will they view us?
Is it possible that age-old saying that history repeats itself applies to generations? According to an article about the differences between generations, there is a possibility that “Generation Z” will take after the baby boomers and go back valuing responsibility and respect.
Will Gen Z look at us critically like our parents and superiors or will they take what we have started and run with it? Either way, they will have a different mindset than our parents did. The millennial generation’s open-minded nature is a legacy that will carry over to the next generation.
Legacy is a funny thing.
It holds forever but rarely changes. When applying that logic to an entire generation it is important to have a positive legacy. It is easy to look at the marijuana smokers or the liberal nature and classify an entire generation. However, the millennial generation is so much more that that.
We are looking to be a change agent in our societies. We are fighting for issues of all sizes and the results of them will be what the next generations see as our legacy.
However, it is likely that generations to come will define us by our weaknesses rather than our strengths. There is a reoccurring cycle that is even apparent in the beginning of this article. We classify generations— like the baby boomers as workaholics—with negative connotations
Whatever the generations to come perception of us is, they will not be the same without us. We are a generation that threw conformity about religion, relationships, jobs and life altogether completely out the window. Doing things our own way and making it up as we go.
For that, I feel that the next generation will be grateful. We will be closer to equality and have the power to invent things we never knew we could possibly use. We will have families and experiences to show for our lives rather than corner offices. We will show the next generation that change is inevitable and the people of each generation are the driving force behind it.
