Mythical Millennial #7: the dazed and confused

Brenda Wong
Mythical Millennial
3 min readSep 19, 2016

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ICYMI, the hashtag #HowToConfuseAMillennial got some traction a couple of days ago, initially trying to highlight how, apparently, millennials are “digitally-obsessed ingrates with a horrific sense of entitlement.” Examples of tweets included “Turn off their auto-correct,” and “Recite a phone number from memory”. Beyond the sheer irony of using a hashtag for an outlet for their ire, it is foolish to expect young people to take this lying down.

Uproxx did an excellent round-up of clapbacks from millennials frustrated by the scape-goating — and my god, we have every right to be. To older generations, we can’t seem to do anything right. We don’t go on enough vacations, we don’t buy diamonds anymore, we don’t even use bar soap, for crying out loud. The continuous bashing by the baby boomers has had a sad result: relative to other generations, millennials have “by far the lowest regard for their own cohort.”

We are not our parents. We live in a completely different economic and social climate that has proven time and time again to be considerably more hostile than in previous decades. If you’ve got a baby boomer on your back asking you why you don’t have a mortgage yet, invoke the wise words of Ms Taylor Swift: “Shake it off. Shake it off.” You don’t have to meet anybody’s expectations but your own.

On the surface, the idea of working for a startup is a dream. Expensive coffee machines, beer on Fridays and ping pong tables are the physical manifestations of the ‘new work revolution’. Like most things however, the startup industry has its own dark side.

Dallas-based digital marketer wrote a viral piece titled ‘I Got Scammed by a Silicon Valley Startup’ recently, shocking the Internet with the inner workings of a startup story gone sour. Not all startups end up like the one here (actual fraud is involved in this story), but it is a stark reminder for us to remember this sage advice:

“Red flag: If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”

My girl @amyeverett1190 pointed me in the direction of Glass Animals a while ago. I haven’t looked back.

Life Itself by Glass Animals

For a good laugh, I bring you The Drum’s round-up of advertising stereotypes. You know the ones. Cute animals with toilet paper. Shaving advertisements with the legs already completely smooth. Scarily happy women on their periods.

Which annoying #adstereotypes tick you off the most? Tweet me @brendaisarebel with your best ones.

See ya in two weeks-a,
B x

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Originally published on Mythical Millennial.

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