Do we really have it too easy?

Hear me out — I am not here to proclaim that we are the most diligent generation out there, nor to defend a bunch of lethargic and sloppy group of youngsters. If you could just give me your attention for 5 minutes, I will leave you with a question to ponder over.

Now, I believe that I speak for all the millennials and Gen Zs out there when I say that we are constantly criticized for having it all way too easy in life. We are assumed to be a very entitled, ungrateful group, that has been fortunate enough to evade all of the struggles in life. The general notion is that besides not having to struggle, all of our lives’ problems are resolved by the plethora of technology that surrounds us. If we come from a family with a decent income, there is no denying that unlike our ancestors, we are not waiting for a pigeon to bring a letter to our doorstep; we are fortunate enough not to walk across 5 villages to go to school; we do not find ourselves being forced to enlist to fight in a war; we most certainly are not reading this article as written on the rooftop of a terrace with pieces of chalk (or I’d hope not). Nevertheless, does having increased access to technological affluence essentially imply that our lives are easier?

Millennial bashing is a real phenomenon, wherein, millennials are discriminated against and demeaned for a supposed lack of skills, knowledge, and often, an unpleasant personality. Be it at home, with our families, or at our workplace, we are constantly belittled for being oh so vain and ignorant. To all of these accusations and plenty more, here are my thoughts. We are the generation that has lived through a global financial crisis in 2008, one that created an enormous debt crisis all over the world, and caused several thousands of employees to lose their livelihood. Many of us witnessed our parents struggle to make ends meet. Although our parents’ generation did feel the initial impact of the crisis, the long-term impacts have fallen on our shoulders. As a consequence of the crisis, we are now in a global economy that is falling short of middle-income jobs, which leads to a gradual increase in disparity between the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’.

Most of us experience immensely slow growth in our careers. The cumulative impacts of the financial crisis and population explosion have led to heightened levels of competition in the job market, for which millions of students all over the world are constantly under pressure to be the best of the best. Sometimes, it takes multiple degrees, from esteemed, yet unaffordable universities, for a resume to even be considered. What are the odds of someone coming from a not so well-off family flourishing so enormously in life? Most of us get stuck in a spiral of a certain income level. Yet another challenge that we encounter is the constant outbreak of civil wars and terrorist activities all over the globe. With international relations being stronger now than ever, we are all inevitably affected by these outbreaks, irrespective of where we are. Perhaps this is not as tragic as the World Wars that our ancestors fought, but does that make our wars now any less significant? Widespread massacres, bloodshed, millions of homeless refugees trying to flee from one country to another, only to find that this new border has been shut down as well — how are they to cope? To add to this, we also have nuclear and chemical weapons make an appearance, only to threaten our security further.

Thanks to the previous generation for exploiting all of our natural resources like there was no tomorrow, we are faced with the burden of restoring the stability of an entire planet. We find ourselves being far more prudent in our use of resources, and a large part of our jobs includes converting our companies’ functionalities to be more sustainable. As far as technology is concerned, life may be made convenient in some senses. However, we are also now exposed to newer threats, such as cyber-crimes and cyber-bullying. Unfortunately, these areas of crime still lack adequate patrolling and scrutiny, and they continue to take a toll on our sense of security. Finally, need I remind you that we are living amidst a global pandemic? And by living, I mean working, studying, functioning in an enclosed space, and staring into our laptop screens to get any work done. Technology certainly is a blessing, but how effective an alternative is it to being present in-person to perform our everyday tasks? That is a debate for another day.

After being slightly more informed about contemporary struggles, let me ask you this. Do we really have it too easy, or are our struggles just a lot different than yours?