Ask a young person about politics and you will probably receive a strongly worded deceleration. Whether they make a declaration of apathy or activity is a matter of personal investment but the point still remains that the response will be vocal. Perspective is the key word here and you’d be hard pressed to find any Millennial who does not have a unique perspective. So why then is the popular image of Millennials so distorted? Ask any local politician or statesmen and you will be met with a shower of false accusations and lurid testimonials about how little Generation Y cares about government. Indeed there seems to be a general confusion regarding it all as the last of the Baby Boomers retire, Generation X puts the last of its people in senate seats, and all around the world Millennials clash with both generations.

So where does that leave us hmm? Where is the common ground? How can these different and diverse generations begin to break bread?

“The ability to dream the impossible dream and assiduously work towards the goal despite all odds is one of the characteristics of motivated members of the Gen Y today. Take the case of Cauvery Patel, born in a business family in the Western India city of Vadodara and clearly determined to be a citizen of the world rather than join the family business. For this first step to independence she credits her parents who encouraged her to pursue her Master’s Degree at Georgia Tech and then join a global multinational where she is one of the youngest woman product managers.”

- Ganesh Natarajan, DNA Magazine.

Well that’s incredible. Cauvery is making quite the name for herself and trust that she is not the only one. In 2014 Millennials became the most diverse generation and creatively driven in the United States and they’ve earned that distinction because they are without growing up in one of most economically turbulent times the west has ever experienced. By the Council of Economic advisers own estimates “the oldest Millennials were just 27 years old when the recession began in December 2007. As unemployment surged from 2007 to 2009, many Millennials struggled to find a hold in the labor market.”

There is no denying that so may young people now suffer in a market that refuses them even the smallest of entry level positions, let alone in their field of study. So why then are so many Gen Xers and Baby Boomers still content to label the majority of Millennials as lazy? Why do Millennials continue to suffer under the current administration?

“Under President Obama's leadership, millennials have lost the most crucial earning years and time for career growth in their lives. According to a 2013 Pew Research Center study, a record 21.6 million millennials, 36 percent of the generation, are living at home with their parents. A recent Department of Education report shows 1-in-4 26-year-olds are still living at home with Mom and Dad. By the time Obama leaves office, millennials will have spent nearly a decade and prime working years jobless. Considering two-thirds of lifetime wage growth occurs in a person's 20s, his policies have been detrimental.”

- Katie Pavlich, TribLIVE

All of this points to a fundamental shift of focus in how each generation views and indeed operates within the circles of government. Where once political debates happened in walled off courtrooms and high-rise isles the information age has opened the doors to a more connected world a world where conversations are taken off the book so to speak. This has offered one the ability to debate longer, speak through their words, condense their thoughts, or leave and come back to a conversation as they see fit. This has also thrown up an air of secrecy where chat rooms, social networks, and texting are seen as youthful distractions.

This is where the confusion stems from. Understanding where the problems stem from does not fix them however. To fix this confusion the record must be set straight and two big questions must be answered. What do Millennials believe and why is there such a big divide between Gen Y and Gen X?

To answer these questions we must first look at our history and the birth of Generation Y and how much language has changed between it and Gen X. The previous generation was loosely defined by a general sense of apathy and escapist ideals of self-importance. Recognize of course there is far more to Generation X than that, indeed this article is written by self-important Millennial. The problem then comes from a digital divide rather than a physical one. Generation X and Y both use technology but in two completely different ways. Generation Y in particular uses its own language that has only become more pervasive as social media sites flood with Millennials.

As this new language circulates Generation X does everything it can to sneer at it and turn their heads, lest this simplified language infect them. Now I am not about to sneer back because really what would that accomplish? What I will do however, is bring a better light to this new age of communication and prove once and for all that Generation Y is not getting simpler, if anything we’re just different.

It is amazing however, as that simple fact gets overlooked in favor of making mountains out of mole hills. Facebook for example is the most popular punching bag used throughout this argument and for good reason. By in large there are more Millennials on Facebook then their Gen X counterparts and from that large population a new language is used. A language that consists of small emoticons, animated GIFs, and overused Memes. At first Gen X’s argument actually seems quite valid. Many of these Millennials are either their children or personally close to them and there is a real fear in substituting actual expressions with just a few arranged punctuation marks.

On the whole Gen Xers are afraid that as these sites get more and more pervasive, then the generation using said sites would learn to simplify not just their personal interactions, but their language as well. These fears are not without merit of course as Gen Y is growing more and more comfortable with letting the machine handle various tasks deemed too troublesome to do themselves. However, for every person that misuses the tools of social media, there are a thousand others that use them well.

Langauge is in the end another tool of communication. That fundemental human desire to reach out and communicate with others has and always be intrisic to our very being. Whether it be through conversation, a hand written letter, a phone call, email, text message, or Facebook message the basic desire remains the same; communication. So with that in mind lets look at what is truly the problem, because it itsn’t just social media. The problems arises when one (regardless of generation) sees technology as more than just a tool. Social media and the langauge used within that site space is simply another aspct of the human experience. Are there differences between actually smiling at someone in person and simply typing a smily face online, absolutely. But that’s just it. At the end of the day its different, not better and not worse.

In a crises for example, a Millennial might one-day post about how down they are. How they have no self confidense today. In that moment a simple face emoticon over the message “it wil be alright” would still commnicate to that person that their friends are trying to comfort that them. In the end the message is still clear and they feel better about themselves.

So while there is still a debate to be had about whether or not social media is dumbing things down there needs to be at least some acknowledgement of the postivies of this kind of communication. While the transhumanist in me wants to say it’s the future and call it day I cannot, because this langauge isn’t better or worse, it’s just different. General belief is that Gen Y starts in the late 80’s early 90’s and extends all the way to the year 2000 hence the name Millennials. Right off the bat this generation literally grows up alongside the developing World Wide Web.

As the Internet’s utility skyrocketed in the mid 90’s so to did the expectation of the Millennials as by the age six or so most were able to confidently interact with this technology, more so then their parents in any case. To quote Millennial journalist Ryan Gibson, “Generation Y were born into an emerging world of technology and have grown up surrounded by smart phones, laptops, tablets and other gadgets. As a generation, people are constantly plugged into technology and it becomes an essential aspect of the generations life.”

Similar sentiments are expressed all the time; in fact this is the only piece of knowledge common to the general populace. Gen Y understands technology that much is certain but it is the applications of this technology that raise more than a few eyebrows. It’s funny as the idea of deviancy gets brought up all too often when politicians gauge the World Wide Web and Internet Legislation as a whole. The most pervasive argument is that they don’t see or understand why everyone is up in arms over net neutrality when most users host chat rooms at best and download pornography at worst. Thing is, that is not true at all and it is this assumption that marshaled the media forces of darkness against Comcast and Time Warner last year as thousands of net savvy Millennials defended the free rights of the Internet.

Despite this however, the culture of Gen Y is still perceived as something frivolous at best and a marketing tactic at worst. But that’s going to far of course, surely not all marketing heads look at Gen Y and see trophies to be one right?

Oh wait…

What most marketing heads don’t realize is that while advertising to a populous that are “in the prime of life” is ultimately short sighted. Why? Because while a few bad apples will poison public perception the inner machinations of this generation remain untouched and unspoiled, and the truth is that Gen Y are not just the children of the Baby Boomers. They are not a hive mind of savvy smart phone users. They are in fact a motivated, positively individualist, and very politically minded generation. So politically minded that the majority wants nothing to do with mainstream politics. Contradictory as that sentiment may be it is a true one, as so many Millennials feel dissuaded at the prospect of government, as so much of American politics has been corrupted for them.

“Most young people don’t plan to vote in the midterm elections, even though they have clear political preferences, according to a Harvard survey released on Wednesday. Most U.S. millennials want Democrats in control of Congress, but the 26 percent who say they will cast a ballot next week will vote for Republicans, according to the Harvard Institute of Politics study (PDF) of more than 2,000 people age 18-29. The potentially nonvoting masses—the 72 percent of respondents who expressed some doubt about voting—gave five different reasons they wouldn’t be trekking to the polls that all say the same thing about their generation’s views on politics: We don’t care.”

- Natalie Kitroeff, Bloomberg Buisness

This is the common complaint leveled at Millennials and to be fair, it is not entirely baseless. Many Millennials do not care about politics and many Boomers and Xers alike feel content to level arguments at them as to why they should care. The real question here isn’t why should they care? The real question is why don’t they care? Some pundits blame the parents for this anti political attitude, others cite an “us versus them” mentality between those of Gen Y who are just coming into the political space and Gen X who have had their hands in both local and national government for more than twenty years. The question of whether or not this resentment exists because it really does. Many Millennials feel resentment towards their Boomer parents and the perceived system addicts of Gen X. The important question here though is why does this resentment exist? Why do so many Millennials hate or at the very least ignore “the old people.”

It is this difference though that is dividing the two groups because while one gave in to a established system the other didn’t so much as rebel as created their a new one with their own edicates and rightfully so. With new langauge comes new culture and with innovation being the newest buzzword along with “echo” and well “Millennial” Gen Y has grown up to be a very self aware generation. They recognize that they are being heavily marketed to and they accept or at the very least ignore the negativity these campaigns carry. In truth there is no difference between marketing and politics to Millennials. To most marketing heads and state senators have rather neagtive things to say about themMillennial and well, you can only be undervalued so many times before you start to doubt. Responsibility needs to be shared if this gap ever needs to be filled and the truth is that Boomers haven’t exactly left an ideal world for their children.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Boomers have made some pretty big mistakes in terms of politics and economics and so far thousands of critics have blamed Boomers for crippling subsequent generations. Some don’t of course and looka the problem rationally. These critics look at the bigger picture and identify the root of this and all generational gaps, a lack of understanding. Alternet journalist Alex Henderson writers:

“It isn’t surprising that there are members of the Baby Boomer generation and Gen X who have a hard time figuring out what makes Millennials, aka Generation Y, tick. People in their 40s, 50s and 60s not understanding people in their 20s is as old as time itself. But if there is one claim about the Millennial generation that is truly absurd, it is the notion that they are entitled, spoiled and pampered. Some Baby Boomers and Gen-X members (especially Boomers) insist that Millennials don’t want to pay their dues and expect everything handed to them on a silver platter, but Millennials on the whole are the polar opposite of entitled or spoiled.”

- Alex Henderson, Alternet

All of this seems to cast the political climate in a very harsh light, but to be fair though this is nothing truy new. The old always resent the new and vice versa. All around the world Boomers, Xers, and Millennials fight eachother on nearly every facet of government. In an effort to protest tuition fees students in the UK rebelled against the pridominately Gen Xer pariliment. Soon those protests turned into riots as thousands of Millennials took to the streats to beat, loot, and ravage British Isles.

While these genenerational markers are used more in American parlance but there is no denying that this hasn’t just gone away. These riots are still a very real concern in the UK. Why? Because students were tired of what they percieved as old rich white men telling them that they need to pay triple tution just to get an education. But the strangest part of it is, these rich white men aren’t just closing their eyes and plugging their ears. They are listening, they know their students are angry, they know they are becoming more and more irrelvent, and that terrifies them.

“A student protest that attracted thousands of people on to the streets of London has ended with a series of scuffles and accusations of police violence. Organizers said the demonstration against tuition fees and wider cuts to education was the biggest mobilization of students since 2010 when demonstrators occupied Tory party offices at Millbank. Wednesday’s protest saw the National Union of Students (NUS) headquarters in London daubed with paint after it decided not to back the demonstration due to “an unacceptable level of risk” to its members. That provoked anger among those who took part in the march. “We did not organise what happened at the NUS but we do know students are very angry about being let down by the NUS,” said Beth Redmond from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, one of the groups that organised the demonstration. “When you see the numbers here today, they are in danger of becoming an irrelevance.”

- Matthew Taylor, The Guardian

There is the main point of our story. All other altercations, public disagreements, and political notions/aspirations are stemmed from that most basic human emotion, fear. If nothing else Boomers, Xers, and Millennials share common ground in that they are scared. Boomers are scared of losing control over their kids; Xers are scared of becoming irrelevant in this world where social media rules, and Millennials are afraid that they can never change things. The problem is all of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Boomers don’t accept responsibility for their actions and trust their children to do better then noting will get better. Xers in their haste to make up for lost time forget that they are making rules that suit themselves not the general populace. Millennials are slowly becoming the general populace all around the world and while one from America and one from China may have two entirely different perspectives both should realize that they have to speak up regardless of whether of not their voices are heard. So what your left with is everyone pointing a gun at everyone else in perpetual stasis as they complain about nothing changing.

Finding common ground is not a weakness. If anything it is the first step in addressing a problem. In this case the problem is that three generations of passionate people are at each other’s throats, and every one of them is scared out of their minds.

Will acknowledging that fear fix everything? No, of course not. It will be a start however. It will help bring some order to a chaotic forest filled with Boomers, Xers, and Millennials.

© 2015 Jared "I.J" Steinberg. All Rights Reserved.

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