Britney vs. Christina. The Scholastic Book Fair. Dawson’s Creek. Nintendo. TRL. The Baby-Sitters Club. The Now That’s What I Call Music! series. If these things defined your childhood, you are likely a millennial.
Millennials (aka anyone born between 1981 and 1996) are often identified by our side parts, skinny jeans, and crippling student loan debt. As children of the ‘80s and ‘90s, we grew up in a pretty great time and we love to tell you about it. Case in point, here are 15 things only millennials will truly understand.
We Are the Foodie Generation
From avocado toast to craft cocktails to long leisurely brunches, millennials like to indulge their foodie side even if it means paying top dollar. What do you expect from a generation that grew up with child-size charcuterie boards (Lunchables) and the Cristal of juice boxes (Capri Sun)?
We Love Capturing Every Little Moment
Did it even happen if it wasn’t on Instagram? (Honestly, that's debatable.) From a particularly yummy acai bowl (see: foodie generation) to our baby’s very first steps, millennials simply must snap, filter, and share nearly everything we experience. It’s, like, in our DNA or something.
We Lived for the *NSYNC vs. Backstreet Boys Debate
This generally applies to millennials born roughly between 1985 and 1994, but still — this is one debate that's raged on to this day. The boy band craze of the late ‘90s/early 2000s was fierce, and everyone seemed to have an opinion.
Whether you knew every step to the “Bye, Bye, Bye” dance or every word to “I Want It That Way,” you had your list of reasons why your favorite band was THE best band of all time, and you were not about to be swayed.
We Don't Care if Side Parts and Leggings Are "Dead"
Listen — millennials (who now range in age from 25 to 40 years old) are T-I-R-E-D. Frankly, we did not endure 9/11, multiple recessions, Britney’s 2007 meltdown, and a global health situation to be told that we can no longer rock a side part and leggings. These are functional choices. The side part covers our roots and the leggings hold in our bellies … and THAT IS THAT, KIDS.
We Miss Blockbuster, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and Happy Meal Toys
Millennials love nostalgia. Like, a lot. We feel a deep connection to the pop culture and food that shaped our childhoods, and we are not afraid (or embarrassed) to relive those days at any opportunity.
It’s why we now rock “vintage” distressed T-shirts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, still own a Nintendo 64 (Mario Kart is where it’s at), and binge-watch '80s-inspired shows such as Stranger Things. (Also, the Scholastic Book Fair was the highlight of our year, and we’d go back in a heartbeat if we could.)
We Are a 24/7 IT Service
The great thing about being a millennial is that we were the first generation to grow up with the “World Wide Web.” The terrible thing about being a millennial is that we were the first generation to grow up with the “World Wide Web.”
Yep. It's both a gift and a burden, because now millennials are expected to offer 24/7 IT services to their parents who either can’t remember their password, don’t know how to “find” Netflix, or clicked “something” on the computer and “now everything is just GONE.”
We Believe Anything You Want To Say Can Be Conveyed in a GIF
Seriously. Millennials are capable of conducting entire conversations via GIF and often do when we're having some wine and texting our girlfriends. What’s now considered lame to Gen Z was — and arguably still is — an entire generation’s main form of communication. But honestly, we wouldn't have it any other way.
We Avoid Awkward Situations at All Costs
Putting off calling the doctor, avoiding someone we knew in high school at the grocery store, refusing to answer the door unless we’re absolutely sure it’s necessary — we millennials are good at many things, but small human interactions that have the possibility of being awkward? Nope, no thank you.
We Will Not Leave Our Homes if We Don’t Have To
As Kevin Costner once said in the iconic baseball film Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” Although we’re pretty sure he was not referencing food delivery services, millennials have learned that we can create any website/app/service to bring whatever we want to our doorstep — thereby eradicating the need to leave our homes. (You know, the place where all our favorite things are. Like our laptops and our couches and our pets.)
We Are Always Connected
Growing up with the internet and becoming the first generation to have cell phones has made millennials increasingly dependent on staying connected. Our phones are permanently attached to our hands, we’re constantly checking emails and Instagram, and we’d never book a hotel that didn’t have free Wi-Fi. (Could you imagine?)
We’re Not Like Regular Moms — We’re *Cool* Moms
We Love Nothing More Than Canceled Plans
Yes, we know we were excited when we originally made the plans. We love that friend! We want to catch up! In theory, it would be great to put on real pants! But in actuality, by the time said plans arrive, we almost never want to go.
That said, we also don’t want to be the one to let the other person down. So when someone else pulls the trigger on canceling plans? Man, do we love it.
We Know What It Is To Struggle
No, we don’t mean waiting for the dial-up internet to connect to AOL so we could chat with our friends. (Though getting kicked off because your mom had to call your aunt was brutal.) We mean millennials know what it is to work hard, because we're doing it day in and day out.
Don’t believe us? Well, more millennials have a college degree than any other previous generation. Which also means that millennials are responsible for the most student loan debt of any generation ($497.6 billion dollars as of 2019).
Plus, with many graduating college right in time for the economic recession of 2008, millions were forced to move home with their parents, work menial jobs or unpaid internships, and then hustle around-the-clock to work their way up through the workforce. Fun times!
We Understand the Importance of Humility
As referenced in our last point, the economic roller coaster of our lifetime has knocked many of us down a peg or two at some point or another. One minute we’re flying high at the height of our career, and the next we’ve been laid off by a major company and forced to pack our bags and move back in with Mom and Dad. (Humility, my friend, is an underrated virtue.)
We Often Forget We’re Adults
We may be #adulting every single day, but the concept is still kind of weird to us. Sure, we lead board meetings and have 401Ks and raise tiny humans … but inside? Inside, we’re really just a bunch of big kids winging this thing called life.
