Previous generations could compare their achievements to their friends, family, and colleagues – Millennials compare themselves to anyone with Internet access and an Instagram account.
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Being a millennial means you’re now between the ages of 18 and 34.
Self absorbed, greedy and cynical aren’t qualities you would rush to claim, but it seems 18 to 34-year-olds are more comfortable with those labels than that of “Millennial”.
In fact, the highest-ranking positive traits the millennials came up with for themselves were “environmentally conscious” at 40 percent and “idealistic” at 39 percent.
Sixty percent don’t consider themselves to be part of the “millennial generation”.
The older the group, the more positively they saw themselves, the Pew study found. Millennials, man. Lighten up! They say that’s why they have a more negative view of their peers.
Generational definitions aren’t a hard science and with the exception of the baby boomers who were named in the context of an actual event – the post-World War II baby boom – demographers don’t always agree on the cut offs for each group.
For example, the so-called “Silent Generation” – those ages 70-87 – overwhelmingly described themselves as hard-working, responsible and patriotic, at 83 percent, 78 percent and 73 percent respectively.
They also want to push for alternative energy and are generally more accepting of homosexuality, interracial marriage and immigration.
“To be sure, some of these differences may be related more to age and life stage than to the unique characteristics of today’s generations”, the report reads.
Instead, 33 percent say they are part of Generation X. And on the other end of the age spectrum, Millennials are disdainful of their generational name and all that’s associated with it. They were the age group least likely to describe their group as having qualities like being “patriotic”, “responsible”, “willing to sacrifice”, “religious”, “moral”, “self-reliant”, and “politically active”.
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The data in the Pew report comes from 3,147 adults surveyed online or by mail from March 10 to April 6 through the American Trends Panel, a nationally representative panel of randomly selected USA adults.
