This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by JTK
My response to the classmate who in two consecutive weeks posts called millennials lazy
Hi XXX - found your post this week very interesting. After reading this comment which demonstrates that you have a concern for disrespectful behavior:
I think it is so disrespectful to be on your phone while you are on a date.
I found it surprising that you would yourself offer this statement, which could be perceived as disrespectful to a large swath of people (through use of the descriptor "lazy"):
They are growing up too fast off this social media and technology. And it has made them so lazy.
It is not new for people to hold broad biases against groups of people based on inherent traits such as ethnicity, race, gender, or age. In this case, this negative and disrespectful bias appears to be based on age. Bias is an issue that pervades society, from media into educational environments such as the one we find ourselves in now. As Reyna explains, in the classroom stereotypes result in biased treatment from teachers in ways such as diminished expectation that female students be intelligent or increased expectation that Black students are lazy (2008).
Since we are talking about language this week, it is interesting to note that language is a building block in asserting and maintaining stereotype and/or biases. As noted by Burgers and Beukeboom, once language is applied to label a social group it increases the propensity that the recipient become a target of stereotyping (2020). In addition to overtly biased language, there exist what are known as "coded" terms or "dog whistles" which more subtley associate negative stereotypes to certain populations. This might include playing into marginalization of black youth or using terms like "pack animal", "menacing" or "viscious" to describe adolescents suspected of a crime, as edjustice explains (2017).
In the case of bias against younger generations, it is possible that a twofold linguistic push and pull cause people holding those beliefs to absorb the linguistic tilt used to describe people in this category, and that your perception of these attributes is enhanced when language signifies someone's membership to said group ("millennial", "Gen Z", or similar labels).
Perhaps it will be interesting to you to re-frame your views based on some third party research. I notice that you did not offer any supporting materials to any of your conclusions about other generations, but the subject was interesting so I took the liberty of finding some sources:
- As Koulopoulos explains, when studied millennial phone and face to face communications were found not to be fewer than previous generations. Rather, younger generations are using digital methods of communication in addition to "good old fashioned" methods (2021)
- Research suggests millennials are the most ambitious generation yet (Eisenhauer, 2020)
- Millennials are less likely than other groups to use their vacation, more likely to feel guilty for taking time away from work, and more likely to obsess about work than other generations (Carmichael, 2016)
- Compared to the baby boomer generation, 72% of millennial women vs 40% participate in the workforce, meaning that a given millennial couple may be producing double the labor of a given baby boomer couple (Bialik & Fry, 2019)
- When meaningful study has been put into generational differences in age groups the findings have been that such variation is quite small, rather that erroneous attitudes or beliefs about these differences may represent the largest divide (King et. al, 2019)
- Although often stereotyped as sensitive. a study from the Journal of Psychology and aging suggests that description more fits baby boomers (Cairnduff, 2019)
- as Seigel and Telford explain, millennials work more hours a day than previous generations and are still significantly worse off financially despite having more education (2019)
- Meta-analysis in the Journal of Business and Psychology identify no significant difference in worth ethic between generations (Concordia St. Paul, n.d.)
I'm glad that there was such a comprehensive body of evidence to serve as a shared point of reference for you and I going forward. I can tell that you and I have a shared value from your previous post, which is a respect for work ethic, since you have repeatedly stated distaste for lazy behavior. It is for that reason I knew you would be happy for the opportunity to do the work to critically evaluate your understanding of millennials, since obviously someone keeping the same views in spite of new information might fall into a form of intellectual laziness which of course no one wants!
Thanks for your post, enjoyed reading and responding.
-JTK
References
Bialik, K., & Fry, R. (2019, February 14). Millennial life: How young adulthood today compares with prior generations. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/02/14/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations-2/
Burgers, C., & Beukeboom, C. J. (2020). How Language Contributes to Stereotype Formation: Combined Effects of Label Types and Negation Use in Behavior Descriptions. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(4), 438–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x20933320
Carmichael, S. (2016, August 22). Millennials Are Actually Workaholics, According to Research. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2016/08/millennials-are-actually-workaholics-according-to-research
edjustice. (2018, November 2). Coded Language. NEA EdJustice. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://neaedjustice.org/social-justice-issues/racial-justice/coded-language/
Eisenhauer, T. (2020). Millennial Stereotypes: Fact Or Fiction? 6 Millennial stereotypes and how they stand up to social science. Leadership Excellence, 37(2), 30–34.
Hoffower, H. (2019, December 16). Baby boomers are the most sensitive generation, a new study says — and it shows exactly what the world is getting wrong about millennials. Business Insider. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-less-sensitive-than-baby-boomers-stereotypes-2019-12?international=true&r=US&IR=T
King, E., Finkelstein, L., Thomas, C., & Corrington, A. (2019, January 14). Just How Different Are Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers at Work? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2019/08/generational-differences-at-work-are-small-thinking-theyre-big-affects-our-behavior
Koulopoulos, T. (2021, January 5). Why Most of What You’ve Been Told About Millennials and Gen-Z Is Dead Wrong. Inc.Com. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.inc.com/thomas-koulopoulos/why-almost-everything-youve-been-told-about-millennials-and-gen-z-is-wrong.html
McCumber, A. (2021, November 24). Dispelling the Myths About Millennials in the Workplace. CSP Online. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://online.csp.edu/resources/article/millennials-in-the-workplace/
Reyna, C. (2000). Lazy, Dumb, or Industrious: When Stereotypes Convey Attribution Information in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 12(1), 85–110.
Siegel, R., & Telford, T. (2019, October 18). More work, more sleep: New study offers glimpse of daily life as a millennial. Washington Post. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/18/more-work-more-sleep-new-study-offers-glimpse-daily-life-millennial/
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by JTK
JTK | Sciencx (2022-01-22T22:01:26+00:00) The millennial urge to respond online. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/01/22/the-millennial-urge-to-respond-online/
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