I definitely think Millenials are redefining what adulthood means, but I also think this change is reasonable. This is because there have been so many changes in our society with the turn of the century such as more acceptance of religions, sexuality, and race. With so many social changes, it isn’t logical to expect your society to stay the same. I also think that there is a very distinctive divide between the morals of the elderly and the younger people now because the older people were born in the twentieth century but we were born in the twenty first. With the Second World War and the Cold War, I believe they created a clean divide between generations. It created a division of ideals and values that will lead to a complete dramatic social change when we become the elderly.
Do you think Millenials are redefining the meaning of adulthood? If so, is it an understandable change? Do you agree that there is a clean division between the morals and values of the elderly and the young? If you agree, do you think there was something that directly caused this or did it just happen naturally?
-Abigail Jue
I think that Millenials are changing adulthood because of what the world is like. Adulthood could be defined in many ways such as getting a job, getting married, having a family, etc, so when someone says Millennials are redefining adulthood, they really mean that they are adding on to it.
ReplyDeleteThe older generations believe that the point of life is to get married by the age of 25 and have kids and be happy with that. Many Millenials now can barely afford to keep themselves above water so to speak, let alone provide for other people. Living and providing for oneself today is the most expensive it has ever been; furthermore, having children and providing for them is very costly. There is a not a clear division between the older generation and the younger one, it is more of a blurred line. I say this because some Millenials really want to have kids as soon as they can while others do not want anything to do with them and other could not care less.
From personal experience, I have delt with that blurred line between generations. My mother and grandmother really want me to have children of my own; in fact, they are constantly making comments like “oh when you have kids you will understand.” They do not get that I do not want to have kids of my own when there are thousands of children without parents who I can adopt and love as if they were my own. Whenever I mention this, my mother and grandmother are so taken aback, it’s as if I told them I killed someone. This goes to show how even the generation of adults that are middle aged are still caught up in the idea that people need to marry and settle down to have kids in order to live a good life. This difference between generations is just one of many that can be seen between them.
I totally agree that the 20th century and 21st century have such gaps in ideals and values. Now a days Millenials are not so focused on the perfect family setting and more on different opportunities that are appearing. Their future's are not all the same and seek out variety, hoping to make an impact on modern society. On the other hand, our parents and grandparents do not entirely agree on some of the new generation's choices, instead of accepting the new, they are always missing the "good" old days.
ReplyDeleteAs we see in society these days people are changing, for the better. People are becoming united and allowing difference to be good. However, people who lived during the World Wars and Civil wars, like Abigail mentioned, change was not relatively ideal. People at the time lived in fear and secluded those that were different in any shape or form. Adulthood for a Millenial is completely different then what our parents had hoped for. Sure enough we have some adults that accept the change, but do they want the change?
In my household, we have two different examples of millenials. My sister who is living through her adulthood as I write and I, who is slowly getting closer to it. From what I have seen from her, she is 21 and in no shape or form wanting to rush things. She is very happy with taking it slow and perusing her dream career. Although my parents support her decisions, they are several occasions when they ask her "when is the wedding"? She freezes at this because she is not ready, which is not bad, but my parents view this differently and hope the rings will appear soon. On the contrary, I plan to rush things, most likely due to the site of seeing my sister not complying to what "adulthood" is to my parents, but that could easily change once I experience what my sister is going through. In conclusion, the gap that separates us from our parents and grandparents is so different that they will never truly understand the new generations ideals and values. Hopefully they will learn that we are different, they do not need to entirely agree, but at the least understand our decisions.