Millen'aliens'

Over the ages, it has been common tradition for the older generation to dismiss the younger as ‘spoilt’, ‘irresponsible’ and ‘lost’. Even among the youth, some choose to assume the moral high ground and ridicule the less traditional for being ‘ungrateful’ and acting ‘entitled’. All of this is well and good within certain limits, and even contributes to healthy changes in their own way. However, our world has transformed in terms of technology and social connectedness, which, though has had largely positive effects on society, also amplifies not-so-well-thought-through theories, propagandas with ulterior motives and just plain stupidity #StopMakingStupidPeopleFamous. Divisions between groups in society based on religion, caste, cultures, etc., has always been the bane of India and we all thought technology and progress would break down barriers - and this has largely been true with modern work environments bringing people from myriad backgrounds together and treating them equal, etc., but a new divisive narrative is rearing its ugly head and it only seems to be getting stronger. The one that aims to alienate 'millennials'.

The word ‘millennials’ was coined by a couple of authors to jazz up their book titles, but it was the media and ad industry who took it and ran with it. They used it to categorise the younger demographic who would graduate after the year 2000 and they attributed characteristics to the group that they thought uniquely identifies it. As we all know, the ad world adds extra masala to everything, and this has resulted in an extreme and skewed representation of the average ‘millennial’. The beauty of the age of social media is the blatant appreciation of the exaggerated and, unsurprisingly, social media took this unrealistic image of the millennial and ran with that. Mind you, social media may be young and created by the young, but not all who benefit are young! There are a gamut of executives and experienced professionals behind the scenes of social media and just like any other media, most people are on there for monetary gain. I think you can begin to see the irony here. A platform targeted at the young, built with content generated by the young themselves, but not really ‘of the young’ - meaning, the lion's share of the profits generated (through ads) are pocketed by heavy-weight investors and big-wigs who are far from young. When it comes down to the numbers, only a small part of the entire profit churned out of social media goes to the ‘millennials’. Sure, young social media celebrities get paid a lot, but where do you think the money comes from? Carrots to keep the donkeys going! The next level of business-thinking has embraced and brilliantly adapted to technology faster than we can even wrap our head around it. 

Far from a self-spoilt generation that was born hating reality, millennials seem to be the scapegoats to new heights of exploitation. The world before them is littered with unending sources of distraction and new, exciting ways of making some dough on the side, or even making a (questionable) 'career' out of. They are, arguably, being lured by this ad-money driven colossus and herded into a state of crippling addiction, anxiety and discontentment. Meetings inside shiny, glass-wrapped headquarters of ad-giants (Google+Youtube, Facebook+Instagram, etc.) have decided on their target - 'get more people in front of more screens for more time'. The easily enticed millennials are getting cheated out of hours and hours of their lives spent in front of colourful, super-HD screens. What comes to mind is the name of that social media startup the protagonists create in the popular TV series ‘Silicon Valley’ - ‘Pied Piper’; which I’m sure was hardly named randomly. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, as we all know, played his magical pipe to lure the town’s children away - how uncannily analogous to what these social-media platforms are doing to our young people! Who can resist when the most interesting and most funny content is right there at your finger tips? Reality is boring! 

There are very few ways to stop such a juggernaut of ‘entertainment’. There are those who argue whether it should even be stopped. On top of all this, there’s climate change, gigantic population challenges, depletion of key resources etc., that are being pitilessly bequeathed to the millennials to solve. There is no telling what the future holds and there seems to be very little, in our power, that can be done to alter it. We can choose to work along the direction the world is headed in or just crib about everything that's happening. Whichever the choice, alienating the next generation is clearly a folly. It is in our interest to actively set an example and be human to each other, whichever generation we might belong to. A bit of discipline, respect and wisdom can a long way too!