It’s not just ageism and negative news on older people that the younger generation/Millennials seem to have, but the incredible amount of misinformation that they post on social media and in print media about how easy life was in previous decades, and that they are so hard done by.
The truth is the opposite – previous generations worked very hard, even just to get by, and life certainly wasn’t easy. Millennials are very spoilt and have a poor work ethic. Many of us 55+ have always lived in rented flats etc. Generation rent did not start in the 21st century.
I was homeless at 16 years old, and had to do cleaning/waitressing jobs to pay for a bed in a hostel. I had no family support or money, I never had holidays, and for many years lived in freezing cold (no central heating!) tiny bedsits, paying 2 months rent in advance, with deposits and sometimes agency fees.
Contrast this with most millennials living with their (over-protective) parents, in warm homes, holidaying regularly, possessing expensive tech devices, designer clothes, eating out regularly, spending huge amounts of time on social media which they include in their ‘work’ time. They are so materialistic.
A CBI/Pearson survey states “Graduates are entering work lacking basic skills and with poor attitudes’. The CBI said teachers should do more to instill an ‘aptitude for work’. Sadiq Khan said (in the Evening Standard) “As things stand, we are not producing enough young people with the skills and crucially the work ethic that employers need”.
Douglas Robb put it succinctly when he said today’s generation are ‘over mollycoddled and have an underlying sense of entitlement’.
Miss Dee, London
