MANILA, Philippines - Millennials. If we checked the internet, we’d find tons of meanings as to the definition of a millennial. Basically, they are those born from 1982 to 1994 while other sources stretch the range up to 2004.
Generation Y, another term commonly used to pertain to millennials, is poised to overtake Generation X. Currently, they are aged 20 to 35, which means that a large chunk of the workforce comes from them.
Millennials today are always on the hunt for their identities. To use an analogy, millennials are like newbie chefs who are always on an experiment to create their special sauce or signature dish.
In the workforce, millennials restlessly jump from one job to another, always looking for what will define them or give them value.
One reason for this is the fact that millennials have higher levels of anxiety and depression than previous generations.
Why?
The answer is simple. I reckon that life was much simpler before. We didn’t need to be consistently liked in order to feel valued. We didn’t need other people’s approval to proceed with our ventures. Nowadays, millennials have a dire need for constant approval and appreciation in order to function.
Virtual Playground
One culprit for this is the growing lack of human interaction. Let’s admit it, most of us grew up in a virtual playground where most everything is onscreen. Before the advent of tablets and computers, children played in the streets with other kids.
Gone are the days of our classic games like patintero, moro-moro and taguan pung.
Lacking social interaction at a young age, millennials channel this unsatisfied need when they grow up in the form of seeking attention and approval. Facebook, along with other social media sites, served as the perfect avenue to fill this unsatisfied need.
Try to observe people in a train or any public vehicle. It is a rare sight to see people who are not looking down on their phones or tablets and checking out their social media accounts. Whenever millennials enter a room, say a convention, if they are alone and there are plenty of people around, what do they do first? They reach out to their phones and transport themselves into the virtual realm, cutting off any social interaction from the physical and real world.
By doing this, they deprive themselves of the fun and rich experience they can gain from conversations that are done personally. They deprive themselves of meaningful, real relationships.
Human interaction, the real kind I mean, which is talking to someone and genuinely listening to what a person has to say is far better than talking to them virtually.
Having said this, millennials should have the initiative to be more proactive when it comes to socializing, the way socialization was done traditionally. Parents, on the other hand, should encourage their children to play along with other kids as this creates a connection, which will in turn fulfill their need for attention and human interaction.
In the end, we cannot stop technology from evolving, but we can do something to bring back the glory days of being real, authentic humans.
(The author is a 4th year Journalism student at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.)