Millennials: The Depressed Generation

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal wrote that Millennials are “falling behind” as it pertains to asset acquirement, marriage rates and having children. They have less wealth, less property, lower marriage rates and fewer children, according to new data that compare generations at similar ages. (Wall Street Journal, May 2019)

Who are the Millennials?
​
Currently, five generations make up our society. Here are the birth years for each generation:

• Gen Z, iGen, or Centennials: Born 1996 – TBD
• Millennials or Gen Y: Born 1982 – 1995
• Generation X: Born 1965 – 1981
• Baby Boomers: Born 1946 – 1964
• Traditionalists or Silent Generation: Born 1945 and before

I was raised by Traditionalists and I am a generation Xer. Many of my friends, however where raised by baby boomers but are still in my generation.

Generation Xers were children during a time of shifting societal values and as children, we were sometimes called the "latchkey generation", due to reduced adult supervision as children compared to previous generations (Wikipedia). This was a result of increasing divorce rates and moms just beginning to go to join the work force, so there were not many daycare options.

Depression stems from many causes. But the first step is always managing your diet: cut out all drugs and alcohol (for now until you deal with your depression) and eat a healthy, low sugar diet. Depression is largely a result of a poor diet. When two parents work, making food and creating meals is no longer a function of the household. We’ve outsourced our cooking to frozen and “instant meals” and our shopping to Amazon delivery. Now we are free to work on more important things than gathering food and eating. If you did not detect the irony in my last statement, then read on; you need this.

The Millennials are the first generation to be partially raised on non-home cooked meals and GMOs. But most of us remember a time when when Mom would spend the day shopping (gathering) and Dad would go to work (hunting).

No one had much money but we all had each other. So for vacation in the 1970s, many of us would go camping or renting a cheap cabin on the beach for a week with other families. Vacations were a time off to do what we loved. Camping and the outdoors brought us closer to being an American in the land of the free, especially out West.

These simple acts of self-sustainment brought much satisfaction to our parents, yet they didn’t know it. That’s because in the 1980s, our parents abandoned our “family values” and we adopted the their’s: their values are greed and greed became the motivation for everything. Always get the best deal, never pay the asking price and if both parties are happy at the end of a deal, then you are a poor negotiator (Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal, 1987).

This attitude of greed perpetuated by Trump was documented in the famous movie Wall Streetstarring Michael Douglas. Do you remember his infamous movie quote, “Greed is Good”?

“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge in mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.” (Gordon Gecko, Wall Street, 1987)

A generation raised by greedy Baby Boomers gave us a generation of depressed Millennials. Look at what type of society they left for the Millennials by being so selfish and greedy; Home Depot instead of a local hardware store, Starbucks instead of fresh, local coffee and Amazon delivery for everything else.

The reason for the Millennials’ lack of ambition is depression. And the problem with greed is that greed leads to depression, not satisfaction. So people will mask their depression by becoming more greedy.

Back to my generator, the Generation X. As adolescents and young adults, we were dubbed the "MTV Generation" (a reference to the music video channel). In the 1990s we were sometimes characterized as slackers, cynical and disaffected. Some of the cultural influences brought by my generation were the musical genres of grunge and hip hop music, and indie films.

In my research, I found that in midlife, we are described as active, happy, and achieving a work–life balance. The cohort has been credited with entrepreneurial tendencies.(*source Wikipedia). I attribute this to our being raised by parents who were not completely dependent on caffeine to be happy, lacked the ability to shop and prepare home cooked meals without packaged products, and they received satisfaction taking cheap and inexpensive vacations with the family.

As we all know where I’m going with this conclusion. We’ve all heard it before in books, poetry, song and dance. It was the mantra before the “Greed is Good” campaign took over.

“Can’t Buy Me Love”, (Paul McCartney, 1964)

A movie by the same name was released in 1987. Perhaps as a warning to those of use who preferred Michael Douglas to Patrick Dempsey movies.