In popular culture, Millennials are the generation used comparatively whenever anyone talks about behavioural differences between generations, with ‘You’re such a Millennial’ being a common phrase. It is more often than not used in a derogatory manner, with common misconceptions painting all Millennials as lazy, avocado-loving, narcissistic and self-entitled (Time). To help illustrate, if you were to Google the phrasal template ‘Millennials are’, the search engine’s auto-complete highlights some perceptions of this cohort – Figure 3. This fixation hasn’t evolved with the passage of time, given that many Millennials are not necessarily young any more. We argue that the golden age of the Millennials is over and view their successors – Generation Z – as the new kids on the block.
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David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
