Junior Speaks: Millennials seek social change
Millennials, with our multiple social media accounts, constantly moving thumbs and presumed social awkwardness, are making more of an impact on the world than many non-millennials may have thought. Putting political views aside, either way, millennials have proved themselves to be equally as passionate about ongoing issues in the world as any other generation.
What sticks out about millennials is that we express our views and ideas differently than what has ever been done before. A majority of this generation organizes, expresses and feeds off of our peers’ ideas through the internet and social media platforms. We embrace the mobile technology that previous generations have invented and made available to all of us.
Generation Xers and baby boomers grew up in times where cultural and worldwide changes caused an enormous amount of upheaval, as do the cultural and worldwide changes that we experience in our generation. Yes, the changes that past generations have seen and gone through were in a different political state of what is normal or right and wrong but they all circle around economics, anti/pro-war, social experimentation, sexual freedoms and civil/women’s rights. Again, some of these issues may have been more prominent in the baby boomer and Gen X eras, but we see these issues being brought about differently in ways that fit today’s world.
What makes people outside of the millennial generation uneasy is how we express our ideas through the internet, a platform prior generations did not have access to. It is a new way of bringing similar views and ideas together. The amount of access we have to any subject matter is indefinite and that is what makes us so responsive as a generation. The ability to impulsively respond and communicate our thoughts instantly is at the edge of our fingertips.
It is amazing how millions of people can come together for a general cause using the resources readily available to us. An example of this is the Women’s March. The Women’s March was organized through a Facebook group by a Hawaiian grandmother, who received hundreds of thousands of RSVPs to participate in the march from cities all around the world. Over 670 marches took place worldwide with 2 million people marching in U.S. cities such as Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. This is a prime example of how we millennials are extremely social and get our voices heard. Even though the group was created by a non-millennial, she used modern technology, the millennial way, to organize a monumental event where people of all generations gathered to express themselves and their beliefs.
Millennials are constantly communicating their ideas and thoughts through dozens of media outlets. Through blogs and social media, we are able to relate and connect similar ideas or oppose thoughts we don’t agree with. That is the advantage of being a millennial. Some may not think we are socially active or involved, but it is because we are showing a new, modernized way of expression. As worldwide issues remain similar, continuing generations will have different ways of contributing their notions to the world.
—Hayley Fahey
Junior journalism major
Printed in the 3/8/17 issue.
