A lot has been said about the generation we belong to,
namely the millennials. The world we live in, is definitely in a state of flux.
Definitions are evolving. Interpretations are changing. Boundaries are
blurring. But what exactly makes a millennial tick? How much is technology, a
driver in our daily lives today. How has technology expanded our environments,
as well as shrunk the world. These are questions which largely flash across our
media outlets. We will probably try to look at some these changes through the
lens of a millennial.
Let’s begin at the beginning. Let’s begin with the times we
live in, the society that millennials are a part of. It wouldn’t be colossally
wrong to say that ours is a generation of peace. Most people in our generation
have never lived through trying times. We have never been first hand witnesses
to war, oppression, discrimination or slavery. Barring off course certain
exceptional situations in the Middle East, Korean peninsula or interiors of
Africa etc. Ours is not a generation that aspires to the ideals of revolution,
dreams of freedom, struggles to change the societal frameworks, living their
lives knowing that there might never be a tomorrow. We inherited a largely
stable world order post the cold war, eliminating regional skirmishes (there
are definitely exceptions like Kashmir which has impacted a larger population
for decades, causing mass exodus, spewing hatred). The ideals of democracy is a
natural order of things. Probably something we take for granted. Freedom of
expression is the new struggle where being assertive, opinionated while being
cheeky rules the roost. Take for example, the zomato campaign of OOH hoardings
with “MC”, “BC” sprawled across city carrefours (Here “MC” is Mac and Cheese
while “BC” is interpreted as Butter Chicken). The struggle now is whether these
billboards are offensive to sensibilities. Ask a millennial; most probably the
answer would be that it’s cheeky and fun. Not in all cases though, opinions in
our world have colors (religious, racial or economic). We will come to that
later.
This brings us to the question of technology. How important
is technology in the life of a millennial. This is probably a no brainer. I
highly doubt if today, we can wake up and not instantly check our social media
feeds. Crawling down the facebook, Instagram walls come as naturally as the
hygienic need of brushing our teeth. Connectivity is the new big thing. Come to
the millennial age, we have fully utilized the phrase that man is a social
animal. In order to survive our daily grind, we require relationships, and
trapped in the compartmentalized boxes, we turn to the virtual world of social
bots. Over and above social, today, almost every aspect of our human
experiences is being shaped by technology. May it be shopping (online
shopping), education (e-learning systems/modules), sport (gaming technology),
relationships (online dating), experiences (travel, gastronomy etc),
finances/currency (Blockchain), Healthcare (e-nurses, health apps, bots),
almost every dimension is undergoing a rapid makeover, generously peppered with
doses of technology. As a consequence, the world as we see it, is shrinking.
Distances are a matter of no consequence. A millennial today probably aspires
to a world of Tesla manufactured auto driven cars, SpaceX built Martain
colonies, Facebook’s VR Oculus Rift. Her highpoints are Apple’s annual product
upgrades (iphone range), Amazon’s Alexa launches (AI). As the sizes of desktop
slowly shrinks to laptop, then to pads/palmtops and eventually to rolltops, it
wouldn’t be a misnomer to quote a millennial today, as a truly evolved sub
species of the larger frame of Homo Sapiens. Whether we mutate from this state,
metamorphose into a hitherto unknown evolutionary pinnacle, is yet to be seen.
Therefore, probably the apt answer to this primary question
of what exactly makes a millennial tick, is technology. Or probably aspiration
to achieve, master and control his surroundings through technology. However,
aspiration to control is not new to millennials. As a species, homo sapiens
desire to dominate and control has in a way written, rewritten, shaped modern contemporary
history. So, are we as a generation, as millennials, so very different from our
predecessors? The only difference I see, is not the erosion of ethics, values
or choices as so many righteous preachers would have us believe. The difference
lies in how easily this segment of the population is shifting through
experiences. The sheer pace of it, is sometimes unnerving.
The colors in a millennial palette of opinions keep on
changing and that is what is worrying sometimes. With the advent and influence
of technology, camouflage is gaining prominence. Misinformation, maltreatment,
defamation, slander, libel is rampant. Right winged politics, sometimes
conservatism (religious or otherwise), dogmatic propaganda is being readily
picked up by impressionable young minds more readily than ever. For instance,
the affinity of young, educated, dynamic yet radical youth to IS propaganda is
truly staggering. Can we say that, until just a year back, the rush of young
minds to the charred remains of Syria to associate with so called jihad, stems
from the desire to save Islam from infidels or was it a part of the collective
millennial dream of making a change, an impact of significance, to alter the
world dynamics, or simply to bring a certain meaning to life as they
comfortably view it through rose tinted glasses? A distorted view of La vie en
rose probably.
In conclusion, much can be said about the so
called frivolity of the younger population. However, criticisms apart, the
collective conscious of the millennials is not entirely dormant. With newer
times, fresher perspectives are coming to the fore. Slowly but surely the
archaic divisions existing in the society are losing their hold. Today, the
human society is more unified, even virtually. The barriers of race, culture,
color, economic class still exist but they are not so severe. Oppressive
systems of colonialism, feudalism, despotism seem like a distant nightmare. A
millennial today doesn’t identify herself as belonging to a particular caste or
color, but chooses her associates irrespective of boundaries. And that is where
the beauty of these times lies, somewhere on the edges of inclusion. We have
indeed come a long way off.
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