What Millennials Really Want From Work and Life by Yuri Kruman

Author:Yuri Kruman
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Published: 2017-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Summary

Psychology/Mindset—how we think, what is unique (digital natives, lack of patience), what is same as for other generations before us going through this stage of their lives; discussion of our anxiety and decreasing religiosity, lack of rootedness and yet lesser mobility than past generations

Chapter 6

Language

THIS. LOLZ. Literally #TheBestEver.

In our still relatively short, millennial lifetimes, the world has changed dramatically on the fronts of technology, security, geopolitics, education, language, and psychology, altering everything from how we interact with the world, how we process information, make decisions, plan and execute, work, play, travel, and create and consume content.

If knowledge is power, as we’ve been told repeatedly since childhood, then language—both the one we speak in our own minds and the one we use to communicate—is the means of projecting (or ceding) that power.

The language we use to interact with others and the world at large, as the first front where change is most easily apparent, has also undergone a dramatic shift.

For instance, communicating with others has evolved from mostly one-on-one with occasional phone conversations and some snail mail and e-mail to mostly tech based (e-mail, text, FaceTime/Skype, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat, Slack, Instagram, and so on) and less one-on-one.

The sheer volume of messages, texts, posts, and e-mails we send and receive every single day has continued to grow exponentially over the last few years (see https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/#22db1b9260ba; https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330462). As with ever faster Wi-Fi and site loading times, better cellular coverage, faster and more accurate search capability, our expectation of prompt answers from others to our messages has also increased, creating an increasingly transactional nature to our conversations, with less and less patience allotted with every faster and more capable smartphone, laptop, tablet, and other hardware and software further raising the stakes.

While the benefits of dispensing with formalities and of faster, more direct, and more frequent communication are generally clear for business, they have led to a spike in the average time spent on the phone and computer by young and old, alike—meaning (by inference) less time and (by extension) less quality time spent one-one-one with family, friends, and colleagues.

Technology has reinforced bad habits and exacerbated loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide, among other negative mental health phenomena. And it has done so due to a purposeful design for smartphones and computers that activates a vicious dopamine feedback loop in our brains, conditioning us to expect more messages, texts, and other signals it interprets as rewards.

While no one is immune, children and those who’ve grown up as digital natives are particularly susceptible to the effects of this highly addictive feedback loop. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Steve Jobs banned iPhones for his kids or that the children of Silicon Valley tech moguls often attend Waldorf schools, where such tech is prohibited and traditional instruction takes place.

As millennials, we’ve lived through a significant evolution of shorthand language owing to progression from AOL Instant Messenger to e-mail to texting to the endless riches of the Urban Dictionary. Through a constant stream, even barrage, of signals and

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