FPRA - Florida Public Relations Association Blog

Remember learning to ride a bicycle? For me (growing up in the ’60s), it was a red, pawn-shop special with pedal brakes. Dad ran behind with one hand on the plastic banana seat, letting go without my knowledge at some point. Of course, I fell and skinned my knee. “Get back on,” he encouraged. Contrast that scene with the education of a Millennial. First, there is the bike itself: a European or Japanese import that costs a little less than my ’72 Malibu did back in high school. Next, Mom and Dad have probably read Teaching Your Child to Bicycle Safely or watched the DVD. Perhaps they’ve sent Junior to bike safety school or hired a training consultant. On the appointed morning of initiation, Mom, Dad, and little Millennial set off for the park, bike nestled on the roof rack of the SUV. The entire event is being recorded by video camera. Before mounting the bike, little Millie is encased in a suit of plastic armor: helmet, kneepads, shoulder pads, chinstrap, gloves. Yet, like all of us, she falls. She cries because her arm hurts, so she gets a visit to the hospital for an MRI because no one wants to ruin her chances of being a violinist (lessons at 6) or a softball pitcher (practice at 3).

How do Millennials differ from their elders?

They are the most protected, watched-after, structured, achievement-driven generation in American history. They are, as one Millennial parent actually said to me, our little investment. Born 1982 and after, their formative years saw seemingly unbridled economic prosperity. They have never known a world without computers as a household appliance. Information has always been a click away (a double-click for really hard-to-find things). The latest music has always been something you can “see” (“Have you seen Justin Timberlake’s latest song?”). Phones have always been something you don’t really “dial.” And a TV with 13 channels? Please—that’s so 20th century!

While no generation can be defined with monolithic characteristics, the several key themes dictate the overwhelming majority of Millennial childhoods.

1. Millennials have been protected and warned of external dangers at every crossroad, whether we’re talking about bicycle safety equipment, CD ratings, the V-chip, child molestation, date rape, the Amber Alert, or sunblock with an SPF of 30. Yet, the Millennials have arguably grown up faster than any of their predecessors. They’ve been sexualized from an early age through media images of Britney, Internet sites, Abercrombie & Fitch (who sell thongs for teens emblazoned with the phrase “eye candy”), and Congress investigating one President’s sexual misadventures while his opponent sells Viagra on TV.

2. Millennials are sedentary and/or sedated. Though this is a generation obsessed by X-Treme sports, most live the extreme vicariously through the Internet or video games. Teen obesity is rampant. Couch potatoes have been replaced by “surfers” who ride the virtual wavelength in front of a computer screen. The children of those who were a part of the ’60s drug culture have a pharmaceutical culture of their own— but this one is prescription-based. Those coping with attention-deficit disorders may have been on Ritalin for years. Many are on anti-depressants. In fact, what used to be called “adolescence” may now be called “depression,” and numerous Millennials seek medical relief from its pressures.

3. Millennials are heavily pressured by “branding.” Their world is bombarded with advertising texts and messages. Brand consciousness is enormous. Pepsi and Coke vie for exclusive contracts in certain school districts. Marketers pay to have trademarks like Nike or Gatorade mentioned in textbooks (from an algebra text: “How many pints of Gatorade does it take…”). Millions are spent to convince this generation to use its considerable disposable income on certain products or to look a certain way. Many eating disorders emanate from this cultural programming to look perfect.

4. Millennials’ lives have been hyperstructured and programmed. They go from school to soccer practice to violin lessons to Boy Scouts to the church choir, then return home to volumes of homework emanating from back-to-basics or testing based curricula. The enormous backpacks many teens carry to school make them look more like astronauts preparing for space travel than kids. Millennials were tested at age 3 to get into the best kindergarten so they could get into the best grammar school programs that led to the best high schools that led to the best colleges. Indeed, by the time many actually reach college, they are burned out or have little ability to organize their own lives in the relatively structure-free world they discover there, where no one else takes responsibility for their time. But even in college, many continue with lifestyles that leave little room for reflective space. Try scheduling a meeting with a group of our best students and watch them pull out their Palm Pilots and struggle to find a common free moment.

5. Millennials are tech-savvy and gadget rich. For them, the Mouse does not refer to Disney. Information is instantaneous— just a click away. PC’s, Palm Pilots, digital phones, Googling, MP-3s, Wi-fi, e-mail— they are “connected.” Remarkably, some college students e-mail or “cell-phone” their parents four or five times a day. I remember wanting my parents to set my things out of the station wagon on move in day, drive away quickly, and not return until graduation. Which brings us to…

6. Millennials love their parents. Good news for Mom and Dad. But bad news for independence. Some sociologists have suggested that Baby Boomers are reliving their teen and college years vicariously through their children. Parents thus have become much more involved with their childrens’ college educations, for example. Most X-ers and Boomers couldn’t imagine their parents calling a professor or dean, yet such behavior is the norm for the Millennial parent. As an example, almost every phone call our office received last summer regarding fall course scheduling for first-year students came from parents, not students themselves. I’m amused when parents use the possessive “our” to refer to a student’s schedule, as in “We received our materials about fall term…”

Again, these descriptions are not meant to stereotype but rather to provide a sense of how today’s Millennial college student differs from her predecessors. Indeed, she is more likely to be
a she. Women are becoming the significant majority of college students. And this she is more likely to be non-white. The percentage of Millennials who are Asian or Hispanic is significantly higher than for the last generation.

Understanding the Millennial generation is key to educating them. At Rollins we have expended considerable effort to create a technologically rich, yet personally focused learning environment conducive to the needs of this “next great generation.” With their orientation toward achievement and the support of their elders, the Millennials have a tremendous future ahead. It’s our job to prepare them for it, and in our post-9/11 world, never has the breadth and focus of a liberal-arts education been so in need.

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Rollins College Dean of the Faculty Roger Casey has extensive experience providing media commentary on television programs and issues and is a nationally respected conference presenter on popular culture. He also travels nationally, speaking and consulting on issues related to the Millennial Generation. He is the author of Textual Vehicles: The Automobile in American Literature.