Millennial Musings

The millennials are in the news again.

Millennials are the new baby boomers. Now that more of them are coming of age (and are earning their own keep), they are the target of marketers everywhere. This is proving to be a tricky proposition. It would probably help just a little bit if someone could nail down the definition. Consulting the Google, I see there is no consensus, just that a millennial's year of birth is anywhere between 1980 and 2000. Doing the math (which, on good days, I can do without a calculator), this means people between the ages of 16 and 36.

In a newspaper article this week, I read that millennials won't be marketed to. They don't like it when older adults try to talk to them like they talk to each other.

As a member of the Pepsi generation, I had to laugh. Marketers have always tried, with mixed success, to sell stuff to the reigning youngsters.

This week, in a blunder of epic proportions, an AMC executive suggested allowing texting in movie theaters to attract millennials. Apparently, he believes encouraging young folks to sit in a darkened theater and play with their phones, distracting others who actually want to watch the show, is a swell idea. God bless social media: Twitter and Facebook blew up and told AMC in no uncertain terms how unpopular this decision would be. AMC is backpedaling. Fast.

The other topic that's been newsworthy is trigger warnings, particularly on college campuses. The upshot is that kids want to be protected from bad ideas and people who say things that offend them. Apparently, we've raised a generation of doofuses. College is supposed to expand the mind, to expose students to a variety of experiences. Our children need to learn about the world and its history, warts and all. How can you address what needs to be fixed in the world if you don't know what's wrong? After they graduate, are they going to head out into the real world with their hands over their ears, singing la la la la so they don't have to hear anything unpleasant?

Okay, okay, I know, I'm doing my cranky old lady thing again. But this old lady (and the old hard ass beside her) didn't raise no stinkin' whiner. Our son was taught to think for himself. To be self- sufficient. He's learned lessons in the classroom and, just as importantly, outside of it.

He may think we're out there, and that we have a lot of old people ideas. But that's okay. He gives us hope for the next generation.

And hope that, someday, he will raise kids who are just as awesome as he is.*

*And, no, I'm not just saying this because he's coming home to cut the grass this weekend!