Millennials and Baby Boomers - Essay Example

Culture Difference between Millennial and Baby Boomers Generation

Millennials are also referred to as Generation Y, and they were born as early as the 1980s, and the generation limit runs up to the mid-1990s. The year1996 is accepted as the defining range of the last births. The United States is mainly composed of different generations that are labeled to help us relate to each of the generations’ characteristics. The baby boomers are the generation of people born between 1964 and 1946, and they are aged sixty years to seventy-four years. Currently, the number of living millennials is more than the baby boomers, according to the U.S. census bureau. This recent data also defines millennials as the people aged 24 years to 39 years as of 2020. After World War II, the veterans returned to the U.S., and there was a baby boom where children were born due to high unemployment rates. The high number of births post this period had significant effects in the U.S. the baby boomers became politically and socially resound, and they revolutionized social and cultural issues that had been considered unacceptable. Some of the cultural issues that became socially accepted include having sex out of wedlock, smoking amongst women, and having tattoos. And many more societal issues. During the 1960s, various human groups set up fighting for different rights such as equality among blacks and whites in America and equal treatment of women and men, rock and roll, drug use, and political activism. Cultural differences exist between millennials and boomers, Millennials are usually very open-minded and socially liberal, as opposed to Boomers. The latter have been institutionalized from an early age and are very conservative.

A cultural rift exists when comparing millennials and baby boomers in society. When comparing the two, the age difference is about fifty years. The boomers are the population aged 55 years to 73 years. In the United States, the millennial generation's population continues to grow compared to the boomers. One of the reasons millennials' population is growing is immigration from other countries, whereas the boomers' generation is gradually shrinking in population size as they are currently among the oldest generation in society.

The millennials are striking with their familiarity with the use of mobile devices, the internet, and social media. Moreover, millennials are considered to be the generation that is immersed in the use of technology. They are famous for their profound usage of applications and social media sites to the extent that their gadgets are treated as part of their human self. The generation has experienced a recession from the Great Recession and the COVID-19 recession, which has tremendous impact, causing high employment levels.

Differences in cultural behavior

Boomers and millennials have differences and similarities in their cultural behavior and beliefs, as discussed in this paper. The following are some of the disparities that exist between the baby boomers and millennials:

Family

Most baby boomers were married or had children when they were between 25 and 35 years compared to the millennial generation. Due to shifts in life, millennials married later in life or decided not to marry, and the statistics of those who are not married continues to increase as years go by. The millennials are more likely to take more time at their parents' home as compared to the baby boomers. On the contrary, the millennials account for the most births as compared to baby boomers most of them are not married.

Technology Affecting Generational Culture

The baby boomers and the millennials have cultural differences especially in their use of social media. Millennials compared to the boomers are immersed into sharing their personal life as compared to the boomers. The two generations are raised in different technological ages as the boomers had minimum access to technology since they had telephones, the radio, and the television. The millennials are more conversant and skilled in suing technology as compared to the boomers who grew up in an analogue world. Most of the generational difference are profound and they are caused by the experiences that each generation had during different points of life fostering different perceptive. There is a culture war that exists between boomers and millennials based on the passionate use and views depicted on social media based on personal, social, and political views. The boomers regard the millennials use of social media and technology as extreme whereas the millennials view the boomers as tradition and lack interest in technological know-how.

Education

The millennial generation is more educated that the baby boomers generation. This can be attributed to the reading culture and access to information and education that millennials use. The millennial generation has access to modern facilities such as libraries, online books and schools are well equipped promoting the reading culture. On the other hand the boomers had minimized access to educational resources and most of them lacked the resources to complete education to the highest levels.

Mentorship culture

The baby boomers make up the larger part of the workforce in places of work. They are often associated with leadership and this is a cultural difference compared to millennials. The millennials in work places require mentorship and approval from their supervisors. The millennials are keen on criticism on the work they do and rely on criticism to evaluate their work. Baby boomers on the other hand are do not appreciate criticism and prefer being independent.

Privacy

There are generational concerns that revolve around privacy. In this modern time people leave substantial amount of their personal data online and on their phones. This information could be used for the gain or disadvantage of the users’ benefits which can be argued an intrusion to privacy. The older generation view this as a breach to confidentiality as compared to the younger generation that is more technological advanced. It is evident that the millennials are less concerned about their privacy as compared to the boomers. Millennials are mostly worried about boomers as compared to other millennials viewing their online activities. The millennials are worried since they have a culture of displaying issues on social media that they do not hold high esteem but post them on social media just for the fun of it. The cultural difference between the millennials and boomers can be attributed to the fact that most of the bloomers are the millennials’ teachers, parents, and employers. The boomers might decide to make decision based on the millennials’ activity online thus the millennials would rather have other millennials interact with them than allow some of the boomer’s generation interact with them on social media.

Loyalty

`Baby boomers are considered to be more loyal to the company they keep as millennials are loyal to subjective matters as millennial bounce from one relationship to another without fostering lifetime bonds. Millennials are less likely to maintain relationships or work for more than three years.

Body size issues

Through the social media accounts and high access by the millennials, many are taking to social media to search for the socially accepted views of beauty. What is profoundly accepted among the millennials as beauty is thinness and the use of cosmetic to improve appearance. The millennials rely on social media profoundly and there are many depictions of beauty displayed through images of skinny women (Kurz, 2019). This puts pressure on women and they are pressured to conform to such standards. Culturally, millennials base their physical appearance according to the norms accepted by the majority on social media. Such cultural norms are different to the boomers since they do not rely much on the social media to determine what they approve as beautiful. Millennials are prominent is the use of applications to tampers their appearances before sharing them to the world. Social media user in the boomers generation do not rely on such applications as they are comfortable with their presence and feel good about themselves.

Conservation

The boomers are rather conservative as compared to the millennials. Boomers hold high value of privacy and they hardly engage in behaviors that compromise their dignity. On the other hand, the millennials are free about their bodies and end up displaying their bodies through photos shared on social media.

Similarities

The millennial and boomers generations display narcissism as both generations have individualistic behavior of thinking that they are more deserving than others (Canizares et al., 2016). Narcissism can be best described as an enhanced confident feeling about oneself. Both boomers and millennials display narcissism.

Singularity culture

Baby boomers are mainly self-centered and focus mainly on themselves. This can be linked to the hippies’ movement that was popular in the 1960s (Tiago, et al., 2016). Baby boomers turning grey: European profiles. Tourism Management, 54, 13-22.. The hippies only valued their happiness through enjoying their youth without being mindful of those around them. This can explain why the boomers spend lots of money through beauty products and medical procedures to maintain their appearance. The boomer generation makes up the largest percentage of the anti-aging product and surgery users. The boomer generation spend billions in trying to look younger compared to the amount spent by the millennials which is lower. Millennials are mainly keen on looking good on their social media platforms as compared to boomers who go to the extent of surgery, there is a similarity that the two generations share which is maintaining their beauty profile. Instead of surgery, the millennials rely on applications that edit their natural looks.

Social interaction

The millennials and boomers are very social although they rely on different methods of interaction. The boomers rely mostly on face to face interactions where they get to convey information and receive information from persons close to them. Although the millennials rely on social media mostly in interacting with other people, they still have face to face interactions with their peers especially through social gathering such as parties (McAlexander, Koenig, & DuFault, 2016). Millennials are rampant sharing their personal phots and stories on social media with their friends. It is however different to boomers who mostly rely on face to face communication, phone calls or text messages to convey information.

Conclusion

Cultural differences exist between millennials and boomers, Millennials are usually very open minded and socially liberal, as opposed to Boomers, who have been institutionalized from an early age and are very conservative in nature.as we have discussed in the paper the generation have similarities and differences in culture. The boomers are seen to be more conservative as compared to the millennials.

Differences in cultural behavior

Boomers and millennials have differences and similarities in their cultural behavior and beliefs, as discussed in this paper. The following are some of the disparities that exist between the baby boomers and millennials:

Family

Most baby boomers were married or had children when they were between 25 and 35 years compared to the millennial generation. Due to shifts in life, millennials married later in life or decided not to marry, and the statistics of those who are not married continues to increase as years go by. The millennials are more likely to take more time at their parents' home as compared to the baby boomers. On the contrary, the millennials account for the most births as compared to baby boomers most of them are not married.

Technology Affecting Generational Culture

The baby boomers and the millennials have cultural differences especially in their use of social media. Millennials compared to the boomers are immersed into sharing their personal life as compared to the boomers. The two generations are raised in different technological ages as the boomers had minimum access to technology since they had telephones, the radio, and the television. The millennials are more conversant and skilled in suing technology as compared to the boomers who grew up in an analogue world. Most of the generational difference are profound and they are caused by the experiences that each generation had during different points of life fostering different perceptive. There is a culture war that exists between boomers and millennials based on the passionate use and views depicted on social media based on personal, social, and political views. The boomers regard the millennials use of social media and technology as extreme whereas the millennials view the boomers as tradition and lack interest in technological know-how.

Education

The millennial generation is more educated that the baby boomers generation. This can be attributed to the reading culture and access to information and education that millennials use. The millennial generation has access to modern facilities such as libraries, online books and schools are well equipped promoting the reading culture. On the other hand the boomers had minimized access to educational resources and most of them lacked the resources to complete education to the highest levels.

Mentorship culture

The baby boomers make up the larger part of the workforce in places of work. They are often associated with leadership and this is a cultural difference compared to millennials. The millennials in work places require mentorship and approval from their supervisors. The millennials are keen on criticism on the work they do and rely on criticism to evaluate their work. Baby boomers on the other hand are do not appreciate criticism and prefer being independent.

Privacy

There are generational concerns that revolve around privacy. In this modern time people leave substantial amount of their personal data online and on their phones. This information could be used for the gain or disadvantage of the users’ benefits which can be argued an intrusion to privacy. The older generation view this as a breach to confidentiality as compared to the younger generation that is more technological advanced. It is evident that the millennials are less concerned about their privacy as compared to the boomers. Millennials are mostly worried about boomers as compared to other millennials viewing their online activities. The millennials are worried since they have a culture of displaying issues on social media that they do not hold high esteem but post them on social media just for the fun of it. The cultural difference between the millennials and boomers can be attributed to the fact that most of the bloomers are the millennials’ teachers, parents, and employers. Read More