Millennial exceptionalism: how to rewrite history

One of the things I don’t understand about the modern world is the tendency for young(er) people to adopt labels. To me, that’s like letting other people describe you, and limiting aspects of your individuality.

And when people use a label that’s based only on the year they were born, that’s just weird. Generation theory is pretty rubbish when it’s used by marketing types; when it’s embraced by the people it describes that’s pointless.

 
But I came across some people this week who think that the year they were born makes them special. I know I have a bad habit of arguing with strangers on social media, and I am trying to stop, but this waved a red flag at me.

An account on Threads announced proudly: “We are a new indie publisher based in the UK, run by millennial writers and editors!”

I couldn’t help wondering: What’s the big deal about being millennials? Why are they making this their USP? (Incidentally, it doesn’t mention this on their website. But it does mention “diversity”. Cue hollow laughter.)

So I politely asked them what was significant about their age. I didn’t accuse them of ageism. Well, not until later.

So this is the narrative they are working on. The story starts in 1998 with this scenario: “While our parents & grandparents were still busy pounding away on their typewriters, the first ISBN was issued to an ebook, and Google was born…. we were thrilled to be the first Google users.”'

Actually, I'm old enough to be their parent and in 1998 I was making my first website. And it wasn't on a typewriter.

Their USP seems to be a “unique perspective” based on being around both before and after digital publishing was a thing. That’s valid as far as it goes (or would be if their timing wasn't out), but where the narrative falls down is that it assumes the self-styled millennials live and work in a vacuum. 

(Funnily enough, I just went online and saw Jo Caulfield making the point that “There are people of all ages in the world.” Exactly.)

They assume that there wasn’t anyone older than them in the workplace before this stuff happened. But the people “pounding away on their typewriters” didn’t suddenly disappear: they started using computers. And not in 1998 either. 

A quick straw poll of my journalist acquaintances tells me that computer terminals were widespread in UK newsrooms in the mid 1980s. Someone even had a copy of the house agreement that gave them a pay rise because of it.

And no-one was excited by Google when it started, because we didn’t know what it would turn into. It was just another search engine, and late to the party.

But that doesn’t fit their story, so they have to be selective with facts to support a narrative that is historically (and scientifically) inaccurate. Here’s more: “we millennials were young enough to learn quickly.” This is at the same time as denying that they are ageist.  

When you’re in a hole, stop digging. But they didn’t: “backed by research that children can acquire new skills and information faster.” So no-one else can learn?

I just checked the definition of millennials and it says “a person born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s”.  So, my generation were using computers while these people were in nappies. Many of my generation were early adopters. Way ahead of the “millennials” before they even entered the workplace.

And who do they think invented the stuff?  Bill Gates (born 1955).  Tim Berners-Lee (also born 1955). Even Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were born in 1973. 

If you’re going to create your own foundation myth, fair enough, but don’t rewrite history in order to do it. Maybe instead, acknowledge what really happened. Or, you know, listen to someone who was there.