We Now Have Proof That Millennial’s Brains are Different!

By: Dr. John C. Mrazek

Are you shocked by that? Probably not right? I’m part Boomer and part Xer and when I was in my early 20s my grandfather (who was from the Silent generation) swore that he could not figure out how my brain worked. So. There has always been tension between the generations because the older participants tend to believe that younger people are either brain damaged or wired wrong. After reading articles about current brain research, I completely agree that Millennial brains are very different. But I think it is a good thing.

Our bodies are so incredibly made that they naturally adapt to the environment that we live in. All of our brains are changing continuously and that is both good and bad. But when the brains of 78 million people are changing in new and different ways, we need to be aware of what that means for our society, ministries, and families.

I recently read a book called “Disconnected” by Thomas Kersting that changed the way I look at Millennial behavior in a leadership context. Thomas provided a lot of good data about how Millennials brains are changing because of technology and velocity of society’s evolution. I would recommend Thomas’ book to parents because he provides very practical ways to help your teens deal with technology addiction.

There are two primary brain functions that Kersting explains contribute to some of the issues the older generations have with communicating and understanding Millennials. These brain functions are called Neuroplasticity and Neural Pruning. Every brain has these functions and they perform key processes for the brain that keep us healthy and able to adapt to our world. The problem is not that these processes exist. But, rather, the impact that this normal process of “house-keeping” has on Millennial’s brains in our technology saturated world.

Neuroplasticity is the brains natural ability to reorganize itself according to the context and environment it is in. In other words, our brains are constantly adjusting to maximize its’ performance according to the data captured by our senses from the world around us. Neural Pruning works alongside Neuroplasticity to eliminate unused connections in our brain to increase performance and streamline processing. Our brains are incredible aren’t they?

What does this mean for Millennials and the rest of us? It means that Millennials have grown up in a world dominated by small screens, PC monitors, TVs, and social media that features relationships in a one-off technology facilitated format. Instead of growing up talking face to face or across a phone line like Boomers and Xers, Millennials have grown up with technology between them and their friends and family.

The insertion of technology between us and others has caused our neuroplasticity and neuro-pruning processes to begin adapting our brains to this new reality. That means that skills like reading body language and tone of voice while holding a real time conversation are going unused. And when they go unused for too long neuro-pruning eliminates the connections that make those skills possible and we effectively lose that ability. Boomers and Xers still try to connect with people in a real-time format without technology so those pathways are still active. Millennials are choosing not to.

Raise your hand if you have ever had a frustrating conversation with a Millennial that did not seem to work right. No matter how hard you tried to communicate clearly and concisely, the Millennial seemed to be on another page or disconnected from the topic. There also seemed to be a lack of emotional connection, empathy, or basic logical understanding between you and the Millennial. This could be evidence that they are losing their basic interpersonal communication skills due to lack of use. Or you were boring. If they are losing these skills, it is probably because the synapses that makes face-to-face interaction possible are either fading or have been deleted completely. That means that communicating between the older generations and Millennials will continue to be at least difficult or even frustrating.

How do we fix this? We don’t. Millennials do not need to be fixed. They just need to be understood and adapted to. Neuroplasticity can reconnect the needed pathways when the context around Millennials switches from “technology facilitated” to face-to-face again. We need to serve the Millennials by extending them the grace to communicate differently and then patiently communicate with then in a face-to-face format so that they can rebuild those skills.

That does not mean that we demand that they only talk to us face-to-face and not through technology. That is not realistic. How about if we go more than half way to reconnect with them and learn to connect through technology as well as they do and also add face-to-face communication to the options available to them?

So. Millennials brains are different from ours and that is OK. It can even be really good when they solve problems we have not been able to. We also now understand that the differences in brain wiring is actually a part of the normal “house-keeping” that every human brain does naturally. But these specific differences are manifesting themselves in how Millennials communicate with us and that is causing tension. Know that we know why the communication disconnect is happening, let’s not put our energy into trying to fix them. Instead, I recommend that we adapt to their technology facilitated communication techniques and also reintroduce them to the benefits of real-time, face-to-face communications. If I can help you and your Millennials communicate better, please contact me at the email address below.

Dr. John C. Mrazek

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