Welcome To The 21st Century: Why Millennials Are Struggling The Most In The Age Of Turbulence

Brexit-Covid-War in Ukraine. Global events feel relentless. Do you find yourself avoiding the news? Or perhaps you are?a doom-scroller? Read my latest piece below on the new Age of Turbulence in the 21st century.?

Welcome to the 21st Century! Why Millennials are struggling the most in the?New Age of Turbulence?

I’m a geriatric millennial, which?means I’m old enough to remember when?the most controversial?topic of debate?was what we should put in the Millennial Dome. The answer, it turned out, was not much. There was a home planet section (inexplicably) sponsored by British Airways, the body zone with a giant amorphous sculpture that looked like an ‘A’ Level imitation of a Henry Moore, and a faith zone that offended everyone and appealed to no-one. This was back in 1999, when we weren’t quite sure what we were celebrating or why (aside from a massive New Years’ Eve Party).??

We like to mis-remember this period as one of prosperity and peace; the ‘end of history’ and a neat denouement to the destructive ‘isms’?that had ravaged the 20th century.?We now know it was in a fact a mere intermission: after Thatcher but before 9/11. It was when the Third Way meant no way?at all and?we bathed in blissful ignorance of what the?next millennium would hold.?

Twenty two years into the 21st century and the timeline is becoming clear: terrorism and tech-lash; populism and pandemics; climate crises and China.??Indeed, the 21st century’s most pronounced feature right now seems to be its relentlessness. We talk of a perma-crisis and a new age of turbulence. Our doom-scrolling may be damaging but it is justified.??The Brexit deal was finally signed on the 24th January 2020; just four days later the first cases of Covid were?confirmed in the UK. Two years later, the government finally announced the end of the pandemic restrictions, that same day?Russia began its assault on Ukraine. These are not the inflated headlines of the 24hr news cycle, but events with consequence; the kind of stuff you will tell your kids and they won’t believe. The kind of news that has scary historical parallels.?Add into the mix the slow-mo careering car crash that is climate change and no wonder many of us say that global events are intensifying our anxiety.???

Social?media has not only forced us to constantly digest the news, but to respond?and react to it. Armed with our mega-phones and whipped up into a frenzy by our echo chambers, a rigid tribalism on specific issues (Brexit, the vaccine?and other culture-war flashpoints) takes hold; these issues – and where we stand on them -?become our identifiers and supersede any overarching ideology that we or our ancestors subscribed to. We now have a firm list of no-go subjects at family gatherings and in our workplaces.?While some go in search of fierce debate, others retreat into safe spaces be it anonymity online?or private group chats with fellow believers. The point is that the events themselves become immaterial; it’s the position we take that is internalised.?

For anyone over 35 all of this is particularly disorientating because most of us continue to act, think and speak like we are still in the 20th century. We shudder in disbelief when we realise that?1980 is the same span of time away from 2022 as it is from 1939.??We refuse to connect the dots of change and see the consequences, and instead fixate on?a miscalculated understanding that the institutions and beliefs?with which we grew up with?still reign.??The morbid truth is that it may take the death of the Queen for many of us to realise?that the curtain has truly fallen on the last century.

I say ‘we’ but it is worth being specific, because the age of turbulence has hit the millennial generation?particularly hard. Much harder than Gen Z, who cannot remember the 20th century and are fully acclimatised (and best prepared) for the disruptions of the 21st,?despite being mislabelled?as snowflakes.?Much harder than Gen X who, with all this talk of nuclear annihilation, are rekindling?vague childhood memories of the Cold War?and whose view of the future is increasingly seen through the eyes of their Gen Z kids. Much harder than even Baby Boomers who have long been resigned to not?recognising?the modern world (even if they never stop vocalising their discontent).?For millennials,?as the restless in-betweeners, with a foot in both centuries?and now hitting early middle age, the disorientation is real.

We grew up during the longest consumer boom in history and although we came of age in the deepest recession since the Second World War, we held on to the idea that the good times would return. Like the Edwardians, millennials are straightjacketed by the conventions of a former age even though these trappings (tertiary education, mortgage, conventional career, even retirement) are becoming less and less relevant. We allow the false promises of the last century to define us in a way that Gen Z does not. Perhaps this uniquely millennial disposition reflects the overwhelming influence on us?- both financial and ideological - of our Baby Boomer parents, the 20th century’s great demographic force. Or maybe it is because we ourselves are now parents, specifically of small children, a time?when one's paranoia?about the future is most pronounced.??

It is also because we are hitting our forties. We emerged out of our Covid bunkers only to be confronted by the stark realisation that we are no longer young. But our age is just a number in all this. The real trigger is that Gen Z have stolen the mic, and are directing much of their youthful ire and mockery towards us. Gen Z memes on?our love of skinny jeans and side partings only serve to remind us of our displacement as the purveyors of youth culture. Millennials took the slow lane to adulthood and now it seems we’re being fast-tracked to middle age. It is disorientating to hear a Gen Z talk excitedly about NFTs when we’ve only just reached credit card maturity; it is demoralising to hear Gen Z proudly pledge they are avoiding university when we have only just paid off our student loan.??This evolution?from being the disruptors to the disrupted is of course the natural order of things,?but?the problem is that millennials’ time in the lime-light was so fleeting. At some point between 2014-2019 millennials were the future. Now we have to deal with the discomforting feeling that we are already on the wrong side of history.??

'Millennials took the slow lane to adulthood and now it seems we’re being fast-tracked to middle age.'

But as?is?so often the case, a weakness is ultimately a strength. We may be in-betweeners but millennials also have the potential to be a bridge. As the 21st century progresses and the new world order comes into being, millennials will have a role to play as the ‘elder statesman’ in our workplaces, politics and society at large over the next forty years. As the systems of AI mature, millennials may find themselves as the only ones talking about the?value of?privacy. As international alliances coalesce around new energy resources, we may well be the only ones who remember what liberal democracy supposedly stands for. As we rebuild communities, we may find ourselves the only ones who remember what a social democratic infrastructure looks like. As we build peer to peer information systems, we may be the ones promoting?verifiers and gatekeepers.?As Gen Z and subsequent generations ride a wave of innovation and change, millennials may find our generational moment in being the bridge and the breaks. Forget all talk of the ‘new normal’ because the world is now on a different setting and the relentlessness is unlikely to stop. Buckle up and welcome to the 21st century.

Stuff I've Consumed....?

1.??A different perspective:?How the Chinese internet is talking about the war in Ukraine?

2. Forget the Will Smith punch,?why we are witnessing the decline of the Oscars?as well as movies.??They are celebrating movies that no-one has a stake in, barely anyone has seen. Nine out of the ten Best Picture nominations this year made less than $40 million at the box office.

3.??UK has the most expensive childcare in the world-?Why?

A Feast for the Senses

READING:?CVs of applicants. We?are?hiring for a content creator and video editor to work alongside myself and?Jimmy?McLoughlin. If you know anyone who might be interested in applying -?Job spec here

LISTENING:??You're Wrong About?podcast (available on all platforms). The best form of revisionist history.?Every week the podcast?reconsiders a person or event that's been miscast in the public imagination.

WATCHING:?YouTube videos for inspiration and for a very exciting project I'm currently working on. More details soon.?

VISITING:??heading to Melbourne in September. Very excited that the world is opening up again.?

Welcome readers, new and existing ones. If you think this fortnightly newsletter will be enjoyed by others do forward it on and they can subscribe on LInkedIn or get this delivered directly to your inbox?here?

Thanks for reading, Eliza