We've all been exposed to the curmudgeonly rhetoric of numerous articles and studies done to show that millennials are apparently the worst generation to have ever existed on this planet, what with all the selfies and incessant texting and song quotes under instagram photos. But if you, like me, are finally fed up with this overly hateful and inaccurate information being spewed about, there's good news: researchers at Bentley University have conducted some research and found that millennials may not be the worst generation after all and that we do, in fact, do normal human things like interact face-to-face and hold jobs in the workplace.
The study, which is called "The Millennial Mind Goes to Work: How Millennial Preferences Will Shape the Future of the Workplace," aims to understand millennial preferences about seven different issues as they relate to the workplace: texting, a typical 9-5 work day, healthcare, company retention, ethics in the workplace, definitions of success, and definitions of what it means to be a hard worker. The findings are promising for the reputation of us young people; for example, 51 percent of millennials interviewed said they preferred to speak about work-related issues in person instead of over text, email, messenger, or phone call. Who says we can't sustain face-to-face conversations anymore?
Perhaps the most promising conclusion made by this study relates to how ambitious the millennial generation is, and how unconventional the ambition is.
- 66 percent of those interviewed want to start their own business.
- 37 percent want to work on their own.
- 25 percent want to own their own company
We already seem to be tending away from the "graduate college, get a corporate job, create a nuclear family, and die trying to reach that green light" mentality that capitalism perpetuates and starting to incorporate other ways of being, working, and creating.
Check out the entire study in this slideshow, chock full of colorful info-graphics, implications, and insight into how wrong older generations can be about millennials.
