Sociology Research Paper Example: Millennials vs Generation X

Millennials make the largest population in the United States and hence their impact on issues is quite felt throughout the world. Millennial are individuals between the age of 21 and 35, born between 1977 and 1995. This generation is defined by their continued use and reliance on technology. They spend most of their time on different social platforms. Their reliance on technology has been a point of concern as it is affected the relationships between millennial and other generations especially generation Xers. They view this continued use of technology as detrimental to human interactions and leeway to addictions. This paper will describe the use of technology by the millennial and its impact on their healthy lives, and generation X views.

The millennial generation is characterized by the downsizing of most companies, the formation of dot-com startup and diversity in the technology industry. Due to this, they are characterized by their use of technology, over others like pop-culture consumption, liberal mind, and music. This generation has incorporated the use of technology in most of their activities with tech-based rituals being a regular part of the day even when they are using the washroom.

The use of social media has gained popularity over the years. With the development and change that is occurring on the internet so as are the millennial finding new ways of harnessing it to achieve their goals. Research shows that 60% of millennials use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to get their daily news (Kavitha and Bhuvaneswari, 8). Very few rely on traditional means like a newspaper. They believe that news should find them, and hence seeing a trending topic gives them the motive to find more about the news.

Millennials have also harnessed the marketing power of social media. Numerous individuals have built their business and job portfolio through social media. Social sites like LinkedIn allows them to access resource centers like job boards where they can search for the latest vacancies. This site allows them to access the employees or human resource directly. Sites like Instagram, YouTube Twitter, and Snap chat allows millennial to introduce their business to the market and advertise, market and brand their products and services. This allows them to engage with their target audience and hence gain customers (Sharmila, 13).

Millennial has utilized technology in its fullness. Research shows that over 70% of millennial use streaming services instead of using pay-TV. The use of mobile phones has also been revolutionized by millennial. They are known to always be on their phone with most of them preferring texting to talking. The taking of selfies has been a common technology where millennial shares everything they are doing with the world. Research shows that over fifty-five percent of millennial have shared their selfies on social media site.

The use of technology has had major impacts on the views of millennial. They are described as civic-minded as they are more open-minded on controversial topics than the previous generations. This has brought a change in their cultural values. In workplaces, they have revolutionized the work culture through the inclusion of technology in different aspects. Through the use of smartphones, computers, broadband and social media, they have instant access to any information needed. This creates flexibility at work as they can work from any place. Companies like Apple and Google, have harnessed the talents of millennial and their knowledge of technology.

The education culture for millennial has also been affected by technology. With the development of E-books, Smart Boards and Online classes most millennial have changed their reading techniques. Unlike prior years where the information found online was not reliable, with numerous research papers and professional journals having migrated online, students rely on electronic sources of information. This has both negative and positive impact on them though. While millennial have access to information first hand, access to the internet has to be regulated as one can be carried away with the numerous information available.

Technology has allowed millennial to have access to lots of information, some which might be detrimental to their health and wellbeing. Self-promotion is a common goal for most millennials. Most of the social sites were developed as a means of connection between individuals in different areas. Some millennial are using these sites to broadcast their lives and showing that they are better than their counterparts. This has led to social bullying which in some cases has led to deaths. Many individuals have low self-esteem as they are comparing themselves to other individuals, Socialites, in social sites. This can be rectified through counseling but is achieved as many people are too involved with the online world that they forget real life.

Through technology, millennial are also exposed to indecent information, like pornography. It has become quite hard for a parent to manage the information their children are getting from the internet. It is quite important to be seen as the benefits and freedom a parent gives to their child. Through the same technology, numerous applications have been developed that allows one to monitor the actions and websites that are being accessed.

The development and advancements in technology and more specifically social media has had major consequences for communication, judgment and human interactions of millennial. Face to face interactions is being replaced by posts, tweets, tags and other online interactions. The ability to communicate, no matter the distance, has been beneficial in that people can communicate with relatives who are miles apart. It has also, though been a curse in that millennial have become completely hooked on social sites, and this has changed their normal lives.

Communication has also been affected. Businesses have benefited with the development of technology in they can communicate with their consumers and suppliers, in all parts of the world. Marketing and advertisement have also been made easier with technology. Millennial have harnessed this, with many businesses using an online platform to communicate to their customers, showcase their brands and share their events and products with their potential customers (Edward and Zalta, 5).

The views of millennial are greatly influenced by technology. Many individuals have grown rich through sharing interesting things on social sites. YouTube has been used by many companies to showcase their different products. Through their websites, they can share videos and pictures of their products and the services they offer. Some companies also use influential people of social media to influence the judgment of millennial. With the constant use of social media, millennial rely mostly on the perspective of these influential people in making their choices. While this might be beneficial as they get a chance to get the views of others, some of these influencers dont give real information but rather just share what they are paid for.

While it might not have the same detrimental effects like tobacco and alcohol, the use of technology is addictive. Millennial are known to spend most of their time online. They find sharing and getting information online as a pleasurable activity, and some find sharing their daily activities online as their source of pleasure. The addiction to technology and social media specifically is quite common, with individuals using their mobiles everywhere including the toilet. Numerous millennial have been seen to use their phones while at concerts while hanging out with their friends and even when in hospitals. It is common to see to see a group of millennial, back bend, head down on their phone. The use of phones has led to less time doing offline activities, with online activities taking time away from important activities like sleeping and face to face interactions. This has been linked to depression in many millennial and an increase in suicide rate (Rohampton, 24).

With this reliance and constant use of technology, the older generations, and mostly generation X have an opinion on the use of technology by the millennial. During the era of Generation X, technology was not well developed. There was limited access to technology; the available computers were expensive and used for computation of large data. Accessing the internet was not common, and it was only available for the elite. Due to this, most of the individuals in Generation X didnt get a chance to exploit the different opportunities available. Due to this, they view millennial as having a higher ground on technology. They accept the opportunities that have been created by technology and appreciate the way millennial are harnessing the power (Andrews, 36).

This can be seen by the enormous numbers of millennial that are being incorporated into the workforce. Employees are considering the technological abilities of the employees before hiring them. Companies like Apple and Google creates a etch survey interview option to attract more millennial in their jobs and interview and select those with most technical ability. Employees are also using the social media of millennial to determine their ability to influence the other millennial.

While most appreciate the opportunities that are being brought forward by technology, generation X is afraid of the impact on the communication, emotion, and judgment of millennial as they are greatly affected by the interactions they have online.

Conclusion

Individuals in the millennial generation are characterized by their love for pop culture, music, and liberal-mindedness. The main common determinant though is their constant use of technology. They have been able to harness technology to work for them and help them achieve different goals in their lives. With the help of smartphones, computers, the internet and social media, the millennial can read current news, watch television, get educational materials and communicate with their friends and families no matter the distance. Technology has allowed free access to information. It has been mainly beneficial but slowly millennial are becoming addicted to the online world forgetting the offline connections like face-to-face interactions. The other generations didnt have access to technology that is available for millennial. Generation X views the millennial as being privileged as they can use technology achieve lots of things in their lives. Their only issue is that technology should be used positively.

Works Cited

Andrews, John. "Millennials and Digital Natives." Generation Jobless (2016).

Edward, N and Zalta. "Information Technology and Moral Values." The Stanford Encyclopidia of Philosophy (2016).

Kavitha, S and R Bhuvaneswari. "Impact of Social Media on Millenials - A Conceptual Study." Journal of Management Science and Technology (2016).

Rohampton, Jimmy. "Millennials, Here's How Social Media Impacts Your Relationships." Forbes 3 May 2017.

Sharmila, Pixy. "Millenials, Social Networking and Social Responsibility." Virtual Communities (277-291): 2009.