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“TGIF cuz I’m so rdy 2 prty #rage #nosleep #youngwildandfree.” If you can understand that, you’re probably a millennial.
This generation, generally those 25 years old or younger, is characterized by a growing interest in technology, particularly social media. Paige Greggor, 21, is a coffee barista at Java Joe’s and knows firsthand how things play out with the different generations of her family.
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“I spent 45 minutes trying to explain to my parents what a hashtag was,” she said. “It’s not that they’re too old to know what it is or that they’re against learning it, but they gave me this look, like saying, ‘What’s the point?’ It’s even worse when my grandma tries to use Facebook and just writes total nonsense.”
Greggor’s response shows how three different generations interact. Her grandma is a baby boomer, those born from 1946-1964, her parents are GenX, born between 1965-1980, and Greggor is a millennial, born 1982-2002. These age gaps define not only how they talk to each other, but also why they think a certain way.
According to boomerbaggage.com, a website dedicated to keeping boomers in-the-know, social media is a platform for those in the baby boomer generation to stay connected, but it is not one they absolutely need. Baby boomers are most likely to use social media to stay connected digitally to friends and family, keeping just a small circle of friends. To illustrate, Facebook has a high number of users older than 50, most with fewer than 100 friends each, whereas millennials tend to have upwards of 500 friends.
Millennials are also more likely to communicate in acronyms and hashtags, such as #mcm for “man crush Monday” or #throwbackThursday to post pictures from the past. Topics of conversation online have similar patterns, with millennials posting more about celebrities and complaints on social media.
Frontline, in conjunction with PBS, ran a documentary called “Generation Like,” which concluded that more than anyone, millennials post to feel connected and to get attention. The idea of becoming “insta famous” or a “Twitter star” is the biggest appeal.
But for Hayden Kyle, 19, a freshman at SLCC, this social media craze isn’t without repercussions for the millennial generation. Kyle said young adults should be cautious when posting online. “Never post a picture, comment or thread you wouldn’t want Mama to see,” Kyle said.
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