Cellie

I’m incredibly tired of seeing Facebook posts from you about millennials/young people being lazy, complacent, entitled etc - we live in a shitty and expensive time, where people are both underpaid and overworked. I’d also like to add that most of the people who I’m friends with who are my age or around it are the most passionate, hardworking, creative AND business savvy bunch of individuals I’ve ever come across.

These ridiculous blanket posts and articles are exhausting to see and make me really angry, especially because some of the biggest hardships that young people need to deal with (unique to this century) can be traced to the same generation of people who criticise us. Here’s just one local example which I’ve had to deal with first hand; the nightmare of being a young renter. The same generation that are splitting run-down terrace houses on the outskirts of Sydney into 6 “studio apartments”, renting each room for hundreds of dollars per week regardless of how run down, mouldy and unliveable they are, are the ones complaining that our frivolous spending is the thing preventing us from buying homes.

For those who call us lazy: I can’t speak for everyone of course, but I’ve been working non-stop since I was 14 and 9 months (that’s the earliest you are allowed to work in Australia) what more can I do? While doing so and since then, I’ve completed a university education, volunteered my time and services to not-for-profit organisations, interned for free in an industry I love and began building my own business. And be aware this comes from the privilege of having the means to do so and not having to work solely to survive - I am fortunate to have a family that can afford for me to make mistakes and who encouraged me to follow my dreams and career aspirations.

For those who criticise our generation for living on our phones: my whole business is based online. I’ve been able to live off what I love, to network, to create, to maintain my business and to communicate with my audience BECAUSE of devices like my phone.

I of course realise this is in itself a generational blanket post - you can decide whether or not it applies to you. Don’t be so quick to judge us when you may be out of touch with how difficult or hopeless navigating life can be as a young person.

La Lune