To some, we are the generation of the participation trophy. A group that grew up coddled and thus expects the world to be served up to us on a platter. To others, we are the screen addicts. A cohort whose technological savvy and social media presence makes us more apt to binge-watch than chit-chat. And to still others, we are defined by our over-sensitivity, creating concepts like “trigger warnings” and “microaggressions” to hide from the realities of a hard world.
Those are caricatures, not defining traits. In reality, we are enterprising, innovative, and connected. We are preternaturally optimistic, confident that our own abilities can carry us through the economic woes around us, yet also deeply skeptical, particularly of institutions that have continually failed us. We are a generation of startups, cravers of customization, topplers of the status quo, and rejecters of political labels.
