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An Open Letter to Nonmillennials

This is not an excuse, but an explanation of how our tech has shaped us

Avantika Mehra
OneZero
8 min readSep 19, 2019

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Photo: Bronek Kaminski/Getty Images

Dear Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, or Gen Xer,

Millennials have been criticized for too long for supposedly being more entitled, impatient, and narcissistic than previous generations. We have endured taunts labeling us as sensitive, sheltered, and snowflakey. But avocado toast and acai bowls will not be the legacy of this generation. What follows is a description of the world we grew up in and an explanation for our tendencies — an exposition of our very subjective realities.

We grew up with the internet, smartphones, networked devices, and a Wi-Fi connection — indeed, we developed with the information age. People older than millennials might classify technology as tools used for business, enterprise, utility, or even convenience, efficiency, and work. But for us millennials, technology, as it is today, is an axiomatic truth. Just as functioning drainage systems may have been unquestionable givens to those born into such a time, so too is the notion of devices and screens to our generation. No doubt an impressive piece of engineering technology — but also one that is integral to our lives and integrated into our daily functioning.

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Avantika Mehra
Avantika Mehra

Written by Avantika Mehra

provide the subjective experience of a genz with a passion for epistemology and futurism.

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