Everyone knows millennials get a bad rap. According to Bloomberg News reporter Charlie Wells, it’s an unfair one. In his forthcoming book, What Happened to Millennials, Wells launches a defense of his oft-maligned generation. Born into an era of unprecedented optimism, he explains, millennials came of age just as that optimism collapsed, leaving them disappointed with the world—and with themselves.
We’re thrilled to publish an adapted excerpt from the book today. In the 1980s and ’90s, Wells writes, the U.S. conducted a nationwide social experiment designed to artificially boost kids’ self-esteem. The result? A generation paralyzed by perfectionism and desperate for honest feedback.
Now, Wells says, as millennials become the parents, teachers, and CEOs shaping society, it’s time to tell the truth about their story. —The Editors
Ask people to identify today’s most selfish generation, and they’ll likely say it’s mine: millennials. Even if they’ve heard of Generation Z and the latest generalizations besetting those that followed us, millennials were the ones, they’ll explain, who brought the term “selfie” into the lexicon. We’re the ones reputed to spend money on short-term discretionary goods such as expensive avocado toast rather than long-term investments. We’re the ones who delay marriage, childbirth, and adulthood itself. And we’re the ones who spearheaded the notion of “cancel culture.”
According to our critics, such behavior is all about making ourselves feel good in the moment, other considerations be damned. When people hunt for explanations, they frequently cite technology: smartphones, social media, influencer culture—all of which came of age at the same time as we did.
Technology is a major piece of the millennial story. But it’s not the only one. Central, as well, is a concerted social experiment that took shape in the United States during our most formative years.
It was an experiment centered on the valorization of self-esteem.
