User Comments

mswhitesdelights March 11, 2014

Of course people (more and more generalising - the reason why this whole clip/article was so inane) were optimistic when they chose their partners! And yes being unhappily married but staying together does more damage than good. I suppose my over all my hope is that people stop reducing an entire generation down to a 'hilarious' anecdote at dinner parties, one which suggests generation Y are lazy, spoilt, with out any work ethic, and apparently all speak, Liiiiike with our heads tilted/have blocked sinuses and perhaps liiiiike can't read. Its pointless and incorrect. In the end, the people making such broad statements end up looking far more stupid then the members of the generation they are talking about.

mswhitesdelights March 10, 2014

The greatest paradox of being generation Y. If we are lucky, our parents raise us with the attitude that nothing is out of our reach, if we work hard enough, our age, race, gender, sexual orientation are not barriers. How much time and money is now spent on educating people/bringing awareness about issues surrounding self esteem (body image, bullying, anxiety and depression).
Yes we are ambitious (sorry, self esteem and all that) and at the green age of 23, some of us we will march into our bosses office far too big for our boots believing we could be doing even their job (and do it better). Now, perhaps that individual does need to be told to slow down, put their head down and learn, just wait. But that isn't a trait of just Gen Y (interesting that comment came from Mia, who became Editor of Cosmo at 24).

There seems to be this idea that Gen Y's have a strong sense of self entitlement, and yes, in many ways we do. We want to have careers we like, get married later (over half of the people I know, myself included have divorced parents surprise surprise this changes the way in which we date, who we choose, the kinds of discussions we have before committing the rest of our lives with someone. Jamila is right, we are wiling to wait for the good thing. Mia said "sometimes you have to settle", of course! Sometimes life will throw curve balls at you. You often don't end up in your most ideal situation. This could be financial, career or family wise. And you do have to make it work. And we do, because when things get tough, the Gen Y attitude is one of a commitment to happiness and look after our own needs (in order to look after others around us; our children, our partners, our parents etc) it reminds us that perhaps this less than ideal situation is a necessary a stepping stone, in between time, even if it a life changing situation (death/birth) there will still be a commitment to listening to our inner voice, who's job it is to lead us to make good choices.
I believe my generation will see marriage equality, close the gender pay gap, improve the current (criminal) policies surrounding immigration, see a lot more women in politics, and make more positive steps to save our planet! And the next time I say I think I could the person or even a who contributes to this change, please don't turn around and patronisingly tell me Im not a special little unicorn.