They're polarized in almost every issue. I don't mean "polarized" in the bastardized way we use the term (i.e. arguing over politics). I mean most millennials do things that are rarely half-way. For instance, they're either staunch Christians who don't cuss and who are saving themselves for marriage, or they're vulgar regular party goers who identify as atheists and who engage in sex with lots of partners (sometimes simultaneously). When I was their age there were a lot more of the middle-ground (i.e. going to church and calling themselves Christians, but doing a little partying too and engaging in a little pre-marital).
And it's the same with money habits. (Many millennials are part of the Financial Independence Retire Early FIRE mentality, or they have spending habits worse than my ex-wife, few kinda in the middle). Same with drug habits (few just doing a little pot, they're either not doing drugs at all or they're hooked on heroin or meth). Same with physical fitness. Same with work ethics. Just about everything.
And another thing: they hang out with each other and get along with people who think 100% different. Again, when I was their age us goody-two-shoers didn't have many party going friends, nor did the partiers have many sold-out-to-Jesus friends (though we both had friends who were in the middle). The millennials have tons of friends who think opposite of them, they get along with each other well, and they don't argue about their habits like people who feel like they have to defend themselves.
Ulmius, does that sound right? That's how I see the millennials in Alabama.
I’ll address the polarization in this manner:
The attack on traditional values has borne people who go with it and those who react against it. Those who go with it have given up the complicated search for meaning in favor of instant gratification or they swing against it, thinking doing so is some sort of revolutionary act (remember, many my age view lgbt as a civil rights issue). Those people are attempting to capture thestruggle which has been missing, aping the hippie movement. Those for trad values aim to do so without the apathy of their forbears which they feel made the issue happen in the first place.
Those of us who save money do so to weather the storms ahead, and those who don’t are ok with living in apartments and all that. With drugs, those who do them do so to escape our defeatist mindset and to transcend the programming we feel has been done to us. Those who don’t view drugs as a social ill and often have witnessed their effects on their family and friends, and for the latter reason.
We mostly group together (after we leave high school especially) to have a network of people to offset the isolation we feel by ourselves with our technology
Interesting perspective. Hadn’t thought of it that way. Not sure I see that in my family’s Millennial generation.