Watching Simon Sinek’s interview about millennials in the workplace has made me reflect on myself as well as both millennials and my generation (Generation Z) and the bad habits that we have picked up. I agreed with a lot of what Simon Sinek said but some I disagreed with, but I can see that it is generalised and probably based more heavily on American culture.

Simon spoke about our use of devices and social media and how the hit of dopamine makes us feel good and makes it addictive. This made me think about myself online and how I often display the best parts of me, or have felt negative about myself because of what I see online of beautiful girls, with lots of friends out doing lots of things, but it’s often just a front. I think that most of us see likes, responses etc to our content as our main source of self esteem, I’m highly guilty of deleting posts that don’t get as many likes but I feel that I should challenge myself to not think about it and post for enjoyment instead.

He also spoke about the lack of meaningful relationships that we are forming because of the barrier of social media, and I can agree with this to a certain extent as I know that online I have so many “friends” who like or comment on my things, but I also know that I have true friends who are there for me whenever I need them.

Another point he made that I agreed with was that we are generations that have low self esteem, and higher rates of suicides and depression. I can relate to this as throughout my time at school I was told to do well, not for my own benefit but to make the school look good, and that comes with a lot of pressure that can cause some people to break and pick up nasty habits to numb this feeling that we aren’t worth anything, or that we are simply a pawn in other people’s games.

However, the one thing I didn’t agree with was that he blamed this on parenting or that we were ‘dealt a bad hand’, because my parents definitely raised me aware of reality and that hard work pays off, especially as I watched my Dad work incredibly hard to give us the best he could. I also feel that being dealt a bad hand isn’t an excuse, but rather should be a motive to work hard and get through all the negativity that surrounds our generation and prove the stereotype wrong. Overall though I found the interview very interesting and eye opening.

From Emily.

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