Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation Book Review

Every generation has it’s myths. The myth of the millennial generation (born between 1981 and 1996) is one or more of the following: we are lazy, we are too into technology, we are stuck in perpetual adolescence, etc.

The truth is as far from the stories as one can get.

Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, by Buzzfeed writer Anne Helen Petersen, was published last fall.

According to the author, the millennial generation (of which I am a part of) is defined by one word: burn out. Between the pressures to succeed in the workplace, create a perfect image online, and keep busy, it is no wonder we are exhausted. Her thesis is that this generation was trained early on by parents and teachers that we are judged solely by our achievements. That pressure was compounded by the Great Recession of 2008. Through no fault of our own, the opportunities for professional and income growth will forever be limited. The job security that previous generations were used to no longer exists.

She further explores the growing mental health crisis, the expectations from social media, and that in spite of how far we have come, women are still doing much of the housework and childcare.

I loved this book. It once and for all puts to bed the ideas of this generation and reveals the facts. We don’t want a handout, we are not glued to our phones, and we are far from lazy. We just want the same chances as our parents and grandparents. The problem is that those chances do not exist in the same way as they did in the past.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

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White House Jobs Comment: Insensitive and Cruel

On paper, the process of looking for a new job is quite simple. You find the job you think you would be good at, put in the application and wait for the hopeful email/phone call for an interview. If you get the interview, you represent yourself as best you can and wait for a response. Simple, right?

No. Anyone who has been through the process at least once can easily attest to how brutal and soul sucking the employment search is. To say it is difficult when the economy is normal is an understatement. But when the country is experiencing a health crisis and an economic crisis? I can only imagine the wrench that Covid-19 throws into the job hunt.

A new ad campaign will be released by the White House today. It is called Find Something New. The purpose of the campaign is to encourage Americans who are unhappy at their jobs or unemployed to “find something new”.

These people have no idea what it is like to have to look for a job. They have no understanding of how it feels to apply for multiple jobs and only receive a handful of responses at best. They will never understand the heartbreak of hearing that the job you thought you were perfect for went to someone else.

According to an article published by the Pew Research Center over the weekend, the number of unemployed Americans is higher than it was during the Great Recession over ten years ago. What is worse is that it took only three months to reach that figure compared to the two years it took back in 2007-2008.

The fact is that getting the economy back on its feet will not be a simple process. However, it does not help that the man we unfortunately refer to as President seems unwilling and unable to do what is needed to return this country to a state of semi-normalcy. Which is in my mind, another reason to get rid of him in the fall.