The Millennial generation is one experts struggle to define.
Some demographers classify a person born between the early 1980s and early 2000s as a Millennial, whereas others argue it’s the generation who reached early adulthood at the turn of the millennium.
Although there are no precise dates to bookend this cohort, we know they grew up in a world completely unlike their parents’, and simply unrecognisable to their grandparents.
The term ‘generation’ is, in fact, a modern invention.
Before the 20th century, there was no concept of generations. Life between children and their parents was not starkly different. In the 1920s, sociologist Karl Mannheim defined this phenomenon as "youth experiencing the same concrete historical problems may be said to be part of the same actual generation."
If you're a Millennial, there are a particular set of experiences that you were the first, in all of human history, to have. From laser hair removal, to watching a terrorist attack live on television, here are the things that make our youth unlike any before it:
We were the first to have computers in our classrooms. And then on our desks. And then in our bedrooms. And then in our pockets.
We were the first to take a photo without film.
We were the first to use a digital camera.
We were the first (mainstream cohort) to use a cordless phone. And play Snake. (Post continues after audio.)