Millennials, born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, had a brutal coming of age. Many graduated in the wake of the global financial crisis. Living with their parents and deprived of the prospect of owning a home, they were lectured by unsympathetic elders not to spend so much money on brunch.
Youth unemployment rose above 50% in some parts of Europe, leading to talk of a “lost generation”.
Millennials’ cultural comeback has lessons, too. But once more, technology is helping. The infinite breadth of online platforms means that you have plenty of alternatives if millennial favourites are not to your taste. And the vast back-catalogues stored on these platforms mean that the hits of every era are available to everyone. Twenty years ago, one generation bore the brunt of the financial crisis.
Many will look at the glut of 1990s reboots, such as a new “Baywatch” series, and feel that Hollywood’s creativity needs saving. Today, all generations should celebrate the millennials’ deserved rebound.
A bigger part of the story, however, is innovation and hard work. The leading lights of the tech industry, which has created enormous wealth, include many millennials. They account for more than twice the share of America’s billionaires that Gen X did at the same age. Tech’s next great leap, artificial intelligence, is likely only to strengthen their position. The bosses leading the revolution, such as Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman, are themselves millennials.
