Curated by Philip Jo and Andrew Erickson with Stanley Siegel
Designed by Lauren Allee
The world is always changing, a ceaseless flow of energy and information, discovered, harnessed and packaged in new forms from generation to generation. Out of the modernity of
the 1950’s, grew the radical 60’s, a generation of disillusioned long-haired “hippies” and their suburban facsimiles defending love, peace, and happiness against their parent’s values of hard work, decency and family solidarity. They had inherited the Vietnam War, steeped in political corruption along with a nation of racial, gender and sexual inequalities. They took to the streets and picket lines to protest these injustices. Still, the American Dream stood firm in the distance and many, with age, surrendered to its siren call, perhaps bringing with them a new idealism founded in their adolescent experiences, Still, they sought college educations, bought homes and took corporate jobs with good salaries and pension benefits. Yet, the unresolved conflicts and restlessness of their youth led to a kind of “schizoid” nation, the consequences of which have been left behind for millennials to navigate.
Millennials have inherited a world with a seriously ailing environment, corrupted economy, gold-embossed college diplomas with loans rising above $100,000, careers with few entry-level jobs, and a life of financial serfdom. The American Dream isn’t even the flickering image it was during their parent’s youth. Instead, it has disappeared completely.
Millennials have lived through the collapse of the housing market and the stock market crash of 2008, wiping out many of their parent’s savings and retirement investments along with the hope of ever owning a home. As fortunes crumbled, so did trust in the capitalist system as we learned about the mighty bankers and lenders whose greed and moral failures led to the economic train wreck. Where Baby Boomers took to the streets and sang “We shall overcome”, millennials cry out on the internet. “You fucked up the world. We are taking over.” Entitlement or Enlightenment?
Millennials have landed in the middle of a vortex, left to navigate their lives on their own with no roles models or maps to follow. This issue of Psychology Tomorrow Magazine, speaks to the dilemmas of this generation. The authors, many of them Millennials, examine how their contemporaries think, feel, and act in light of what they inherited. Some are paralyzed with anger and confusion, others are activated, choosing to travel the world, educate themselves online or start businesses with the same amount of money they might have spent on college. It is no surprise that one of the top selling books is, Choose Yourself.
We open this issue with an article titled, Millennial Entitlement, followed by a half dozen responses. They show us that there is no single millennial voice, but instead, a chorus of voices that represent the different understandings of current life dilemmas, and in some cases, creative resolutions to them.
Beyond the Millennial discourse, this issue introduces a new section to the magazine called SHIFT, a self-development program with articles, podcasts, and videos that help you discover and create the life you want, a focus that is quickly becoming a millennial “tradition.”
Enjoy, activate and participate in this new consciousness.
Stanley Siegel,Editor-in-Chief
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