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How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation
Article

How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

Buzzfeed, 2019

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Some claim millennials are lazy and entitled – unable to do basic tasks that older adults have just gotten on with for years. Anne Helen Petersen, senior culture writer for Buzzfeed News, rejects those labels. Milllennials like herself, she argues, are merely trying their best to navigate trends like skyrocketing student loans and an underpaying, perk-free gig economy. Millennials will likely not be the only ones who feel that her insights and observations are almost painfully on the nose.

Summary

He missed the voter registration deadline because he disliked mailing forms, 27-year-old Tim told New York magazine. “Errand paralysis” also ails author Anne Helen Petersen, who succeeds in her career but delays for months responding to friendly emails, updating her dog’s registration tags or sharpening knives. Such stories feed some people’s claims that millennials are unfit for everyday living. The truth is: Many millennials are stuck in anxious cycles of constantly working while procrastinating on basic tasks. They are burned out.

Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger first diagnosed...

About the Author

Anne Helen Petersen is a senior culture writer for BuzzFeed News and the author of Can't Even.