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What health issues will Millennials face that their parents didn’t?

Lazy, overweening, and self-obsessed narcissist—welcome to the world of the most misunderstood and controversial generation of all time. If you are born roughly between 1980 and 2000, well then, darling, consider yourself one of us. Generally called Millennials, but also referred to as Generation Y, Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, and Generation Me MeME, we have been born in a time of drastic technological advances and globalization that have shaped our attitudes and values distinctly apart from earlier generations.

Studies show that we make up the largest generation and the largest workforce both in the country and globally, perhaps a reason why there is a huge fuss over the need to understand our characteristics and values. But of all the things that mainstream media has associated us with,  Millennials have also proven themselves to be goal-oriented, tech -savvy multitaskers who have the ability to process and integrate information all at once. Technology and globalization refined us to be open-minded, willing to expand our perspective beyond a culture and tradition of our own and experience a different world. We are also known to be ambitious and confident, often being misunderstood as being way into our heads. But, hey! We are a generation that knows what we want, confident enough that we will get it, and there is nothing wrong with that.

There is no denying, however, that with the advancement of technology and digital media came a harried and (truth be told) unhealthy lifestyle. Our generation is constantly running around the clock, beating deadlines, and making ends meet that overlooking our health almost comes too easily.  As a result, we face serious health issues our parents, or grandparents for that matter, never had to deal with. Some of them are as follows:

Poor mental health

You would be hard-pressed not to notice it. You see it everywhere—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—everyone is raising awareness for mental health. Cases of suicides are more extensive than ever. According to a study by Psychological Bulletin, depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies are at their all-time high among us Millennials due to what they call the “perfectionist streak”—a term basically used to describe how we overburden ourselves in order to live up to everyone’s expectations. And because we live in a fast-tracked world, we feel the need to play too many roles all at once in order to conform to society’s unquestionably high standards only to wear ourselves out in the process.

Obesity

Just like poor mental health, obesity is also one of the major health issues facing Millennials to date. The recent National Nutrition Survey held in the country proved that over the last few years, the rate for obesity has been consistently increasing. Surprised? Not really. We have seen it coming all along when one by one, children are slowly choosing iPads, TVs, mobile phones, and computers over  piko, tagu-taguan, bam-sak, and many other nostalgic street games, we Filipino children loved to play under the heat of the sun until our  nanay  would sternly call us in for our afternoon nap, which we would begrudgingly follow.

Moreover, our harried lifestyle nowadays would often point us straight to fast-food chains and instant food over complete and well-balanced meals. In return, we take in so many calories yet expend so little. If this trend will not be reversed, Millennials would also be facing a very high risk for cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, such as diabetes.

Alcoholism

Not only are our views on marriage, sexuality, and career changing, but also the way we perceive drinking as a generation. Many Millennials binge drink as a way of coping with stress, anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. Surprisingly, Millennial women turned out to be as heavy drinkers as Millennial men.   If this would not be put under control, it could possibly mean liver problems, accidents, or even deaths due to alcohol in the near future.

STDs and STIs

Let’s face it. More and more of today’s young adults are fixated on casual sex. We are a breed exposed to the hook-up culture and a lot of it has something to do with today’s media content and technological advancement. We have slowly strayed away from our Maria Clara archetype and simultaneously embraced the concept of sexuality far differently from earlier generations.  Rightly so, with the acceptance of premarital sex as society’s current norms came the increase in the number of cases of young adults reported to have chlamydia, syphilis, HIV, and AIDS, among many others.

Our choices today will determine our health status in the future. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a traditionalist, a baby boomer, or a Millennial. Every generation has its unique set of knowledge, attitudes, and practices, but living healthy and being healthy are a personal decision that requires commitment, which your body will eventually thank you for.

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Millennials And Social Media: It's More Complicated Than You Think

We're seeing the first generation of "digital natives". They're experiencing more of their lives online than any generation before them, particularly through social networks. And "They", as you've probably guessed, are 'Millennials'.

Millennials have increasingly become the focus for many in the marketing industry, and for good reason. When looking at recent statistics, we see that 90% of Millennials are using smartphones, 93% are accessing the internet, and 53% own tablets. Even how Millennials consume entertainment has changed, with 28% of respondents aged 18 to 34 watching original programming within 3 days after airing, mostly on their laptops or mobile devices.

But while targeting and tracking technology is rapidly evolving, the content actually created for Millennials is at times problematic. One reason for this is that the dominant narratives advanced by media, brands, and the public at large are still too simplistic. If you do some basic Google searches around "millennial social media usage", you'll see article titles like Instagram overtakes Facebook, YouTube and celebrities as 'most influential social marketing tool' or Survey Finds Teens Prefer Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat for Social Networks. Or there's this survey conducted by the American Press Institute which says that in order to reach a millennial audience, focus on Facebook.

Pinterest and Twitter are used more amongst Millennials with kids, and young parents tend to use Facebook more often than their counterparts without families

Millennial women are less likely to use Snapchat and Twitter and more likely to use Instagram

By a wide margin, Facebook hosts more active users who make under $50,000 a year and have a college degree

19% of Millennials admitted that they rarely or never use their Twitter accounts, more than all other social networks listed.

Pinterest and Twitter are used more amongst Millennials with kids, and young parents tend to use Facebook more often than their counterparts without families

Millennial women are less likely to use Snapchat and Twitter and more likely to use Instagram

By a wide margin, Facebook hosts more active users who make under $50,000 a year and have a college degree

19% of Millennials admitted that they rarely or never use their Twitter accounts, more than all other social networks listed.