How The Emerging Millennials are Destroying Canada

This week's Little Library greeted me with a title that immediately piqued my interest... The Emerging Millennials: How the Generation is Responding to Change and Choice. Now, being a Millennial myself, again, I was immediately intrigued to see what had been learned about me! 😂
After all, I believe I can remain quite modest: I don't, nor have I ever, thought that my generation is "the greatest." In fact I have plenty of complaints. But I won't hold things up any longer. Without further ado, let's get into the book!

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First things first: let's take everything with a grain of salt.

This entire book surveyed only 5,000 teenagers (ages 15-19) from all across Canada, in a population of almost 2.5 million Canadian teenagers. A very small representation for a demographic that makes up almost 10% of the population.

And for another thing: it's teenagers being surveyed 😅

It's one thing for adults to knowingly be polled for their opinion -- trying to save face in order to appear "better" -- but teenagers aren't even aware of their identities yet 😅 They're highly impressionable and subject to choose the answers that are most popular/socially acceptable.
And don't get the wrong idea: I was a very opinionated teenager, who thought she knew what she was talking about. But the point is, nearly all of those opinions from adolescence have changed, various times, throughout the years. Again, teenage minds are fickle.

(uhhh asked AI art generator for "Canadian teenagers having fun")

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So the book begins with what Canadian teenagers value.

Of most importance is deducing where those values come from. For example, when asked the question,
"Generally speaking, on what do you base your moral views?"
The adolescents were given a variety of choices and again, going back to the theme of "fickle teenagers," a whopping 43% dictated it "depends on how they feel at the time." Obviously this is a recipe for disaster! 😂 If I based my decisions on "how I felt at the time," I would probably be making a lot of regretful choices out of anger!
Another 20% said they are motivated to make decisions "based on the views of their parents and friends." Only 10% said that "religion" influences their choices.

"When rules are no longer seen as coming from the gods, why should anyone feel guilty? The answer: they don't."

Okay, so what are the traits that Canadian teenagers value?
Well, trust and honesty are the top two values for over 80% of Canadian teenagers. Of course these are admirable traits, and people not only want to experience them, but exhibit them as well.

"But to what extent are they putting those values into practice? ... There is considerable slippage between values and behavior."

For example, when faced with the dilemma of acquiring an undeserving $10 bill, only 40% said that they "would return it." 30% said "it would depend" (I guess on how they feel 😂). Another 30% stated they "would keep the $10." Again over 80% of Canadian teenagers said they value honesty, yet almost 60% exhibited that they cannot be honest. Fickle teenagers, or simply an example of human nature?
It may also be worth mentioning that "religious service attendance is associated with a greater inclination to endorse interpersonal values." Huh; it's almost like when people have structure and guidance, regardless of age, it becomes easier to implement those values into practice 🤔

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But speaking of religion -- what is that topic like for Canadian teenagers?

Let's first take into consideration that since the 1960s, since the introduction of the Sexual Revolution, "no religious affiliation" has jumped from 1% in 1961, to 16% by 2001. Only 13% said that "religious involvement was very important to them."
And yet, teenagers who believe in a higher power are "more likely than those who don't to:
▪️ maintain they would return the $10 bill
▪️ disapprove giving someone the finger
▪️ say that they have never gotten into trouble with police and more likely to stay out of trouble"

"Once we no longer drink directly from the waters of faith, will we discover that the values we invest in will be a hangover from a faith that we formerly absorbed?"

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So what has been the result of these values being implemented into the Canadian way of life?

As many know, Canada is prized for its multiculturalism, which has been a huge shift from the homogeneous country Canada used to be. In the 1960s, Canada's focus was primarily on the inclusion of Aboriginal and French-speaking Canadians; in the course of 40 years, that focus shifted to include everybody.

"If there is no 'right' lifestyle, family, religion, or morals, then there is no need for a society to advocate one possibility for another."

Now, I am all for inclusion -- I love being exposed to different lifestyles, cultures, food, music, etc. But it should be the other way around: a country should not accommodate its way of life for newcomers.
I know, here we go: "But Canada is a country founded on newcomers! 😡" Like, I get it and that's great; we all had to start somewhere! That still doesn't mean that every single country/way of life needs to be accommodated for.
Take the "issue" of hijabs, for example. When people of Muslim faith were immigrating to Canada, they argued that they should be allowed to keep their hijabs on for government-issued photo I.D. (passport, driver's license, etc.). A matter of religion, disrespectful to be seen without it, what have you... Canada's response was, "No, we need to be able to clearly identify every citizen."
Because if that is how other countries choose to do things: cool! But if you are choosing to immigrate to another country, especially for a better way of life, then that country's customs and traditions need to be respected.

Because hint hint, those customs probably played a part in making this country what it is today, hence it is part of the reason why you want to immigrate here 🙂 Does that make sense? lol

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Anyway, went off on a bit of a tangent 😅 Okay, so the results of all of this accommodation for every other country under the sun has been this!:
"Teens born in Canada are more likely to say that Canada is their first choice of residence. Many immigrants are clearly missing 'home.'"

As one 16-year-old British girl stated:
"I appreciate what my parents do here in Canada and everything that they worked hard for, but I much prefer life in Britain. I hope to move back immediately after grade 12."
And I can't help but ask that age-old question: so why are you here? 🙂 A job opportunity was so great that your parents had to move across the ocean for it? there were no job opportunities in England? 😂 A proper education, so you can obtain the necessary skills here, to go back to your homeland in an attempt to improve it? Somebody help me understand! 😄

What's more, regardless of all of Canada's attempts to be inclusive, 46% of white teenagers believe that "racial discrimination is a very serious problem." This number increases to 46%-61% among people of color.
This question alone opens a whole can of worms. For one thing, everyone's definition of discrimination is different. One woman might find the title of "female" discriminatory while another may not. Have these teenagers had bad experiences that they have chosen to blame on their race, etc.? Secondly -- where? Where is this discrimination? 😅 I cannot remember the last time someone was denied a job because of their race, religion, sexuality, etc. More than half of teenagers are wOrRieD about discrimination, discussing it as though it's a huge prominent issue; where the fuck is it? 😂

Even more -- we've made this huge song and dance about multiculturalism, yet our values of trust and honesty have never been more contradictory.

40% of teenagers say that "people can usually be trusted." Another 40% believes that "we can't be too trusting," and another 15% believe people "should rarely be trusted." Obviously there can be a number of different factors for why this is, but the main takeaway point remains:

"If we value trust, and believe that we ourselves are trustworthy, it should all add up to a situation where we can, for the most part, trust each other."

(I have my own theory; it just isn't human nature? lol. It is perfectly understandable, normal even, for humans to regard other humans with suspicion; it isn't a race thing. It's a primal instinct that has allowed us to survive for this long. But just all the more reason to cut the inclusive bullshit)

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In the end, what was to be gained from all of this? What does the future look like for Canadian teenagers? (keep in mind these statistics are from 2008, but still)

Well, let's put things into perspective. 97% expect to own their own home. 90% say they expect to get married while a whopping 94% claim they want to have children. Meanwhile only 40% value hard work yet 95% of Canadian Millennial teenagers believe they will "get to where they want to be in life."
Which are totally normal statistics. After all, teenagers want to remain optimistic about the future, that they can do anything -- and this is, quite literally, a generation that wants to do it all!

Now, let's look at reality 😂

Millennials are now 28-43 years old (I'm 29 😇). Only about 50% of the Millennial population are homeowners. About 55% have gotten married, as well as another 55% have children. And a large portion of the demographic states that they are "somewhat happy" with where they are in life right now.
So it seems like sheer determination wasn't enough, seeing as how only half of Millennials have achieved what they set out to thus far.
And again, many different factors for why things have progressed the way that they have. I'm sure not too many of us anticipated the way the economy has been evolving over the last decade 😅

But I can recognize major shifts that took place without the need to pull out a book. For one, the huge decline in religious communities. Say what you will -- there will always be the people who choose not to benefit from religion. But for the most part, people do greatly benefit from the guidance and structure that religion can bring to their lives. It's much easier to say, "The Church said to do (this) during this kind of situation," as opposed to, "Well, today I'm in a bad mood, then I need to take popular people's opinions into account, what's the latest trend --"

The shifts in culture have also manipulated Millennials goals and values. Again, the concept of marriage, or even monogamous relationships for that matter, have deteriorated due to the influence of social media and society as a whole. Millennials are famous for the "So long as it isn't hurting anyone, let people do what they want! 🥴" mentality, and this has resulted in unstable relationships and families, a spike in pornography (OnlyFans), feminized men, and terrible morals.
Personally I blame The Sexual Revolution 😂🔫 Society's desire to place women in the workplace means that the idea of a nuclear family household is dwindling. The abandonment of religion and permission of promiscuity has made the idea of polygamy quite attractive, while actively bashing family life...

Anyway, that will do it for me 😄 Thank you for reading!