Talk:Millennials

Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe coined the term. To my understanding, some people have been going into this article and attempting to delete any mention them. This is erasure of history. While Strauss-Howe generational theory is widely criticized, it is part of the generations history whether people like it or not. Bob200505722 (talk) 23:00, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

I don't see any attempt to "delete any mention" of them. There are multiple mentions of the theory and its authors throughout the article. Betty Logan (talk) 00:36, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

Yep. This is easy to confirm with the search function of one's web browser. Nerd271 (talk) 02:02, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

I just had someone revert my change to delete them from the opening paragraph.

I responded to user "Some1" with:

"It is untrue to history to not acknowledge from the outset of the article that the term has not changed in use.

Originally, meant as a term to acknowledge those most impacted by the millennium (c.1982-2000/2005) it has since become synonymous with Gen Y.

Removing this from the article removes the very real change that has happened within the term.

To those in history who are unfamiliar with the time, their only way to know is with the information provided."

The important part of the term that has been eroded is that those born in the early years of the new millennium are most definitely affected by the occurrence of the millennium; thus, they are 100% truly millennials in every sense of the meaning of the term. Gen Y ≠ Millennial, Gen Y = Gen Y, Millenial = Gens Y and half of Gen Z.

It is a temporal classification that surrounds the Millennium itself. Hamish.croker (talk) 05:03, 23 June 2025 (UTC)

As pointed out by multiple people in this thread already, Strauss-Howe's coinage of the term is already mentioned first thing in the Millennials#Terminology and etymology section. Putting it and their date ranges in the lead would violate WP:NPOV by giving them WP:UNDUE weight, especially when most RSes don't mention them or use their date ranges at all. Also, see Strauss–Howe generational theory. Some1 (talk) 23:09, 23 June 2025 (UTC)

Thus the article should be titled "Generation Y, part of which is called millennials". 193.50.46.168 (talk) 13:39, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

Does anyone else think these two websites are defining traits of the millenial generation? I don't think this level of granularity is helpful. If you are an old millennial (like me) you probably didn't use them, and if you were a young millenial you probably didn't either. It feels a bit like Jw00231 is a millennial trying to impose his own experiences on the article. I also don't think this web 1.0 WP:JARGON is relevant either. Generations are broad demographics and they need to be discussed in broad terms. What we can say is that millenials (the oldest beginning their childhoods in the 80s and youngest ending theirs roughly in the late 2000s) experienced the rise of the internet in some form (generally from 1994 when Windows 95 brought it into homes) and probably ending in 2007 when the iphone took the internet out of homes and into people's pockets. Betty Logan (talk) 19:52, 25 September 2025 (UTC)

I'd argue those sites actually cover the full spectrum of Millennials. Older millennials were on Myspace in 2003-2004 promoting local bands and artists, core millennials were on the site in 2006-2007 as part of the emo/scene trend, and younger millennials caught the tail end of Myspace around 2009-2010.--Jw00231 (talk) 18:42, 26 September 2025 (UTC)

The opening paragraph wrongly states that millennials are likely to be the children of Boomers or older generation Xers. Millennials are not likely to be the offspring of older generation Xers but rather older boomers even in reference to "early stage millennials". The cited article correctly states it. Dwightfryebrain (talk) 17:39, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

Don't follow your logic at all. If we go by the ages of the mothers, the average child-bearing age during the 80s and 90s was 27/28, so going with that average birth-age the year range that produced the millenial generation (which I will consider as 1980–2000 for the sake of simplicity) was primarily produced by mothers born 1953–1972 i.e. younger boomers and older Gen X. Older boomers are more like to have Gen X children. Betty Logan (talk) 04:03, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Wikipedia, please PLEASE stop promoting determinism and pseudoscience by pretending they do with infographics which purport to show the "official" beginnings and endings of arbitrary generation labels, which people see on Google and take to think are official and objective fact. This is damaging to society as a whole. ~2026-17541-2 (talk) 04:45, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia isn't promoting anything. You'll have to take it up with the reliable sources themselves, which these articles are based on. Some1 (talk) 04:57, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

Promoting determinism? What promotion? You have made this same discussion on Talk:Generation, Talk:Generation Z, and Talk:Millennials, Please stop trying to cause ruckus or useless flame wars on purpose, especially on Wikipedia.

Also, Most people do not care about pseudoscience or anything promoting it. and these subjects (social generations) ARE supposed to be arbitrarily defined, since this is a soft subject. ★ Campssitie (msg) (contribs) 🧋🏖 09:01, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Hey, @Betty Logan, this is why I’m stating that it’s important to wait for the 2026 update in August to see what’s going on. The Australian Bureau of Statistics used the Pew range (25 to 39 in 2021, which is the Pew 1981–1996 range) in a 2022 October report analyzing their 2021 population census and with a specific focus on Millennials. The government of Australia also worked with Ipsos on a recent Gen Z report (which uses the Pew 1997 range) this past 2025 September. I don’t think that the 1981–1995 range from the other source is going to stay. Here’s the October 2022 report analyzing the 2021 census made by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that defines the Millennials with the Pew range: https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/back-my-day-comparing-millennials-earlier-generations#:~:text=Sources-,Overview,back%2520in%2520my%2520day%E2%80%A6'. ChicagoGirlD (talk) 21:31, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

On closer inspection the Australian Bureau of Statistics uses a 1982–1996 date range with the “age 25 to 39 in 2021” to define Millennials in the October 2022 report. Nevertheless, this still contradicts with the earlier July report. As I’ve already mentioned, the July definition is not going to stick and is unreliable. A couple months ago Ipsos used Pew’s definition to define Gen Z in a report working with the government of Australia. It’s pointless having ranges clutter up the Millennial article, especially those that are dubious. ChicagoGirlD (talk) 22:14, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

I disagree with your interpretation. The new source does not provide dates, it provides ages. The ages most likely apply to the date the census was taken or some other fixed date in 2021. Therefore a 25 year-old in 2021 would have been born in 1995/96, and a 39 year-old could have been born in 1981/82. This source from 2024 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics explicitly states "Age in 2021: 25–39", and is paired with "Year of birth: 1981-1995". Betty Logan (talk) 22:59, 12 January 2026 (UTC)