The generation of students currently at HHS remained, for many years, nameless. Some branded them Generation Y. Some, Generation Us. Others, Generation We. Demographers, authors, and historians didn’t agree on a title, but, come the early 2000’s, the masses seemed to.

They called them millennials.

Unlike many terms spread via populist dissemination, the word “millennial” didn’t mushroom from a social network or celebrity’s lips; instead, “millennial” was minted by two authors, William Strauss and Neil Howe, in their book, Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069. Although what defines a millennial remains factually ambiguous (due to disparities amongst publications regarding millennials), popular definition assigns the millennial label to anyone born from 1980 to 2000.

Give or take a few freshmen, 2015 is the last year HHS will be “full millennial.” Come this fall, Generation Z – anyone born from 2001 onward – will start filing in. The milestone begs the question: What constitutes the average millennial? What makes them different from, say, Generation X (born 1964 to 1980) or the Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964)?

“Who says we are different? I’ll be the first to say that we aren’t that different,” said Sean Byrne, a senior at JMU and millennial. He will be graduating this spring with a degree in theatre and a degree in journalism. (He is pursuing a double major.) As his final project, Byrne wrote and directed an experimental theatre piece about millennials, entitled EveryMillennial. “I’ve taken the time to listen to stories and conduct interviews of both millennials and older generations,” said Byrne. The script for EveryMillennial was based largely off of these interviews.

“[Millennials] all talk about the exact same things [as other generations]. How do we find love? The same way our parents and their parents did. After listening to all these stories, I found it hard to believe that the older generation finds so many faults in the younger generation,” said Byrne. “I think it really comes down to the age bracket. Millennials are about 16-28 right now. So we’re all going through the throes of young love, religion, politics, parties, friends, family, etc. But that’s what everyone does during their twenties. Ask anyone, it seems – and believe me, I did – and they all talk about the exact same things. So what makes us different? Really not that much, except, maybe, the time we’ve been on Earth.”

A majority of millennials grew up during the advent of the Internet. According to a Nielsen study, 85% of millennials 18 to 24 have smartphones. Mobile use between genders is nearly equal, with 70.3% of men and 72.4% of women owning devices. Constant connectedness has weaseled its way into the free moments of millennials’ lives.

“Oh yes, no doubt about it. Take away someone’s cell phone or internet and they’re lost. By themselves that is; take away our technology in a group and we’ll have a ball no problem. But take away our technology when we’re alone – uh oh. We’re stuck. I mean, I still love to read and draw and all that jazz, but I’m sure some people will be absolutely at a loss of what to do with their free time,” said Byrne. Many millennials purposefully eliminate their “free time,” perhaps unconsciously, by checking their phones – constantly. Constantly, as in: 150-times-a-day constantly.

Social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest) add fuel to the technology compulsion fire, accounting for multiple hours of the average millennials’ daily routine.

Social media transmits a lot more than simple messages from person to person; it also circulates fads. Selfies? Memes? LOLcats? They all originated online. Yet, all this digital interconnectedness isn’t undermining millennials’ drive for real interaction. Millennials show a real affinity for group work, whether it be within the classroom or otherwise.

“I do think online social networking is limiting the millennials ability to communicate through written text. Because we talk so casually, so quick and so general on-line, we lose the formality of the proper English language. Face-to-face communication is a bit different, I think,” said Byrne.

“On the one hand, by communicating with our friends through social media, we actually have more things to talk about when we see each other in person. And it’s not like we’ve absolutely stopped talking to people outside social networking – you still talk to your friends in person, right? Walk around a college campus, people are still eating with each other, walking up the quad with each other, doing homework with each other – and they’re talking all the time! Sometimes I actively look for quiet places. If anything, I think social networking is increasing the desire for us to communicate face-to-face.”

Furthermore, 59% of millennials get their news from online sources. Still, a more traditional means of news broadcast, television, is used to a greater extent than news websites, with 65% of millennials tuning in. However, 24% of them stay informed via newspaper and 18% do so via radio, according to United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

“We’re current on news, if we choose to be. We know about a bombing (as sad as that is) before the news actually reports on it,” said Byrne.

The millennial generation isn’t as likely to get married as its predecessors. Those who decide to wed wait longer to do so. The Pew Research Center found that the median age for marriage has increased from 50 years ago. For women, 20 years old was the norm and, for men, it was 23. Today, those numbers are 27 and 29. What factor inspired a deviation in these statistics?

Well, four year colleges may be to blame. More high school graduates are pursuing higher education today than ever before. High school graduates have rocketed to 72%, which is higher than it has been in over two decades.

“I think [an increase in college graduates is] a recent trend that our generation started to see during the recession. More and more people aren’t willing to take the small jobs; they want the large jobs with security and benefits. Those jobs are only hiring people with higher degrees and so I think millennials see higher education as a safety,” said Byrne.

“It makes sense; you’d think better education equals better pay, right? But I also think we as millennials are also recognizing the worth of education. The trend of going to college and grad school has been rising ever since the baby-boomers. College is the high-time of anyone’s life: friends, fun, class, living in a like-minded community – it’s a well rehearsed break before we’re forced to enter the ‘real world.’ ”

Speaking of the world, HHS’ generation is the first one to experience the effects of climate change on a greater scale. Instead of slight deviations in temperature, millennials will face significant melting of the polar ice caps. At the same time, millennials will inherit entire governments, foundations for new technologies, starting points for social reform.

“I think we’ll face lots of challenges in our growth – heck, we already are. And some of these even come from within our own generation. But I think our strength also lies in dealing with these challenges in a critical manner. We get called lazy? No problem, we’ll create something that responds to insults for us,” said Byrne.

“We are constantly growing from our challenges. Every time another generation throws something at us, we’ll take it, look at it, find the best possible answer and then casually respond to it and learn. We as Millennials are innately creative and, to be frank, stubborn. So we’ll keep pushing through these challenges.”

Millennials will eventually usurp the roles of the demographers, authors, and historians that came before them. The word of future years – the “millennial world” – is going to be one filled with individuals, perhaps, afflicted with technology compulsion. However, the millennials aren’t the only group to evade a future prognosis. Generations past were, likewise, only quantifiable to a certain degree. What will the future hold?

“As we talk about the millennial generation, we have to realize we won’t be in ‘power’ for another seven or so years, and then will only remain so for ten years – if that. In the meantime, there’ll be another shiny new generation that will be making headlines.”