5 Ways Technology Is Impacting Picky Millennials

By Peter Minkoff

There is no denying that the millennial generation is a wild and peculiar bunch, one that embraces the moniker of digital natives even though some were born before the digital revolution, and one that tends to be described as highly picky at times. From the way they take care of themselves in terms of health and fitness, to their ability to resign from a company at the slightest whiff of inequality or injustice, handling and managing millennials is a tough challenge.

Particularly, the millennial bunch are a tech-driven group. Technology has become an inextricable part of the millennial lifestyle over the years, impacting the way they live, laugh, and work on a daily basis. Let’s take a look at how technology is impacting picky millennials and how you can turn this information into actionable insights.

The way they make important life decisions

Unlike their parents and grandparents, millennials have completely integrated technology into their everyday life. Consequently, this has made technology an inextricable part of the millennial’s decision-making process in every regard, for better or worse. Mainly, millennials are using technology to obtain information that will influence their every decision, from asking Alexa if they need an umbrella to searching for online reviews of employers they’re interested in.

This is good, this means that millennials are hungry for information that will allow them to make a data-driven decision, a quality that becomes increasingly important for a generation that has stepped into parenthood itself. The ability to base every decision on the instant availability of nuanced information has the potential to create a more sustainable and secure environment for the entire family.

The way they communicate at work and beyond

Workplace communication has evolved greatly over the decades, and nowadays it looks nothing like the communication structures you would have seen in the office environments of the 20th century. Change is oftentimes good, and for the millennial, revolutionizing workplace communication definitely was a necessity. However, it’s important to note that innovative communication methods can create a rift between the generations in a company.

Concretely, millennials thrive on real-time chats and messaging apps, as well as continuous video communication that allows them to collaborate with their colleagues efficiently and effectively. While this is a good thing for the overall productivity of a company, it does mean that business leaders need to invest in training and educating the older generations in the company to allow them to catch up and assimilate themselves into the new environment.

Influencing the learning process

The availability and accessibility of the world’s complete knowledge base has created a generation that cherishes a desire for lifelong education and growth. Quite simply, millennials need and want to learn throughout their lives in order to discover themselves, and pass the knowledge on to their children. Seeing as how millennials are now the parent generation as well, technology becomes an even more important part of their life.

Education has migrated into the digital realm, and nowadays you will see millennial parents using online methods to educate their children, such as online English tutoring or any other form of digital education, as knowledge is widely available no matter the subject or the location. This means that millennials and their children are increasingly learning through the internet, which for all its benefits requires caution, as there is a need to obtain knowledge through credible sources only.

Redefining the concept of work-life balance

In the old, pre-digital days when technology wasn’t as widely adopted as it is today, there was a distinct line separating the professional and personal lives of an individual. You would punch in your time card in the morning, and punch out in the afternoon, forgetting all about your job until the next day.

Nowadays, though, this line has become blurred or even nonexistent as the continuous connectivity makes it easier for millennials to carry their work with them throughout the day, effectively redefining the traditional work-life balance concept.

How, when, and where they work

Speaking of work, technology has also become an inextricable park of the modern workplace, but it has also granted the millennial employee the ability to dictate when, where, and how they do their job. Remote work is becoming increasingly popular across the commercial realm, as both the millennial workforce and its employers stand to benefit from a more flexible arrangement. The millennial gets the freedom they need to thrive while the employer is able to cut extraneous overhead expenses and optimize payroll over the long term.

Final thoughts

The millennial generation is often described as picky and entitled when in reality, they are simply changing traditional doctrines and disrupting the old way of life. With the technological revolution well under way, the only thing employers and business leaders can do is to appeal to the millennial generation and capitalize on their unique, tech-driven habits.