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Please help me find supporting material that young Millennials (21-24) are more likely to be bored.
Hello! Thanks for your question about finding evidence that Millennials are more likely than other generations to be bored with life. The short answer is that Millennials are twice as likely to be bored at work than Baby Boomers, and even tend to get bored while doing leisure activities if they are not constantly stimulated. You'll find a deep dive of my research below.
METHODOLOGY
To respond to your request, I looked through academic databases, trusted media sites, and other sources to find evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, that Millennials get bored with life more than other generations. I've summarized the findings below.
INSIGHTS
Research suggests that, even during leisure time, Millennials and other digital natives crave constant stimulation. According to this report, the average human attention span dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds in 2014. The same report discusses the Millennial habit of using their laptops and smartphones during classes and lectures to browse the internet and social media. Even good students who are engaged in class tend to do this, according to the study.
Another study I uncovered in my research focuses on Millennial use of second screens while watching televised sports. The use of a second screen (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.) while watching sports is common practice among this generation, according to the research, the key reason why seems to be related to boredom. Across the board, the top reason why Millennials use second screens while watching sports is to pass the time during commercials or when the game is uninteresting, or otherwise prevent boredom. Respondents surveyed also discussed being motivated by convenience, which was defined as using the second screen to prevent boredom by watching multiple events simultaneously. According to the report, "Boredom was exemplified by references to 'How boring the game is' and 'When the game is not interesting.' Other references such as 'to pass time' showed respondents used second screens due to boredom. A few users mentioned they used two or three screens to watch multiple events at once to prevent boredom." This research demonstrates that Millennials are easily bored with life, even when they are doing an activity that is supposed to be entertaining.
Much of the research on Millennial boredom focuses on the extent to which Millennials are bored in the workplace, and why that is the case. According to this report, Millennials are nearly twice as likely to be bored at work than Baby Boomers; 38% compared with 22%, respectively. This certainly matters, as the same report found that bored employees are twice as likely to leave a job in the next three to six months. Moreover, 64% of Millennials said they would accept a significantly lower salary for a job they love over a job they find boring.
The consensus in the research seems to be that Millennial boredom in the workplace stems from a lack of opportunities, a lack of challenge, and a lack of engagement. The most prominent reason why employees stated that were bored in this report was due to a lack of opportunities to learn new skills. Moreover, a Salary.com study found that 35% of employees said the number one reason they slack off at their job is due to a lack of challenging work. Another reason why Millennials are bored at work is because, as digital natives, they tend to be capable of working with greater efficiency than previous generations. According to this Millennial, "We are a generation of hackers, tinkerers and shortcut takers. We want the best, most efficient and logical approach." They're comfortable with technology, they know how to automate their work when it's possible to do so, and these skills allow them to finish their work more quickly than other employees, leaving them with plenty of time to get bored. Moreover, the tech-savvy Millennial often gets bored and frustrated at work if the workplace software is out of date, as it is at many workplaces. According to this article, written by a Millennial, out-of-date software in the workplace "drastically impacts our level of happiness (and productivity) at work." Finally, Millennials get bored at work if they feel that their work lacks purpose or direction. According to a Deloitte survey, 60% of Millennials chose their current employer based on a sense of purpose provided by their job. As I mentioned above, a similar number of Millennials say they will accept lower pay for a job they love. Moreover, this report found that 32% of employees say they slack off at work because there is no incentive to work harder.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, the evidence suggests Millennials are nearly twice as likely to be bored at work than Baby Boomers, and are even bored while enjoying leisure activities. I hope this information is helpful to you! Thanks for using Wonder, and let us know if we can help you with anything else.