It seems like people today are more easily offended than ever before. If smoking in an elevator or talking in a movie theater were normal in the past, they are considered to be rude today. We used to be obliged to answer whatever questions a family elder asked, but now when a prying (爱打听的) relative asks about our test grades or dream university – information that we'd rather keep to ourselves – we feel offended, even if they mean well.
The boundary between "politeness" and "rudeness" has changed over the years, especially among young people.
But this change doesn't just go one way – things that used to be considered rude may also go across to the other side of the boundary. For example, to stand up for themselves, some youths may try to make statements by using phone cases printed with phrases like "Leave me alone" or "None of your business". In their eyes, this is more like being independent than being rude.
"These phenomena involve rejecting previously moral order to ignore insults, recognize the good intentions of those who accidentally give offense, and be charitable toward those with whom we disagree," wrote Time. "They suggest a new morality."
And this fresh morality is introduced by a new group of people. According to The Economist, young people, or millennials, are "the best-educated generation ever", which is why they tend to be more conscious about their privacy and personal space. They are also freer than previous generations, more eager to explore the world and refuse to be tied down by elders' rules.
But there are, of course, people who think that millennials have gone too far to defend their own needs. An earlier Time article called millennials the "Me Me Me Generation", saying that they are self-involved, less grateful and less tolerant of people.
But Lauren Martin, a lifestyle writer in the US, and a millennial herself, has a theory.
"Our generation is an anomaly (与众不同的事物)," she wrote on Elite Daily. "We refuse to do things their way, so they call us entitled. We refuse to sit in cubicles (办公室隔间), so they call us spoiled. We refuse to follow their plans, so they call us stubborn. What they are slowly realizing, however, is we're not lazy, stubborn or entitled. We just refuse to accept things as they're given to us."
