If that television is showing the Olympics, then these millennials are correct. Photo: YinYang/Getty Images
One of the defining features of millennials is that they have better opinions than the generations who came before them. More precisely, those born between 1982 and 2000 are uniquely adept at discerning when something that many people believe to be good is actually, objectively, very bad indeed. Studies have consistently shown that millennials are more likely to have the right opinions about such empirically bad things as Donald Trump , Budweiser , marriage , and finance capitalism .
And now NBC’s past two weeks of prime-time ratings reveal that millennials are also right about the Olympics. Bloomberg reports that among 18- to- 49-year-olds, prime-time broadcast viewership of the Olympic Games declined by roughly 25 percent compared to four years ago. That drop can be attributed, in part, to the higher concentration of millennials in that age bracket.
“Sports is less ingrained in the younger demographic,” Brandon Ross, an analyst at BTIG Research, told Bloomberg . “It has been replaced by other things like video games and e-sports and Snapchat feeds.”
In other words, millennials’ mastery of technology has made them disproportionately aware that the Olympics are, in truth, boring and lame. (There’s no question that there was once a time when these Games were worth watching. For example, before the advent of the automobile revealed how truly slow even the fastest humans are, it must have been thrilling to watch an athletic man run at full speed.)
This is not to suggest that many individuals within older generations haven’t also come to appreciate that the Olympics are a dull spectacle built off the exploited labor of unpaid athletes and impoverished construction workers . Across all demographics, viewership fell by 17 percent. This surprising decline forced NBC to give ad buyers free commercial time to provide them with their contractually guaranteed share of eyeballs.
To be sure, millennials do not always have the right opinions. The generation is demonstrably wrong about baseball , which is a sport that appears to be boring but is actually a very good way of forgetting the sadness of all your life’s failures, by focusing on the sadness of the failures of a group of millionaires with excellent hand-eye coordination.
those born between 1982 and 2000 are uniquely adept at discerning when something that many people believe to be good is actually, objectively, very bad indeed. Studies have consistently shown that millennials are more likely to have the right opinions about such empirically bad things as Donald Trump , Budweiser , marriage , and finance capitalism .
And now NBC’s past two weeks of prime-time ratings reveal that millennials are also right about the Olympics.
The day it is "better" to play a video game about , say, basketball, than it is to play actual basketball , is the day the human race is doomed. Bring on the robots.
I have always found team sports to be incredibly boring. Understanding that to definitely be an unpopular sentiment, I will still never understand the true sports fan's preference to sit in a crowded facility on a hard seat, so far from the action that you can't see anything important, paying a fortune for tickets, 30 bucks to park, and 12 bucks for a pisswater domestic beer, and having to endure traffic delays to get home - over watching the game for free in your living room with a clear view of the action, including the ability to rewind, and having any kind of food and drink seconds away in the kitchen - with a private bathroom.
I coached junior high school girl's basketball for 15 years. Kids generally get a tremendous amount of self-respect, appreciation of teamwork, and positive socialization from team sports. There are a few hardcases that "rebel" against conforming, even in a team setting, but they are a minority.
I tend to find value in people who achieve meaningful goals. Carrying a ball across a goal line just doesn't cut it for me.
I fail to see why rock climbing is inherently more rewarding than team sports.
The Buddha said "destroy the ego".
There can be ego in being a team hero, or that ego can be melted into the team goals. There can be ego in individual sports , or the ego can be transcended by a oneness with the surroundings. It is not a black and white one size fits all issue.
The picture is of 'extreme ironing', which is a sport, though more tongue in cheek than truly competitive. It represents how I feel about how pointless the goals are in sports.
I didn't look closely at the photo.
A lot of people dislike sports. To each his own. Team goals are hardly pointless though.
In other words, millennials’ mastery of technology has made them disproportionately aware that the Olympics are, in truth, boring and lame. (There’s no question that there was once a time when these Games were worth watching. For example, before the advent of the automobile revealed how truly slow even the fastest humans are, it must have been thrilling to watch an athletic man run at full speed.)
I'd like to hear someone defend the principle that watching a footrace between the fastest human beings in the world is boring BECAUSE they are going slow compared to an Indy car. By this logic the Indy cars are boring because they are slower than jet fighters.
I'm pretty sure the article, which proclaims generational supremacy, is a tongue in cheek joke, but you can never be sure.
Well, we won't have to worry about them in the long run or what they think, since they'll all be dead and gone anyway.
Microwave popcorn is bad for you.
The bag almost all microwave popcorn varieties come in is lined with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This chemical is the same toxic stuff found in teflon pots and pans. It can stay in the environment and in the human body for long periods of time. This chemical when heated has been linked to infertility, cancer and other diseases in lab animals. No long term studies have been conducted on humans, but the EPA lists this substance as a carcinogen.
Actually playing a sport is, IMO, a hell of a lot more fun than pidding with a iphone/ipad etc.
I'm off the ''turtle races'' this afternoon.
Actually playing a sport is, IMO, a hell of a lot more fun than pidding with a iphone/ipad etc.
Used to be. According to this article, millennials would rather exercise their thumbs.
To consider the Olympics "boring and lame" is to miss most of the point of watching.
There are many, many Olympic events that I watch but once, every 4 years. There's not a great deal to be patriotic about these days, but the Olympics provides a small opportunity to feel proud of one's country.
Millenials are interested in getting things for free, and "experiential" activities. They've learned how to be sniveling douchebags at the earliest age on record.
Seems that most of the Olympians are (gasp, dare I say it) millennials.
They seem like a pretty good lot to me.
But the article begs to differ.
What gives?
Could the article be stretching the truth.
Like John, I think the article is a lame attempt at humor....
Millennials were those born between '76 and '96, (depending on who you talk to or wish to believe) the Millennials are beginning to phase out of the Olympics at this point and the new generation is taking over, Generation "Z" is what they call it.
Boomers are the older people now, Generation "X" are reaching retirement age, Generation "Y" and the Millennials kinda cross over each other and are the group running the show now,. or will be in the near future. Generation "Z" is the newbies starting to feel their oats.
Like the X,Y,Z theme. Countdown to the end?
This article claims that Millennials are smarter than everyone else, and get more right than wrong....
Any one REALLY believe that?
Like the X,Y,Z theme. Countdown to the end?
Interesting comment.