Millennials are getting older — but they’re still nothing like their parents.
The Pew Research Center defines this generation as people born between 1981 and 1996, meaning the last millennials graduated college this spring.
Millennials are now full-fledged adults — but they marry later, have more student loan debt, and delay homebuying.
Below, we rounded up some more ways millennials do things differently than their parents. Read on to find out how this much-maligned generation is changing life as we know it.
Instead of preparing meals, millennials are more likely to order takeout.
The food industry is responding to major shifts in the way young people eat.
Business Insider’s Akin Oyedele reported that millennials spent the least amount of time on meal preparation compared to older generations. Instead, they’re more likely to eat at restaurants, pick up prepared meals, or order delivery.
Instead of drinking beer, millennials prefer wine and spirits.
Millennials are drinking less alcohol than older generations in general. But when they do drink, they prefer wine and spirits to beer.
Citing Nielsen data, Business Insider’s Kate Taylor reported that beer penetration in the US market fell by 1% from 2016 to 2017 while wine and spirits stayed the same. UBS and Goldman Sachs have also found that millennials are less interested than previous generations in beer.
Instead of attending lectures, millennials want to learn online.
It’s screens versus lectures.
Business Insider reported on a survey in which 69% of people 18 to 34 years old said they thought they learned more from technology than from people, compared with 50% of respondents older than 45 who said the same.
Instead of keeping their salary secret, millennials may share it with coworkers.
Money is becoming less taboo.
Business Insider previously reported that millennials were more likely than older generations to discuss their salary with coworkers, family, and friends.
One recent survey found that 30% of millennials (defined as ages 18 to 36) said they had discussed their pay with coworkers, compared with just 8% of baby boomers (ages 53 to 71).
Instead of waiting for an annual performance review, millennials crave more frequent feedback.
The annual performance review is slowly disappearing.
IBM, for example, ditched it for a system called Checkpoint, through which feedback is given on at least a quarterly basis. The company also uses an app called ACE to facilitate a more casual, ongoing dialogue among employees.
Experts say these changes reflect a shift in how millennials think about delivering and receiving feedback.
Samantha Klein, a former representative of IBM’s Millennial Corps, told Business Insider that millennials “don’t want an annual review.”
“We don’t want to wait until the end of the year to hear about what we’ve done right or wrong, what we can improve upon,” Klein said.
Even generally, millennials are better about talking about their money than their parents were.
Millennials are much more open about money than their parents are, Business Insider’s Hillary Hoffower reported.
Nearly half of millennials discuss personal finance with their parents, while just 24% of baby boomers discuss money with their kids. Thirty percent of millennials discuss money with their friends, compared to just 9% of boomers.
Instead of moving in together after getting married, many millennials cohabitate beforehand.
For many young adults today, a key comes before a ring.
One survey found that 72% of millennials believe cohabitation before marriage is a good idea, compared with 63% of baby boomers.
Insider’s Kim Renfro reported that some sociologists think there could be a link between declining divorce rates and more people deciding to live together before marriage. Presumably, that’s because people have a longer window of time to realize whether they’re compatible.
Instead of buying starter homes, millennials are waiting until they can afford bigger houses.
Yes, millennials are interested in buying homes, just like previous generations. But they’re renting longer, waiting it out until they can afford the real deal.
On an episode of Business Insider’s podcast, “Success! How I Did It,” Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of the real-estate website and app Zillow, broke it down for our US editor-in-chief, Alyson Shontell:
“Homebuilders really only build high-end houses now. It’s very difficult for a builder to get it to pencil to build a 2,500-square-foot, 2,000-square-foot, 1,500-square-foot starter home, because they can just make so much more money building a 6,000-square-foot-plus home.”
As a result, Rascoff said, home prices shoot up, leaving minimal inventory at the middle and low end of the housing market — and causing many millennials to end up renting into their 30s.
Millennials love Netflix.
About 20% more millennials use Netflix to watch TV compared to Gen Xers.
More Gen X viewers watch TV shows produced by television networks, while half of millennials watch Netflix original shows, Business Insider’s Carrie Wittmer reported.
Instead of moving into golf communities, rich millennials are joining ‘agrihoods.’
That’s short for “agricultural neighborhoods.”
Business Insider’s Tanza Loudenback reported that “agrihoods could become the 21st-century version of those tony golf communities baby boomers flocked to in the 1990s.”
Experts say that’s because millennials may be more interested than older generations in societal impact — and agrihoods are designed to help them do good for the environment and their community.
Instead of asking friends and family for parenting advice, millennials turn to Google
Paging Dr. Google!
Millennial parents, a group The New York Times labeled “parennials,” are less likely to turn to friends and family for advice than older generations. Instead, they search for answers themselves online.
Depending on how you look at it, that can be a good thing in that they’re highly informed — or a bad thing in that so much information can be overwhelming.
‘Parennials’ also use social media to document their kids’ lives.
About 4 in 5 millennials admit to posting a picture of their kid online at least once, according to a poll conducted by TIME and Survey Monkey. Half of baby boomers, meanwhile, have never posted a photo of their kids online, as well as 30% of Gen X parents.
Instead of traditional asset classes, millennials are investing in more sophisticated assets.
Many millennials came of age during the 2008 financial crisis. As Oyedele pointed out, they have “memories of traditional asset classes like stocks cratering and retirement savings being wiped out.”
That’s most likely why, according to a US Trust survey, millennials are more interested in “sophisticated” assets like structured products, venture capital, and private equity.
That way, they can hit their near-term financial goals (think: paying down debt) and invest in companies that do good for society — two common objectives among millennials.
Instead of shopping at department stores, millennials are dressing in so-called fast fashion.
Sayonara, Sears — plus Kmart and Macy’s. All three chains are closing stores, Business Insider’s Hayley Peterson has reported.
Business Insider’s Kate Taylor reported that the closures are partly due to millennials not buying from aspirational, designer brands but from private-label lines and fast-fashion brands like H&M and Zara.
Originally published on Business Insider.
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