Millennial digital entanglement: the complexities of millennial digital adulthood

Abstract

This article examines how digital technologies become deeply entangled in the adult lives of the millennial generation. Drawing on a qualitative methodology that involved 20 interviews with Mexican millennials born between 1981 and 1995 and residing in Mexico City, the study introduces the notion of millennial digital entanglement to describe the complex, enduring and multifaceted integration of digital platforms and practices into their experiences of adulthood. This framework underscores the centrality of digital media in shaping how millennials navigate an adulthood characterized by delayed family formation, economic precarity, and shifting ideals of success and independence. Accordingly, the findings suggest that this millennial digital entanglement is interwoven with sociocultural models of adulthood, neoliberal labor markets, and new modes of self-representation. In doing so, this article contributes to contemporary debates on generational experience and digital culture.

Keywords

millennials adulthood millennial digital culture Mexico qualitative research generational studies

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aikat

(2019) Millennials usher a post-digital era: Theorizing how generation Y engages with digital media. In: Schulz

Robinson

Khilnani

Baldwin

Pait

Williams

Davis

Ignatow

(eds) Mediated Millennials. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, 9–29.

Andrade

McKeever

Rivera

, et al. (2020) Millennials and moral panic in the United States and beyond. Sociological Perspectives 63(3): 496–505.

Baralt

Carian

Johnson

, et al. (2020) Millennials and gender in an era of growing inequality. Sociological Perspectives 63(3): 452–460.

Berger

(2018) Cultural Perspectives on Millennials. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Botterill

Bredin

Dun

(2015) Millennials’ media use: it is a matter of time. Canadian Journal of Communication 40(3): 537–551.

Braun

Clarke

(2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101.

Brown

Carah

Tan

, et al. (2024) Finding the future in digitally mediated ruin: #nostalgiacores and the algorithmic culture of digital platforms. Convergence 30(5): 1710–1731.

Brydges

Hracs

(2019) What motivates millennials? How intersectionality shapes the working lives of female entrepreneurs in Canada’s fashion industry. Gender, Place & Culture 26(4): 510–532.

Campbell

Perales

Baxter

(2020) Changes in sexual identity labels in a contemporary cohort of emerging adult women: patterns, prevalence and a typology. The Journal of Sex Research 58(5): 612–624.

10.

Castro

Rigby

Cabral

, et al. (2021) The binge-watcher’s journey: investigating motivations, contexts, and affective states surrounding Netflix viewing. Convergence 27(1): 3–20.

11.

Chávez

(2024) Generaciones y riqueza 2024 - México: Las finanzas Millennials parecen las más sólidas del país. YouGov, 18 June. Available at: https://business.yougov.com/es/content/49801-mexico-mejores-finanzas-2024-son-millennials.

12.

Clark

(2018) Millennials in the housing market: the transition to ownership in challenging contexts. Housing, Theory and Society 36(2): 206–227.

13.

Creswell

Poth

(2018) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

14.

Dalessandro

(2018) Internet intimacy: authenticity and longing in the relationships of millennial young adults. Sociological Perspectives 61(4): 626–641.

15.

Deloitte (2024) 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey: Living and working with purpose in a transforming world. Available at: https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/issues/work/content/genz-millennialsurvey.html.

16.

Dharmesti

Kuhne

, et al. (2021) Understanding online shopping behaviours and purchase intentions amongst millennials. Young Consumers 22(1): 152–167.

17.

Dimock

(2019) Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Pew Research Center, 17 January. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/.

18.

Eventbrite (nd) Millennials: Fueling the Experience Economy. Available at: https://eventbrite-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/marketing/Millennials_Research/Gen_PR_Final.pdf.

19.

Cook

(2020) Everyday social media use of young Australian adults. Journal of Youth Studies 24(9): 1234–1250.

20.

Gale

Gelfond

Fichtner

, et al. (2020) The Wealth of Generations, With Special Attention to the Millennials. NBER Working Paper No. 27123. Available at: https://www.nber.org/papers/w27123.

21.

Hoolachan

McKee

(2019) Inter-generational housing inequalities: ‘Baby Boomers’ versus the ‘Millennials’. Urban Studies 56(1): 210–225.

22.

Hunt

(2024) With inheritance about to divide millennials into haves and have-nots, solidarity comes at a price. The Guardian, 3 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/03/generational-inequality-housing-inheritance-tax.

23.

Huttunen

Christensen

(2020) Engaging the millennials: the Citizens’ initiative in Finland. YOUNG 28(2): 175–198.

24.

Labinjo

(2021) How Millennials Are Changing The Mortgage And Home Buying Market. Forbes, 10 December. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/councils/theyec/2021/06/01/how-millennials-are-changing-the-mortgage-and-home-buying-market/.

25.

Lawson

(2024) Millennials on course to become ‘richest generation in history’. The Guardian, 28 February. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/28/millennials-richest-generation-wealth-property.

26.

Lee

Cho

Jung

, et al. (2024) Social comparison on Instagram among millennial mothers: The relationships between envy and parental stress. New Media & Society 27(8): 4908–4928.

27.

Liu

(2019) Social Media envy: how experience sharing on social networking sites drives Millennials’ aspirational tourism consumption. Journal of Travel Research 58(3): 355–369.

28.

Malacara

(2025) Los aumentos salariales apenas alcanzan la inflación en México. Expansión, 25 September. Available at: https://expansion.mx/carrera/2025/09/25/aumentos-salariales-apenas-alcanzan-la-inflacion-en-mexico.

29.

Mannheim

(1952) The problem of generations . In: Kecskemeti

(eds) Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 276–322.

30.

Manuti

Curci

van der Heijden

(2018) The meaning of working for young people: the case of the millennials. International Journal of Training and Development 22(4): 274–288.

31.

Martínez

(2021) La vida financiera de los millennials. El Economista, 21 April. Available at: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/opinion/La-vida-financiera-de-los-millennials-20210421-0093.html.

32.

Moreno

Navarro

Fuentes-Lara

(2022) Factors affecting turnover intentions among millennial public relations professionals: the Latin American case. Public Relations Inquiry 11(2): 199–220.

33.

Naderi

van Steenburg

(2018) Me first, then the environment: young millennials as green consumers. Young Consumers 19(3): 280–295.

34.

Nielsen (2019) Game On: Video Games are a Staple Among Millennials’ Media Diets. Available at: https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2019/game-on-video-games-are-a-staple-among-millennials-media-diets/.

35.

Parker

(2023) How Pew Research Center will report on generations moving forward. Pew Research Center, 22 May. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/22/how-pew-research-center-will-report-on-generations-moving-forward/.

36.

Patton

(2002) Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

37.

Pillot de Chenecey

(2023) Why Generational Inequality Matters. Fairsight, 17 July. Available at: https://farsight.cifs.dk/why-generational-inequality-matters/.

38.

Prensky

(2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5): 1–6.

39.

Ramírez

(2025) Pensión IMSS: Si naciste a partir de este año, nunca tendrás este apoyo. Reporte Índigo, 22 May. Available at: https://www.reporteindigo.com/dinero/Si-naciste-a-partir-de-este-ano-nunca-sabras-lo-que-es-tener-una-pension-del-IMSS-20250522-0084.html.

40.

Rufo

(2024) Why Gen Z & Millennials are hung up on answering the phone. BBC, August 25. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgklk3p70yo.

41.

Serazio

(2015) Selling (digital) millennials: the social construction and technological bias of a consumer generation. Television & New Media 16(7): 599–615.

42.

Singer

Callendar

, et al. (2023) Differences in perceived influencer authenticity: a comparison of Gen Z and Millennials’ definitions of influencer authenticity during the de-influencer movement. Online Media and Global Communication 2(3): 351–378.

43.

Smith

(2019) Pursuing “generation snowflake”: Mr. Robot and the USA network’s mission for millennials. Television & New Media 20(5): 443–459.

44.

Smith

Watkins

(2020) Millennials’ uses and gratifications on LinkedIn: implications for recruitment and retention. International Journal of Business Communication 60(2): 560–586.

45.

Taneja

Edgerly

(2018) Rethinking the generational gap in online news use: an infrastructural perspective. New Media & Society 20(5): 1792–1812.

46.

Taylor

(2021) Cumulative precarity: millennial experience and multigenerational cohabitation in hackney, London. Antipode 53(2): 587–606.

47.

Worth

(2016) Feeling precarious: millennial women and work. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 34(4): 601–616.

48.

Zavala

(2025) Los jóvenes sí quieren casa…el problema es que no les alcanza para comprarla. Expansión, 7 May. Available at: https://obras.expansion.mx/inmobiliario/2025/05/07/jovenes-si-quieren-casa-pero-no-pueden-pagarla.