Diamonds

This, alongside ‘golf’, was a fairly random one in the list of things Millennials are killing.

According to The Economist, the diamond industry is struggling to attract Millennial buyers: “Young consumers increasingly shun the taint of conflict and exploitation.”

Perhaps this is no bad thing.

Millennials are killing diamonds, so I'm going to buy my future fiancé an avocado ring 💍🥑💁

— Connor Clay (@cclay024) June 16, 2017

Are Millennials really murderers?

While the slew of “Millennials are killing x” articles might paint young consumers as flocks of grim reapers, it doesn’t seem very fair.

Many of the tweets we saw were commenting on the way Millennial behavior was discussed in the media, instead of naming particular items that are being killed, and lots of it was sarcastic.

There were two themes that jumped out in the commentary that relieved some of the murderous responsibility of Millennials.

“That’s capitalism”

“Millennials are killing x” is just a euphemism for rapidly changing markets that, as a generation of tech-savvy life-long smartphone users gains spending power, are going to keep on changing no matter how many people mourn the loss of the department store.

In a country so obsessed with capitalism, I can't believe we see so many of the "Millennials are killing this or that industry" thinkpieces

— SignBryceHarperCountTommy (@FullCountTommy) May 31, 2017

The industries named above don’t suffer as a result of the malevolent work of spiteful young people. Instead, you could argue it’s a reflection of changing taste no different to when cars replaced the horse and cart, or when the rise of Instagram aligned with the decline of Kodak. The prominence of “shitty” in the list lends some weight to this – the things Millennials are killing, according to this commentary, are shit and deserve to be killed.

In some cases – perhaps the decline of the diamond industry or rise of independent breweries – changing markets can be seen as a good thing.

The casualties of some of these changing tastes, however, particularly as big business works to optimise and automate alongside them, could be great.

Economic uncertainty

Not all of these changing tastes come down to people making decisions in a world of infinite choice, however.

Instead, many commented on Millennials’ lack of choice. It would be great to buy homes or eat out every night but financial hardship means they can’t.

Instead of crap narrative that Millennials are "killing" this or that, how about "the economy is so bad that young people can't afford X"

— Magdalen "Columbus was a douche" Rose (@theMagdalenRose) June 7, 2017

Things like crippling student debt and coming of age just as the financial crisis hit (plunging parents into financial stress) undoubtedly have an affect on how Millennials choose to spend their money, claims Kate Taylor.

Of course, considerations like these are overshadowed when Millennials’ soft spot for avocado toast becomes a major part of the discourse surrounding their downfalls.

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