Are Millennials the "Punchline of the Year"?

Over at TIME, Gen Y writer Jack Dickey wonders whether Millennials have become "the punchline of the year." His reasoning has something to do with Shia LaBeouf, a honeypot named Sasha and an exam-fearing Harvard sophomore — three individuals recently associated with technology-aided idiocy. From here, Dickey extrapolates in a mumble to all Millennials —how technology is shaping us, how we've automated our nuisances. I'm honestly not really sure what his point is. However, it's still a good question: Has Gen Y been a major punchline in 2013? This year, more than any recent years I remember, has seemed particularly brimming with Millennial hate. So I Googled "Millennials 2013" to see what our greatest hits of this year were.

After several marketing firm studies, there's a link to a Pew Research Center report titled "On Pay Gap, Millennial Women Near Parity — For Now." It details how young women now make almost as much as their male peers throughout their twenties, but shouldn't expect it to last — not a funny punchline. Moving on ... A Forbes piece from pollster John Zogby that trots out Millennial tropes about soccer trophies and mobile technology in the first paragraph. A delightfully smarmy essay from Zara Kessler about why 2013 was a really big year for us.

We took so many actions! We had so many thoughts! We experienced so many feelings! It's hard to know where to begin.

Didn't we? Check out Kessler's piece for a comprehensive roundup of things people said about Millennials in 2013. I won't even attempt to compete — I'm still working on the first page of "Millennials 2013" Google results here. Which brings us to: Another Pew survey, this one on how we "still lag" in forming our own households (punchline: the Great Recession has crippled your chances of achieving once traditional life milestones! xoxo, boomers). It reminds me of the greatest video made by Millennials about Millennials this year:

Then another piece in TIME, this one asking whether Gen Y may be "the next greatest generation" (answer: probably; #sorrynotsorry X-ers). And, rounding out the first page of Millennial 2013 results: Buzzfeed, of course, with 19 things we learned about Millennials in 2013. We're stressed! We like expensive cities! We live with our parents! Cheers,Gen Y — to 2014!

Images: Snapr/Flickr; Buzzfeed