I’d like to believe that trends these days towards convenience are good things. We now have phones that give us directions, play our favorite music, and respond to us when we talk to them. We can read countless books on a single device, and we don’t ever have to leave our homes to make purchases. The advancements over the last decade or two have freed up time for us to do more important things with our lives. But perhaps those who have grown up with these conveniences (ahem, millennials…) have gotten a bit too used to convenience in life.
In a recent article for the Washington Post, Roberto A. Ferdman explains why a staggering number of millennials do not eat cereal. It’s not because it has too much sugar or is processed or is otherwise unhealthy. (Those reasons could be considered valid and therefore excusable). The article, which was based on one from the New York Times, points out that “[a]lmost 40 percent of the millennials surveyed by Mintel for its 2015 report said cereal was an inconvenient breakfast choice because they had to clean up after eating it.”
A meal that involves nothing more than pouring a dry ingredient and then a wet ingredient into the same vessel is deemed too inconvenient because of the time it takes to clean said vessel after consumption. It is worthy to note that an overwhelming portion of this same generation of individuals lives with and relies on parental support well into their late 20s.
While not wanting to wash a bowl is hardly proof of anything, it doesn’t bode well for the millennials. It seems like this crop of Americans has relied too much on other people coddling and taking care of them. And now the cereal industry is suffering as a result.
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