Alison Hillhouse, MTV Insights

1. They seem to like poking fun at themselves…in that self-referential-post-modern-we-are-in-on-the-joke-about-how-others-see-us way:

The now defunct yet wildly popular “Stuff White People” Like seemed to launch the “Stuff____people____” genre in 2008, and since then we’ve seen a whole host of sites and handles that reflect this satirical Millennial mainstay: @TotalFratMove and @TotalSororMove, @BetchesLuvThis (which pokes fun of many a young women’s obsession with having a gay BFF, claiming to have ADD and “Betch of the Week” Pippa Middleton), “15 Things White Girls Do on Facebook” (share pictures of undeserving food, post complaints like “Never eating at AppleBees AGAIN” or publically thank their hubby for being the best hubby in the world)….

… all of which has has inexorably led to the massive viral video series “Shit Girls Say”. The original video has over 14 million viewers and a cameo by Juliette Lewis to boot. In the comments section of this video are a massive pile of “I hate to admit it…but this is SO me!”

So we talked to our MTV Millennial advisory board to dig a little deeper into this phenomenon, to try to understand how they really feel about these kinds of sites and humor and what’s driving all the eyeballs.

First they told us about their generational trait to want to celebrate a more flawed, real side of themselves….something we’ve heard described as “flawsome.” As Amanda, 24, puts it “Who wants to hang out with someone who is really proud of themselves all the time? Flawless can be boring, and cocky, one-uppers are pretty exhausting and annoying.” In fact, 79% of our MTV Millennial panel claims “It’s cool to make fun of yourself.”

Second, we heard that when your whole life is on display on Facebook, the stakes are very high if you don’t have a sense of humor about it. All the posts where you reflected deeply on Kings of Leon lyrics…where on earth do you go with that if you can’t have a public laugh at yourself for it?

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, we heard that Millennials don’t want to look the fool who is out of the loop. It’s important to be in on the joke….and the best way to do that it to create the joke. As we’ve noted before, smart ‘n’ funny is the new rock ‘n’ roll, with the emphasis on smart.  Amanda, 24, correlates this desire to poke fun of ourselves with the popularity of Snooki “We’d rather be the first ones to poke fun at ourselves instead of waiting for someone to criticize us for it. I think Snooki is the perfect example of this. She’s totally laughing with us. She knows the hair, and the pickles and the tanning are over-the-top ridiculous, but she owns it and she’s the first one to laugh at herself. That’s why Snooki holds a special place in our hearts.”

This is, it seems, the age of hyper-consciousness of how you are portraying yourself to the public, as you “come of age, on stage.” And with this self-awareness also comes self-reflection, a constant analysis, synthesis, remixing and reposting of one’s attitudes and behaviors.  As Jaclyn, 18, puts it “I think a defining feature of my generation is we often feel like we’re living in our own reality show…writer, director, cast, and editor…”

Full disclosure, as an Xer, I’m jealous of Millennials. We didn’t laugh for a single second at of our obsession with Saved by the Bell. And I was that suburban white girl driving my parents’ SUV around, blasting 90’s hip-hop like Gin & Juice… without a even a hint of absurdity.