GENERATION SNOWFLAKE

What Does Generation Snowflake Mean?

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The Quick Answer

Generation Snowflake (or the Snowflake Generation) is a pejorative term used to insult young adults (typically university or college students) who allegedly try to avoid emotional topics or contrary opinions in order to avoid becoming stressed.

More Detail...

The word Snowflake is a metaphor, used to imply fragility. When compared to previous generations of students, members of Generation Snowflake are allegedly:

Overly sensitive.
Less mentally robust.
More likely to declare mental-health problems.

To protect Generation Snowflake, some universities have created "safe spaces," which are areas that allow individuals who feel marginalized to come together to communicate regarding their experiences. Some universities have also taken to announcing "trigger warnings" (TW) to indicate that material (e.g., work or a lecture) may contain concepts or pictures that could invoke mental trauma. In November 2015, this video from Yale University, showing a confrontation between a Yale faculty head and a screaming student went viral and played a notable role in the term Generation Snowflake coming to prominence:

The term Snowflake Generation featured in the Collins Dictionary's 2016 words of the year.

Image for Generation Snowflake

When I write Generation Snowflake, I mean this:

University or college students who try to avoid emotional topics to stop themselves becoming stressed.

Summary of Key Points

"Mentally Non-robust Students Born in the 80s or 90s" is, by far, the most common meaning for Generation Snowflake when it is used in a text. (Bear in mind that it could have another meaning if used in a different context.)