Narcissistic, broke, and 7 other ways to describe the Millennial generation [Updated]

This new generation of adults — portrayed most recently in HBO's Girls — has proved quite difficult to define, but not for lack of trying

Millennials have both embraced and tried to distance themselves from the characters on HBO's "Girls," who some say epitomize the narcissistic, wayward generation.
(Image credit: HBO/Jojo Whilden)

Who are the Millennials? Aside from being born in the 1980s and 1990s, they comprise a generation that continues to elude a neat definition. With the popularity of HBO's Girls, whose main character thinks she's the voice of this new generation ("Or at least a voice. Of a generation."), Millennials have come under renewed focus in the media, among the literati, and in the boardrooms of marketers trying to pinpoint what this demographic wants. Here, nine ways that Millennials have been described:

1. They're natural entrepreneurs...

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.