my generation
Typically, I don’t buy into the whole “generation <insert letter here>” thing. It applies labels to massive groups of people that usually have jack shit in common with each other (as if I have a damn thing to do with some 14 year-old dipshit, just because he was born in the same “generation” as me.) Earlier today though, I was reading about our generation on Wikipedia when some of the generalizations started to apply to me.
- A 2007 episode of the American news magazine 60 Minutes entitled The Age Of The Millenials proposed that members of the generation are exceptionally tech-savvy, are especially tuned to their own value in the job market, have limited loyalty to any particular employer, and insist on working in a stimulating job environment.[12]
- They represent more than 70 million consumers in the United States. They earn a total annual income of about $211 billion, spend approximately $172 billion per year and strongly influence many adult consumer buying choices. They also face a greater degree of direct corporate marketing than any other generation in history.[10]
The first one obviously applies to me specifically, since I’m a humongous geek and don’t really endorse corporations in general. The second one is descriptive more of my (our?) generation overall, since viral marketing and other devious sales methods have taken over the standard ads of our parents’ time.
Anyways, the purpose of this random rambling post is to ask you what you think of (y)our generation. Do any of the generalizations of (y)our generation apply to you? Do you tend to listen to an iPod while sifting through YouTube videos and researching on Wikipedia for your next paper/project/report to a boss you have more than a slight disdaain for? Well, you Doritos munching, Mountain Dew guzzling extreme snowboarder, let us know.
I can tell you right now that I am very limited loyalty to my employer and I find it very unusual when anyone puts their job before themselves. I don’t see why people stay late at what is inevitably a dead end job. They pay me for 8-5, I will not be here a minute longer.
We all know I don’t listen to an iPod, and I don’t often surf YouTube.
I don’t have cable, but I’m not sure if that puts me ahead or behind the curve. I’d rather get my news online at my leisure and without commercials.
I’ve more or less given up on soda and prefer crackers to chips.
I guess the only thing that ties me to my generation is being a snowboarder?
I think I’m with you on this one. Generation “a letter” is just a silly label and an over generalization.
Well I think it’s a little silly to expect such generalizations to apply to an entire set of people who are only related because they have a birth date in a given range. It is a generalization which generally applies to said generation. I find it annoying when “non-conformists” start in with the “damn you for having a brain that groups people together and assuming I’m in any way similar to the people I grew up with, I’m not a sheep, blah blah blah” crap.
What are they going to name people after Generation Z?
Initially I thought “Generation AA” would work, but I guess that would carry some negative connotations with it, eh?
So, in general, everyone that has commented so far should fit the generalization.
And do we?
I’d have to say yes. I was born in the 80’s. I’m more tech savvy than the majority of the people from previous generations. I paid more for my college education, and lo-and-behold; I’m a consumer.
Being grouped into into Generation Y is not something we can choose.
Though, to back up my previous post, I still think that defining specifics like, “Surfs YouTube” and “Has a Facebook account” are overly specific for a generation. I’d rather they generalize based on the causes for who we are, rather than our tendencies.
IE: The title Echo generation, Gen Y is the byproduct of the baby boomers. We were born in the 80’s-early 90’s. Other conditional facts…
I agree that being a part of Generation Y isn’t something we can choose. It’s not something that anyone should take offense to either. Of course we don’t all subscribe to each and every one of the stereotupical trends but the fact is… there are trends. And we will naturally be associated and linked to them due to the date of our birth.
… I didn’t really say a whole lot did I?
ps. ipods are great.
Well, they also look at trends. People our age want more from a job than our parents did. We don’t want a job we can sit where we sit in a cubicle for 15 years then rise to manager. We ARE more tech savy.
We may not ALL listen to an iPod, but often times people mean iPod like they mean Band Aide. Many of us prefer digital music to CDs (or tapes) and we oft listen to our mp3 players.
I had more to say, but it’s a weekday and I’m hung over soooo,