What Gen Yers don’t know about themselves
Now that I’m not the CEO of Brazen Careerist, I don’t have to be the national cheerleader for Generation Y. I fantasized about this moment for years: the moment when I’d write the post titled, 10 Things I Hate about Generation Y.
But it’s hard to hate people you hang out with all the time, and the truth is, I’ve spent the last ten years being a Gen Xer surrounded by Gen Yers. The pinnacle, I thought, was me spending my days fighting with Ryan Healy about work. But in fact, it turns out the pinnacle of my education on Gen Y is my arguments with Melissa about her peers that end in a snippy impasse.
Sometimes, I think Gen Y is lame and she won’t admit to it.
But I find, as I think about all the things I hate about Gen Y, that it’s hard to hate something you know so much about. And in fact, I have become a way better person myself from studying Gen Y. I have noticed that my worst traits are the aspects of myself I least understand. And that is true of Gen Y, too.
1. Gen Y mistakes the speed of the Internet for their own speed.
Gen Y are not risk takers, they are not conflict-seekers, and they are generally respectful of institutions and organizations. When Gen Y doesn’t like something, you probably won’t hear about it. They just won’t show up. I have written before about the conservative nature of Gen Y.
But what I’ve noticed lately is that this nature results in Gen Y having a difficult time making decisions. They have had their parents making decisions for them for most of their childhood, and they crowdsource decisions as adults, so when they must make a decision that no one can really help them with, Gen Y often gets stuck. (This is a huge difference from Gen X, who thrive on counter-culture, I-did-this-myself diatribes, and from Baby Boomers, who make all decisions based on how can they look like they are winning against everyone else.)
2. Gen Y wants to look like a winner more than they want to be a winner.
Gen Y is the most team-oriented generation ever. The American experience has been largely about individualism since the Declaration of Independence. So it’s a big change for such a huge generation to be more oriented to the group rather than the individual.
The result of this way of seeing the world is that Gen Y is very, very non-competitive. They were in soccer leagues where everyone gets a trophy. They enter the workplace and they have little interest in leading in a hierarchical way. And they love to use the collaborative software that serves, unintentionally, to flatten the workplace hierarchy.
But Gen Y is consumed with their image. Online, they manage themselves like they are celebrities. They revolutionized the art of the self-portrait because they take so many. And Gen Y women are renowned for dressing up at work in great clothes regardless of how much money they make or what the rest of the office is wearing.
But I think what might be the best illustration of this trend is that they don’t make enough money for a huge, lavish wedding, but they still want their wedding pictures to be gorgeous, fun, and exotic. So they elope, with a photographer, and post all the photos of a great wedding on Facebook.
3. Gen Y misunderstands entrepreneurship.
Gen Y is scared of being screwed over by corporate America because they saw their parents give up everything for corporate life and then get let down. Gen Y does not want to repeat this in their own lives. So for Gen Y, entrepreneurship is the ultimate expression of their conservatism.
Gen Y thinks the safest route in employment is entrepreneurship, so in poll after poll, the vast majority of Gen Yers say they want to own their own business. But what they really mean is they want to have a safety net. They want to feel like if they get laid off they will not be left high and dry like their parents were.
In general, though, Gen Y likes working for someone else. Gen Y likes assignments, they like feedback, they like meetings, group efforts, and after-work happy hours. These are all the trappings of people who work for someone else. Entrepreneurs are mostly lonely, anxious people, living on the edge of what’s normal. And when Gen Y gets an inkling of those feelings, they run back to corporate life.
4. Gen Y thinks they don’t believe in God.
For the most part, Gen Y has the same religious attitudes as Gen X. It’s just that Gen X frames this as an obsessive drive toward creating inclusive family and inclusive work and communities, and Gen Y frames it as not believing in God.
The reason for the discrepancy is that Gen Y frames their religious views in relation to their parents, and since Gen X had a childhood that will go down in history as negligent parenting, Gen X frames their views in relation to their own values (which, of course, have to do with their backlash against the demise of the family).
So, Gen Y actually does believe in God. Gen Y thinks there is something out there that created matter. I mean, what was there before the Big Bang? Who knows? We can call that God. Gen Y doesn’t argue with that. But Gen Y thinks God must mean the Christian God. And if they don’t believe in that, they say they don’t believe in God.
So, in fact, Gen Y is pretty accepting of all religions, and willing to participate if you put it in front of them. There are no public displays of religious protest as a way to instigate change—that is Baby Boomer territory. And there is no taking a risk and taking a stand to create a solid religious life for their kids like Gen X. Gen Y goes with the flow, supports any religion as long as it supports gay marriage, and hedges against any conflict by saying they are not really religious.
5. Gen Y mistakes their own practical behavior for revolutionary behavior.
In general, Gen Y tries to go through life by ruffling the least feathers. So, for example, Gen Y might appear to be creating a revolution at work by demanding flex-time, fair-wage salaries, and good mentoring. But really, Gen X wanted all this stuff when they were twenty-something as well, but they couldn’t get it. So when Gen X took over, they gave it to Gen Y. Gen X is the revolutionary generation.
Gen Y is simply demanding what their parents told them they should expect from the world: Work that matters and work that complements a life that matters. Those revolutionary expectations come from the Boomer parents. Gen Y is just doing what they are told.
I couldn’t help thinking this same thing when I read this New York Times Magazine article about the trend of teenage girls in Gen Y giving more blow jobs than any generation before. When Baby Boomer women had more sex than any generation in the past, it was a feminist revolution, changing the whole fabric of society. But when Gen Y teens talk about why they give more blow jobs, it’s different, but simple: they do it because while their parents told them not to have sex until it really really mattered to them, the boys are, of course, dying to have sex. So one way to keep everyone happy is with blow jobs. It’s the ultimate expression of Gen Y practicality masquerading as revolution.
Brilliant article, depressing reality we face now with a generation unwilling to buck the trend of corporate conform… shooting themselves in the foot as they realise too late that the chasm between the haves and have nots is insurmountable. We’re screwed :-(
Generation Blow Job! When Pepsi finds a way to work that into an ad campaign, I can die happy.
Any good comments about Gen Y? Frankly, I feel more like we’re the forgotten generation, the generation between the apparently incredibly put-upon Generation X and the apparently incredibly pitiable Millenials. No one gives a shit about us, and this article just reinforces that. We’re all entitled and lazy, right? We got screwed over by our parents AND by Gen X, we’re being left the world to fix, and we’re frankly the only generation equipped with the practical skills to fix it. How about some credit?
I agree with most of the points in this article but I do want to say that there is a big difference between the older Gen Yers and the younger ones and unfortunately we all get lumped into the same bin. Gen Y represents the group from 1980 to 2000. Being born in the early part of the 80s I don’t particularly identify myself with the kid who was born in 1990 who has spent their entire life in the internet age. I feel like many of us straddle the line between Gen X and Gen Y but don’t particularly identify with either. Just keep that in mind when you are dealing with a 30 year old at work opposed to a 25 year old. In my experience there is a big difference between the two of us.
couldn’t be more right!
Incredibly astute blog, y gen are a bit cute in a way… but this x gen was really hoping for a shake up of the baby boomers, we’ve been working on it for a while but the y gen crew seem to be happy enough with the way things are.
HI, I came across your blog just randomly, and I must say I loved this post! While I might not agree with some things, overall it is very interesting to go through, written in a funny and catchy way, and I must say, it’s full of interesting observations!
I’ve hated most of my generation since I was a small child and I fail to understand how anyone could have ever liked the nasty shits I went to school with (even as children.) I’ve never felt more alienated in my entire life than I have with Generation Y.
They are truly awful people who don’t realize just how awful they are. Someone should point it out more. They’re cattiness and exclusive attitudes are their worst quality. The “entitlement” is the least offensive thing about them, I don’t know why Xers feel so compelled to point that out as if it was their worst quality…
They’re also the most boring and bland people on earth, another thing they don’t realize.
Gen Y, the spoiled selfish little bastards who took the Baby Boomers’ fawning overindulgent treatment that overcompensated for neglecting us Gen X folk (if they managed to begat any of us at all) in favor of drug and/or swinging parties for granted. F-’em, they need to grow the heck up… all of ’em.
It sounds like certain Gen X-ers may have some resentment for Baby Boomers. Why direct it at Gen Y-ers, though? Is it their fault that Gen X-ers were neglected by their parents? It looks like it’s not Gen Y-ers who need to “grow up.”
GREAT ARTICLE. YEAH, IT’s hard to trust a generation who totally trust their MEgen parents
I think you will like this video >:D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UA3_nV-wrs
I think some of this has validity and some of this is just stereotyping. I was born in 1989 so I am a Gen-Yer.
To me, it seems a lot of people born in generation X have some sort of superiority complex when it comes to people born in generation Y. You’re not better than us, just saying. I don’t think any generation is better than the other. We all have our flaws. Many generation Xers in my opinion sound very bitter.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with being cautious. I’m a very pragmatic person.
Hi, I have to jump in on this topic. I am a so-called Gen-Xer, and I disagree with most of the generalizations that have been made regarding Boomers, Xers and Yers or millenials or whatever. Gen X was spoiled, seems that this is overlooked. I have no bitterness towards anybody. I do feel I need to speak up a little for my age demographic. Xers started the ball rolling with the trend entrepreneurship/business start-ups. When we graduated from college the economy was on a downturn and the job market wasn’t that great, so jobs had to be created somehow. Xers were encouraged to go to college and as a result have more advanced degrees than previous generations. I have worked with people from all walks of life and pretty much get along with everyone. I believe we are all stifling ourselves buying into these differences which are driven by marketing demographics and we need to work together to get through this recession. Let’s face it, we are all spoiled Americans. Cheers! :-)
I also want to add that my gen is also pretty darn conservative.
**supports any religion as long as it supports gay marriage**
Ho, ain’t that the truth. What’s really funny is that if a devout person of any Christian faith says that he or she opposes gay marriage, some hip, pseudo-intellectual Gen Y’er will start throwing Bible verses at them to show them what a hypocritical Neanderthal that person is, often taking the so-called Biblical quote out of context, interpreting it incorrectly or twisting it to suit the argument. My fave is when a Y’er will say that the “sin” practiced in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality but inhospitality, because he read that somewhere on the Media Matters blog. Yeesh. I wouldn’t mind the Y’er’s support of gay marriage – heck, as an X’er, I once supported George McGovern for President, so we’ve all made mistakes in our youth that we regret – nearly so much if they’d at least do some research on homosexuality and whether or not it really DOES occur in nature (it doesn’t) and speak intelligently about it, instead of parroting any catch-phrase or popular belief system just because doing so will piss off Mom and Dad.
Savor that irony folks; in one breath this Christian automaton (brimming with love for everyone, presumably) complains about OTHER people “parroting … a popular belief system” and then mentions the fable of Sodom and Gomorrah as if it has some bearing on the discussion of gay rights. How’s this: you’re a hypocritical Neanderthal because you believe bronze age fairy tales are not only historically accurate, but somehow illustrate why gay people in the 21st century shouldn’t be able to file a joint tax return. I will agree with you on one point though – it is indeed silly to use your Bible to refute your stupid backward superstitions, because your Bible is an irrelevant amalgam of nonsense. Whether or not the fable of Sodom and Gomorrah is meant to condemn homosexuality or inhospitality doesn’t matter, it still has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. Tell me, what does the story of Jack and the Beanstalk tell you about agricultural policy? Do you think when the giant says “fee fi fo fum” that should be interpreted as a condemnation of farm subsidies? The fact is, you are on the wrong side of history on this matter. If you’re a bigot cloaking prejudice in religion, that’s contemptible, but you wouldn’t be the first. But if you actually believe that the fable of Sodom and Gomorrah is a legitimate reason to restrict the rights of homosexuals then you’re a primitive simpleton. Right about now, you’re probably whining about how Christians are oppressed (despite occupying virtually every position of power in this country, enjoying tax exempt status for churches, etc.) and mocked for their beliefs, and it’s so unfair, etc., etc. But here’s the thing – you can tell me about Jesus, and his miracles, and I’m happy to listen. I have some Christian friends and family members with whom I have good, respectful theological discussions. Belief is personal, and ineffable, and I wouldn’t argue with you about belief. But when you try to use Bible stories as evidence in the realm of public policy debate, suggesting that a story like Sodom and Gomorrah has any bearing on the discussion, you ought to be prepared to have your ideas mocked as the unempirical, nonsensical hoo-ha they are. P.S., Before you try to blame my blaspheming on some kind of demonic gay butthole rainbow possession, I’m straight.
Hey, HipPseudoIntellectual (and you might note that this “hypocritical Neanderthal” at least spelled “pseudo” right,) I got news for ya – I’m not a Christian. I dumped that belief system long ago. I don’t support gay marriage because homosexual relationships are not equal to heterosexual relationships in any sense of the term “equal” when that term is used in connection to any measurement that actually reflects reality. It is not same-sex mating (if the term “mating” really applies to homosexual bonds) that keeps the natural world going, and the same rule applies to the human world as well. So anyone asserting that those two sexual relationships are equal in importance to the human race is either a deluded fool or a liar. So it’s a bit ridiculous for you to sneer at me for talking about Biblical fables when you spout P.C. fables to support YOUR argument. My point, if you’d bother to try to grasp it, was that nits like you constantly misquote and misinterpret the Bible verses you use to try to mock devout believers of those verses. Trouble is, most of those believers, unlike posers like you, have actually studied the texts and have very likely read every interpretation there is of them and are therefore probably – gasp!- better educated on the subject than you are. Whether Sodom and Gomorrah actually existed or whatever is not the point I was making, but you, of course, so typically of your ilk, assumed I was contending that it did and thus you struck your cunning little pseudo-intellectual pose and made a fool of yourself, thus proving my REAL point, as noted above. Thanks. As for the rest of your tiresome tirade, your arrogant assumptions about me pretty much make it moot, not to mention tedious to read. I will point out to you, however, that it is not I who “restrict the rights of homosexuals”, it is nature (and spare me the “gay penguin” argument. Name one specie in which two individuals of the same sex mate and raise young as a matter of course). Nature has determined what kind of sexual bond is dominant and primal, and that is the real reason gay marriage has been banned in every state in which it was put to the vote. Not because all those states are full of “homophobes” or any other smug label you care to fling at them, but because most people are honest and therefore object to the idea of being forced by law to embrace a lie. Gays would be better off, in my opinion, if they stopped deluding themselves and recognized the fundamental differences in and importance of gay vs. heterosexual relationships, stopped their efforts to hijack a cornerstone of heterosexual culture and twist it to suit themselves (meanwhile shouting down anybody else’s rights to have a say in the matter) and come up with a different name and set of rituals for their relationships. The attempts by people like you to marginalize the majority and homogenize human beings by asserting the EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is equal even though in all honesty they’re not are destructive, annoying and a damned nuisance. And happily, will not prevail as long as the ballot box is still available and the beliefs of ALL citizens are allowed to be expressed. Free country and free speech – they’re a bitch, aren’t they?
OK, let’s take a deep breath. I;’m going to try to refrain from making too many personal attacks.
First, please note that I never said anything about the occurrence of homosexuality in nature, because that is as irrelevant to public policy as the Bible’s fables. Likewise I did not interpret any Bible passages; they’re not worth parsing because they’re not important. (You say your not a Christian, fine, we’ll leave religious concerns aside.)
What occurs in nature is of no relevance in a discussion about marriage policy. It matters not a whit whether a species engages in homosexual coupling. If we modeled our system of laws after what occurred in nature, I suppose it would be legal to devour one’s young.
You’re certainly right, however, that heterosexual coupling is more typical in nature, far and away. Based on that, you can even argue that it’s more “natural”. But where I think you take things in the wrong direction is in applying a value judgement to the two scenarios, and deciding to extend legal protections to one and not the other. The question really isn’t what’s natural, it’s what should be sanctioned under law. And if you’re a believer in equal rights, then the burden is on you to show how extending the institution of marriage to same sex couples would cause harm. To you it feels wrong, I guess because its not what other animals do, but what concrete negative effects can you point to? Several other countries have recognized gay marriage for years; maybe they’ve seen increased divorce rates or some other negative consequences, but again, it’s your job to prove that.
Regardless, allowing gay marriage doesn’t force you to “embrace a lie”, it just forces you to keep your nose out of other people’s business. Every day, heterosexual couples marry for money. Most people would say that love is an essential part of marriage, but no one would argue that the state should deny legal benefits to a couple because they aren’t in love. You don’t have to like gay relationships of think they’re morally correct or “natural”, but if you want to deny equal protection to a large segment of society, you DO have to have a good reason. And you don’t.
To a certain extent, I think both sides of the debate are needlessly fixated on the nomenclature. Gay folks want “marriage” because anything else smacks of a “separate but equal” approach. People like you want to police what you consider the correct definition of the word. Personally, I don’t think the state should be in the marriage business at all. We should entirely do away with that word as a legal construct, and leave it to religious institutions to join people in marriage. The government should grant the legal benefits of what we currently call marriage to any two people who agree to join their futures together.
But in the argument over the word, although both sides, in my opinion, place too much importance on it, I have to come down on the side of equal protection. A separate but equal doctrine is destructive, as it marks the marginalized group as less worthy. That’s a real harm, not an imaginary one.
I understand that you don’t want to be called a homophobe or a bigot, but you’ve made clear that you do, in fact, view homosexual relationships as less worthy than straight ones; they are less important and therefore don’t deserve recognition. So if that’s not bigotry, what DO you call it?
You’d probably argue that you have factual reasons for saying homosexual relationships are less worthy, but that’s the same argument once made to justify institutionalized racism and deny women the vote. “It’s not that I hate women, it’s just that they aren’t as well educated as men, and therefore shouldn’t be able to vote.” There was some factual basis for a claim like this in the early part of the 20th century, when women were less likely to hold college degrees, etc. You can always come up with a reason to look down on others, but bigotry is always defined at least to some extent by the society’s norms. At some point, the argument against women’s suffrage ceased to be a point of view, and became a prejudice.
In the current climate, people like you are fast becoming the holdouts of an anachronistic world view. I’m sorry, but as society changes around you, you will increasingly be considered a bigot. Don’t be surprised when you’re labeled as such.
**You’d probably argue that you have factual reasons for saying homosexual relationships are less worthy, but that’s the same argument once made to justify institutionalized racism and deny women the vote**
Oh, really? Let’s hear those arguments, Einstein, and see if they hold a candle to the irrefutable logic of not deeming homosexuality equal to heterosexuality. Put it this way: if homosexuality were to disappear from the earth tomorrow, the human race would survive just fine. If heterosexuality were to disappear, there’d be problems. Such as, humans go bye-bye. And so would the rest of the natural world; even those creatures that are hermaphrodites still literally embody the male-female principle as a means to reproduce. Heterosexuality rules the natural world and the human world too, and that’s the honest truth. And nuts to your description of me as “anachronistic”. Trends, fads, poses, catch-phrases, and other such nonsense fade away, but logic and truth always remain. Belief systems and civilizations rise and fall, but truth and logic are the ultimate survivors of human folly.
And I have no worries about society changing around me in regards to gay “marriage”. It hasn’t changed much in my state because we were allowed to vote on it. Tell me, O Wise One: if society truly is becoming more sympathetic to the notion of gay marriage, then why not let the people vote on it in EVERY state? Why do you gay marriage advocates, so sure of the rightness of your cause and the increasing number of followers, fear the ballot box so much?
6. Gen Y is able to read this and respond with laughter and appreciation for valid points. Whereas, if generation X or the Babyboomers were forced to face their faults ie. ruining the environment and the majority of heritage listed buildings, they would not feel at all responsible and probably turn an ugly pink colour.
it’s really funny how you hit the nail on the head: they really have a hard time make decisions! I’ve also made the experience that they are very conservative, tolerant and might I say pliable like craft clay; and the overworked ones are either “Teacups or Crispies” – unable to handle any stress or confrontation at all – even in their twenties when they should be full of “I’m changing the world” – ness!
And when there is conflict they “show” it instead of talking about it, by simply not showing up or tweeting about it. I think all the social media robbed them of the ability to have a good old face to face argument.
You believe Deloitte reports? The one that predicted that Internet would collapse in 2007?
https://paperpicker.wordpress.com/2007/05/22/deloittes-puzzling-prediction-on-internet-congestion-in-2007/
The same one that audited banks in Europe and said they were perferctly healty? Pfff.
I love this article. It points out the contradictions of Generation-Y.
But this generation seems to symbolize contradictions. For example they champion environmental causes while being ardent consumerists who don’t seen the connection between the degradation of our enviroment to their thirst to consume “stuff” and “new stuff” at that.
I hope you write a part two, this was a great read.
“Judging is preventing us from understanding a new truth. Free yourself from the rules of old judgments and create the space for new understanding.”
― Steve Maraboli
Shame on you Penelope Trunk. Your pathetic slam of Generation Y reminds me of your Veteran’s Day rant. You may recall label ling every post-World War II a war criminal. Your Generation X has little to take credit for and much to be ashamed of. Your followers deserve better.
As a generation straddling observer, I have to say that your article sums up obnoxious self-congratulating nature of your generation, while hilariously pointing the finger at a generation that is busy cleaning up after your generations long-running economic party.
I see a very exciting generation taking over the reigns from one that has made a rather large mess of things. It’s sad you don’t see that, too.
No offence, but your piece is idiotic, and typical; it’s boring, you’re not saying anything every person over 40 doesn’t say every day. Applaud your corrupt generation, systems, and governments: there’s no money to be made or opportunities to be had, so we of Generation Y will bide our time laughing at you.
This is an interesting article, but overall this is a broad overgeneralization of the truth and is extremely debatable…
Nice article…provided you are bigoted, obnoxious, ill-informed moron.
Wow! Thank you, so much, for telling who I am from an outside clearly subjective viewpoint…Which, well, has pretty much been proven to be the most accurate means of judging another person.
IDK what gen y’ers who have met to build the foundation for this article, but it’s pretty laced up in stereotypes and misconceptions.
I not saying it’s a horrible read…you actually bring to light a great deal about our generation. However (and perhaps it is the way we conduct ourselves or the language we use) the preconception here that we believed ourselves to be anything is astounding. Allow me to clarify:
1. We do not confuse the speed of the internet with that of our own lives. The reason we are so indecisive is because we born and grew up on the cusp of an information boom and rapid technological acceleration. We are not risk-takers in the traditional sense because we are over analyzers. We thrive on communication and finding the the best, safest, and most peer accepted choices and we are well aware of the fact.
We get stuck so easily because we put forth a great effort on keeping of up and developing a keen intuition for ever changing social and technological ecosystems. Still, what can you expect from us…our parents where divorced, overbearing, coddling, workaholic, albeit loving traditionalists with little regard for anything outside of the American sphere of ideology who provided us with every monetary need but no information on traditional values. We raised ourselves off of TV, the philosophy of action movies and the psychosis of a budding internet; We effectively had to shape ourselves, but we don’t blame them. In fact it was this semi-neglect during the rise of information culture that led us to broaden our horizons and see things from multiple perspectives…seems slow, insecure (and maybe it is) and apathetic because we are the masters of shifting social paradigms.
2. This one is pretty true! I am not going to apologize for it though. We are a media based, image obsessed, visually stimulated generation. Blame consumerism…But I like it. I suppose we have the idea that if we look the part we’ll be more likely to draw the opportunity to succeed. Well that and, like I said we are consumers…we treat of bodies, persons and lifestyles like products…its a form of self advertisement. Haven t you ever heard the phrase “Fake it, till you make it?” That, plus sex…alot of it has to do with getting fucked or receiving affection. I like i said above we are a pretty insecure group minded gen…we need love, warmth and acknowledgment to function to our full capacity.
3. We really do. This, I am ashamed to admit is absolutely true. We misunderstand entrepreneurship. The reality is for most of us that lack ambition it is a safety net. Again, like I stated above we are group minded we really do thrive off of structured settings. Not so much working for someone..but working with them…find a place of a niche for out talents to shine.
However, I think you misunderstand what entrepreneurship means to us. We all just don’t want to own our little restaurant or shop…We are a gen of artists and philosophers (and sometimes scientists, social and physical). When we say “I want to be self made” it means we want to work together to find a career that is fulfilling…to make music, design, write, blog and preform. These aspirations might seem shallow, but the world is changing…we strongly believe manual labor and a majority of office work will soon be out sourced to machines and data processors…we want to find meaning a stability beyond this event horizon.
4. This is just an ugly assumption. I can speak for a lot of my generation, when I say that we never claimed to ‘not believe in god’. We’re are actually pretty spiritual. Saying that all of us confuse the idea of god with the Christian version makes us sound like idiots…and we are not!
I can, however, pretty judgmental of the older religions. I find them restrictive and fear based…Christianity being on the top of the list (I was raised Sevethday Adventist)…But never once have I confused that idea of god with real metaphysics.
5. No…Maybe for some, but the last I want is to emulate my parents. It’s pretty insulting to assume that we do this though. We don’t mistake practicality for revolution…we want a great deal of change…I for one abhor the monetary system and I am a transhuminist… we just feel powerless to do anything about it. To state we want what our parents told us to want makes us sound like mindless vacuums. We don’t, not all of us. On the contrary I feel suffocated by the value systems of my preceding generations, but they have generated a great deal of power and influence that is hard to attack. So many of appear to give up…How can we revolutionize for a world we want, when we are self obsessed, hiveminded, over saturated, conventionally- unconventional thinking, paradigm shifting, consumers …not by any conventional means that’s for sure.
What gets me the most is that our approach to revolution, to these complex social problems will automatically seems meaningless because it does not mimic those of generations past…makes your argument sounded riddled with paradoxes! It’s annoying!
Nevertheless, amazing article. One sided and pretty biased, but if this is the way my generation comes across to others.. then we have some serious reevaluating to do when it come to our PR. But, I think we will because we are a highly adaptive generation. Thanks for the insight Ms Trunk. <- The thank You was not sarcasm.
Blow jobs are gross. Put my mouth on a guy’s dick? Any girl that does that is stupid and has done something even a cat won’t do, and god knows a cat will eat just about anything.
As a Gen-Y girl I am shocked at how accurate it is for my life! I really had no clue how conservative I really am. And, yeah, at first it stung to hear how lame GenY sounded but when I really re-read and thought about it, the reality is is that there’s nothing wrong with being conservative. The way you wrote it does have pangs of judgement, but you never explicitly state that being conservative and not wanting to make waves is a fault, just that we seem unaware of our true nature – And that was accurate! Good Show~
Btw I totally had an elopement wedding with nice pics just like you said Ha! :D
This article horribly generalizes an entire generation into one very specific subset. The stereotypes of every generation always seem particularly pertinent to a group that is predominantly white, middle class or higher, living in metropolitan areas, who traditionally had access to decent education. It completely ignores the vast majority of the generation that hardly fits these narrow parameters. I grew up in northeast Ohio in a neighborhood that had traditionally been built on a surplus of blue collar work that provided secure employment to people that couldn’t afford higher education. But for years, starting with the importing of foreign steel, and only ramping up to unforeseen levels in the 1990s, those jobs were no longer available. These were my friends’ parents, my parents, who suddenly found that the promise of a good life in return for hard work no longer was possible. And in return, we learned the hard way that our chances of someday feeling a modicum of security were nearly impossible to attain as college tuition rates exploded, leaving many of us with few choices other than foregoing school, taking on unthinkable debt, using government programs like ROTC to fund our education, or trying to find an apprenticeship early on. Many of us failed and succumbed to terrible fates. Some, against the odds, found success and happiness. But for you to make such broad claims about an entire swath of people based upon a very particular and personal sample size based on your employment experience is egregious. Get out of the bubble your living in and see the world, hell, just see the rest of this country. At the very least, be a little more specific about the particular type of gen-Y’s your discussing. How callously you forget about men and women who happen, because of their age, to be lumped into generation Y, that were born and bred into abject poverty, thrown into crumbling schools, but still, despite all this, managed to make something of themselves.
Oh ok, the blow job thing is just a slap in the face. “We are just so cowardly and sheepish that we give tons of blow jobs to please both our parents and our boyfriends?” How is this even relevant to generation studies at all? And not to mention, really offensive to me, a 23 year old woman who is just trying to get by. That’s all this whole generation is trying to do and I personally don’t have much guidance in my life. I’m just doing the best I can with what I’ve got and being grateful for what I have. I’m so sick of people complaining AND WHINING (I thought gen y was the only ones that did that?) about how terrible we are.
AD HOMINEM ATTACKS EARNS THE AUTHOR A PAT ON THE BACK FROM EVERYONE THAT’S NOT GEN Y! WAY TO GO! THAT’S REALLY WHAT’S GOING TO TURN THIS WORLD AROUND!
le in general. It is amazing how people just do horrible things to each other and don’t even plan to think of apologizing to someone or just some kind of act of dignity towards civilized behavior.
The complaint I have noticed about Generation Y is they can dish it but can’t take it back. Meaning at the job you all stick and absorb negativity and point to middle age Gen X’ers like myself about being socially mean. This is why alot of people can’t work with you all. (I’m not speaking for everyone just what I observed). You all look to destroy someone Usually a female then think your actions are so cute. Stop doing this and maybe we can ALL learn job processes besides being catty and learning more than facebook posts while you all rely on temp agencies to bring in someone like me for a day to observe the ugliness that lurks inside a freakin building. Do something for our Country and unite for the better.
God bless America so older women like myself can find some peace in my heart to have the same opportunity as anyone else in the workforce.
just a huge load.
So as a Gen Yer is there any hope for me to learn or am I forever doomed because of my birthday? Kind of sounds the same as saying someone has certain characteristics based on skin colour or nationality. I may be an exception to the statements in this blog however, every single one, but you would have to get to know me to find that out. I think it would go a long way to use the word “generally” as painting everyone with same brush is just wrong. Just my honest opinion.
I think the god point is hilarious. I’m sorry but religion in this generation is a dying trait, thank satan. The mystery of the universe pre-Big bang cannot simply be labeled god because you want us to be religious in some context. As a “Gen-Yer” I do argue with that. It’s wrong. Religion is your generations continued mistake, not mine.
beyond ridiculous we are all here for a reason. Stop making life so damn insane for people 10 years older than you or 10 years younger.
me thinks generation y and SOME baby boomers (esp. women) need to get their heads out of their butts. You don’t own me.
41 female/ tired of i get you don’t crap and blatant narcissim …..
your ALL FULL OF IT. AND DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH IN THE CORPORATE WORLD. YOUR IDIOTS !
Heh. Maybe if we are talking about white middle-class/upper middle class/rich, cisgender straight people?
The rest of us have been doing the best we can while the country burns around us.
Born in 1982. Can’t really relate to anything said here. A lot of it was pretty much opposite for me.
The whole being afraid of risk and conflict is really, REALLY unlike me. I got bored of where I was in my early twenties and just packed up all my sh*t and went to the grand canyon. This one key event led to a series of adventures across the states and leading into europe. I will never not take a risk again lol I mean, as long as it isn’t an obviously dumb one.
I think you’ve spent your life generalizing and it’s pretty sad. It’s simply not like that in reality and I hope you can give up this kind of thinking as it is unhealthy.
Gen Y feels that they are above reproach, any criticism big or small or miniscule is met with complete defensiveness. Ironic considering how utterly immune to criticism they actually are.
Clueless millennials, now they are lumping gen X with the baby- boomers..i guess you would have to be born in the seventies to appreciate the comedic value of that…maybe do some actual research on the topic, dont worry you wont need to research very long before you realize who messed everything up.
The cycle turns.
GenY is _not_ the most team-oriented generation in American history. They’re more so than Xers and Boomers, but they’re very, very like the Great Depression/World War II generation, just as Xers are very like the generation before the World War IIers, and Boomers like the generation before them.
If you want to have some idea of what (broadly) GenY will be like in 20 or 40 years, look at the World War II generation at those equivalent ages. The details won’t be the same, but the overall look will be (bar some upheaval).
“Entrepreneurs are mostly lonely, anxious people, living on the edge of what’s normal”
Penelope, I am self employed and work from home or wherever I am, we home educate, and live in a rural area. I have 40 years under my belt. I love just about every post of yours that I read. Too often you include a point that just rocks my world. I find myself reading the statement multiple times. You get it. You get my animal surrounded, farm tending, and business preoccupied, and husband loving, and hanging out with kids all day, crazy life. Sometimes I forget that I actually chose and co-created this life I live. The edge of normal is my world, and I just can not imagine it any other way. Though, my anxiousness would disolve if the world would stop needling our business with fees, dues, and the cost of the what ifs . I love all the fees we pay just so we can be paid. Those are my favorite! Due dates are my nemesis. I know the moments I feel alone stem from taking too much notice of the mainstreamers. Although, after noticing them for a few moments, I am reminded of why I am not on the same tour as them. I just want to send you kudos for having enough insight and talent to help someone out on the edge feel a connection. And perhaps inspire someone else to have the courage to jump in and create a life they fall in love with, full of risk and adventure.
Thank you.
I’m Gen-X. The tail end. I’ve been designing and developing websites and applications since the Internet began. It’s what I do.
I had a conversation at work recently where a Gen-Y analyst spent 20 minutes explaining this new, complicated, analytics engine you can run on an a tablet, phone, pc, and any other device. He had taken it upon himself to explain technologies like this to his elders, and he was very proud of himself for having done so.
When he was finished, I said: “You know I built that application, right?”
Really… Everything about Gen X is so perfect, and about Gen Y is so phony and moderated, I don’t think so, and yes – I am Gen Y.
1. I don’t have problem with confrontation but I prefer to avoid it if I can, who doesn’t? But I will confront you if you’ll do something wrong.
2. I’ve never gotten the trophy just for showing up, and competition was very hard, especially in my family and in school. 3. Yes I would like to be entrepeneur, but not to have a safety net. I just would like to test myself, not listen to some bosses. If people in my generation love working for someone else so much, why are there so many entrepeneurs nowadays?
4. Yes, I don’t believe in God. Doesn’t matter which religion, I just don’t. And gay marriages have nothing to do with this. Before Big Bang there was nothing but matter, condensated into the size of subatomic particle. Matter slows down time, You can notice that in space – where time goes faster, so when all of the matter was condensated into the size of subatomic particle – the time was at the standstill. At least thats what Albert Einstein thought. And this is what I believe, not a guy on a cloud creating universe in six days 5000 years ago. That’s just stupid.
5. My friend is an entrepeneur, he created his own company, hired 15 people and now they have quite different ways of working, Gen X on the other hand has never done anything different nor did it revolutionize working environment for me or for my friends, at least I have never heard about it from any of my friends, maybe read in a newspaper, but not in real life. So don’t tell me, how your generation was revolutionary, they would like to chain us all in a corporate vision and cubicles if they could.
Graduated college, engineering, to Jimmy Carter at 21% interest. Some charts leave my birth year off the boomers AND off the gen X.
Alas, all I can add is the saga of hiring native born gen Y or gen X for my team. Garden/home construction.
Native born, a lead team member, does not last a season. Immigrant labor does.
Worse, the native born are terrible at prioritizing equipment-materials-site-labor for ANY 8 hour stretch.
General contracting is a 4 year college degree now, and we’ve tried some of them. They have been the worst.
Salary is over $40,000.00.
This is more than a genX/Y issue. Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs, ‘got it’. And is making a fine lecturing career from it.
Our current native born wrecked our truck in the McDonald’s drive thru, and the next day topped it off by tossing a cinder block at himself, with the bucket, thru the window of the Caterpillar he was driving. Seriously, can’t make this stuff up. Wish I had it on video for our Facebook page.
Some days I think our current native born is a story about parenting gone bad.
Which is horrific. Those parents are hovering my age. WTF?
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Everyday presents new ways of viewing the world.
I will run with this.
Every now and then, encountering people that sees things differently than we do changes our perspective.
wow, a lot to learn about in a spate of post!
We definitely are the most revolutionary generation thats for sure.