(Conspiracy Nation, 03/05/06)
-- "There's no way to program Gen-Y audiences," complains
a marketeer. "Even
more than other audiences, they can smell a rat. They can tell when
they're being marketed to."
But who is this "Generation Y"? Part of the problem is, they are
being defined (and shaped) by marketeers.
One fact is certain: they were short-changed when it came to a
designation. Other generations received unique appellations, such as
"Greatest Generation" and "Baby Boomers." Yet this group now coming of
age is named only as an after-thought to "Generation X." They are "The Short-Changed Generation."
Internet searches on "Generation Y" do not even agree who they are!
They were born in
North America between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. Or, they are
12 to 17 years old. Some say it's not clear-cut: "Gen Y," the
Short-Changed Generation, are children of the Baby Boomers. "Gen X,"
the Stoic Generation, are children of the "Silent Generation,"
those born between about 1930 and 1945.
And since this editor is a "Baby Boomer," of "The Worst Generation," how can you
even trust what he says!?
A scattering of anecdotes has been culled regarding "Generation Y,"
also called "Generation Why", as in "Why did you Boomers do this
to us?"
Being in your twenties isn't very rewarding according to a recent
survey of 500 Americans in the age range of 20-29. Young adults are
finding it difficult to just earn enough for life's necessities, and a
significant percentage are financially assisted by their parents.
"Contrary to popular beliefs, the care-free days of today's twenties
are anything but," said Doug Adams, director of marketing for
InsightExpress. (http://www.insightexpress.com/pressroom/release_080403a.asp)
They can be called the Superlative
Generation, because previous nomenclatures for other generations
emphasized the superlative (e.g. "Greatest," "Boomer"). When you go
shopping, you notice this Generation Why. They
seem to be weighed down by a thousand sorrows. They are even being
called "The Sad Generation."
According to one source, "Generation Y is one of the most medicated
generations in human history, with many Generation Yers prescribed
antidepressants and other behavior-altering drugs like Ritalin, which
has existed since the 1950s but was seldom prescribed before the early
1990s based on the relative lack of brain knowledge prior to the 1990s,
the 'Decade of the Brain.'" (http://www.answers.com/topic/generation-y)
Loaded with generational debt, barely surviving in most cases, where
can they go
to escape the blues? Already at such a young age the Generation Why looks back to happier
times. Instead of watching TV programs portraying 30-something
lifestyles, The Sad Generation "watches down," viewing programs
designed around teen-age audiences. (http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2004-02-16/377.asp)
This Superlative Generation is fleeing the states of New York,
Pennsylvania, and California. They are moving to Georgia, North
Carolina, and Colorado. (http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/twentysomething.html)
Many disillusioned members of Generation Why ruefully call what they
face "the quarter-life crisis." (http://liberalorder.typepad.com/the_liberal_order/2005/06/the_work_ethic_.html)
Supposedly having difficulty making the transition to work, they can
always go guard the poppies in Afghanistan for Uncle Sam. Or, they can
warehouse themselves inside higher education, accumulating credentials.
Then they can move to India.
Meanwhile the marketeers, if no one else, are intensely interested
in The Sad Generation. Contrary to indications above, the Kellogg
School of Management defines the grouping to be "those born between
1977 and 1995." So not only does Generation Why get gypped about a
unique generational designation, they are not even defined by a
consensus! Here therefore is a pattern of nebulousness associated with
the Short-Changed Generation.
"The rising millennial generation," writes Kellogg School of
Management, "is bringing with it a backlash to tradition. In comparison
to Generation X, which older generations looked upon as disillusioned,
rebellious and pessimistic, Generation Y-ers seem to embody the
optimism and idealism that baby boomers themselves held dear." (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/risk/geny/)
Idealism? Okay. But "optimism?"
WHY?
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Conspiracy Nation
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