The millenian generation ... who are they? theyre me and you ... and anyone else born between ... 1980 - 87 ish. were the lucky ones who are adolescents at the millenium. wow! i barely made it out of generation x! were the lucky ones who get to deal with the garbage from the past generations ... then again, doesnt every generation have to deal with the mess that the last generation left? And doesnt every generation get to leave a new mess for the next generation?
Well, what do the people with too much time on their hands (read: psychologists) have to say about the milenial generation?
We are said to be more adult free. mom and dad both working. "you can take care of yourself" generation. Latch key kids ... thats us. the come - home - make - a - sandwitch - start - your - homework - maybe - mom - will - phone - to - make - sure - you - didnt - burn - the - house - down generation. "...not a tribe apart because they left us; we left them." We have spent more time by ourselves than any other generation. We are isolated to an extent thats never been possible before. during our waking hours outside of school, we spend 9% of that time with friends, and 20% of that time alone. But think about that. look around you. who are you talking to? your best friend? ok, thats cool, but where is your best friend right now? on the other end of the continent. We dont do our socializaion one on one. rather we do it online. where we get the words rather than the physical contact. We are all alone physically, but living on and through the web. My school work, my shopping, my socialization, my love and affection can all come through in digital form.
We are a team playing generation. it is absolutely crucial that we belong!!! Being alone and isolated for god knows how much of our time, when we are with people is it soooooo important that we fit in and belong. that we conform. maybe thats why we dont show people our true selves. What little time we have with real people must be spent being liked. What happens when that little time is spent being ostricized? columbine, taber, calgary. it comes through in the violence thats a growing concern. we feel we just dont fit in. were by ourselves. and yet, our friendships are always changing. daily, weekly, monthly. look at your friends from a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. where are they? i have no idea. still in the country i suppose. what are they doing? i often ask myself that. ive tried looking for some of them. some have moved away. some have moved back. some got married (!). some have kids (!!!). some work full time. some are at university. some are strung out somewhere hung over or stoned. some are dead. These are people i was "best friends" with. these are people we thought would always be around. No wonder best friends are few and far between in our generation.
Lying and cheating is becoming standard. technology has made it so easy for someone in japan to do my homework for me. it has also become oh so important to succeed at any cost. need the answers to next weeks biopsych final? i know where i could get them. prolly for free. why would i do that. because i need to pass this exam to graduate university, i need it to succeed. and if you dont succeed in this world. you get left behind. survival of the fittest, you have to be up there or youre a no body. and if youre a nobody, you arent accepted. and its so important to be accepted.
pretty bleak picture of the millenial generation, eh? this is the generation that is going to take over this world? and yet ....
somehow we are more optomistic than past generations. We are a generation who got "things". courtesy of the post war generation, of course. the post war generation of "buy stuff to help the economy" and that stuff was bought for us. we were too young to remember the recession of the 80's, our economy has been relatively stable. we dont remember the days of rationing, and saving everything so it could be reused since it was in limited quantity. We believe we are being taught that we can make a difference, and we set our sites that high. how many teens have you heard say "i want to make a difference in this world" cant find any? well ill introduce you to the entire class of 98 who said that. We are an ambitious crowd. we are overcrowding universities and colleges and aiming to become professionals. We are less likely to screw that up by becoming young parents, driving drunk, or any number of other actions that have potential to screw up our future. We are more spiritual, but less conventional. "ill take a little christanity with islam and a side order of wiccan". We have our own beliefs.
This is the portrait of the leaders of tomorrow. This is who you are leaving to run the world in the 21st century.
