obtainable legalistic: The Y generation in conflict with itself

Sometimes humanity comes up with nice words to classify itself. The generation born after the Western post?World War II baby boom (1946-1964) ended some preferred to call them, the generation born between 1964 and 1981, Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, so those coming after them would then to be called Generation Y, though soon they would come to the end of the alphabet.

The Gen Xers? for? a time were also called the ?baby bust? generation, because of the declining birth rate that started in 1964, officially ending the post-war baby boom.

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

Generation Tales The Cover Page of Generation X - 5th Edition Print - Image via Wikipedia

The Y generation is also known as the Millennial Generation (or Millennials) which would best describe those born around the turn of the century after the 2? World War.

For the Babyboomers? ?Generation X? was the best undefined name to be put on the label for those who did not seem to have a real goal and own idea. For them it? were a a group of young people, seemingly without identity, who faced an uncertain, ill-defined (and perhaps hostile) future. The 1991 novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Canadian author Douglas Coupland, concerning young adults during the late 1980s and their lifestyles, confirmed the tagging. Though in the US Generation X was originally referred to as the ?baby bust? generation because of the drop in the birth rate following the baby boom. Was it not that it also could imply that it was a ruined generation it certainly was not penniless. The world could see a Spoiled Generation with many different groups like the Millet Generation. Generation X is also called? the ?13th Generation? (In the 1991 book Generations, by William Strauss and Neil Howe)? and considered the group of those born between 1961 and 1981. 1970, the approximate mid-point of the ?13th Generation?, had the lowest birth rate of this period.

While in most of the developed world, a person born in 1985 and a person born in 1990 are considered the same generation; in China, those born in the ?70s are called the ?post-70s? generation, those born in the 80s the ?post-80s? generation, and those born in the 90s the ?post-90s generation?*
In China and Japan you could really find a? workaholics generation, while here in the West the parents of those kids born in 1970ies were perhaps workaholics, but the children did not become that because they found everything to come to them just like that, not having to do too much. Often they were spoiled by their parents who wanted to give them the best they could.

China?s post-1980s generation is proving to be passionately entrepreneurial as the economy prospers, a new survey shows. More than 54 percent of the adults younger than 30 surveyed are planning to launch their own businesses. That compares with 44 percent of people born in the 1960s and 70s. The figure for people born in the 1950s is about 39 percent. (The findings are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index, which is conducted by Kelly Services, an international human resources company.)**

Peter Pan a mischievous boy who can fly and who never ages

Those born after 1981 where ?pampered? by their parents and could enjoy many videos and were babysit by the gogglebox. On the tube they could watch the Walt-Disney Dreams and go in the air with Peter Pan. Elwood Carlson, locates the American generation, which he calls ?New Boomers,? between 1983 and 2001, because of the upswing in births after 1983, finishing with the ?political and social challenges? that occurred after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, and the ?persistent economic difficulties? of the time.***

Those Millennials evidently belonged to the Hero category, having heroes everywhere and putting pictures or posters on the walls of their most precious examples. While the babyboomers protested against the establishment did they feature a deep trust in authority and institutions; being somewhat conventional, but still powerful. They grew up during an Unraveling cycle with more protections than the previous generation (Gen X). Having all those examples of heroes they themselves wanted to become such heroes like their favourite film-stars and sportsmen. Their parents followed in that they also wanted to flaunt with their kids who had to display all their treasures of trophies on the mantelpiece. Some of them therefore you could call the ?Trophy Generation?, or ?Trophy Kids?. In some countries it even became as bad that the ?would like to be first? candidates did everything to knock out every person standing in the way to get the goblet. Anything to cut out a competitor seemed to be acceptable. (In certain instances even accidents were caused and a murder done.) The ?eighties babies? generation was not as innocent as the increasing narcissism brought forward with the white, affluent teenagers. The Peter Pan Generation loved to left alone in their ?emerging adulthood? which would keep them at home by the parents, preferably until their 30ies. Some acted more as Captain Hook than Tinker Bellor than the one who? teaches the Darling children to fly using a combination of ?lovely wonderful thoughts? (which became ?happy thoughts? in Disney?s film) and fairy dust.

Trophy Kids

Most of them do not find the name ?Peter Pan Generation? given to them particularly flattering sobriquet, meant to reflect the perception that they are having trouble ?growing up? in a traditional sense. In their heart they loved to enjoy their childhood as long as they could, but in their mind they wanted to belong by the grown ups. In puberty lots of children are very much attracted to foul language and think they shall be great by using it. Using the vile language gives them a feeling to belong to that adult world. Mostly children grow out of it, but many of that generation did not and kept using those words. For those who got children when they were still using this foul language they made it more difficult for their children who did have to exaggerate their use of words to? have the feeling to be a grown up. To belong to the adult world they sought to be noticed either by their foul language, smoking, burping or belching, or farting, depending on what got most attention or negative reaction at home. That what did not chock or did not get enough attention was aborted soon.? That what they thought got most attention got embraced to continue doing, though they never questioned the positive and/or negative side effects.? At first they could get some attention, but they mostly did not notice that what was accepted first to laugh did not last long and became more annoying and took away more credit from them. Some of them could not get rid of their attitude and took it up into their thirties, where it is considered by the business-folks not done, so they lost also credibility at work and made less opportunities to climb up the ladder.

Peter Pan did not remain?attached to his childhood because he had trouble picking up work or because his parents lived in separate houses. Rather, he chose to remain a child, and symbolizes both the idealization of our youth and our fear of adulthood. So that is not a bad quality. It is a good virtue to be able to dream and to go for adventure without being cocksure. Because today we encounter an other very conceited generation who come over very priggish and think they have invented the wheel.

Peter Pan the hero for those who stubbornly refused to completely grow up

As Peter Pan, the representer of the beauty of youth and of the beauty of a responsibility-free life, the generation called after him could also have the mindset and philosophy of the youth. To a child the world is full of endless opportunity, but for the baby boomer the world seemed to clash and everything they had learned about values seemed not workable any more. Many born the first centuries after the 2? World War had become slave of their jobs and not being respected for it by the newer generations. Like many they started to follow the same tired old routine, loosing more and more interest and noticing how governments also fooled them. But the children of those baby boomers? wanted to keep looking with the childish eye and see the world as place where adventures are always waiting to be had. Adventures that fill our life with hope and joy and purpose. Who could ever argue with wanting to maintain such a mindset through our 20?s and throughout our entire life?

The baby boomer at least could now see an optimistic generation which enjoyed life. Perhaps their children were optimistic because they did not expect to be given anything easily, according?Jason Oberholtzer who came in defence of his generation. ?The event that welcomed us to the adult world taught us that evil is real, justice is complicated and institutions are fallible. However, we aren?t angry and we will stay optimistic, because we?ve been planning on being the ones to clean all this up for years.? he writes. But he thinks think it is fair to suggest that a generally mistrustful view of adulthood has become more common for them, ?and for defensible reasons?. ?One can make a case-by-case argument that every institution we have been taught to hold in esteem has, in the last decade, given us ample reason to question their integrity?. ****

The 1950 generation got to see the first televisions, transistor-radios, cassette recorders, compact-disk-recorders and personal computers who entered the homes. Their children found it very easy to work with this new electronic devices which seemed to bring the world at the doorstep. Many of them got so involved with the internet they are often referred to as the Net-Generation.

Facebook engancha - Photo Olga Palma

Companionship had been very much appreciated in the 1950ies and 60ies. At that time there was a big difference between a comrade, a friend and a good friend. But good- fellowship and friendship became more vague and the spoiled generation got by its greed and jealousy less able to make good friends. To create the idea that they had many friends they went into their virtual world, part of their Peter Pan Fantasy World, with their computer games, were they also started to create their own little fantasy world, with villages, many friends but also several enemies. Not playing outside so much, they did not look for opportunities to meet their school-comrades or school-friends on the play-fields or in the park. In a way they also got more isolated from the real world. As such the social networks seemed to have brought the solution for them, and created the idea that they were encircled by many many friends, now even all over the world. Facebook opened for them a new world of friends. Some even really went to believe they had so many friends, and did not see the difference between a connection, somebody they just knew, an acquaintance, business connection, job-relation, comrades, friends or good friends and relatives. The boundaries were not so tight.

Waarom houdt de Y generatie van de programma’s binnen ImproTraining? Generation Y grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with? laptops, i-pads, i-pods, BlackBerrys, cellphones, i-phones, smartphones and other gadgets, Generation Y is plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and prefers webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.

The Generation Y got thrown from one side to the other and had it not so easy to find her own path, so also many sub groups could be found in it. though the world wanted more and more some labels put on everything and there became a bigger emphasis on the relationship of the youngsters. Scientists also went into study the different groups and evolutions of the developing gangs and generations. They focussed more on such topics as meaning changes through time and interrelationship of language structure, behaviour, thought and meaning.

For the coming generations sometimes there was an awareness that they could be labelled, but than they should be careful how to behave because that was going to determine to which group they would belong or placed under, which could also determine their changes in the community. That awareness is a good sign, and I am happy that we can see more people wondering under which label they do want to belong. At first it will not be easy for them and perhaps they will laugh at it or would like to say it should not be taken to serious.

But at the end they should know that it is a very serious matter which is going to have a not to ignore importance on their development in the community and stipulate a lot of their chances in the society.

Generation Next, Net Generation, could find that they can become the reverberation of the baby-boom generation and as such be called the Echo Boomers.

Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold (New York, 1947) made into the American film Broken Arrow (1950) had become known as the first Western in which red Indians were depicted as normal men and not as a set bloodthirsty savages.? Several people form the 1950ies were interested in the many sorts of people, cultures, who looked precious for them and which had to be nourished. The generation after them did not want to get a deeper insight in the soul of men.

Flower Power

The 1960ies era could find a fundamental core in the spirit of sacrifice, honesty and dignity, professional pride for the growth of society. The Flower Power Movement may have seemed very loose for some but got together people who valued the human person and his environment. Egoism was not in its dictionary, and they considered everything for and from every one.

Strange enough got many of their children, and grandchildren more an attitude like it did not bother them how the world around them is going as long as they can have it good and survive in the nicest conditions. The newer generations seem to have replaced the love for mother earth with the love for themselves. The credo ?minimum engagement for a maximum of results? seems to have become the set standard. It?s an egoism which puts ?me, myself and I? above everything and everyone. Success at any price to exercise power over others.

The generations of the 1980ies and later consider the previous generations responsible for what is going to face them now. For today?s youth it is clear that they aren?t responsible for the situation today, but yesterday?s youth are. That?s a generation who betrayed themselves as they became?adults.

Superhero Alter-Ego

The Peter Pan Generation with its? heroes as Superman, Spiderman, Knight Rider and many figures of the lovely series Sesame Street seem to have been the last generation who played in the streets with flippos, pogs from crisp bags and spinning tops, and also the first who had fun with video games. They got an avalanche of information in front of them on the screen of the home computer but drowned in the huge amount of information which came over them. Having been kids who were full of information, with higher education and languages, who could handle new technologies at their whim and who knew how to travel with backpacks better than the next person, they also were the first generation which was not allowed to be really a small kid. after them it even got worse. The parents wanted to see in their kids copies of the adult world. The small children got even dressed as big adult. Lots of them were not allowed to play the games of the Y generation because they were considered to childish. Part of the Peter Pan Generation suddenly had seemed to be taken out of their dream and have clashed with reality of the grown up world, which had passed them and betrayed many people who had expected so much after the terrible damage the 2nd World War had done.

Though the 1980ies generation could be considered to have been young of spirit at first, sportive and supportive, able to absorb the positive from different people, they got it more difficult to face the society who betrayed their parents.? They became a generation who have it tough to be stable professionally and be able to plan a dignified future.

Among Douglas Coupland's voluminous archives is a Generation-X comic strip from Vista Magazine, circa 1987

While the Generation X thought to be able to conquer the world and was willing to fight for everything in which it believed, the Generation Y saw many dreams chattered. Today?s generation projects itself into the future but doesn?t dare to enough. The older ones from today?s generation focus on perfection while the newer ones in business do think they know everything (better) and get positions over the Generation Y group who is looked at by the youngsters as the dummies.

Today the world seems to have rolled out the red carpet for the 1990 generation which is? young, educated, and thought of to be with professional experience, though they still look green behind their ears. But what the bay boomer and X generations did not have enough was the hair on their teeth, being? communicative, multilingual, having several social competences. That is what companies are looking for today. But such high demands inevitably provoke the fear of failure. The pressure which was put on the children of the after war period is now put on the grandchildren in a later stadium in their life.? While the Baby boomer and Generation X were stimulated by the high requirements of their parents, the newer generation has now come under more pressure in adult life. After they got the idea to be the prince of the world and able to tackle everything they get introduced to the question ?Am I good enough? What other qualifications do I need?? in a time were they should be able to start building up new things. Instead their tower they had build in their childhood is stone by stone taken down. In such a decisive phase of their life they are confronted with their own private ambitions, the aspirations and expectations at work, as well as having children and a family.

The baby boomer and Generation X did not seem to have any fear, but now fear seems to creep in by Generation Y and Generation Z.

Generation change > First things first

The Baby boom Generation is put aside, made redundant, not considered to be useful for the future and the business.? All their savings are lost by the bank crisis, and their children understand that their parents were lured in mischievous projects and deals by corrupt business managers. The median age of retirement declined 3,7 years between 1940 and 1980 and most of the decline occurred in the 1970s as before.? (?A generation of change: a profile of America?s older population? by Jacob S. Siegel,Murray Gendell,Sally L. Hoover) But we can hear that several people were put on early retirement in schemes which were created to save the industry a lot of money not having to pay out the labourers they did not want to have any more, because considered to old and to expensive. By taking the Baby Boom Generation from the labour market they throw away the people with experience and they put on a financial burden on the younger generations.

This makes the following generations also wonder which way to take and whom to believe. Values they had learned from their grandparents and parents seem not to be of any value in this world today.? Nobody seems to respect credibility any more. Enormous level of pressure is making today?s generation lose creativity and spontaneity. If we are not careful we shall soon face a generation who shall not try out new things. This was always youth?s?privilege but it has become to dangerous ground, bringing luxury and? family stability in danger.

The Beat Generation (1950s) are considered the mad ones or the loonies (the ?Noops?). They had enjoyed the roller skates and got to see the surfing craze in full swing, realizing skateboarding could recreate the feeling of riding a wave. (By 1959 the first Roller Derby Skateboard was for sale.) After Larry Stevenson invented the kicktail the first generation of skateboarders laid down the foundation of tricks and style. However, they were still largely limited by equipment, the gadget of ?flying freedom? was used in ballets and shows, creating a dream-world. The children had taken a drive in the clouds, but fell down on their face before the turn of the century.
They are now pushed aside by those born in the mid-1980?s and later, Generation Y? professionals are in their 20s and are just entering the workforce. With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, Generation Y is the fastest growing segment of today?s workforce. As firms compete for available talent, employers cannot ignore the needs, desires and attitudes of this vast generation.

teenagers 300x254 Gen Y Conversations Snippets: 1

Gen Yers who have gotten a lot of their information in pictures, audio clips, video clips

Several of the Y Generations did love a lot of variation. They were not the type of people who wanted to settle in jobs, relationships, and when they did ?settle down? they often? understood this on a deep subtextual level that there is always a possibility of divorce if it doesn?t work out. for them it is important to be able to make any change if necessary to make their life better. Whatever changes they need they would take to in order to make the situation better. They do not want to be tied to a position, either a job, a wife or a family. They were the start of generations who found that they should be liberated from any boundary. With the Generation X it started already what we see today?s 20 and 30 some things working at one place for 40-50 years like their grandparents did. Some even? don?t see themselves making it to 10 years. Change, and changing up, is so deeply embedded in their psyche that they don?t know how to grin and bear it. ?Why should we have to if there is a possibility of something better somewhere else?? they say.
Innovation has become a competitive edge and today everything goes around and about change and renewal.

'We're Gen Y and we are in fact virtual' by Debe Maxwell, Charlotte NC Real Estate

But they do not feel so secure, as they see the ground taken under the feet of their parents. While their grandparents and parents did not have the need to crave attention in the forms of feedback and guidance they urge for recognition. They look up to the fashion magazines who put everybody in the floodlight.? While the baby boomers preferred to have work and family life totally separated, the Y generation throws out any family history to come into the picture. Tittle-tattle has become important for the contemporary generation. They do not know any more the difference between being known and being well known, being renowned and being famous or being famed. What is important for them is also to being? kept in the loop. They seek frequent praise and reassurance and do hope to find or use people whom may give them opportunities and help them to get higher up and develop their young careers.

Generation X was the first group of young people to challenge the long-held belief that each generation is destined to be better off than the one preceding it. Generation Y sees that everything seems to becoming worse for their future: they shall have to work longer and harder, and the climate is changing on all levels (work possibilities, weather, etc.)

If the 15 year old Michelle could see her now, she would probably want to jump into the future and slap her. She took the faux fur off and she doesn't own Uggs. She owns a TNA parka

Michelle***** (Kearnel), a student at a small, bilingual university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,?position as a ?field marketing director? on a short contract with a local event company, realizes that she is not a?revolutionary?by pointing out that sometimes people her age are ridiculous, but according to her that is no surprise because it?s 2012 and all the original ideas have been used. She says ?Don?t grow up. You will lose all your friends, have a mid-life crisis where you think buying a reliable compact Japanese SUV is the coolest thing you could do, and will let corporations pay you money to sell out your old dreams and ideas. You will supplement your misery by occasionally skipping work? and desperately?trying to re-create the?spontaneous?adventure of your youth, but all alone.?
For her ?Life?s too short to overanalyze.? For her ?Pulp Fiction may mock it? but she is? ?just waiting for IcelandAir? to offer her a good deal. ?TTYL, Ketchup-fiends!?

Basically, she?d be committing to spending two months sleeping in a tent without internet access (le gasp!) or even 3G. Even any phone service, for that matter, is obsolete. She spent 3 weeks in a cable-less, phone service-less house in PEI last summer. Even then she had her 13? laptop and some Harry Potter DVDs.

Social Networks and Generation Y

Because she gave up buying video games and not having her i-pod as loud that people still can hear it 50 meters further, she feels she could be the stranger in the group, but she forgets a lot of the Generation Y did not buy the games but downloaded them illegally. In her writing we can feel the underneath frustration as well about the too fast evolving systems which make is impossible to use certain games if the person has not the required new gadget. Their generation saw many versions of Windows and when they wanted to use certain Microsoft Word files they had to be updated to be able to pen them.

Some of the Y Generation got so much frustrated they started getting eating disorders and the Z Generation is following in their footsteps, but exaggerating everything even more. the foul language can not be hard enough for them and letters in postings, sms got multiplied to?add emphasis but those extra letters and four letter words do not ad anything, except taking away credibility for that person. Others got their body designed with tattoos, but got as such branded for ever.

Though everybody had the chance now to study, we see that they are throwing their chances away to get in some good positions. Today they have the choice either to be popular with their slang and dirty words, and be part of the plebs, like in the Roman times of bread and circuses, enjoying the reality shows and soaps on tv; or becoming part of a new growing elite of scholars and more serious thinkers and writers. The coin is thrown in their basket. They can choose for head and tales but it is always only one which is going to get a better position in life, and providing the necessary money to be able to keep the wolf from the door.

*?Post 80s and 90s: What?s With the Ultra Short Generation Gaps in China?

** Post-80s Get Businesslike

*** Carlson, Elwood (June 30, 2008). The Lucky Few: Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom. Springer. p.?29. ISBN?978-1-4020-8540-6.

**** In Defense of My Generation
So let?s please do away with the following seductive assertions: we have no regard for sacred institutions or hard work and we prefer our mother?s basement and the blogosphere to paying rent and heading into the office; we are self-absorbed, or rather self-obsessed and we must be treated like adolescents characterized by that self-obsession; our goldfish memories can only remember sound bytes, slogans and Mortal Kombat cheat codes; and finally, that we are slovenly couch-dwellers who idolize Seth Rogan characters and are pulling a fast one on the productive, hard-working adults who keep the world running.

***** Sometimes My Own Generation Confuses?Me + My English Class Supplement: Ferris Bueller?s New?Ad + Tree?Planting?

Peter Pan, the character in all of his various media depictions, represents the beauty of youth. Somewhat he represents the beauty of a responsibility-free life, yes, but he mostly represents the beauty of the mindset and philosophy of the youth. To a child the world is full of endless opportunity. While our parents slave away at their jobs, following the same tired old routine, a child sees the world as place where adventures are always waiting to be had. Adventures that fill your life with hope and joy and purpose. Who could ever argue with wanting to maintain such a mindset through your 20?s and throughout your entire life?

Appendix: Some thought 2011 would become the new?May? 68. The year passed with a lot of tribulation but it could not reach the tip of May? ?68. I do believe we are facing a total different interest and engagement. The Occupy Movement is much more varied and not everywhere is such a feeling of togetherness and respect.? today we are also facing more famine in Europe and there is a big need for jobs and respect for the labour force. In Greece, the youth unemployment amounts to 45%.? In Spain also.? But the problem is not limited to the? southern? countries.? Also in cities as Brussels stands the counter already on 40%.? Whole Europe could do with more jobs and better prospects for younger people!? The unrest under these younger people grows yet each day.? The dissatisfaction is not limited however to unemployment. The younger ones have to face the greying population for whom they also have to take care and have to pay the debt of their government. On the streets you can see many youngsters running with their buttocks partly naked. The bare bottoms show the Y of the generation.
Authenticity has become super important for younger people.? The internet is so transparent that incredible promises finally always become pricked.? They want that a fair politician must say not what they want to hear, but what they must know.? Especially when it is not popular. ? They demand political courage, and? in this way we can see a connection to what was been requested in 1968 as well.? As such the X and Y Generation have come home again and perhaps are ready now to split in the reality group who knows some things have to be done , though they can be not so nice, in able to survive in a better way and look for a future which shall be acceptable for all.