A Generation Defined

This is part of a larger essay on Generation Y that will be made into a digital essay. In case you missed it, here’s the intro. I still have one more post coming to finish the script. I’d love your feedback.

Before I explain what it personally means to me to be a member of generation y, we have to consider what generation y is in a larger context. I found Gen Y-ers referred to by many titles. The millennials is another popular name, but there are others: Google Generation, Echo Boomers, Trophy Generation, the Boomlet, Nexters, Generation Y, and the Digital Generation. Sources differ in defining this generation, but most agree that it includes those born between 1980 and 2000. Born in 1988, I fit almost right in the middle.

One generation y book’s subtitle portrays the way some people describe my generation. Jean M. Twenge’s “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable than Ever Before” compacts in its title some of the ways people think about Gen Y. It seems positive to be thought of as confident and assertive. Others opinions are less flattering, and Twenge explains how she sees being raised to have overly high self-esteems has set my generation up for disappointment. Numerous blogs and online articles teach employers how to “deal with” this new generation who are so “shocking” for feeling at liberty to wear jeans and have flexible hours in the workplace.

But these stereotypes do not fit the generation I know. I think my peers enjoy volunteering, are goal oriented, are not afraid to work hard and are passionate about many things. Not all of us, of course. But for the most part, I feel honored to be part of Gen Y and inspired to work harder to disprove stereotypes.

Some generations get defined by wars they have served in. Adversities they have overcome. Accomplishments they have achieved. A baby boomer I talked with said, “Gen Y hasn’t let Sept. 11, Iraq or a recession define you. If you did, you would all be bluthering messes and I don’t think you’re bluthering messes.” We have had so much to compartmentalize that we have learned to not let the outside world affect us so much, and maybe that is why we come off as selfish. When you have 80 boxes of cereal to choose from and follow 500 people on twitter, you have to learn to make part your world a little smaller.

We’re the generation that has learned how to embrace change quickly.

I’ve included this clip not to be a saleswoman for Apple, but to show just how many operating systems we have mastered in our lifetime. We might not have liked it, but we have had to be versatile to survive in our ever changing world. If we can teach ourselves Google Wave and what a hashtag does on twitter, imagine what we will be able to do once we can take ownerships of those skills and innovation, and can use those to fuel the passions we are discovering as young employees and students. We’ve grown up with the tools. Now we have the chance to use them to change the way the world works. It has yet to be determined what we’ll do with our skills, but we have the potential.

On a personal level, not so long ago, I was maybe what critics would define as the typical Gen-Yer who did just enough to get by. I had it down to a science how to do just enough in my classes to do well. The world which I existed in was pretty small, consisting mostly of me and the people who made my life easier. But once I learned from real world work experience and got advice from some amazing mentors, and found a passion in public relations, I was able to put my stereotypical generation y overconfidence to good use. Once I found something I was good at, I didn’t have to teach myself the tools to begin to succeed in my field – I was a Gen Y student who already knew how to use the resources at hand –I just had to go one step further and apply them. As generation y steps into leaderships roles, we will have the opportunity to succeed, it’s just a matter of finding out what we are motivated by.

I think what strikes me about those who categorize Gen Yers is that they do not leave enough room open for the unknown. Most Gen Yers are not old enough to be in any higher position than an entry level employee. It has yet to really be seen what we’ll be like as leaders, managers and mentors. While my essay has a beginning and end, I want it to be an open, living piece. There are many unknowns that my generation will have to face, and I want to leave room for that here. There is a website I’ve enjoyed reading which names us The Next Great Generation, but I hesitate to be this positive as well. I’d like to think of us as Generation Potential. Now what will we do with it?

What do you think is missing or overlooked when generation y is defined?

Gen Y: An Introduction

This is the current introduction to my senior writing project that will eventually take on a digital form. I would love your feedback on my writing or any ideas on how you would bring my ideas to life through pictures or video.

cc license: Linuxerist

Senior year of college has not gone exactly as I had hoped. I have had three surgeries in the past couple of months and most of the time I would have theoretically spent in self reflection, has been a time of healing and trying to play catch up in the schedule of a busy student. I tried to read Po Bronson’s “What Should I Do with My Life?” but was frustrated to find the book was more a platform for storytelling and less of an instruction manual. I didn’t have time for suggestion, only step-by-step instructions. So I am trying to use this opportunity, my senior writing project, as a medium to figure out my place in the world.

Which got me wondering, what this paradoxical time in life been like for past generations. After talking to people from different generations, I discovered that the issues most twenty-somethings face are essentially the same. Most everyone in their twenties is trying to make decisions about career, family and education. The difference with generation y is that we seem to have more options than past generations. We’re connected. We’re mobile. The world is now literally at our fingertips.

Most of the brilliant, ambitious Gen Y-ers I have been interviewing have embraced the “generation y” label. I questioned, Don’t we risk something by using this label? Does it lump us in with all the negative Gen Y stereotypes of being negative, lazy, and unprofessional? Do you really want to be reduced to a title that encompasses so many people, both the good and the bad? Their answers surprised me.

Gen Y-ers do not seem to be afraid of this label. They believe if someone from a different generation gets to know them, they will recognize all the good Gen Y qualities they possess. They are confident that others will see them as genuine, authentic and passionate.

I have embraced the generation y label as well, but have wondered how our generation gets defined and how we define ourselves. I have thought about what our generation has let go from the past and what we are embracing in the future. I’ve been considering the ways technology has changed my generation.

Most importantly, I think I’ve embraced this label because it makes me feel a little less lonely. Even in such a connected world, there are so many unanswered questions in front of me. I think it’s comforting to be tied to a whole group of people who are trying to answer the same questions, in similar ways, at the same time.