What generation do you identify with?
Posted by GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) on Sun 3 Apr 2011 - 22:01 — Edited by crossaffliction as of Mon 10 Aug 2015 - 02:13
Baby Boomers
5% (3 votes)
Generation X
35% (19 votes)
Gen Y/Millennials
35% (19 votes)
Gen Z/Net Gen
7% (4 votes)
None of the above
18% (10 votes)
Votes: 55
Comments
Millennial, which is usually thought of those born in the 80s and 90s.
Discussions with my mother, an elementary teacher, who believes strongly that there is an obvious divide between us and I guess what we're calling the "Net Gen" now, starting in 2000, which she is just beginning to teach. She says the defining characteristic of many "Millenials" (at least as she knows them) is a lot of complaining about tasks while simultaneously performing them. Admittedly, as that was my generation, she may have been both personally biased and cherry picking complements for me. She says the defining characteristic (as she sees it) of the "Net Gen" is a frankness and openness about sexuality; seeing as how, theoretically, the oldest member of that generation is 11, the next couple decades could be very interesting.
Complaining about tasks while simultaneously performing them.
I'm not quite sure that was a compliment. :-D
There are many articles about 'millennial workers' - and more than a few have a tone of resigned disapproval.
They may be justified. Technical skills which the new batch of workers asborbed like water are in-demand, and it's possible to get a "real" job in some industries without stepping out of the classroom. Yet technical skills do not always equal productivity.
"Net gen" might be appplied to both Gen Y and Z, similar to "digital native". (I'm not sure if I'm the former, but I'm definitely the latter.)
In my opinion, what divides us (Generation Y) from previous generations is our willingness to embrace revolutionary ideas of social change. As we get older, we tend to become more fiscally conservative like past generations, but we also have a greater understanding of the changing world around us.
That seems to be more what we have in common with the last generation, as Genesis sung "Our generation, will get it right, we're just not making promises you know we'll never keep..."
And low an behold now that song is remade by Disturbed and sung to another generation, and a generation later it will probably be remade and sung again. Every generation will put something right, they just will not fix everything, the next gen will have their own thing to overcome, I have a feeling our generation's legacy will be made in about 5 years, and I have a guess as to what it is, but what we'll fail at the the next gen will have to do, I'm not quite certain of yet.
But as far as 'embracing of revolutionary ideas', the previous generation did that too, and the generation before that, it's just when it happened a long time ago what was once revolutionary becomes the norm. When what has changed is now the expected, the revolutionary always becomes ordinary.
I had that song stuck in my head last night because of that lyric and this poll.
What's interesting is that the generations came before us approached revolutionary ideas, but as those generations had children (Generation X, Y), their views have softened and they became more hesitant to ride the waves of social change presented by future generations. For example, the 1960s and 1970s were about "free love" and freeing your mind. Survivors from that particular era have been hesitant to support gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana.
I think our generation is more willing to say, "Okay, we like those ideas, and you know what? We'll keep going. We won't stop there." As years rush by, the generational gap becomes more polarized -- and in my opinion, even more so since the Vietnam War. Our generation has this incredible grasp of technology, and it allows us to push the envelope even further than previous generations with our constantly redefining freedoms of speech and expression.
And of course there was The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" before that, and probably others.
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