After some readings and thinking this is what I have found so far.
Briefly,
The Builders Generation (1925-1942)
Influence by WWII, Great Depression & major authority figures.
Baby Boomers (1943-1960)
Influence by TV, Rock&Roll, Threat of Nuclear war and Cold War.
Generation X (1961-1981)
Influence by PC, AIDS, Single parent families, multiculturalism & downsizing companies.
Generation Y or Millenials (1982-Present)
Influence by Internet, Globalisation, Sept 11 and environmentalism.
Well, Since I am from the GenX; I will mainly blog about GenY.
Since long ago, people always try to understand what the young ones are thinking rather than the old ones, so naturally, I am interested in the younger generation which is GenY or The Millenials.
Due to my profession, I come across many GenYs and because of that I have always wanted to know more about their behaviour and experiences.
The truth is, there are always exceptional examples who does not follow the stereotypes BUT, mostly often it does.
Well, the world we grow up in is very different now compare to last time. Of course the perceptions and expectations are different too.
GenY does not understand the value of money as everything seems so easy for them. Everything is almost provided for by their parents and need not know how hard it is to earn money on their own. Starbucks' coffee can only be a norm to them than those normal black coffee by the Kopitiam.
Internet, Wi-Fi is normal and gadgets like handphones are a must, come on, during my time, handphone is a luxury and now is just a tool easier for me to communicate. For GenYs handphone is a need not a want and I bet there should be a message texting competition for them as they type sms faster than any other generation with their own text language only they know best. Seriously, there is a big difference!
The pop culture influence and peer pressure is much different now, they tend to work well in a team rather than individually. GenYs hit hard on peer pressure, they go all in groups and seldom alone. Look at the latest boy bands and girls group all in threes or fours or more! More songs feat with each other rather than hit a single song on their own. Is it a trend? The invention of You tube, Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry..... the shout outs and videos are all being felt by everyone, GenYs do not want to be alone, they afraid to be alone and they want everyone to know their every single move.....
Globalization, more understanding of the cultures of the world and inter-race marriage is more possible than last time, which used to be a huge taboo for all cultures.
Due to the single parent agenda, more and more youngsters opt for cohabiting rather than having married to one another, like the famous Brad and Angelina..... why? Well it is no longer a social stigma, unlike 30 years ago. The idea of being responsible to each other is kind of scary to them. There are not much of a commitment and marriage spells trouble for them. It is somewhat economical too on saving rent and utilities bills. The fear of having a divorce too add in to the idea of cohabiting. This idea also contributed to many unmarried mother and lack of population in certain countries.
This spills on to the fact on being environmental-friendly. Less people = Less pollution? More awareness now than ever in GenYs, their quest to save the world is more obvious than before. The global warming the weather changing is more obvious now than in any decades. The doings of us and our forefathers seems rather bad to the environment and they hate us for not being caring to the environment.
In the workforce, generally the GenYs have too much expectations compare to GenXs. They will tend to switch jobs more frequently than any other generations. They need more feedbacks, more encouragement, their mere participation is frequent enough for a reward. Their work ethics are practically different than ours. They prefer a work-life balance, which is life come first before work. They want work to be enjoyable as well as life.
Well I can still go on and on but I guess you guys get the picture. In order to improve myself, I need to understand what GenYs are like generally as more than often we meet them everywhere. To understand meaning to improve and upgrade to the latest trend as in to keep up with them as well. The trend of GenYs are affecting a lot of GenXs, if we do not understand them no one else will.
