A Hybrid Generation

For too long, Generation Y has gone unheard. A voice in the background as our parents’ whispered, “Shhh, you’re too young to understand.” Well now that we are older and have a grasp on reality, we are ready to express our opinions and views that have been misunderstood by our parents and grandparents for too long. This simple act of withholding our voice and beliefs only now comes out in as previous generations are turning to us for answers and hope. While our generation was growing up, many major events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Columbine High School shooting and the current Iraq war have shaped our views and opinions on the world issues that have arisen as a result of these occurrences. Experiencing such tragedies our generation will redefine what it means to say that you are passionate about something by showing that if we are, we put our words into action.

Common views among Generations X and Jones are that our generation will either save the world or bring it to its destruction. When I say, bring the world to its destruction, I am not referring to catastrophically destroying the planet, however I am referring to ending economic and technological advancement of the world. Society as we know it. Sure, there are an unequal amount of odds against our favor; however, we welcome the challenges our parents left for us to deal with. Before we can begin addressing the long list of problems staring us in the face, we must bring to the realization of previous generations that we are concerned with the problems. According to Anne Loehr’s blog, GenY: Fighting for What They Believe In, “the number one attitude unifying Gen Y is, I would fight for a cause I believe in” (Loehr par 1). World hunger, Religion, Global Warming, Human Rights, and Resources for Third World Countries are among some of the top ranked world problems; however, this list is never ending. This isn’t just simply a list. This is a call out of apathy into action. According to Alex Buck from Massachusetts, “Pollution and cutting down rainforests is one of the biggest problems in the world—I don’t see why people do that. It’s just hurting themselves in the long run. And pollution—why do people litter when there’s trash cans—like, take the trash and put it in the trashcan!” (Bowman 94). This is just one example of thousands that shows that we recognize the problems and the lack of action from previous generations.

In a recent survey conducted about world problems and our concern for them, 94% of the participants responded by saying they would rather drive a hybrid car rather than a popular SUV. So what exactly does this mean? This is in response to the global warming crisis facing our planet that our generation will soon be dealing with in the future. Since the majority of us are already willing to make sacrifices and life-style changes, our action is already being expressed.

If we didn’t care about world problems and want to make efforts to solve them, would we sacrifice our comfortable life-styles? This survey also showed that 74% of the participants would be willing to pay a “small” tax to help alleviate the world hunger crisis. According to Rave Cruz, a freshman at the University of Central Arkansas, “Yes, I would be willing to pay a small tax. We as a whole are far better off than those in underdeveloped countries. Many see ourselves as poor college students when we really aren’t. A small tax would be nothing compared to some of the money we spend on things we really don’t need.” Money is important to us as a generation, and for us to sacrifice a small portion of our money should raise a red flag. We could easily be spending this money on something else, but instead we would be willing to send it to a cause we believe in.

Instead of focusing entirely on how our generation doesn’t care about current world issues, maybe we should take a look at why and how these world issues arose in the first place. If Gen X and Jones would have cared about world problems, which many claim they do, then why are we left to deal with challenges that have been around for years? The answer, apathy. Now it is important to recognize that we are not attacking previous generations for everything that has occurred wrong in the world. Obviously, all the issues present did not come about as a direct result of their actions. Some things are simply out of our control. However, we are holding them responsible for their actions that resulted in situations that could have been avoided.

Our generation possesses the technology to solve these problems in ways that previous generations never even thought of. Therefore, we are left to pick up the loopholes left by our parents and grandparents. Applying technologies in the areas of medical sciences to help underdeveloped nations, switching to alternative fuels and safer environmentally friendly vehicles, and recycling trash that would otherwise be dumped in a landfill are just a few examples of how we will take what our parents have left us with, and use it for the better of mankind.

We are not the stereotypical generation that others claim us to be. We refuse to accept the norms of society and we want to meet the challenges that face us head on. Sure, there some things that our generation is not proud of; however, we stand by our imperfections and our strengths in every situation. How could we, the future of a country, not care about the problems that will one day directly affect our children? Rather than glaring at them with fear, we stare them down and realize that there is hope of an end.


Works Cited:

Epstein, Peter. "Does Generation Y Dream Too Big?" Webblog post. Brazen Careerist. 24 Apr. 2009. 27 Apr. 2009 .

Griggs Cody. “Generation Y Survey on World Problems for Writing Class…Please Respond!” 20 April 2009. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/notes.php?id=568731175

Bowman, Robin, and Robert Coles. It's Complicated The American Teenager. Minneapolis: Umbrage Editions, 2007.

Loehr, Anne. "Gen Y: Fighting for What They Believe In." Weblog post. Google Blogs. 22 Apr. 2009. 23 Apr. 2009 .

Lazy? Not Me

Generation Y is a very difficult generation for past generations to understand. We are different from them in so many ways. That is largely in part because our priorities are very much different from the generations of our parents (McCrindle), or the fact that technology has changed the world and us as a generation as well. We have grown accustom to this technology while our elders have not. Technology is large part of how we get things done and sometimes we are seen as lazy for it. The way we see our work ethic differs greatly from what the previous generations think about us. It also seems strange to other generations how caught up in our identity we are. Most of us believe we should be able to have any look we want in any profession; whether it be a pink haired doctor or a librarian covered in tattoos (Mischief).

The generations of our parents and grandparents believe we are a lazy group with a very poor work ethic. They think because we do not work the way they had to, that we are lazy. We are seen as the most unintelligent generation to date and having counterproductive work ethics (Hubster). We do not spend as much time working with our hands, or working outside and that means we are not working hard at all. Also, generations past do not share our same attitude about work. They were brought up with the “live to work” mentality. We have never looked at things that way and that is another reason we are misunderstood. As a whole we do not have as strong a desire as they do to get out and work all the time. As a result, work is not as big a part of the lives of Generation Y (Cole)

We as a generation will mostly admit that we are indeed lazy. Some of us believe we truly are a lazy generation, especially compared to those of the past. I conducted a Generation Y internet survey asking how people felt about our work ethic. Only Generation Y was allowed to respond and 79% percent said our work ethic is overall poor. There are some of us who still believe this is not true and we simply know how to get things done quicker. Technology has become available to us and we know how to make the most of it. We typically go out of our way to find out how we can do less work and still do what we need to do. There is nothing wrong with being resourceful, but we are being lazy when we continually go out of our way to avoid putting in a little extra effort.

Those of us in Generation Y who claim we are in fact lazy do not typically believe they are lazy themselves. They think there is nothing wrong with their own work ethic. Many say they will always get the job done when it counts. As commented on Hubsterblog, a member of Generation Y claims “we suck,” and goes on to say they believe they buck the trend (Hubster). In my previously mentioned survey a convincing 93%, all but one person, said their work ethic was strong. In reality a person who is a hard worker would say they will get the job done period. Procrastination is merely a product of laziness.

So to answer the question “Is Generation Y a lazy group?” yes we are. The thing that makes us different is we will not admit it about ourselves. We have our share of hard workers like everyone else, and there are some of us out there who are not but are willing to admit it. The latter of those groups is very small in number. That is the primary factor that sets us apart from other generations; we will strongly defend our individual work ethics, but have no problem saying we are not hard workers as a whole.

Faithless?

Many things have been said about Generation Y. If you ask our elders, we’re nothing more than lazy, sarcastic, uninterested assholes who are going to bring about Armageddon. If you ask us, we aren’t lazy, we’re smart. Yeah we’re sarcastic, but black humor is better than no humor at all. And uninterested? Please. We’re interested in all kinds of stuff; it’s just that none of it is stuff that people found interesting before. It’s not that we’re uninterested in world events, as some claim, but that we’re more interested in national events. One of our biggest flaws according to the members of Generations X and Jones, is that by and large, we feel no desire to go to church and worship. But just because we are becoming less “godly,” we aren’t becoming less religious.

According to the generations before us, Sunday mornings are for church. According to us, Sunday mornings are for sleeping off what we did on Saturday night. Religion, as it was previously considered, is on the decline. But the number of people considering themselves religious remains fairly level. When asked if he was religious, F.R., a freshman at the University of Arkansas (UofA) stated “Yes, my reverence for the world makes me religious.” K. A., a sophomore here at UCA, answered in a similar manner, stating “Yes, I am religious because I hold a belief that mystery is a beautiful thing and remain unconvinced about humanity’s ability to know the truths of the universe.” Both of these men claim to be religious, but neither of them mentions a “God” in their reasons for being religious. Both also seemed to be sketchy on the topic of salvation. F.R. said that he does not believe in salvation, while K.A. claims that the rules and rituals required for salvation are pointless, but that “the mindset and reflection necessary for some religions” is a complete requirement for salvation.

When asked if they felt that religion was growing more or less prevalent, 5 of 12 students interviewed claimed that it was growing less prevalent. Of these 5, all of them consider themselves to be non-religious. The remaining 7 students all gave answers that can be interoperated. K.A. claims that religion isn’t dying, it is “merely changing forms.” N.D, another freshman at the UofA stated that “for me, it is growing—really just changing. [Overall] I do not know about growing or lessening, I just know that each individual must choose for themselves.” C.G. goes so far as to claim that “it is growing more, and in a different way” but she prefaces this by stating that “religion is not going to be the religion our parents knew, we are revising it to fit our beliefs.”

Blogger Samantha Karol seems to agree with these statements, writing “what many people don’t realize is there are many ways to live your faith.” (Karol). She point out that many people in our generation are unhappy with religion, because it was forced on them; they weren’t given a choice in the matter. She then makes a call for Generation Y to give religion another chance on its own terms.

And I second this call, try something new. If you were raised Baptist, try a Methodist church or a Catholic one; maybe even try a Buddhist temple. If you find nothing to your liking, then at least nobody can claim that you didn’t give religion a chance. K.A. made a point of stating that he thinks that “among many circles, it (religion) is becoming much less popular because of a large amount of misunderstanding and ignorance.” I have to agree. In some instances, people bash religion, even though they don’t fully understand what that religion believes, this kind of uninformed hate has happened before, most notably against blacks here in America, and also against Jews in Germany. We don’t want our generation to be known as the one that persecuted religion, do we?


Works Cited:

Karol, Samantha. Weblog post. Brazen Careerist. 10 Apr. 2009. 28 Apr. 2009 .

The Millennium Generation

Generation Y is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and pre-conceptualized generations in history. Psychologists, parents, and everyone else attempt to throw in their two cents as to what defines our generation. They talk about things like morals, religion, marriage, dating, and every other aspects of life, but the rarely ever agree with one another and ever rarer still, are they even correct in their findings. Their problem with defining our generation is that they are not part of our generation, ergo, they attempt the draw their conclusions based upon their generation’s ideologies and opinions. However, everything is relative, including morals and ethics. Therefore, the only ones qualified to describe generation Y is generation Y itself. The problem is that the single unifying ethical characteristic of our generation is that there is no single unifying ethical characteristic.

I feel that our generation can be quite ethical when the situation calls for it. However, this is only in certain areas of life. Ethically out generation likes to draw lots of lines dividing right and wrong. This leads to many gray areas and vastly differing morals. A prime example of this can be seen in a survey I conducted online. 86% of admitted to using P2P (peer to peer) software like Bittorent and Limewire to download music illegally, while only 13% reported to having ever stolen a physical item from a store. Many of the responses reflected a strong belief against stealing physical items but at the same time stealing music files is acceptable.

I found an interesting paragraph posted on Hubsterblog. It reads, “Gen Y is quite simply, useless, cultureless, grey, shallow and completely directionless. ...They take the levels of stupidity to new heights. I feel embarrassed for them and even more so for their parents. How can anyone possibly raise their children like this?”
The last line is what I found so interesting considering it was written by a generation Xer. While it cannot be denied that our morals are all over the chart ranging from mother Teresa to eating babies, this is a result of our upbringing. The ones who are making us look bad are the ones whose mothers didn’t hold them enough, or too much, choose your cliché, but regardless it’s not entirely our fault. Perhaps this is a hallmark of all generations, unwillingness to accept fault. Every single problem with a generation is a direct result of the parenting problems of the previous generation, including our morals.

Generation Y is unique. We are so vastly different from the previous generations and vastly different from ourselves in our morals and every other part of life that the only way to lump us together is by our dates of birth. For better or worse, we are who we are and to quantify us in any other way is an impossibility. We are each of us unique and there exists no common denominator with which to define us in any other way then this.


Works Cited:

Dickinson, Aaron M. Generation Y Ethics Survey. Raw data. Facebook, Conway. 20 Apr. 2009.

"Generation Y: The most stupid generation so far." Weblog post. Hubsterblog. 15 Aug. 2007 .

Happily Ever After?

There is no doubt that Generation Y is one of the most intriguing generations. Each generation has its own stereotype and there are many for Generation Y as well. The difference in Generation Y is that these stereotypes don’t always hold as true as those of previous generations. Maybe it’s because Generation Y isn’t like past generations. We’re different. It’s hard to stereotype a generation consisting of a mosaic of people raised by so many past generations. Not only that, but what past generation has had the ability to communicate with anyone in the world at any moment? The world today is smaller than it has ever been. A generation stereotyped as lazy and apathetic has never been so knowledgeable of the world around them.

This has led to a number of differences with Generation Y and the generations of the past. We aren’t confined to the city, state, or even country we grew up in. We also are not confined to a certain standard or common social code of ethics. In a generation where tolerance is considered a virtue, people are more comfortable doing things their own way. One of the biggest examples of this is the way Generation Y views marriage.

The advantage of any new generation is what they can learn from past generations. For a very long time marriage was considered one’s duty more so than a bond between two people in love. It is a very recent concept to marry for love. As time went by the idea of marriage became more and more romanticized with each passing generation. As the standard of living improved so did the ideas of doing things for pleasure and happiness instead of necessity. This can help explain the evolution of marriage even within the last century.

The biggest change in the way we marry can be largely attributed to the advances of women. With the opportunities to become a highly successful and independent individual the need to marry for their own well being is long gone. Instead women are looking for that special guy, “someone to share themselves and their life with” (Gall). In a small survey done through the social networking site “Facebook” this seems to be the trend amongst most of the female responders. When asked at what age they see themselves getting married the most common response was in the low to mid twenties, somewhere between 22-26.

In the same survey the responses from the males were slightly different. The most common age for them was in the mid to high twenties, somewhere between 25-30. The most interesting differences in the males and females were the responses of why they want to get married. In the females it seemed that not only was love an important factor but stability as well. They wanted someone who could share their interests and be able to count on. The males, on the other hand, responded quite often with wanting to start a family. This can help explain why they chose to marry later in life than women. In the late twenties you are usually out of college and have a somewhat stable career which makes starting a family a much less difficult endeavor.

Even though it may seem women are wanting to marry earlier in life than men they are actually waiting later than they ever have before. They too want the stability a career offers. But I think this only offers a part of the explanation. In a generation where almost half of the people were raised by divorced parents there is no wonder we are waiting later in life to marry. According to a study by Amato, “growing up in families with high levels of marital instability increases individuals’ chances of developing behavioral traits that contribute to disruption in their own marriages “ (Tallman 334). I would have to disagree. Yes it is true that having divorced parents does have a big impact on a child, but I think Generation Y doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Growing up watching their parents’ marriage fail only fuels the desire to have a better relationship themselves and not make the mistakes of the past generations. This is why we are waiting later in life to marry. When asked about their thoughts on divorce one of my responders wrote, “I oppose divorce. Marriage is supposed to be forever, not 4 years 2 months as it seems to be these days…people are rushing into it being afraid they may never find the person” (Gall).

Generation Y isn’t the marriage hating generation so many critics try to make us out to be. We are just not as naïve as past generations. With a few exceptions, we are not rushing into marriage because we do care about making them work, and we actually understand how detrimental a failed marriage can be on future generations. We don’t fall for the fantasized notions of love like the Prince Charming of all those Disney movies. We realize as one blogger puts it, “It’s not always about those fun, sexy wild adventures that everyone seems to be having in La La Land and Hollywood - if they ever existed” (Moore). We are still looking for love, but we understand it is not as easy to find and in some cases may not always end in “happily ever after.”


Works Cited:

Gall, Steve. “Generation Y Survery for Writing Class. Please Respond!” 25 April 2009. .

Irving Tallman, Thomas Rotolo, Louis N Gray. "Continuity or change? The impact of parents' divorce on newly married couples. " Social Psychology Quarterly 64.4 (2001): 333-346. Research Library. ProQuest. Torreyson Library, UCA, Conway. 29 Apr. 2009 .

Moore, Raven. "The Decision Theory Behind Saying "Yes" To Marriage." Weblog post. The Writerbabe Series. 29 Apr. 2009 .

The Lazy Generation Y

The times are always changing in America. This is especially true when comparing the past and present American generations. Starting with the Baby Boomers of the 1950s, then through Generation X and Generation Jones, America has seen a difference in its way of work ethic. The upcoming generation, Generation Y, is the future of the American workforce. Most of these young men and women are finishing college and/or starting to join the workforce. But, the generations before ours see Generation Y as a weak link in the American society. I want to take an in depth look at both sides of the argument from older generations’ views and Generation Y’s views to determine if my generation is actually lazy in our work ethics.

From scanning through searches on the internet, I’ve found people’s opinions of older generations and how they feel about Generation Y. Let me tell you, the prognosis is predictable. One Generation X blogger stated how he feels about Generation Y as whole. He says that Generation Y kids are “arrogant, have terrible work ethics” that “exhibits unacceptable workplace behavior and is totally counterproductive.” He also goes on to say how “Gen Y is the biggest disgrace our society has seen” with our “lacking in intelligence and morals” (Generation Y). Another blogger states that although Generation Y is smarter, they do not know how to work in a business atmosphere. “I truly believe,” the blogger states, “that unless they are given a syllabus or specific instructions, [Generation Y] would not know to wipe their butts” (Vanderburgh).

Mark McCrindle states that the Baby Boomer Generation built their values on respect for authority and a strong work ethic. He also discusses that Generation Y reaps the benefits of their parents. Yet, Generation Y sees the cost of their parents’ success through broken marriages and absentee parenting (McCrindle).

But not all Generation Xers feel that Generation Y is ruining America. According to three professors at Arkansas Tech University, Generation Y workers are completely different when compared to the Generation X workers. Generation Y prefers a fun environment, non-monetary perks, and flexible hours at his or her job. For Generation X, work was just a part of life that they accepted even if it was miserable. This also leads to the difference in the level of confidence. Generation X is pessimistic and look outside their working duties for self-fulfillment. Generation Y is optimistic about how they will be in life and their success (Cole).

When it comes to my fellow peers of the Y Generation, they have a totally different perspective on our work ethic. I decided to conduct a survey to determine what an average Generation Y’s thought was on his or her individual work ethic. I asked what they thought about their personal work ethic, what their thoughts were on the term “hard work”, and why people say our generation was lazy.

The general answer for rating the individual’s work ethic is they feel they have a strong work ethic. One person stated, “I think I have a pretty good drive to get something done if it’s worth my time. If I don't see any point or relevance to it, I don't see a reason to put an effort toward it.” Unless my generation sees a point in doing a task, there is no point in putting effort into something we don’t care about.

I then raised the question, how does our work ethic compare to older generations’? Most of Generation Y admitted that our generation does not work as hard as past ones but not for the reason many think. There is such a huge gap in the technological differences between the past and now that it makes perfect sense. The present generation has computers and software to make life and tasks easier and less time consuming.

Finally, I asked would Generation Y consider a job in the future that demanded physical labor. The results were split. Some felt that if there was a need, they would do physical labor without question. The other half felt like that they have done their time doing the dirty work and are now setting up their lives to have jobs that don’t demand physical labor, whether this be through college or proper training. Because of today’s technology, there is less of a demand for physical labor than in other generations.

For years, this debate will continue back and forth. Is Generation Y lazy? Both sides have their own opinions, but it’s important to know that they can be both right and wrong. Only time will tell whether Generation Y lives up to the standards of the past generations or to their own Y standards. Whatever the conclusion it may be, the end for certain is that Generation Y is the future, and the society depends on us to make the decisions that will impact later generations.



Works Cited:

Cole, Gene, Richard Smith, and Laurie Lucas. “The Debut of Generation Y in the American Workforce.” Fall 2002. Journal of Business Administration 29 Apr. 2009 .

"Generation Y: The most stupid generation so far." Weblog post. Blogspot. 15 Aug. 2007. 29 Apr. 2009 .

McCrindle, Mark. “Understanding Generation Y.” The Australian Leadership Foundation. Google Scholar 29 Apr. 2009 .

Vanderburgh, Kristen. "Putting Gen Y on Paper." Weblog post. Wordpress. 19 Apr. 2009. 29 Apr. 2009 .

No Religion for Generation Y

Historically speaking, religion has always been commonplace in American households. Almost everybody’s parents and grandparents never missed attending church growing up. Most of us are familiar with this concept, as we live in the heart of the Bible belt. However, with Generation Y, I believe that we are going through a period where practicing a religion has become less common.

Why did this happen to my generation? Why didn’t this occur with the Baby Boomers, Generation Jones, or Generation X? I personally believe that main reason is materialism. Our generation has encompassed this dogma more than any other. We spent our early years growing up in the technological boom of the 1990s. For this reason, we have grown partial to anything and everything that has to do with computers and other gadgetry. We throw fits if we don’t have a cell phone, internet, or a cell phone with internet. Electronics and small gadgets have become so important to us that they have become, in essence, our religion.

Even when people consider themselves to be religious these days, I cannot help but wonder if they realize that they most likely spend more time watching TV, talking on their cell phone, or playing video games. They attend to their possessions more than they attend church. It is no secret that materialism has become our religion, so to speak. In fact, Dr. Stephen Prothero saw this reflected in an experiment he conducted in his religion class a few months back. He asked his students simply to create their own faith or religion, and he received astounding results. Each imaginary religion they created had nothing to do with going to church or worshipping a higher power. For example, one student created “Zen Boozism,” which is the practice of using alcohol as a pathway to “self-expression and self-discovery.” (Prothero 15A) Another religion included “Dessertism,” which states that the stomach is the way to our soul. (Prothero 15A) For his class, God and church were afterthoughts when creating a religion.

I admit that religion took a backseat in my life at an early age. I had more important things on my mind growing up, like video games, computers, and playing basketball. In high school, most of my friends considered themselves religious, but they barely attended church. Coming to college, however, I have noticed that nearly all of my friends have denounced religion. I even have friends who are believers yet do not practice a religion. It’s just something we don’t have the time or patience for anymore. I know that I would not be able to go to church every Sunday and/or Wednesday and expect to complete all of my homework on time. This is because things have become more modernized; life has become busier and more hectic, leaving less room to attend church once or twice a week.

After conducting a Facebook survey and analyzing the answers from fellow Generation Y members, I was able to extrapolate information that I feel accurately supports my premise. When asked how often they attend church, answers varied from “never” to “only when my parents make me” to “haven’t been in a few years.” Interestingly enough, three people stated that they try to go to church every Sunday, and only one person said they attend church a few times a month. When asked how important religion is to them, a few people claimed it was very important, while the majority agreed that it was not very important at all. Those that found it not very important, however, were not all non-religious. I noticed a trend in which several respondents claimed that religion was not important, but spirituality or a personal relationship with God was. These are testaments to the beliefs of Generation Y, and I think the ratio would stay the same had more people answered my survey.

Even though Generation Y has stripped religion from its guise, this does not imply we are all godless heathens. Some of us still remain as believers. In fact, I feel we will be looked upon as the first generation to emphasize spirituality and/or faith over religion and be the first to bring God down to an individual, private level as opposed to a group, church-oriented level. I also contend that materialism has quickly taken the place of religion’s increased “absence” in Generation Y, creating a unique paradox. We are a generation of many different faiths and beliefs, from militant atheists to evangelical Christians, united under one “religion,” materialism. Previous generations will read that sentence and say it makes absolutely no sense, but for Generation Y, that is our creed.


Works Cited:

Prothero, Stephen. "Is Religion Losing the Millenial Generation?" USA Today (2008): 15A.

The Promise and Practice of the Millenials

There has been much speculation over the characteristics of my generation: Generation Y or the Millenials. Some characteristics are easy to see. For instance, our generation is one raised in a digital age and likewise we are accustomed to getting what we want fast. But what do we care about? As hard as it is to characterize a generation that hasn't fully matured it does however seem important to understand the psychology of Gen. Y to find out what kind of world Generation Y is going to create. We've been known as the generation with short attention spans, the non-confrontational generation, the materialist generation and the supreme multi-taskers (gorzecki). But what does this mean for the future? Does my generation care about the world around us or are we only subject to our own self interests and goals? With broad and numerous problems facing our world ranging from the economic crisis to climate change to radical Islam, it is hard to say any generation has faced so much from so many different angles. So what will we do about it? To understand the world Generation Y will create we must understand who we are in the context of the events and circumstances that we have lived through.

From my experience as a Gen Yer and from my interactions with my peers I will try to draw some insight. We are a generation who grew up without much external worry. It all ended after 9/11. Our minds changed because the world changed. The world suddenly became a hostile place and we bought into the hostility. We put our trust in our own government, our own nationalism, and the generations united under the flag of a common threat. Only it didn't last long for we have since have seen the betrayal of our governments trust to justify excessive military engagement. We saw ourselves become as radical as those whom had threatened us. So, we disowned such radicalism. I feel this is a tendency of Millenials. We are a generation of pacifists. We don't carry the burden of cold war fears that accumulated into generation X's pessimism. We see war as an unnecessary option. Part of our pacifism I believe arises from the large degree of communication we have with others through the wide variety of media outlets we are accustomed to.

Our generation has undoubtedly been exposed to more information than any other thus far. From the growth in television, internet, and other media outlets we are nearly constantly being exposed to new ideas. I believe this has developed into a general respect for perception. Our generation is very tolerant of people’s beliefs whether we agree with them or not. Because of this tolerance we are not hindered by our disagreements. We fear confrontation because we do not believe it resolves anything. What matters to us is what we can agree on. In other words, we ask: 'what is practical?' 'What makes sense?' 'What is effectively good for all of us?’ This is evident in the overwhelming support of young people for Obama in the '08 elections. He was seen as largely non-partisan, a logical thinker, a uniter and unlike many politicians: a uniquely likeable man with a cool temperament. These qualities are those that we value in our leaders and that we value in ourselves.

There are, however, many aspects of our generation that inhibit our promise of a better future. We have been a heavily nurtured generation, highly dependant on our parents for guidance in making personal decisions (onboardinggeny.com). We have come to think for ourselves when it comes to the world around us but on a personal level we lack the preparedness to overcome the practical challenges of living in an increasingly complex world. A world much different than what we were raised to believe it was. Many of us have come to rely on prescription medication and substance abuse to escape the challenges of our lives. We may acknowledge the problems with our lives and the world but know not how to effectively deal with them much less fix them. This has led us to the state that many critics of Generation Y have stated, that is, we have come to focus our energies on what is immediately satisfying. We avoid hard work when we see opportunities for happiness through simpler, quicker means. This, in my eyes, is the problem of our generation. We've been sheltered by our pleasant childhood and the promise of we can accomplish anything and then suddenly we've been thrown into a world where nothing seems possible. Our dreams crash with the realization of how difficult life really is.

That’s not to say there is no hope for Generation Y. We have hope in each other. We have grown to rely on our friends as the parents away from home. Indeed we usually relate to our peers more anyway. We agree on a path for the world, a world of decent people living harmoniously serving themselves while serving others. Generation Y is finding itself as it grows away from their parental. And what we are finding is that we can make a difference.

Young people are taking action. Ten years of increased volunteerism by young people is evidence of this. I believe many of Gen Yers do care about doing something more than themselves but there is however an aspect of society that tells us to do the opposite. An aspect that tells us to simply take care about ourselves for financial stability so that we can join the mainstream of society, get married, have kids, work hard, retire and die. But this monotonous vision embraced by previous generations is not for Gen Yers. We don't want to commit to something that we will tire of. But we don't tire of what we love to do. And that is something that we all have to find out for ourselves. The answer is not 'to have fun' as many Gen. Y critics will claim. But I know that many of my peers still have not found what they love to do but they feel the pressure to choose as they get older. The reason for our slow progress, in short, is that contrary to previous generations, Generation Y doesn't do things for the sake of doing them. We want meaning. We want purpose. And we definitely don't want to rush into a life that we will not be happy with.

Generation Y is a confusing generation. In some sense we have never matured. But the old idea of maturity, to go out and get a job and work work work, simply is not what we want in life. I believe this generation has the potential to be the uniting force of our world but the means of doing so have not been revealed to us. We have no direction because we only know what we don't want to do. And we don't want to settle for doing something we won’t care about in ten years. Many would say that this is an inability to deal with hard work. But we simply do not believe that life should be a struggle. Generation Y is the generation that wants to be happy. The question remains however, is that too much to ask for?

So what lies ahead for the world according to Generation Y. Clearly we are an intelligent and capable of doing great things. We believe that there is a starch contrast between the intellectual ability of our generation and previous generation, between our parents and us, and even more so between our grandparents and us. We are logical, efficient, and expect good outcomes because of it. Any failures of motivation or self discipline I believe we will eventually adapt to and overcome. Once we do come to be the thriving generational force of society, I believe good things will come of it. Our moderate ideals, pragmatism, and ability to overcoming differences are the very things this world is thirsting for. When that day does come where we can look at the world in the way we always hoped it to be, perhaps then we will find our happiness with this world.


Sources Cited:

www.tomasgorzecki.com. 26 April, 2009. http://tomaszgorecki.com/blog/2009/04/26/generation-y-the-good-bad-and-ugly-edition-of-link-love/

www.onboardinggeny.com. 16 November, 2009. http://onboardinggeny.com/the-transitional-parent-part-1-delayed-adulthood/

Black and White or Shades of Grey

Dualism, you have to love it, especially if you are a part of Generation Y, otherwise known as the Millennial Generation or the Net Generation. We are the generation who is going to save the world and then wave as we send it all to hell. It is no wonder we are a little different when it comes to religion when compared to past generations. We as a generation seem to like our world in shades of grey. The simple color scheme of black and white that every other generation is used to, that is just too limiting. We are the generation of creativity and religion is certainly an area in which Generation Y has turned the world topsy-turvy. Generation Y’s new spin on things has made more than a few question where this heathen generation is going to take the world. Generation Y may not be as strict on religion as generations past, but we are spiritual in our own style.

Generation Y has formed our beliefs off of our experiences. As Ruarri, a Generation Yer himself said, “we’re a generation that has come of age when religion has been at its ugliest” (Millennial Generation Spirituality 2). We as a generation came of age during 9/11, an event that tore our safe little bubbles apart and exposed us to the horrors of radical religion. Due to experiences such as this Generation Y has come to accept other religions and ideas. Without acceptance religion can destroy the harmony that we seek. Our generation also knew how to use a keyboard before we were in diapers, and with the growth of technology during our youth we now have access to a world that was unknown to the generations before us. With this technology we are spanning the gaps between continents and beliefs. We are using these different forms of media provided us to understand the world around us and through these tools are becoming a more unified generation. We are realizing that different religions all seem to teach similar principles, and through this knowledge we are coming to accept the differences between us and our beliefs.

From these experiences and lessons my generation has come to the conclusion that “one can pick and choose one’s beliefs drawing from a range of sources of religious knowledge and…each person is considered to have the right and responsibility to form their own beliefs” (Hughes 137). From our experiences we have learned that there are a variety of beliefs and religions, and from the use of technology we have learned to form our own beliefs from this variety. As a generation we have come to accept other religions and beliefs as testified by E.A. in a survey I conducted, “I do enjoy listening to other viewpoints, so I tend to jump from one religious gathering to the other” (Facebook). This shows why many in my generation are not attending a specific religious group. Our beliefs are a conglomeration of many religions, and though we are not participating in a specific religion we do consider ourselves spiritual.

There is also a concern from “case studies…[that] demonstrate that the majority of students opt to not participate in religious opportunities on [a college] campus” (Cherry, DeBerg, and Porterfeild 587). Many believe that due to this lack of participation in religious organizations during college generation Y will not participate in religion when they are older. This was shown in the survey I conducted with eight participating in a religious organization now and seven not participating. Yet, when I asked how many would participate in the future the numbers changed with ten saying they hoped to become a part of a religious body in the future and ten declaring they would not. This shows that while generation Y may not participate as fully in religion now as others would like, in the future we may grow more involved with religion. We are a generation of mixed beliefs and opinions, and this is clearly shown when it comes to religion, and though we may not choose a religion we are still a spiritual generation.

Generation Y Multitaskers

There are many definitions that describe Generation Y. But like the generations before, other generations cannot summarize us, including me, unless they are one of them. There is one specific term that has been said to Generation Y is that they can multitask, I agree. According to Webster, multitask is simply the performance of multiple tasks at one time. We often do two or three things at once and sometimes even more, depending on how many directions we divide our attention.

Multitasking is one of the most helpful characteristics that I can think of in everyday life. We have the ability complete what we need to get done while doing something we actually want to. For example, we can watch a football game while folding laundry. We can socialize with friends and study at the same time. It helps everywhere; work, home, and/or school. If there are multiple things that we can do at once, we will try.

With that being said, multitasking is not usually productive. Anne Loehr, post a blog about Generation Y, states that when we multitask, we lose time and the quality in those tasks (Loehr). This is especially true when one of the focuses is really important. Take school for instance, we should be paying attention to the teacher, to what he is saying and focus only on school work during that time. We do not. We often think about other stuff, like the game after school, what is for lunch, deciding if we want to go to that party this weekend, zone out daydreaming, or anything that will distract us. We hear the teacher and what they say; we just aren’t completely focused on them. This is where multitasking is unproductive.

It is not definite that we, Generation Y, started multitasking, but we have been called the multitasking generation. We are not the only generation to multitask. We are just the generation that uses the process most efficiently. According to Loehr, we are efficient when multitasking because some tasks are automatic for us. These tasks are everyday little things that we do, like chatting over lunch. After receiving responses from a survey that I created, all respondents believe that Generation Y multitask the most. These respondents age range from 16-24, even we Generation Y, believe that our generation multitask the most. I, myself, try to do everything at once. I’d be listening to music, while playing Counterstrike, and talking to my roommate. I hear my professor lecture, zone out daydreaming, and scribble down notes. I plan my day out while brushing my teeth. I multitask countless times throughout a day.

Multitask can definitely be labeled on us Generation Y. It helps greatly in our everyday lives but using this behavior has downfalls. We can do several tasks at once and get things done a lot quicker than previous generations, but we are not as focused as they are. We easily develop disorders like ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder. We just need to regulate what we think is important and when we need to focus.


Citation:

Chen, David J. Generation Y Survey. Raw Data. Facebook, Conway.
20 Apr. 2009.

Loehr, Anne. Time Wise with Gen Y. Web Blog post
http://www.anneloehr.com/blog/2009/2/8/time-wise-with-gen-
y.html

Y Religion?

Generation Y sees religion as a tradition of the older generations. We go and participate because our religious parents have made us go from the time we are born, so we don’t know anything different. We wonder why there are so many churches in our town, but are content when our parents tell us that we are in the best of them. We don’t start to analyze our religious convictions until we go to college and are not made to attend church every Sunday. We will either become stronger in our belief, migrate to a more free-thinking point of view, or will simply not choose either side because we don’t want to. Religion for Generation Y is evolving to something very unlike that of previous generations; we see less of a need for disciplined devotion and would rather find our own unique connection to whatever we think guides our lives.

Upon reading a blog by Joshua Fredenburg, in which he identifies a few reasons why the church might be losing the youth, I found one of his points to be very accurate. He says that churches aren’t being creative enough in their attempt to draw young adults into the church. “I believe that if we created other projects that interest this younger generation outside these main outreach programs, we could still fulfill the great commission and draw more….younger people into the church.” He sees that the methods of the past don’t have much effect on the younger generation. If we aren’t entertained, we won’t participate (Fredenburg).

We are a visual generation. We thrive on computers and televisions, and rarely will we read books for fun. If we can’t see something, we won’t bet on it. Let’s set up a scenario. A member of Generation Y bets his friend that he can perform a certain feat of strength, and says he’ll pay him twenty dollars if he fails. The first thing that the friend will ask is to see the money that is being put on the line. He has to see it before he commits himself to the bet. We are very reluctant to place all of our eggs into a basket that we can’t see. Since we are so used to seeing everything that we experience, the idea of having faith in something that might not even be there is troubling for us. Why would we believe through faith when we can turn around and experience instant gratification by something at our fingertips?

We don’t prescribe to our parents and previous generations’ ideas of religion mainly because we just don’t want to but also because we want to be different from everybody else. Generation Y is a very unique group of people. Even walking down the street you probably won’t see the same shirt or outfit on any two people. We are extremely concerned with being unique in all that we do, and even religion can’t escape our scrutiny. We feel like it’s too much of the same thing that’s been passed down, and we aren’t satisfied with traditional monotony; we feel the need to branch out and redefine everything.

An interesting point brought up by Samantha Karol in her blog entry titled “Are Faith and Religion Important to Gen Y?” is that the children who have a religion forced on them will grow up to have little desire to make it a big part of their life. Religion should be a choice and not a requirement (Karol). A defining part of our generation is that we don’t like to be told what to do. If we are made to do something in the formative years of our lives, some of us will get tired of the same religious routine and will want to discover something new and fresh. We get bored quickly, and are easily swept up in the tide of new and exciting whirlwind ideas.

We have come to define god as more of a personal conviction than a belief accepted by a large group of people. This goes back to the need to be unique in all that we do. It’s not enough to be part of a collective; we have to establish certain beliefs that are unique and not shared by everybody. We don’t feel compelled to take things at face value. We have to search beyond the things people tell us to find the truth that we want to. We aren’t very trusting of other people, and we don’t ever truly believe what they say until we discover it for ourselves. We have to experience something in order to believe it; we will not take somebody’s word for it.

The members of Generation Y are unlike those of any other generation. Other generations seem to have a certain mindset that is shared by a majority of people. We are defined by how nothing fully defines our generation. We may all seem to be doing something a certain way, but then the next day everything changes and we throw the old standards out the window. We are unpredictable, we have no routine, we are elusive, we are hit and miss, and we talk in one direction and walk the other way. We are the members of Generation Y, and we’re changing the world with every step we take.


Works Cited:

Fradenburg, Joshua. “Has the Church lost Generation Y?” Weblog entry. Generation Next Commentary. 2 June 2008. 28 April 2009.

Karol, Samantha. “Are Faith and Religion Important to Gen Y?” Weblog entry. Brazen Careerist. 4 April 2009. 28 April 2009.

Changes in Computer Technology

According to Betty Frandsen, from the Baby Boomers generation, to Generation Y the overall attitude and technology has changed drastically. The Baby Boomer generation, is the hard working generation. This was the Generation with the least technology and didn’t have all quick ways to accomplish goals. So they had no choice but to work hard. “Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Their typical characteristics include optimism, politically conservative, and they are active, competitive, and focus on personal achievement and accomplishment. They work hard--maybe too hard, and are often stressed out” (Frandsen). Generation X often known as the “independent” generation comes next. They were born in 1965-1980. In their time computer technology was on the up rise and they were able to accomplish a lot of their goals independently. “Typically they are independent (yet depend a lot on their parents), selfish or cynical, question authority, resilient, adaptable, culturally progressive, technologically savvy, and expect immediate results” (Frandsen). Finally Gen Y is the “goal driven” generation born from 1981 to 2000. “Typically, they are team-oriented, work well in groups rather than individually, multitask, are technologically savvy, and are willing to work hard” (Frandsen). They have the most computer technology of the generations and technology has majorly boomed. This is the biggest difference between all the generations.

Generation Y is also known as the millennium generation, due to the fact that technology has drastically increased in this generation especially computer technology. It takes Gen Y a lot less time to things pertaining to computers such as, type papers, surf the internet, create power point presentations, found out locations, look individual people up, and different things of that nature. Other generations tend to believe that Gen Y is a very lazy generation because we can do a lot using computers alone. It is not Gen Y’s fault that computer technology has increased so much in the last ten years. Compared to other generations Gen Y should be thankful for all that we can now use computers for.

In past generations before Gen Y typing papers used to take quite a long time, but with the introduction to the back space key during Generation Y’s time period. Before this time individuals typing papers used to have to use white out and start all the way back over on that particular page that the individual was working on. This is just one of many applications that computers now days have made faster. Another application on the computer that has increased speed is, how fast we can look things up on the internet. 73% of Americans are frequent internet users (Siverman). And a percentage of that has to be individuals other than Generation Y. So in that case there’s no reason for past generations to say that Gen Y is lazy or don’t know how to do things the “old fashion” way, because a large percentage of large Gen Y individuals use computers.

When it’s all said and done it is true, Generation Y does in fact accomplish things the “the easy way” but that’s just the way it is in the technological age. One may not call it the “easy way” , it is true that Generation Y accomplishes goals faster but not necessarily easier. Individuals from the past generations do have a lot of trouble working and trying to figure out things with the advances in computers these days. It is even tough for the baby boomer and the Gen X generation to operate cell phones, because they basically have computers in cell phones now days. That is whole new argument. For the most part other generations can’t say anything about Gen y using new computers and being lazy, because they are slowly but surely starting to fall right in.

Another argument that previous generations may have against Gen Y, is that Gen Y is not able to communicate like we are supposed to, and does not communicate enough. According to Professor Maimunah Aminuddin, it is just the opposite, Gen Y in fact communicates more just in different and faster ways than previous generations. “They communicate with words, just like you and me, but these words are sent through the air-waves by electronic means. They internet, they SMS, they google, and they Facebook. Do you know how to talk to them? To communicate with this Generation Y you have to provide entertainment. They grew up with TV and Astro and computer games. But they are not couch potatoes” ( Aminuddin). It is good to know that someone backs Generation Y introduces reasons how Gen Y operates in the same mind just in different ways. When one truly breaks it down Gen Y not only communicates just as much if not more than previous generations but Gen Y communicates a lot faster.

Generation Y and Technology

People may call us the lazy generation, but is that really our fault? Maybe some of it, but I believe technology has made us this way. For example, twenty years ago, the idea of Internet was nonexistent. If you wanted to gain knowledge about something, you went to the library and looked it up in an encyclopedia. If you wanted to contact someone, you called them, not text. In a way, technology had provided a convenience that is directly proportional to Generation Y’s work ethic. I also believe we are not as lazy as the baby boomers and older generations perceive us to be. It’s all about how you look at it.

When our grandparents and even some of our parents were growing up, work and manual labor was a necessity for survival. Our generation, for the most part, comes from families that provide everything for themfamilies that support them financially. My point is, there are very few people who have grown up in this generation who needed to work to support their family. With this being said, the “old school”, roll up your sleeves and do it yourself’ attitude has been lost. Therefore, Generation Y is perceived as lazy. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that a strong work ethic is one of the most important assets to possess in life, but for most of us (Generation Y), we have not been required to work as hard as our superiors.

I recently conducted a survey consisting of five questions regarding technology. Four out the eight people who participated said they would text rather than call a friend to get in touch with them. Five said they rely on a GPS for directions, and only two said they could go three days without their cell phones. Lazy? I think not. This is a prime example of how the saying “work smarter, not harder” applies to our generation. Why do we text? Because we can. It’s simple and convenient, but is viewed and labeled as “lazy”. If “laziness” is defined with direct correlation to convenience, then anyone who uses any type of technology is lazy. However, Ryan Healy wrote an article claiming that Generation Y is getting bored with these means of technology. Healy claims that online social websites such as Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter are nothing but fads that will eventually fade out of style.

Even though older generations perceive us as lazy, we are not; we simply live in a time of convenience. If our parents had the technological means that we have now, they would take advantage of them. Our generation, like any generation, may not be perfect, but we should be proud to be a part of our time and recognize the benefits we have.


Works Cited:

Healy, Ryan. "Why Isn't Mainstream Gen Y Buying Into the New Web." Weblog post.
Employee Evolution. 23 Apr. 2009. 26 Apr. 2009
.

We are Believers

Generation Y are lazy, non-believers, materialistic, and spoiled idiots, but we think otherwise. We are creative, intelligent, and free spirited individuals. We like to feel free by enjoying every minute of everyday. We prefer to be in an environment where people might not like our lifestyle, but they accept it because they know that’s who we are as an individual. We are a religious generation but we choose to express it in a very different way. Other generations need to realize that we are the new form of religion, and we want to be loved and not judge.

We as a generation have some type of religion or faith, and we try to embrace that everyday. We express ourselves as free individuals and we also live everyday like it’s our last because we know tomorrow is not promised. The world we live in knows its good to believe in something because our generation is always being discussed on how misunderstood and dumb we are. We feel if we stop being treated like an outcast maybe it is a possibility that we can embrace the church, and feel comfortable around the people in the church. The reason we are so misunderstood is because other generations wont take the time to get to know us all they want to do is judge us. That’s why we prefer keeping our faith but staying out the church because of the thoughts they have about us. We just want the other generations to open up their hearts and understand that we are normal individuals with a free spirited heart. Our generation will always believe in some higher power because we know that there’s someone who won’t judge us.

A survey was conducted to ask our generation if they considered themselves as a religious person. Majority of the responses were yes they believe in some higher power, but they prefer not to go to church because they feel so unwanted when they try to attend. Every where we look it’s a nose being turned up at us, so we prefer to stay away from that type of environment. We get more love on the streets from strangers than the people in the church. We wonder why is that? They’re not willing to accept the way our generation feels about different things because they were not brought up like that. Our generation understands that but we feel they should make that change if they want us to be in church or keep our faith. We just feel that the church should be the safest place where we can talk about anything and get the advice or support that we need without being judge. We just want to have that unconditional love that will keep our faith strong, and know that our faith is not in vein.

Generation Y have grown up witnessing the negativity, death and destruction caused by religion and this will lead to our children not being religious (Singer). Everything we have witnessed and felt in the church will make us not want to bring our children up in the church. We want them to always love others, and remember it’s never right to judge a book by it’s cover. We just don’t want our children to feel that you have to live a certain way in order to make it to be accepted in the church. We don’t want our children to think that church people always have negative things to say about people in or outside the church. We just want to embrace our personality and feel that support system from the people that should show us unconditional love. Understand that we want to explore the world with no regrets, and still have that bond of faith that we will never be judged for the choices we make.

Generation Y lives, laugh, and loves every moment of every wakening day. We just want everyone to love, support, and understand that we are human and we have hearts too. We are believers and we will always have strong faith in something no matter how bad we are treated from the people that should show us nothing but love. Our generation is believers, forgivers, supporters, and loving individuals that wants to be understood so we all can have strong beliefs together and get alone.

Generation Y

Throughout history, each generation has unique experiences and traits that separate them from each other. One interesting aspect of any generation is how individual family units function and this gives insight into the specific characteristics of any generation. My generation, known as generation Y, has unique characteristics that separate us from those of our parents who are commonly referred to as baby boomers or generation Jones. For example, Generation Y has been described as having a “strong value in family,” as well as being very independent and this sets us apart from other generations in the past (Leon).

Generation Y is considered to be very independent which is a direct result of the high divorce rate and increase in single parent homes that we grew up in. Many of us had to deal with parents divorces resulting in one parent permanently leaving the family home. In addition, in two parent homes most of us grew up in homes where both parents worked outside the home. Consequently our generation was accustomed to being the first children who came home from school to empty homes. Furthermore, as a result of being left on our own we adapted from an early age how to depend on ourselves and this environment led many of us to have a great deal of responsibility and independence. Although single parent homes increased, generation Y has very active and attentive parents that are very involved in our day to day lives. “Although over half of all families in the U.S. have divorced parents, there is more time spent with their children than those of the previous generations. The parents of Generation Y view the child as the center of the family” (Generation Y: The Millennial’s). High parent involvement in our generation has made us more family oriented. Often growing up, our generation would eat dinner together as a family more than any other generation in the past. A survey showed that per week, 3 percent ate 0 days together, 5 percent ate 1-2 days together, 27 percent ate 3-6 days together, and 65 percent ate 7 days together (Generation Y- The Millennial’s).

Generation Y are viewed by other generations as having been given too much and are often called “spoiled”. Although it is true that our parents have focused their time, efforts and money on us it is not the fault of our generation that this has occurred. It is unfair to blame generation Y for what they have been given. From our parent’s perspective, they were only trying to provide for us a better life than what they had. Additionally, I believe where we live plays significant roles in how much our parents provide for us. After completing a survey on facebook I noticed that the responses from Canadian’s and American’s were different regarding parents financial support. The question I posed was “how much do your parents pay for in your everyday living expenses”? Interestingly, the responses were significantly different. The Canadian students that responded stated that they were responsible for all their expenses including clothing, food, entertainment, vehicle expenses and other extras. The one exception to this expectation was that Canadian parents did pay for education. On the contrary most of the American’s stated that their parents paid for both their education and all of their living expenses including clothing, food, entertainment vehicle expenses and extras. This example demonstrates that even within generation Y there are differences in experiences.

Another difference in generation Y is the roles that both mothers and fathers played in their lives. Even though both of our parents worked outside the home, the involvement of our parents in our lives was signification. Often in past generations mothers stayed at home tending to the family while the fathers worked outside the home providing the family income. Generation Y grew up with fathers taking an active role in child rearing and for the first time in history that fathers would stay at home to raise children. Another significant difference is education was not as high a priority for past generations as it was for generation Y. Together with our parents we believe that education is necessary to ensure that we have good employment and a solid future. This is a good example of why we are given support from our parents to help with our more expensive and extended education.

When reflecting upon generation Y there is many factors that contribute to positive outcomes. Our parents learned from generations before them and gave us a better life so I believe that we will learn from the mistakes of our parent’s generation and attempt to “fix it” for our children. I believe the majority of generation Y will put a high priority on marriage and thus avoid divorce to create a more united and stable family unit. This will be a result of experiencing firsthand what if feels like to grow up living with only one parent. Although there are always exceptions to theories, the main point is, as a whole those of us growing up in generation Y are very family oriented. As a result, in the future we will focus on making atmospheres for our children that will be as positive as our own experiences. In addition, we will take other positive aspects with us, including eating as a family and will change what we see as negative experiences such as single parent homes. This will ultimately lead to positive changes including strong families for the children of generation Y who will undoubtedly have as many unique characteristics to their own generation as we ourselves have had.


Works Cited:

"Generation Y: The Millennials- Ready or Not, Here They Come." NAS Insight (2006): 1-13.

Leon, Mark A. "How Generation Y is Impacting." Weblog post. 04 Feb. 2009. 25 Apr. 2009 .

Text Messaging

The typical teenager wakes up and sends a text message, texts all through school, once they get out of school, and usually until they fall asleep. Texting has become one of the main ways of communication to our generation. Our phones are almost always by us and are always vibrating up to every thirty minutes because we are constantly receiving and sending text messages. Texting has become a necessity to our generation because it is portable, private, and quick.

Other generations get annoyed of this feature because they say it distracts us. They say a teenager will be walking in a public place and will stop in the middle of where they are or will start walking crooked and cause people to bump into them. They think we get “pulled into the Cell Phone Zone by some force that comes out from the screen” (O’Donnell). It is also said that when we are in this zone we stop paying attention to everything around us for a minute and only focus on what we are typing. We might be caught up into our messages sometimes and get in people’s way, but we can’t help if we are in the middle of having a good conversation!

Text messaging can be done almost everywhere. Whether someone is in class, with some friends, or in the middle of a movie they will never fail to text. The average teenager doesn’t go over an hour without sending or receiving a text message. It is a major form of communication now. Our generation chooses to text rather than call someone because it is more convenient. Texting allows people to be in a public place and hold a confidential conversation with someone.

Text messaging is a great tool to Generation Y because texting can be done while doing almost anything else. Our generation is great at doing more than one thing at a time. Generation X and the Baby Boomers get annoyed with our ability to multitask because they are not as good at multitasking. They have to stop everything they are doing and make a phone call when they need to talk to someone. It is said that “It takes 25 minutes for the average worker to return to a task after being interrupted.” They can’t just pick up their phone and text someone while they are in the middle of doing something else because texting takes them a long time. Unlike other generations, we can text while not looking at the phone and can also go back and complete the task we originally started.

Although previous generations have not accepted our new form of communication, “Texting is a fast and immediate way to reach someone” (The Cell Phone Zone). We do not like to have to call someone and have a long drawn out conversation when we are trying to get a quick simple answer. We would rather send a quick message and get a quick response back. Text messaging is also a way to save day time minutes. It is a lot easier to send a message and get one message back than to have to waste five minutes by calling and having a conversation.

Updated technology is a big deal to our generation. We usually chose to do anything that we can the quickest way and use technology with almost everything we do. Other generations might not like it because it is not what they did when they were younger, but with a faster paced society texting has become the new thing.

Religion in Generation Y

Everyone thinks my Generation Y is so terrible. From a national survey by Public agenda, 74 percent of parents said their child is irresponsible, and misbehaved (Gergen, 80). Throughout the years, from Baby Boomer time to Generation Y time, people and lifestyles have changed tremendously. The people of current and future generations don’t seem to be as strict and proper as past generations. As a young adult in Generation Y, and having parents in the baby boomers generation it’s hard for them to understand my way of living. It’s a lot different for me, though, because my parents are older than most teenagers’ parents and still live in their generation. It was very common for families to be very religious back in the day. Being part of a denomination was a must in the Baby Boomers, Jones, and X generations. They all had a formal format of a church service, prayed daily, and always went to church services with their whole family which meant they never changed religions. If you were raised Baptist you were Baptist, if you were Jewish then you were Jewish.

I put together a poll through Face Book asking my Generation Y friends different questions about how they live their religious life. Attending a church service wasn’t that big of a deal, as the poll read. Most people in college have moved away from their home and either only feels comfortable at their own home church or they just don’t take the time to look for a church. Everyone has their own opinion about going to church and which church to go to. It’s not a big deal not to go to church. People feel that they can get the same amount of God in their blood with just sitting in their dorm room and reading the Bible. It’s just convenient for a college student to stay in their dorm and get the lord in them that way rather than go to a church that they have never been to with people they don’t know. As Dr. Pepper said in her blog, “You can have faith without having religion, and you can have religion, without having faith.” Just because we don’t go to a church doesn’t mean we don’t believe in God or can’t be spiritual.

Everyone looks at church and religion differently. If you’re sitting in church bored to death and not even listening to the preacher then you’re just as well off sitting in your room sleeping. A formal church service can tend to be overrated in the Generation Y. A lot of people don’t like church, but still have faith and read the Bible. This is just as good. This is why college students don’t go to church either because they will only go to their church at home or they just don’t find church appealing to them.

Any religion is a good religion. What you believe is what you believe. There is a major variety of different religions in Generation Y. Depending on the person and situation, converting can cause problems in the family household if the child chooses a different religion than the parents have chosen. If the change is a big step, such as maybe not believing at all, or such as changing from Buddhist to Baptist, maybe the change will have effects. Everyone is different, though; some people may not think the religion that their parents chose is the right choice for them, and it’s just your own decision. In the Generation Y you don’t get a lot of problems with changing to a different denomination from your parents. If you married someone outside your religion, the parents wouldn’t take it too well at all because that was how they were raised. They were raised to marry the same denomination. You were raised the same way, but people around you affect the way you see things. Plus, it’s your choice to change or stay.

All depending on the person and situation people can be spiritual or not. My poll read when asked if the Generation Y was spiritual at all, that they were somewhat spiritual. Being spiritual can mean going to church regularly, or only going to church every once in a while. Everyone has their different way of being spiritual. People meditate, pray, jam to some music, or even go on a fast paste walk. I know a lot of young folks that carry there Bible everywhere with them, and I also know a lot of kids that don’t even seem to think about God and don’t go to church either. Back in the day, it was a sin not to go to church. You always attended your church with your family and you always prayed a good couple of times daily.

The Generation Y is more laid back with religion. We know our denominations, and we have a choice to choose how we are spiritual. We don’t want people telling us how to live our religious life, and we want to live our life worry free. We will go to church to make our parents happy, but if it was our choice we would just read our Bible in our room and pray whenever we think about it. It really depends on the person and there way of living because everyone is different and has a different spiritual life. We as a Generation want to be free and be able to be as spiritual as we please. Everyone in our Generation’s religion is very important and will always matter.


Works Cited:

David Gergen. (1999, May). Keeping faith in kids. U.S. News & World Report, 126(21), 80.

Dating and Relationships

The proper way to court a girl in previous generations were to be very polite, courteous, a gentleman, and protective of her. A common first date would consist of the gentleman walking to the door, knocking politely, and meeting with the parents to get their approval before the date even started. After the approval was given by both parents, he would most likely walk her out of the house and open her car door for her before he himself entered the vehicle. Next, he would politely ask the female what she would like to do, if they hadn’t already planned what she wanted to do, and he would graciously submit to her decision. Throughout the date, he would courteously pay for every aspect or situation that occurred. Finally, he would bring her home safely, open her door for her, and walk her to the door to say goodnight without expecting a kiss or hug at the moment. Over the years, many factors have changed this procedure from a direct approach to a more circuitous one. There are barely any chivalrous men left, the parents are not as involved as before, the perspective of men and women of each other has changed, and narcissism is now commonly tolerated.

The main reason chivalry is close to becoming extinct, is that male and female view each other differently then from the past. Women are more independent now, so they tend to do as they please. Men always did what they wanted but in earlier generations, they were more respectful and put women on a platter. As women became more outgoing, their status, in men’s perspective, greatly diminished. When this happened, the gender roles switched. Women started chasing men more than men chased women. This switch triggered the ego and pride in men somewhere in time, and felt like they could have whoever they wanted. Many individuals sought for a relationship to fulfill their own narcissist needs (Orrell 1). This pride is still strong today although the tactics, or pickup lines, may not work.

Parents are not involved as much as they used to be. Whether it is by choice or that they have no clue what’s going on in their child’s life. A big cause of this is that the parents became too lenient on their children’s freedom either because their parents were too hard on them or because they are too busy trying to support the family that they miss the little things. This is not necessarily a bad thing for children; however, this small act caused many youths to find out more information about life much faster by experience. Kids that are 11 and 12 are having intercourse when others choose to wait until marriage. Drugs and alcohol are accessed and distributed more easily and parties have become more exotic.

“All the good guys are gone.” This expression has been or will be said by every girl at least once in their lifetime. There is a reason for this odd and unusual assumption and it is that every girl has encountered a guy that has either hurt them emotionally or was really rude and direct with the topic of sex. This event can happen multiple times within a single day and become repetitive with different guys all over the world. If the girl happens to find a guy who she thinks is a “good guy”, she will be disappointed and hurt when she finds out that he was being nice because all he wanted was sex. Some may disengage from one violent relationship but find themselves with repeating the same patterns of behavior with new partners, perhaps due to poor conflict resolution skills or to assortative dating practices (Williams 1). Most guys use the excuse “I’m different than other guys” and then make a promise that they cannot keep. Unfortunately, this occurrence has happened so many times that a girl no longer knows what to look for in a guy. They assume all guys are the same and all of the good guys are gone.

Although good guys and girls are hard to find, we usually do not notice one when we see them. They could be right in front of you every single day and go unnoticed. As a small example, do you notice which of your friends holds the door for you or do not mind helping you with small things. Many of these small gestures of kindness go unnoticed even if the person is not interested in you. How do we find them without getting let down again? The answer is simple. When was the last time anyone sat a person down, who had mutual interest in each other, and asked them their views of certain issues important to you? Chivalry is not dead but rather in a coma of some sort. It is so hidden that it seems as thought it does not exist. If our generation takes the time to notice and take into consideration the small things, we could decrease the amount of divorces per year.


Works Cited:

Orrell, Lisa. “The Booming Gen Y Narcissism Epidemic.” Lisa’s Generation Relations Blog. April 21, 2009. .

Williams, Tricia S., et al. “Risk Models of Dating Aggression Across Different Adolescent Relationships: A Developmental Psychopathology Approach.” Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 76.4 (Aug. 2008): 622-623.

From Women to Less

A girl sits in class imagining how her date later on that night will go. Her date pulls up to the house in a brand new mustang. He gets out not forgetting the flowers and walks to the front door, where his anxious date waits. He walks in, meets the parents, and then they’re out the door. He takes her to a nice restaurant, a movie, and has her home by 10... and then she wakes up. This type of dating is not the "in" thing in our generation.

Dating from generation to generation has changed dramatically.

Finding our significant other in this era is one difference from past generations. We tend to have a lack of commitment or will for relationships. We no longer go out and meet someone in person or through a friend. What we do is hop on facebook, myspace, or pay money to some website to choose our dates for us. Some say this is because we don’t have time to go on dates to find Mr. Right. An estimated 29% of women spend longer looking for shoes than love(Lennox, 1). Again, this shows lack of commitment in our era. What is considered dating in our generation people ask.

Dating used to consist of dinner and a movie all paid for by the man. In our generation, a traditional date is not as common. In America today, we are all cheap and have found better ways of getting what we want. What used to be called going on a date twenty years ago is now referred to as "hanging out." At young ages we don’t care less than past generations did about romance. There are those special occasions (birthdays and valentines) where taking that pretty young lady to dinner is needed, but why not just have her come to the house and watch a movie? Laying around the house, watching a movie, and hooking up is what were all about. One guy who took my survey said, "I do not care about going on a date because girls don’t care about it. We all have one thing in mind." Many of the girls who used to be called “ladies” are now referred to as “hoes”.We want to get straight to the point and the women of our generation allow this to happen.

Women have changed what dating or going on a date is supposed to be about. Women, men, and parents of our time do not demand or have the respect that past generations had for each other. In the past the men would open the door for the girl or even kiss her hand. These types of gentlemen acts are not at all common today. Going on dates should be important but our generation’s main goal at the end of the date is to "hook up" with the girl. Women now-a-days make that main goal too easy. The women in past generations did not allow this hooking up business to occur as often as women today do. All of the people who took part in my survey (mostly women) believe that girls are willing to "hook up" far more easily and often then women of the past. Another person says, "I feel some guys know how to treat a lady in today’s world. Then again some girls don’t act like ladies.” Women of past generations did not act or even dress the way women do today. The type of respect they had for themselves, led to the amount of respect they received from the men. How women in our generation today act is how they are treated.

In a matter of twenty five years women have gone from being called, “ladies” to “hoes.” Although not all women are or considered hoes there are a select few who are making a bad name for the rest. Times are changing everyday and from generation to generation. At the rate we are going things are going to get worse. Who knows how the women of our children’s generations will be perceived.

The Self-Indulged Generation

Generation Y is known as the generation that simply does not care about anything. We are considered lazy and incapable of holding our own with everyone else in the “real world.” Technology has made it so easy for us these days. E-mails arrive in seconds as compared to sending a letter through the mail which takes many days. Other generations say that we don’t care about anything, that all we care about is ourselves. They say we don’t care about global issues and that we are not aware of what is going on in the world around us.

It’s true though. The only global issue that people of our generation know about is the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism. And for the most part, everyone only knows about this because of what happened on September 11, 2001. We all heard about how the terrorists hijacked two airplanes that they flew straight into the World Trade Center, killing so many innocent Americans. Before this unthinkable catastrophe occurred though, we knew nothing about terrorism or what was going on in the Middle East.

These days, there are so many people of our generation that are going into the army, navy or marines. We all say that we have friends going to fight for our country, but we really don’t know what they are actually doing. All we know or see are the suicide bombs that the Iraqis are setting off, wounding and killing our soldiers. And when we do hear about these murders, we don’t pay too much attention. We think to ourselves, “It’s just the terrorists again. It’s happened before.”

But other than the war in Iraq, what other major global problems do we know about? I can’t think of any. Truthfully, I don’t know any more than anyone else. I’m sure there are important issues going on daily all across the world that I should be paying attention to and becoming educated about. But I get so surrounded by the many other things I have going on in my life every single day. I never take the time to sit down and watch the national news at night or read the newspaper in the morning like my parents and the rest of their generation do.

Most of it revolves around the difference in the family environment these days compared to forty years ago. When our parents grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, most families were closer than they are today. They would all stay at home most nights and spend time together. This gave the children and their parents time to discuss what was going on in the world. It gave them time to watch the news together in the living room and learn about what was going on in the world.

In our era, growing up in the 1990s and 2000s, our families are all over the place. Kids are running around everywhere hanging out with their friends or going to soccer, football or basketball practice. Growing up, we are involved in so many activities that it is near impossible to find a family that actually sits down for dinner together every night of the week. If no one is every home, families certainly aren’t going to have the time to talk about what is going on in the world or watch the news together like they did so many years ago.

So it all just kind of slips away. We don’t really care what is going on outside of our own little world. We are way too involved in what is happening right now, this very second, in our own lives. It is too much to ask of these days for us to live any other way. We are too busy with everything we have going for us. Maybe someday when we grow older we will start to care and learn about the world we live in. But not today. Not in this decade.


Works Cited:

Cervero, Ronald M., Bradley C. Courtenay, and Sharan B. Merriam, eds. "Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa and the United States." Nov. 2007.

Lower, Judith. "Brace Yourself, Here Comes Generation Y." Oct. 2008.

Will Generations Continue?

Generation-Y is generation that has been put in the driver seat and been handed everything. A 19 year old female answers the question, how is generation-Y different then other generations in the matters of working?, and responds“ Generation Y depends more on others, they don't work as hard as other generations, most of the time it is handed to them. Society today is built around fast accessibility and if it’s a second slow we tend to think it is not good enough.

Generation-Y is “ I need”, not “ I want”. Generation has been sat up in a dinning room and given everything to us on a silver platter. A twenty year old male writes when asked, “ Why do you think our generation says, " I want" rather than " I need" ?, “Definitely I think it is "I want" because we pretty much have the 3 basic essentials any human needs in life, we just live for the surplus.” Generation- Y is I want not I need. If generation-Y lived in the great depression, their perspective would be different.

Generation-Y is needy but if we are given everything, how can that be? A 15 year old male writes when asked, “Why does it seem that our generation is needy?” “It appears that our generation is needy because we didn’t really have to work for anything, our parents did. We try to better ourselves and outshine everybody so that we can appear to be something were not, and we keep up this facade and eventually we are in constant need of ‘necessities ’. That is why we appear to be and are needy.”

What will happen in the future to our generation. If most individuals are given and don’t have to work for what they have, how we will we adapt to the work world? It is a concern that our work ethic will be very poor and inattentive, according to Cathy Jane of the university of Phoenix in a study done on 84 people to tell if there was a generational decline in work ethic since 1946. Although the analysis found no statistical differences for hard work, delay of gratification, morality, ethical, and self-reliance, the results did indicate a trend toward significance on the centrality of work dimension. The results suggest that there is not a generational decline in the presence of work ethic . There will not be a work ethic problem but beliefs of Generation X and Generation Y on managing time and balancing work and family responsibilities will be apparent.(Jane) This is just a study but time will tell the true results.

It seems to some baby boomers generation-Y is spoiled but according to a nineteen year old male writes when asked is generation spoiled? “Our generation isn't spoiled because as the generations have changed so has the definition of spoiled. Decades ago you were spoiled if you owned a radio. A year ago you were spoiled if you owned an I-pod. The term ’spoiled’ today, will become the new norm in a week.” That brings up a good question are we spoiled or not? Is because of today technology or the change in time?

Our generation almost to an end therefore we will be parents to the future. How will we respond? Are we going to raise our children good enough to be successful? Will we fail? In my opinion, my generation is going to fail miserably in guiding their children; not making them work for what they have, and just giving them what ever they want. This isn’t by choice, its because of the environment that we live in today. Things are not earned; hard work is bypassed and rewards are automatically given without a conscious effort. According to another fifteen year old male, “Generation-Y will more than likely raise their children as failures. This is sad but inevitable, and the cycle will continue until our ‘great’ civilization crumbles before itself because we didn’t know how to be self-sufficient and cooperative with one another.”

Many speculations can be made about Generation Y; lazy without work ethic and inevitably failures as parents. But, these accusations only reflect the views of the beholder, and can not be justified simply by means of educated guessing. After all, who is to say what is success and what is failure? Hindsight is always 20/20; just as today’s world is different from yesterday’s and brings challenges faced with entirely different circumstances, Generation Y will be faced with problems encompassed by entirely different situations than generations past.

Generation Y

Throughout the years, many values have changed with each generation. The major difference between older generations and newer ones such as ours (Generation Y) is advanced technologies and the newer advancements along with materialistic desires that continue to develop throughout America’s population making our generation the most technological reliable generation yet.

My generation does not value things that older generations did. Money, power, and fame are what matters most to my generation. During the times of the Baby Boomer Generation people valued the essence of hard work in order to obtain the things they desired. It was vital for people to have jobs to become successful in those times. However in my generation we expect our parents to provide us with necessities even when we are fully grown. The lack of self-determination has had a huge negative impact on those born in my generation. The lack of knowledge to be independent and well rounded in all areas to be successful has struck my generation into becoming more intact with relying on others to complete their tasks. For example: College students in the Baby Boomers Generation were expected to cover the expenses of living outside of campus and any other extra expenses themselves. However in my generation we feel our parents are obligated to lending a helping hand to aid us with every expense to help further our education.

Technology advancements such as smart computers and phones have nearly disabled my generation to think for themselves. Almost every cell phone has been revolutionized, making the internet accessible by just the touch of a button. GPS (Global Positioning Systems) are the new technological trend that has made it easy for my generation to find directions to foreign areas making street maps a thing of the past. Cellular phones have been made to send and receive short text messages making it easier for people to communicate and keep in touch even during times when making phone calls cannot be completed. Top celebrities even advertise the latest technology to help dictate the use of the latest advancements.

Materialistic desires among my generation also add to the technology reliability of my generation. Desires that aren’t necessary to living comfortably have taken over my generation. Touch screen phones and high priced fashions such as phones are just a few things that have lessened the values of my generation. The bigger the name brand and the higher the prices are considered better in my generation. Everything has to be done fast, which takes decreases our ability to be more reliable on our natural resources as generations before us once were. We no longer have interest in learning how to handle situations and solving real life problems, but expect them to be already done due to the wide variety of technological advancements that govern America.

In conclusion, the uprising of technology has truly helped America’s population in positive way but it has also hurt the ability of my generation to think independently. Although the technology has aided us in a dramatic way it has also handicapped our ability to solve problems and handle real life situations independently.

Generation to Generation

As time goes on it is evident that all generations are different. Changes such as cars, clothing, and technology are among those that are easy to decipher throughout our everyday lives. The main difference between our generation, “Generation Y” and older generations such as the “Generation Baby boomers” is the values of parenting and having babies.

We of “generation Y” have different views on things such as parenting, compared to those of older generations, which include “Baby Boomers”, and Generation “Jones”. Generations as early as these consisted of a two parent home who believed in first approving mates that their child was dating, and also then right after, having a sit down conference with them right before they go out. Studies show that this technique made it hard to date and also easier for the daughters and sons, when put on their own, to produce and consume lots of babies. On the other hand our generation, “Generation Y” has more freedom in which we meet mates through cyber rooms, twitter, and face book. Many times we talk to someone for weeks on to months without even consulting our parents. With this freedom we jump into many relationships, but surprisingly more babies were being conceived by generations who had the strict parents, for example the “Generation Baby Boomers” than those of our generations “Generation Y” who had nicer parents. With more freedom, any one would easily assume that more babies would be consumed, but as society shows this assumption is wrong. Parents of “Generation Baby Boomers” had on average of 5 to 20 children. Whereas recent studies show that average families consisted of one to five children in families of “Generation Y.” This goes on to show that our generation is more resistant to having children. If someone was to tell a person of “Generation Y” that they would be having five to twenty babies we would think that they were crazy because the average is one to five per house hold, but on the other hand for older generations such as the “Generation Baby Boomers” that would be the normal for them.

As our generation continues to be labled as bad, worthless, and irresponsible, it is evident that we are opposite of many other generation opinions toward us, because we have less amounts of babies and also we are concerned about having babies unlike those of older generation. This leaves us to believe that generation Y can sometimes do many strange things in society, but when it comes to babies we are advanced and more understanding than previous generations.

Till Death Do Us Part?

Divorce and Generation Y: What does it look like together? Will members of generation Y follow the same mistakes as our parents, or will we try to correct them and make we own path? Can we break out of the pattern or will we continue down a path where marriage loses its meaning and divorce becomes nothing more than just a break up?

Divorce has become so common that almost 100 percent of Generation Y members are not surprised by the news of a divorce. Some may even find it surprising if they find a friend whose parents are still together rather than divorced. Most of my friends believe they only have a handful of friends with still married parents and that the number of friends with divorced parents extremely outweighs those of parents still married.

Most of Generation Y seems to think that over 50% to marriages today will end in divorce leaving either single parents or separated homes. The divorce rate is even higher in the state of Arkansas. So what effect does this have on us?

There are many opinions on both sides. One opinion is that today’s divorce rate is setting the example that the value of marriage is basically nothing and the our generation will follow the same values. Other opinions state that those of us who come from broken or separated families will try and learn fro our parents mistakes and stay married. These people do not want the same things to happen to their children because they have experience the hardships that divorce or separation can bring.

One person suggested that divorce has become easier because “it is easier for women to support themselves without their husbands which wasn’t really possible before.”

Our generation believes that our parents’ divorce rate is so high because the value of marriage has been lost. People are getting married too early or for the wrong reasons, and marriage is no longer the holy or prestigious ceremony that it once was.

One person said that people don’t see marriage as a commitment. “People go into marriage like its an option. They sign prenups to let each other know ‘this might not work out’ and so they have that mindset before they even get married.”

Another person suggested that technology has changed the way people have relationships. It’s so simple to communicate with other people over a distance that the need for real communication is diminished. Another problem with technology is that it is so easily replaced that people view their relationships--those enabled by technology--as easy to replace as well.

A very popular opinion was that divorce is too easy. Many in our generation believe that married couples think that just getting a divorce will be much easier than working through any problems that they may have. Marriage is no longer looked at as a lifelong commitment. Couples go into marriage knowing that if something doesn’t work out just perfectly, that there is always that escape route out of it and they won’t have to deal with it anymore.

Are You Actually Spending Your Money?

Generation Y consists of people that were born from 1980 to 1996. This generation is considered to be the laziest generation there has ever been, for many reasons. Advancements in our society are causing younger people to be so lazy, such as progress in technology, like computers, communication, even video games. Food has even gotten too easy, such as fast food allowing individuals and families to get whole meals in a matter of minutes. What’s worse is that people have gotten to the point where they don’t have the money to pay for something but they buy it regardless using credit rather than waiting and saving the money.

Credit has become a big problem with our generation. Because of the easy availability of credit cards to everyone—but especially younger generations—many of those in Generation Y don’t understand the value of money. Some teenagers use credit cards and spend money that their parents must then pay off, and then think nothing of it. One 17-year-old says that he buys new clothes every week and his parents pay for everything he purchases. This same 17-year-old doesn’t have a job. Because of his credit card, as well as his parents’ willingness to pay for what he buys, he doesn’t understand the value of money and how truly difficult it can be to come by.

One of the biggest issues with young people using credit cards and allowing their parents to pay them off is that the parents risk making their child completely dependent on them for money, and just about everything else. When people like this become so dependent on their parents is when we see the 30-year-old sleeping on a fold-out couch in their parents’ basement. Everyone should work and pay for some of their own bills or luxuries, even if their parents are rich and can buy anything they want. Doing so teaches individuals to distinguish between a “need” and a “want” and keeps them from using credit to buy things that really aren’t needed. It also starts teaching the person how to support themselves, since that is what will inevitably happen later in life. Everyone, at some point, needs to be personally responsible for their well-being.

The members of Generation Y have a good idea of what credit cards are and what dangers they could impose. When asked “What is a credit card?” the majority of the students said something along the lines that it is using money that you don’t have that later must be paid back with interest. A few people, however, did not know what credit is and did not know the difference between credit and debit.
A survey was conducted from college students and out of 17 people, 8 had credit cards. Only 6 of those with credit cards have jobs and pay off their own credit card. Out of those same 17 people, 7 are paying for their own college or contributing towards it, whether it is paying out of pocket or later paying back their own loans.

People have different reasons why credit is good and how it can be bad. When asked about the benefits and disadvantages of credit cards, people answered in many ways. Some said using credit can be good because they can get you out of difficult situations—such as an emergency car repair—and they help build your credit which is needed later in life, if used responsibly. They can be just as bad because credit cards and land someone in debt if they are not careful and don’t pay attention to what they are spending that money on. The problem with many people is that they aren’t careful and don’t watch what they are doing and just keep spending the banks’ money and don’t pay it back. That’s how they get in debt, and everyone knows that once you get in debt it is hard to get out. This is what is happening to a lot of people in our generation.

Credit is probably a dominant factor in today’s society regarding why our generation is so lazy. It’s possible that this might just be an American trend, because a German student answered the same survey and didn’t know what a credit card was and said they use something called an EC card, which he said is free so maybe that is like an American debit card. The easiest was to relieve some of our generation’s laziness would be for people to take responsibility for themselves and learn the correct way to handle money and use credit. This action, however, would require the willingness of everyone to realize just how important money is.


Works Cited:

Ramsey, Zach, Alex Hellmann, and Elizabeth Reagan. "Re: SURVEY FOR CLASS." Weblog comment. Facebook. 17 Apr. 2009. 23 Apr. 2009 .

Marriage for Millennials

For many, marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman who have committed to spending their life together til’ death do they part. For others, marriage is a lot more casual and typically may end in divorce. Generation Y has set love, dating and marriage trends far different from any other generation. We are a generation that picks mates according to looks, money and success. We are a generation that has sex on the first date has children out of wedlock. We are a generation raised by divorced parents and many of us will probably end our marriage in divorce.

Today marriage is not just between a man and a woman but between same-sex couples as well. Instead of marrying young, couples are waiting until later in life to tie the knot. Years ago, dating was much different that it is today. The guys would pick their date up at their house, meet the parents, explain their intentions for the evening and promise to have her back before a certain time. Today’s daters meet up at the movie theatre, parties and other places without ever meeting the parents. Kids these days go through relationships like they go through underwear. Many times parents don’t know whom their kids are seeing, for all they know their daughters could be going on a date with a 30-year-old rapist that they met on facebook. The lack of parental control over whom their kid dates or doesn’t date could lead to problems for the future. Without a parents influence on who they date, teenagers could very well end up dating “a bad egg” which could cause the relationship to be rocky. According to an online blog, the rate of abuse between couples has also gone up since generation Y not to mention child abuse and parents who don’t discipline their kids at all. It seems to very common for couples to meet online. With the emergence of Facebook, Myspace and online dating sites, meeting that special someone has become easier.

Our marriage trends are also very different from out parent’s generation. Men and women hold off on marriage until they have graduated college and have a solid footing in their careers. This trend seems to be beneficial for newly weds because they each have been independent long enough to know how to manage their money wisely so that they can avoid financial problems in the future when they decide to buy a new house or have a baby. Other trends include gay marriage, marriage after having a baby, marrying multiple times and even opting to not marry at all. According to Jennifer Heebner, many couples that do want to get married are getting married for the wrong reasons. Brides like to focus on having a nice ring and wedding ceremony and not on the actual marriage life.

Some may think that we have foolish dating habits and are doomed end in divorce whereas others think that we are generation of hope for the future by practicing tolerance towards gay marriage, interracial marriage and marriage after a baby is born. One thing we can be sure of is that Generation Y has its own set of rules about love dating and marriage and we are not going to change our ways to please anyone.


Works Cited:

Jennifer Heebner. "Millennials Get Married. " JCK 1 Jan. 2005: 70-
73.

Learn to Love and be Loved. 12 Jan. 2009. 26 Apr. 2009
.

Generation Y: Materialistic?

Generation Y (my generation) is different from any other generation. We are not taken serious like the older generations. The older generations, such as Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Veterans all think we are way too spoiled and didn’t get disciplined properly.

My generation loves materialistic things! I have to say we are a little spoiled, but not like the other generations think. They way we communicate now days pose problems between generations. According to a scholarly journal, “Baby boomers highly value face-to-face communication, and have no problem getting up to walk to another office location to ask a colleague a question. Generation Y favors text messaging, instant messaging, and emails.” They call us the “lazy” generation, because we supposedly try every other possible way to do things without getting up. That’s where our cellular phones come in place.

I honestly believe that we couldn’t live without our cell phones. Our cell phones practically run our lives! My generation is always on the phone, whether it’s texting or talking or just playing with it. I love texting and I don’t know what I would do without it. Texting allows us to have multiple conversations all at the same time; where if you’re talking on the phone it’s very unlikely, unless you three-way. The thing with three-way is that it only allows you to talk to two people at once, unlike texting. Texting is also good if we’re in class and need to be notified of something important, like a family member being rushed to the hospital or something.

We are a generation that is very concerned with how people see us and what they think of us. According to the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, “Young consumers, especially, have a need to bolster their self-images through having “cool” looks. Generation Y consumers generally prefer brands with an identity based on values with which they can identify and through which they can express their individuality.” According to Sophia Yan, writer for The Oberlin Review, “Generation Y has grown up in a world with diverse Internet resources, iPods, MySpace, and intense multitasking — simultaneously chatting on AIM, finishing a problem set, watching television and listening to music.” She also states that, “We are a cohort of individuals characterized as Generation X on steroids.” Yes, we love our name brand clothes, shoes, accessories, purses, computers/ laptops, internet, iPods, cars, and of course money. No one can live a decent life without money, especially our generation!

I think our generation is the way it is because of the older generations and the media. We have always got the things we want and need. When we were little, our parents gave us what we wanted so we would stop screaming. According to LeslyeAnn, a blogger, “It’s not the kid’s fault that they whine for everything, but the older generation who have the opportunity to teach generosity and goodwill.” Our parents always said, “I want you to have more than I ever did.” So, that can be the main reason we always got everything we wanted when we were children and some still do. Even though we are grown, our parents still try to treat us like we don’t know how to run our own lives; they still try to be the boss of us. They still give us money and support us; I am by no means am I against that! According to James A. Roberts, Professor at Baylor University, “For the first time, Americans are spending more than they make.” So, why are we spending more money than we make? I believe that our spending has increased tremendously mainly because of the media. The media puts things on television to make us think we need it when we actually just want it. We are spending more money than we ever have before. Our credit cards, loans, and etcetera makes it very easy for us to get money and spend it without even thinking twice about it.

Every older generation seems to think we have it made and that we are overly spoiled. So, the question is, are we materialistic? My answer is this question is yes, to a certain extent we as a generation are materialistic. However, I do not believe we are overly spoiled or too materialistic. Most of us have jobs and earn our money, and some parents may still give us spending money. We like to have nice things and like to show people and older generations that we are somebody and not just anybody.


Works Cited:

Copeland, Mike, and James A. Roberts. Americans are "spending"
themselves into unhappiness 18 (2000).

Knight, Dee K., and Eun Young Kim. "Effects on Brand Perceptions and
Purchase Intention." Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 11
(2007): 270. http://0-proquest.umi.com.ucark.uca.edu/pqdweb?RQT=532&MRR=R&TS=1240809642&clientId=8427.

LeslyeAnn. "Is this healthy for our nation and our future?" Weblog
comment. HubPages. 24 Apr. 2009 .

Yan, Sophia. "Understanding Generation Y." The Oberlin Review 8 Dec.
2006. 24 Apr. 2009 http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2006/12/08/features/Understanding_Generation_Y.html.

Lazy Bum

A good work ethic is always an excellent quality to have. My generation, which is “Generation Y”, grew up watching our parents and grandparents bust their backs to support our family. Over the last few years different accusations have been made about my generation and their work ethic. Many from generations back have said that we are not as hard of workers as they are or were. I do not agree with this statement at all for many reasons.

“Generation Y” consists of those born between the years of 1980-1996. Throughout these years new inventions have been made and are now accessible for our use. Most of our grandparents had to work on a field or in a factory. They worked long hours and barely made enough to get by. Most of the cooking was all homemade and came from the garden out in the backyard. Since then inventions have been made such as the assembly line and farm equipment. There is no need for us to be out in a field because of these new inventions. Just because we do not sweat to death at our job does not mean that we are not hard workers. The majority of us are all going to college working incredibly hard to get a degree, so that make us hard workers.

Tera Womack said, “Generation Y is tech savvy, diverse, and individualistic, but this generation seems to have different expectations. We are seeing kids wanting something for nothing, putting off work as long as possible, and really being into celebrities” (Womack). Yes I agree we are tech savvy but that is only because our parents introduced us to it all and bought it for us. We use the computer for social networking to help us keep in touch with our friends. It is hard to keep in touch through telephone conversations with someone because we are always busy; this is because we juggle many extracurricular activities. Having the ability to juggle different activities and school work will help us in the long run when we have a daily based job.

“Generation Y are procrastinators that can never meet deadlines (Stewart).” This statement is not true because we are very good at meeting deadlines. We are tasked with many deadlines everyday and we choose to meet them, if we did not we would fail out of college. My generation does procrastinate and wait until the last second to complete assignments but this is just our way of work. It should not matter how long we procrastinate if the job gets finished on time.

Many negative statements have been made about my generation. In my opinion, the statements seem like they should be directed to the lazy teenagers that are living off their parent’s money. The adults from the generations past should take a good look at the statistics before they make wrong accusations. We have a great work ethic and it will all pay off in the long run.


Works Cited:

Stewart, Kenneth. "Lessons from Teaching Millennials." April & May 2006. Torreyson. University of Central AR, Conway. 26 Apr. 2009

Womack, Tera. "Generation Y v. Millennial." Www.terawozniakqualls.com. 4 Feb. 2009. 26 Apr. 2009.

Y is for Youtube

As a nineteen year old my life revolves around technology. In the morning I roll over turn off the alarm on my cell phone, check my Facebook, and Google the weather for that day. Generation Y is the generation of technology. We differ from other generation because we eat sleep and breathe technology. To older generations our lives look complicated by technology, but we see our lives as more convenient thanks to technology. We have access to anything and everything through our computers, internet, and cell phones. Generation Y has defined themselves in a unique way with the use of technology.

Trying to teach my dad to use a computer was a funny experience. From the mouse to the monitor he just didn’t grasp the concept. Generation Jones and X are always talking about how they had to make their own fun because unlike generation Y they didn’t have the internet and video games. Technology is constantly changing, each year it becomes more complex. The more difficult it becomes to use a cell phone or computer the older generations feel like it’s a lost cause. The technology gap is growing every year and will only continue.

“Samantha can you come fix the computer” is something I hear often from my mother. For generation Y technology is common sense. Every since elementary school we have had the use of computers drilled into our brains. We have had to learn how to access everything from Accelerated Reading test to social networking.

I have seen my cousin, who is six, get on his favorite website and begin to play one of his many video games. I was in awe the first time I watched him navigate through a very complex game. He is part of generation Z. If Y is the generation of technology then Z will be the generation of super technology. My cousin is very young and I already feel a technology gap forming between us. In a few decades I think generation Z will blow generation Y out of the water with the technology they invent.

Even though there is a generation gap, generation Jones and X are finding ways to keep up to protect their children. They use cell phones and email as a way of keeping up with their kids. Cell phones are convenient because they have everything from texting to trackers on them. Parents may not understand Facebook or Myspace, but when it comes protecting their children they find a way.

In the work place you can definitely see the technology difference in the generations. It seems like you always hear about big companies wanting fresh young minds. A lot of major businesses need the fresh people because they know the latest about internet and computers. Technology is vital to growing businesses (Molta). This gives generation Y an edge over all other generations.

Technology makes generation Y unique. From the cell phones to the video games everyone has something to say about generation Y. The truth about us is we are still young. When you think about people that have done great historical things, you typically think of an older person. People say were lazy, but I don’t think that’s true. GenYers are seeking to summon their own passion, courage and determination (parsons).Technology has given us access to everything we ever needed, and when it comes to technology we are brilliant. With time I think Generation Y will do great things, we just need time to grow up first.


Works Cited:

"Generation Y: self-activism is born." Weblog post. 7 Apr. 2009. 20 Apr. 2009 .
Molta, Dave, ed. "Gen Y and Baby Boomers Hold Similar Attitudes Toward Technology." 3 May 2007.

Family Values

We belong to a generation, most commonly known as generation Y. Many older generations think we are dumb and can’t do anything on our own. We do depend on technology more than older generations but that is what we have grown up around. The closeness of family has changed to us because our morals and priorities have changed a great amount over the years. As a whole one of the differences people see is family values have changed. It seems like we aren’t as close to our family as the past generations have been.

Our generation is raised on technology, almost all of the games kids play our technology games and our generation could most defiantly not live without computers. Older generations are in that we are dumb and can’t do anything for ourselves, but is it our fault that we are like this? We don’t think we are dumb but we do see how things have changed. Older generations seemed to really value family time, even with extended family. Today, our generation as whole doesn’t really seem to care about that, our minds are tied up with technology. Today's family setup looks more like concentric circles. The child is in the center surrounded by parents and step-parents, who are in turn surrounded by grandparents. We're now part of a more democratic family that gives the kids a voice in family affairs (Tapscott). One reason we may not be as close to family anymore is because we tell our parents what to do instead of them telling us what to do most of the time. Not only is technology a reason for taking our minds of family but work is also. There are many of us that value our jobs more than the past generations, therefore we devote all of our time into working rather than family time.

When we took a survey about our generation and family values the results were probably different than if we would have asked our parents to answer them about their own generations. When asked as a whole, if we were close to our extended family and parents, we responded by saying yes we are close to our parents but not so much with our extended family. A good explanation of us not being as close to family could be because the divorce rate of our parents is high, it has come as an easy way out and marriage is taken for granted most of the time. It makes it difficult to managed two different families when both of your parents don’t communicate anymore. Another reason for us not spending as much time with our family is we may have too much on our plate to actually handle. There are a lot of things to do, especially as teenagers, which does take away from family time. There are sleepovers, parties, games, etc., and friends are very important to us. Sometimes it is easier for us to spend time with our friends than family (Newton).

We don’t appreciate the value of family like our parents did, morals have changed as well as priorities, and we have taken everything away from closeness of family. Even though we realize this, it doesn’t seem to bother us, it’s our lives and that’s how we choose to live them no matter how crazy other generations think we are. Our generation may be a little lazier than the past ones and they might think we are dumb, but we have our own way of being smart.

Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

From the start, generation y has had nothing but negativity placed upon them by the older generations, but when you look at what is being said, generation y can’t be blamed. On numerous occasions generation y has been called lazy due to our use of technology, need for instant gratification, and more recently, the accounts of obesity due to inactivity. Generation y is not to blame for the cause of laziness when it was the older generations who set the foundations for us to fall prey to these complications.

On numerous occasions it’s been said that generation y is full of nothing but lazy people who want everything handed to them. Its said that we don’t want to work for anything. This is where I’ll have to disagree. Generation Jones and generation x feels this way because we don’t have to work as hard as they had to work. Technology is on generation y’s side. “The newly released Technology Gap Survey found generational differences in the effect of technology on workplace etiquette…It compared technology and software usage among generations of working professionals, including Boomer (ages 44-60), Generation X (ages 29-43) and Generation Y (ages 28 and younger).” (Be Specific). We don’t have to write letters because we can email anyone in the world in a matter of minutes. We don’t have to walk fifteen miles to school because at the age of sixteen we’re permitted to drive. So can generation y really be faulted for what generation x made available to us?

The world we live in today is known now as a McDonalized society, meaning that everything is made available within a matter of minutes, just like a McDonald’s fast food restaurant. “It is now deeply ingrained, not only in the fast-food industry, but also in many other social institutions, such as education, medicine, and the criminal justice system, and affects not only US society but many other cultures around the world as well,” (573) So why then, do the older generations talk about us as if it’s our fault that everything comes to us fast and easy? Its as if they wanted to make a better world for the new generations, but when it came time for us to benefit from it, jealousy fills the air. It causes a split between the two because of how things are done today.

It’s often brought up how we are overweight and becoming obese at a very early age due to laziness and lack of exercising. This little detail may indeed be true, but once again, whose to blame for this? Geoffrey Cowley along with others, feel that this isn’t fully our fault. “But social forces--from the demise of home cooking to the rise of fast food and video technology--have converged to make [generation y] heavier. Snack and soda companies are spending hundreds of millions a year to promote empty calories, while schools cut back on physical education and outdoor play is supplanted by Nintendo and the Internet,” (Generation XXL et al. 40). It’s the parents of generation y who are being lazy and just buying fast food meals instead of cooking nutritious meals for their children. As a result of that, when we are old enough to get our own food, we have become accustomed to the fast food restaurants, so that’s naturally what we eat. We can not help the fact that schools have cut back on their requirements for physical education. I personally remembering not having to take a P.E. class at all in junior high school. My question to you generation x, if you see that these things are endangering your children and could possibly have them obese at a young age, why buy the Playstations and X Boxes? Get them involved in outdoor sports or some sort of physical activity. The finger is so busy being pointed at us that you don’t realize that your thumb points back at you for introducing us to these bad habits at a young age.

This time, the older generations have voiced their opinions on us, but now comes the time for us to say what we feel and defend ourselves in the issue. When the issue of being to lazy to work hard for what we want was brought up, this is what freshman Rashauna Thrower had to say, “... It’s been said we don’t work hard? HA! Personally I believe every generation has their own struggles and things to overcome. But just b/c we don’t go through the same things they have been through doesn’t mean we don’t work hard.” So the argument here is that we work hard, its just that we have modern issues in which we are faced with. Jerry Baggies feels that it’s all in the perception of things, how your looking at it. “It's not so much as that we are lazy. We just prefer the easiest and quickest methods/solutions to situations as possible. When I say easiest, I'm referring more along the lines of methods that require the least effort.” Then again, who wouldn’t want to take the easier route. I don’t think you would climb to a mountain top when you could walk up the trail to get to the top. Mr. Baggies was also kind enough to comment on our use of technology and how it is or isn’t effecting us. “Also, we were raised into a generation where technology has helped us along that we have depended on. These pieces of technology weren't around with the older generations and therefore they think that we are lazy b/c we rely on them just as they relied on the technology they were raised into.” Generation Y feels strongly that we can’t be called lazy just because we are utilizing things that weren’t available to the other generations.

Being brought up in a society where technology is taking over and everyone is used to receiving things fast and easy, naturally those who weren’t able to reap the benefits will argue that those who are benefiting are lazy. Since when is it lazy to use resources provided to you. Why is it that the older generations want to blame generation y for something that they did? It’s indeed because they don’t get to reap the benefits of their work. The technology they’ve provided for us, makes our lives easier. If generation y is lazy, don’t sit and complain about it because you created the cause and we’re simply the effect.

Dating in the New Generation

The people from generation y are completely different from any other generation. We do everything from getting an education to dating differently than the years before us. Back in the day, dating was more of a formal issue. The guy contacted the girl, came to her parents house, and it was a must that he come inside the house. Most of the time he brought something for the girl, and when the date was over he walked her to the door. The two knew when they were in a relationship. Dating wasn’t as scandalous as it is now, and the actual relationships were more honest then. The basic definition of dating, the way we date, and how we meet each other has taken a turn from the “old fashioned” way.

With our generation dating is what happens when you are trying to get to know one another, according to my survey concerning generation y. Dating does not technically mean that the two people are in an official relationship. We go on dates to figure out if we like the other person or not; if we like them, the dates continue. The attraction is already there for a relationship when the dates start, but the chemistry may not be. The movies, out to eat, parties, and other more casual environments are considered a date. At this point we can go on dates with more than one person, but it is courteous if we don’t.

When our generation dates, it is more for fun than for finding love or the one we are “destined to be with.” Both sexes of this generation think horribly of the other one but we try not to generalize the entire male/female population. We like to think that there is at least one good person in the crowd; that’s why we fall for the same traps multiple times. We treat the process as a game and step on anyone’s toes in order to get what we think we want. We will lie to our significant other and then get mad when we are lied to. We also have a problem with cheating on the other person; cheating is doing anything, even talking, with someone that is attracted to you or that you are attracted to.

Another problem we face, is knowing when we are in an actual relationship with one another. This is the only time, in some people’s opinion, that cheating amounts to anything. Most say that if you are only going on dates cheating isn’t possible. It isn’t until the couple has talked about the situation and have both agreed they want to take a step forward that they are officially in a relationship. Sometimes it goes unspoken, and somehow we just figure it out. The two care about what the other one is involved with and like to carry on a conversation no matter what they are doing. We finally start taking the other person’s feelings into consideration.

Friends introduce us to the people we start going on dates with. We may meet them at parties, school, work, or on the internet too; since the pickings are slim, we find people anywhere we can. We exchange phone numbers the first time we meet, and then add each other on facebook; our generation is very technology dependent. After that we talk for a while and then make arrangements to see each other. Most of the time it ends in a relationship, other times it is a dud.

Although our generation may not be as morally structured as those before us, we know what kind of person we want for a relationship. Because we are timid about getting married and carrying out our parents mistake of divorce, we are a little too picky with whom we are in a relationship with. Our parents’ generations bash us for how we date, but they are the ones who taught us our ways; reading other people’s blogs I found that I’m not the only person who feels this way. We go on numerous dates and like to “hook up” with people we like to refer to as “friends,” but never settle for something we feel will turn out badly. Our generation still has the same ground rules of dating as generation x, generation Jones, and even the baby boomers, but our process of dating has changed dramatically.

Generation Y and Our Material Needs

Generation Y has been an era with so many advancements that we have come accustom to material things. The name brand clothing, nice cars, and cell phones are a few of the things we feel we have to have, but do we take them for granted? I am just as guilty as the next person to depend on these things, but it is a part of our generation, it’s who we are. I’m not sure I believe it is a bad thing.

We, generation Y, were born into a time where there was much more technology and new advancements being introduced all the time. This is all we have ever known, not to mention these are the things our parents, Generation Jones, bought for us. I don’t really think it’s fair how other generations judge us in a bad way. The writers of American Sports Data Inc say “Y kids are nonetheless characterized as apathetic, lazy and spoiled.” Which isn’t really fair if they had grown up when cell phones, laptops, even video games were invented they would become accustom to them too. It’s because they didn’t have these things that they say we are materialistic or spoiled. In this day most of these things are a must have, it is almost impossible to go to college without a laptop, or have a cell phone to talk to relatives on or use in case of an emergency. In a way this things are a necessity. Of course video games aren’t a must have but are we not supposed to have any fun?

Now yes I can see where they say that we always need the name brand clothes or shoes, but that’s also how we have grown up. That has become more and more popular in the last decade. Styles change and they have definitely changed since the Generation Jones time period. Personally I don’t feel like I have to have all the designer clothes, I just like them. It’s not the only clothes I own, I will happily buy things that aren’t name brand. However, a lot of the nice clothing that does cost a little more ends up lasting longer.

Who is really to blame for our material needs or the way we value money, is it us or is it our parents? Don’t give me wrong I love my parents and appreciate everything they did for me, but should I be at fault for the way I was raised? “Overly generous parents who sometimes bent over backwards to provide their children with the material and financial support they struggled without while growing up in 5 or 6 sibling families, as opposed to the 1 or 2 children households that became standard over the past couple decades” (Dollarish). Next time you decide to pass judgment on us, maybe you should rethink why we are the way we are.

Generation Y has never really had to go through a hard time. We really do take the nice things that we have for granted, and with our economy in the hole we might experience what it feels like to go without the nice clothes or high tech cell phones. When it comes down to it the money that we do spend on these things will help the economy. As much as the other generations want to bash us for buying the things we do it might actually end up helping them.

Our generation as a whole is materialistic without a doubt but I don’t really see it as a problem. Yes we need to appreciate the things we have more but I think that comes with age. We are just living the life we have always known and I think if it were any other generation it would be the same. To say we are the worst generation isn’t even right, we live in a totally different time.

Momma, Where’s Daddy?

Generation Y, Millennial Generation, whatever we are; we are a group of people yet to be accepted. Because we know the in’s and out’s of technology and a little about a lot, many people have yet to figure us out. One thing out of our hands has affected our generation more than ever before -- divorce. It’s not our choice, but it has a lasting effect on the people of our generation. Though many believe more and more children are growing up not receiving the love and care of two parents, our generation proves otherwise.

“A majority of Generation Y will have seen one of their parents leave the household before they graduate high school, and many will only ever live with one, if any, of their parents (Coming of Age in America).” Divorce has become easier to obtain throughout the years. No-fault divorce has allowed divorce without any evidence or show of wrong-doing. While the national average for 2008 was 48%, our own state soared at 57% making it the second highest in America (Arkansas Has 2nd Highest).

What are we to with something that is completely out of our hands? Megan said, “Yes, sometimes I did feel left out, [but] I believe I had advantages because I was able to go more places with my mom and dad.” In the same light Ariel commented, “It was tough not having a mom to go to when, say, I needed my first bra. I didn’t feel comfortable going to girl scouts, and in junior high I was the only girl who tried out for pep squad that didn’t have her mother on the sideline.”

Statistics say that one out of four live in a single parent household, but don’t let statistics fool you (Generation Y). Because of the divorce, stronger relationships are being formed between other members of the family. More time is spent with the children than those of past generations. Tamara said, “Both of my parents were amazing. I feel like I was so completely blessed in the area of parents. They were super involved in everything I did, and were amazing. I feel like I was at an advantage because they were always always there for me. My parents never missed a game that I cheered at, or a dance recital. I couldn’t have been more blessed.” Parents are becoming more active in our lives, and today over half of families eat dinner together seven days a week (Generation Y). An outstanding 84% of young people of divorced families reported a happy childhood compared to that of 96% in traditional married families (Coming of Age in America). Though divorce is becoming more common, children are still benefiting.

Divorce has always, and will always be a terrible thing. It will always tear families apart. Having been brought through two divorces myself; I know good can come of a terrible thing. Relationships that might have never been formed become the ones that are treasured for a lifetime. Generation Y might always be hard to figure out because we are shifting the norm. But isn’t it always said that change can be a good thing? Sure we will continue to puzzle those of past generations, but Generation Y will set a foundation that it’s okay to be different.

 
Works Cited:

"Arkansas Has 2nd Highest Divorce Rate In Country - Local News Story - KHBS NW Arkansas." Northwest Arkansas News, Fayetteville & Fort Smith News & Weather - KHBS/KHOG Northwest Arkansas' Channel 40/29. Nov. 2008. 24 Apr. 2009 .

"Coming of Age in America Part II." Greenberg Quinlan Rosner | Home. Sept. 2005. 24 Apr. 2009 .

"Generation Y: The Millennials Ready or Not, Here They Come."
NAS Recruitment Communications. 2006. 23 Apr. 2009 .

Y Don’t We Say "I Do"?

In our generation, Generation Y, we are becoming older and older as we decide to say "I do". Unlike the generations before us, we are waiting until our late twenties or even older to exchange vows instead of rushing into marriage right after high school. We do not seem to be in any rush to commit to marriage because the majority of us still feel like marriage is a sacred bond and a commitment for life (Martin 359). Our values about marriage and family have seemed to change from our parents’ generations. Family ties seem to be closer and the search for the right spouse is a more extensive hunt. Generation Y has changed their standards on marriage and the family due to the mistakes we watched the generations before us make.

One of the big reasons that our generation puts off marriage is because of the heartbreaking divorces we watched our parents go through. We do not want to make the same mistake twice, we want one lifelong marriage. The divorces of our parents left the kids to be tossed around from home to home and get accustomed to two lives. We, however, do not want to bear the pain of a divorce or put our kids through that experience. We want to get it right, so we keep searching for the person who is perfect for us. According to a study that was conducted, 68.2% of young people in our generation plan to be married within the ages of 23-27. These same adolescents have also mostly been subject to the divorces of their parents (Martin 361-362). This suggests that because of the divorces that we witnessed we wait for marriage at a more experienced age. We continue to wait for the right time, hoping that we will be able to avoid the tragic end of marriage that our parents underwent.

However, a product of this wait has sparked a greater rate of cohabitation and premarital sex within our generation. Instead of exchanging vows, we choose to exchange house keys. It is just another way we have avoided marriage. We often justify living together as a means of getting to know the person before we commit to marriage, but sometimes this leaves our lives in a mess anyway. Cohabitation is quickly becoming just another step in the relationship process, somewhere between "third base" and "home". It is our generation’s attempt to acquire necessary abilities to sustain a marriage since the "family disruption" of our young lives has left us ill-prepared (Martin 364). If we simply decide that we cannot live with the other person, we kick them out or leave; there are no papers to file or lawyers to contact. Likewise, more people in our generation are not practicing abstinence. We do not feel that you have to wait until marriage to have sex so many people of our generation have sex as they wish. The one act
that people of generations before us left for marriage is now outside of marriage which is another reason that we do not rush into marriage.

Another problem that prevents us from marriage in our generation is different standings in a relationship. Oftentimes one person in a couple may be ready for marriage, while the other person is still not "quite" ready (Generation Y). There are still some of us that are afraid of commitment. We keep putting off the marriage until convenient for both persons. We always have reasons for not being "quite" ready whether we are not ready to settle down, want to spend time with friends, or afraid that it just may not work out and do not want to end up in divorce. Many times one of the persons simply wants their freedom back (Generation Y). We seem to constantly be hindered by something; some factor is preventing us from getting married. Maybe our generation simply cannot allow themselves to be happy.

As our generation becomes adults we will continue to wait until later ages to get married. Whatever it may be, we are afraid of something and would rather be safe than sorry. However, our generation has found ways of experiencing a marriage, yet not actually be in one, which only helps us to avoid marriage altogether. We are often unsure of what we want, but we know that we do not want to end up in divorce. We have definitely learned from our parents’ generations that we do not want to go through a divorce and we want to have a close and loving family. We want the perfect marriage and supporting family, no matter how long it takes us to find it.


Works Cited:

"Generation Y - A Gamophobic Society?" Weblog post. Dare to Date. 5 Dec. 2008. 22 Apr. 2009
.

Martin, Paige D., Gerald Specter, Don Martin, and Maggie Martin. "Expressed Attitudes of Adolescents Toward Marriage and Family Life." Summer 2003. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. University of Central Arkansas, Conway. 21 Apr. 2009 .

Generation Y: Relationships?

The things that Generation Y say today makes me wonder. One thing that we cannot believe is why Generation Y is saying that they are not going to get married just because of past relationships they have had or things that their parents do to make them not want to get married. Some children today have had to deal with their parents fighting almost their whole childhood. Us as women think that it is wrong when guys say there are no good women out there anymore. If they think that there are not that many good women out there, they apparently are not looking hard enough, because there is. Women might say that there are not any good guys out there but that does not mean they do not stop looking. I mean most guys are players. They think if they are not talking to one or more girls at one time they are not cool enough. The women’s theory is if you hang out with the girl more than once and call her all the time then that means that you and him are talking or are more than just friends. That is one thing, we as the women of generation y think, that guys need to work on.

Another thing is some people are scared to get into a relationship because they are scared to get hurt again from their past experiences. What women think is, you never know if you are going to get hurt again until you date someone else. If you are scared going into a relationship it is never going to work because you are never fully going to be in the relationship until you leave the past behind you. So if you have your heart and mind into the relationship then things should go pretty well. Relationships are hard but if you really like that one person then things will be just fine.

When I posted a note on facebook, and asked five questions about relationships I got many different and good responses. One of the questions that was asked was, “Do you believe it is okay to date more than one person at a time?” Most of the responses to that question was if you and the guy is just dating and it is nothing serious then it is okay, but if you are getting serious then no it is not okay (Facebook). Us as Generation Y if we were asked as a whole will mostly give you that answer to a question like that. Generation Y believes that it is wrong to cheat on anybody while in a relationship, even though some people do it, it is still bad to do that to someone. Another question that was asked was, “Does the increasing divorce rate have an effect on how you date today?” One person’s response was, “It makes you think more about who you are willing to spend your life with, look for someone who is committed and trusts you. You do not want to end up with kids and be divorced, it does not look fun” (Facebook). This shows how most people today are scared to get into a serious relationship because of what kind of relationship their parents have. We as Generation Y are scared to get married and end up getting a divorce later in our marriage, but you just have to find someone that is right for you and know that you love that person a lot.

In the blog, “Face Time and Generation Y,” it talks about how are interactions with people have become less and less distance with each one another. The reason for this is because usually when we talk with our friends it is either through text messages, IMs, email, and many other things. Even the phone has limited our interactions with one another (Foster). This blog just basically says that we barely interact with one another face to face and this limits the time you should be able to spend together in a relationship. If you really want to get to know somebody you just need to pick up the phone and call that person. In one article that I read, “Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance,” it talks about how facebook was created to make face-to-face interactions with people on university campuses or anywhere. It is a way to meet new people and get to know your friends a little bit more. People of the Facebook community use it to help build and enhance their “real” relationships through unique performances of online self (Westlake). People’s relationships can be good or bad depending on how they make it work.

Generation Y needs to work on the relationship theory to make it better and stop letting the fear of something get in your way. Relationships are hard, but there is one good guy and one good girl out there for everyone. As it is always said, “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”


Works Cited:

Foster, Stuart. “Face Time and Generation Y.” 8 April 2009. 22 April 2009.
http://thelostjacket.com/networking/facetime.

Kara and Katie. “Survey for Writing Class...PLEASE RESPOND!!! :).” 17 April 2009.
www.facebook.com.

Westlake, EJ. “Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance.” ECO.

Generation Y: Embarrassing or The Fault of Other’s Actions?

When speaking for Generation Y, as a whole, we are changing the way marriage is perceived and honestly we are not even realizing it. The parents of our generation, majority coming from Generation Jones, is seen completely different as ours. They are seen now in their forty’s or so as divorced. Generation Y has grown up around this new and seemingly unhealthy relationship with separation. Are our parents splitting up what is causing us to question the idea of marriage?

Definitely we have to say it plays a big role due to the fact that “we do not want our children to grow up in the situation we did”. Yes it is obvious that divorce will make our generation question the idea of marriage, due to the commonly asked questions among oneself. For example questions such as how are we suppose to know if this marriage will last or what sets our love apart from other couples’. “weak commitment to the general norm of lifelong marriage may ultimately undermine people’s commitments to particular relationships” (Whitton par. 3). These emotional disturbing questions could defiantly cause couples a lot of confusion. Yet we as a generation need to come together and change the perception we are putting off. “I think marriage is the new dating and having kids is the new marriage” (Girlfromathens par.1). Generation Y has completely transformed the meaning of marriage which in turn is going to keep the ever growing divorce rate at its rapid speed; we can change this perception.

Generation Y coming from primarily divorced homes should not have made us avoid the want to marry on the other hand should have made us have a stronger want to make a marriage work. “It has been suggested that both reduced commitment to marriage as an institution and lower confidence that marriages can remain stable and happy may partially account for the heightened risk for divorce among adults from divorced families” (Whitton par. 3). We need to show the multiple psychologists that have said we will have long term effects; that they have diagnosed us incorrectly that we can fight back against the path we are destine to follow. We need to steer away from this new definition of marriage as mentioned earlier that we now have been define it as having children. In our high schools we all had numerous girls pregnant at such a young age.

Generation Jones their main concern was graduating high school and immediately getting married. We seem to have the concept of starting a life and family with our significant other somewhat backwards. We are all just trying to grow up too fast and are “jumping the gun”. Since we as a generation have this idea of rushing into to everything, even if it is an unintentional pregnancy or marriage, we should be ready to deal with the consequences. We should not be having sexual intercourse at such young ages if we are not ready to have a child. Same conditions go along with marriage; we should not get married because “we are in love” and after the first fight be ready to give up. “We live in a throw-away society, always trading in what we have for an upgraded version. Our televisions and cell phones are perfectly fine, but we want high-def and an iPhone” (Girlfromathens par. 8). No one ever said marriage or pregnancy would be easy; these are tough situations that couples go through. When making these commitments such as sexual intercourse or marriage; you must work to together to make things successful.

It was not our parents who influenced us to this lifestyle, an example being, rushing into having sexual intercourse so we could get pregnant out of wedlock. Is it the fact, that if it was not our parents who were divorced then we had friends who had parents that were divorced? I believe again that divorce has an enormous role on how we as a generation are maturing. We believe that we have grown up around the situation of divorce so we know how life will be. We tell ourselves “okay I am going to have sex with my boyfriend and if I get pregnant we can get married. If our marriage does not work out then I can raise my child on my own, my mother did it so I can too.” “By observing their parents separate and divorce, children may learn that marriage is impermanent” (Whitton par. 3). This is not an educated decision to base you future on. We need to take the heartbreak, tears, and low economic points in your parent’s divorce and post divorce life into consideration that this is a very painful time in their life. We need to take the examples Generation Jones has shown us and grow from them. We can see all the problems within the relationships and transform it back into the healthy relationship it once was.

As a generation if we were to not have grown up in conditions that were sometimes unstable we should all agree that we would most likely not be having this discussion. Not to push blame for Generation Y’s feelings towards marriage or our hurry to grow up yet I do believe if our childhood conditions were different we all would be taking our time to find Mr. or Mrs. Right. “This can make some who were products of divorces more cautious about choosing a partner in the future, but it also plants a subconscious seed that the option (divorce) is always there. That there’s always a way out” (Girlfromathens par. 10). Generation Y this is a typically harsh situation, divorce, but it can be overcome. We must take divorce and grow from it to where we can show Generation Jones that we are not going to let their marriage problems keep us from giving marriage all we have. We can change their perception of us.

About This Blog

Dear Reader,

The Generation Y writers represented here are freshman composition writing students in my Academic Writing and Research classes at the University of Central Arkansas.

The assignment was simple: Speak for your generation and let the rest of us know how you think, what you think, and where you think you're going. Choose a specific topic of interest, then find research written by both Generation Y and all those other named generations before them. Many students conducted surveys of their peers on Facebook and used that research as well.

What better way, I thought, to find the pulse of Generation Y than on Facebook?

While everyone had to write this brief essay, posting them on Generation Y Voices was completely voluntary. The whole point of blogging the essay was to create a real audience and to begin a conversation. Interestingly, this technologically astute generation was unfamiliar with blogs. With final exams upon us, I set it up, copied and pasted their work without alteration, and added visual interest to each post. In the future, I'll make world enough and time to teach them the rudiments of blogging and hand the whole show over to them.

As a Generation Joneser I barely know how to use my own cell phone, so I guess we're even.

Enjoy.


Monda Fason
Department of Writing
University of Central Arkansas