Guest Blogger Mike Waltman
With due respect to Emptyage, I am not sick of Generation Y’s BS; I’m jealous as hell. In fact, to hear most journalists describe it, Gen Y is stoically and heroically facing the same challenges Gen X did, they’re just more tech-savvy and better looking.
Since that quintessential characteristic of Gen X—persevering despite crippling adversity—is now being doled out like cloying compliments from a dance club Casanova, I fear people’s very ability to distinguish generational cohorts is being jeopardized. Therefore, to help the general public differentiate between these virtual identical twins while it is still possible, I have developed the following matrix, based on very real-life experience:
Gen Y
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Gen X
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Faced post-college joblessness by moving back home with parents
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Faced post-college joblessness by crashing at friends’ apartment (no room at Mom’s)
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Watched Occupiers protest with raised lattes as police maced
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Watched rioters burn down LA as police dithered
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Constant attention from helicopter parents is such a bummer
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Signing your younger siblings’ report cards and giving them your lunch money is such a bummer
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Saw former football star imprisoned after awry sale
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Saw former football star golf after dual murders
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Spiritual guidance: Joel Osteen or Rick Warren?
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Spiritual guidance: Jimmy Swaggart or Tammy Faye Baker?
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Pesky employers won’t post jobs on Facebook and Twitter
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Pesky employers won’t post jobs
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Public schools: mostly Glee meets High School Musical
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Public schools: mostly first scenes of Lean on Me
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Government boosts economy with Recovery Act stimulus and bailouts
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Government boosts economy with Gramm-Rudman Act assistance-slashing and spending caps
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Major void in Ipod after Napster shut down
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Major void in soul after dad moved out
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At least we can dance away our troubles in the feel-good tunes of Ke$ha, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber
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Well, hope that helps. I guess the pundits are right: aside from those minor differences in the way we dealt with hardship (or, more specifically, in the way society was expected to ameliorate our hardships) there are precious few differences in these two generations that met generational turbulence with the golly-gosh-darn tenacity that makes us all American.
However, for those few who care to look closer—believe me, very few—a difference can be seen in the way one generation faced economic recession with every supporting societal institution of family, religion, authority and government collapsing calamitously beneath them, while the other faced it with the munificent support of all of these. Plus, exploding technological advance and the absence of being perpetually in the shadow of an ever-clamoring older cohort.
Like I said, I’m not mad at Gen Y (hell, I raised three wonderful ones), nor do I deny them the virtue of dealing with truly difficult challenges…but, I am yet to find one who would have traded places with their older ‘twins.’
Thanks, Mike, for this terrific blog post. I love the spot-on matrix. For another guest post from Mike see My Uncles Can Beat Up Your Uncles, February 2011. - jennifer
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14 comments:
Mike, So many of the things you wrote resonated with me. Every one matrix is a story in and of itself. I wish you'd guest post on a regular basis.
This comparison list between Gen X and Gen Y is pretty much right on! My own two GenX children were early enough out of college (in the go-go nineties) to be somewhat ahead of the curve in job experience and multiple skills by the time the Great Recession hit. We boomers who grew up in the Eisenhower years and Civil Rights and Vietnam eras really did not have it as easy as Gen Xers and Gen Yers night think. Especially if they did not believe ANY of Leave it to Beaver!
I'm an Xer who believes that. I've worked with a lot of Vietnam veterans over the years. The stories they've told about waiting for draft numbers, friends dying. I cannot relate. It's horrible. No wonder there was free love. Life was cut so short for so many, like 60,000. God help us.
All I can say is, "WORD"
LOL! I love that word, "Word," especially when people lift a hand and point with
their index finger. WORD!
Mike, you present some great points and I have to agree with you on all but one. Gen Y isn't better looking. My GenX wife is proof of that.
Great guest post, Jen. Thanks Mike. I was just bickering with a GenYer the other day. I'm going to send her this link.
I just come back to read it for catharsis! Thanks, Chris.
Great Post. I think many assumptions with GEN Y remain assumptions, a discourse which have been promoted by many such as Presky, Tapscott etc with thesis like Multitasking, information afficiado, Postmodern Individuals who carry a USB stick around their neck, ipod connected to the ears and googling on their iPhone while correcting and teaching their professors how Google, Facebook, Twitter work. Pure marketing discourse for a certain demography when one Pew Reasearch really showed that the GEN Y couldnt really identify and retrieve information they see on the net. I guess these discourses are important, however, education is primordial to reframe the GEN Y in wake of new technologies
Oh please... the Baby Boomers got to enjoy (and destroy) the last of the old fashioned pensions that were a given regardless of the stock market, they enjoyed a far better health insurance net, far better music and movies. Yes, Vietnam sucked. And the Baby Boomers who sat out on the war and protested somehow got it into their heads that the best response was to spit on and abuse those who had chosen to serve (wow, great strategy guys). There's a reason Gen X loathes the Baby Boomers, and it's not just for leaving us with a great big mess to clean up. Bad news Baby Boomers: your time is just about up. You get one last gasp of "it's all about me" via the AARP and the effort to ensure you don't leave a dime left in social security after you're gone. Hope this doesn't come off as sounding too harsh...
Umm, you have a point. Also, 3 percent student loans...10 years later mine were 8!
That's fascinating about the Pew Research. I missed that study and would like to read it. I totally believe this just based on my experience - about difficult really struggling to identify and retrieve info. Thanks, Davek.
I don't understand how this post adds value
you spam monster. are you for real?
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