gen Y

There's a new Times article about the generations colliding in the workplace. A couple of years ago, I got really interested in this topic, and decided that I am one of the oldest members of generation Y (therefore in the same generation as my middle school students, not that of my colleagues.) This was actually before wikipedia was [as] huge, and I'm pretty sure I read about it on some other site. Which I can't find. I think I started on wordspy. Anyway, I remember the characteristics of gen Y as being: optimistic, confident, streamlined for success rather than rebelling against authority, juggling many extracurriculars, good at multitasking, using technology without a second thought, thinking there is a "reset button" for life (as for video games,) and wanting jobs that don't suck (with more flexiblity and informality.) Meanwhile, gen X is a bunch of slacking, non-loyal rebels who want to "hop off the merry-go-round of status, money, and social climbing that so often frames modern existence." In gen Y, we think we can have it all.

Something new in this latest article is the insanely competitive college admissions process that gen Y had to go through. I got in everywhere I applied to, but my sister, 4 years later, with applications that were at least as strong as mine, did not- so maybe I just missed it. I mean, it is kind of silly to try to put 1981 on one side or the other of the purported generational divide- especially considering how I was raised (equal parts reactionary and liberal parenting philosophy. My parents fall in the baby boom generation, with my dad as one of the oldest, but they didn't have children immediately.) But still, I think it's an interesting topic. So, loyal readers, which generation are you?