Millennials

Generation Y (sometimes referred to as "the Millennials", or "the New Lost Generation") refers to a specific cohort of individuals born from around 1982 to 1997. "Generation Y" alludes to a succession from Generation X, a term which was made popular by the Canadian fiction writer Douglas Coupland in 1991.

Generation Y are primarily children of the Baby boomers and Generation Jones (US only), though some are children of older Gen X adults.

Generation Y defined demographically

United States of America

The term “Echo Boom” (used in reference to Gen Y) refers to a five year span between 1989 and 1994 when for the first time since 1964, the number of live births in the US reached over four million. Previously, even the rate of 1965 (3.76 million) was not reached until 1985. Also, the birthrate of 1971 (3.56 million) has yet to be reached according to the 2000 US census. If the years 1981–2000 are used, as is common in market research, then the size of Millennials in the United States is approximately 76 million.

Australia

In 1988 the number of births again began to increase gradually hitting a peak of 264,000 births in 1992 – the highest number of birth since 1972. The births then dropped away through the rest of the 1990s before beginning a recovery in 2002 spanning 6 years through January 2008 which signals the start of Generation Z.

Millennials defined sociographically

Facebook, MySpace, texting, IM and other instant communication technologies may explain Millennials' reputation for being peer oriented and for seeking instant gratification. Millennials, like other generations, are shaped by the events, leaders, developments and trends of its time.

A New Lost Generation?

While the diametric nature of the digital age puts people into more direct contact with information and each other, they conduct their work (via IM, text messaging, and email) in more and more isolated environment. The spread of advertising through the internet and the brand conscious nature of the Y Generation has all worked together to create a cultural rift with previous generations, as well as within the Y Generation itself. This lack of coherent identity and disenchantment with an establishment that created modern cultural backgrounds like the Iraq War, (most Gen Y's were not able to vote until the 2004 or even 2008 Presidential election) as resulted in a state that has been likened to the societal shift in the 1920's, perhaps most directly a reflection of the skepticism of young people after witnessing the horrors caused by the failed policies of World War I. The term New Lost Generation has become an alternative for the more arbitrary "Millennial" branding, in a nod to the original Lost Generation.

Trends among members

As with previous generations, many trends (and problems) began to surface as members of Millennials came of age.

• Members of this generation are facing higher costs for higher education than previous generations.

• In Australia, members of this generation have been labeled the "houseless generation" because of rising house costs and expectations which have prevented many Gen Y-ers from purchasing their first home. While 65% of Australians aged 25-39 had managed to purchase their first home in the late 80s, only 50% of this age group have managed to be first home owners today.

• The Boomers have been labeled the "sandwich generation" because so many of their Gen Y offspring remain home well into their 20s right at the time that their own parents are needing more care.

• The Gen Y of Australia has been labeled the most educated generation in history because of record-high Year 12 retention rates (77%) and university enrollments.

• As members of Millennials in the United States begin to enter colleges and universities in large numbers, some of their Baby Boomer parents are becoming helicopter parents. Many college advisors and administrators worry that this could have a negative effect on Millennials's social progress, ego, and developing maturity.

• Business owners in Australia feel that members of Millennials were found to be "demanding, impatient and bad at communicating," according to a 2007 survey. The survey found that almost 70% of those surveyed found their Millennials workers to be dissatisfying, with poor spelling and grammar and no understanding of appropriate corporate behaviors. However, the survey also showed most employers praised the energy and charisma of their Millennials workers.

• Gen Y represents more than 70 million consumers in the United States. They earn a total annual income of about $211 billion spend approximately $172 billion per year** and considerably influence many adult consumer buying choices. They also face a greater degree of direct corporate predation than any other generation in history.

• A 2008 survey by UK recruitment consultancy FreshMinds Talent in partnership with Management Today suggested that Millennials are generally more ambitious, brand conscious and tend to move jobs more often than ever before. The survey of over 1,000 people, entitled Work 2.0, also revealed several misconceptions about Millennials, including that they are as loyal as their predecessors and believe that their job says something about them as individuals.

• Millennials have experienced family breakdown (one in two marriages now end in divorce in Australia and the US). The rates of two parents working are seen at higher levels than seen during the formative years of older generations. This has greatly changed their relationships at home when compared to their parents and grandparents. This may have led them to be more peer-oriented and may be a contributing factor to the premium that Gen Y workers place on workplace culture (see above under Millennials at work).

• A 2007 episode of the American news magazine 60 Minutes entitled The Age Of The Millenials proposed that members of the Millenial Generation are exceptionally tech-savvy, are especially tuned to their own value in the job market, have limited loyalty to any particular employer, and insist on working in a stimulating job environment. However, these are simply characteristics and attitudes that were previously attributed to Generation X in works such as in the 1999 article "The Hunter-Gatherers of the Knowledge Economy: The Anthropology of Today's Cyberforagers" by David Berreby, so these behaviors may be consequences of modern culture or of the modern economy rather than qualities of a particular generation.

Generation Y & technology

In their recent book, Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa (2007) found that in a survey of 7,705 college students in the US:

• 97% own a computer
• 94% own a cell phone
• 76% use Instant Messaging.
• 15% of IM users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week
• 34% use websites as their primary source of news
• 28% author a blog and 44% read blogs
• 49% download music using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 75% of college students have a Facebook account
• 60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an iPod.

The Internet generation

Main article: Internet generation

In his book Growing Up Digital, business strategist and psychologist Don Tapscott coined the term "Net Generation" for the group, pointing at the significance of being the first to grow up immersed in a digital and Internet driven world.

Millennials are commonly referred to as digital natives (as coined by Marc Prensky, although this is often argued), as are the upcoming Generation Z, because they have lived their entire lives immersed in digital technologies.

Digital Aliens	Digital Immigrants	Digital Adaptives	Digital Natives
The Builders (1925-1945) were latecomers to technology. The internet, podcasts, SMS, online gaming and wireless networks are largely alien concepts to them.	The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) are digital immigrants who reached adulthood without digital technology. While many embrace new technologies, some do so reluctantly.	Digital technologies began to emerge (in a mass sense) largely during the teen years of Generation X (1965-1978). Generation X willingly embraces the technologies they saw evolve into consumer durables.	Generation Y/Millennials (1979-2002) have enjoyed the luxuries of digital technology their entire lives including the massive and lucrative video game industry.

See also

• Baby Boomer
• Generation X
• Generation Z
• Generation Einstein
• Generation

External links

• Collection of Articles on Millennials
• USA Today
• The "Millennials" Are Coming
• Millennial Fact Sheet By the Deloitte consulting group.
• Employee Evolution: the Voice of Millennials at Work
• Millennial Leaders Blog
• Kid (M)illennial
• MillennialGeneration.org Blog
• Generation Y's Goal: Wealth and fame?
• "A new switched-on and cynical generation"Peter West - Monday, 12 December 2005
• Attracting the twentysomething worker
• For more on Generation Y and other generations