generational conflict between y and boomers...your thoughts,
Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:54 am
Hello people,
I have always been fascinated by generational theory and when I found this site, I was very pleased: I have always wanted to discuss such matters in a public forum. That being said, there is something I would like to bring up...and what I have to say is particularly directed at John. (Forgive me if I am not totally clear, but it is late where I am.)
I was born at the tail end of 1982, ergo, I consider myself Gen Y. Personally, I have read a lot of articles describing my generation as entitled fools who expect much for doing little and who need constant applause for what they do at work. I have read that my generation is whingey and whiney. However, the funny thing is that the more I look at things the more I realize that Gen Y really does have some very real bones to pick with their parents' generation (Boomer)
1) Boomers: this is the generation that coined the phrase "hope I die before I get old." Here is the weird thing I notice: The Boomers now ARE getting old and do not want to admit it! I look around and I see, for example, film actresses in their fifties trying to look thirty and I also see AARP ads that want to "revolutionize" sex after sixty. In my sister's line of work (journalism) I have watched bosses totally balk at younger employees' suggestions. For example, my sister has tried desperately to explain that the old business model of print media is not going to last much longer and that paying unions unspeakable salaries for obsolete work is counterproductive: what should be done is total retraining for MULTIMEDIA work and working with the unions to retrain the force is much more efficient and profitable. I have also sat and watched large automotive companies completley misread the preferences of drivers and the heads of these companies refuse to acknowledge that 1) the days of singing about your GTO and cruising are 40 years in the past and 2) bluntly, the designs of American cars are hideous (I would know: I have known many very talented CAD designers come up with some funky designs....only to get rejected because the boss can't bear to part with his ossifying conception of the '68 Mustang he had when he was 16.) Is it just me, or should Gen Y's sense of entitlement be well placed, since it actually is OUR time to be young, and OUR turn to shape the world? In fact, is it ever going to be our turn?
2) Boomers I have spoken to do not seem to understand that money does not just magically appear...and yet my Generation is accused of being over pampered. I graduated from a top Art School in NYC about a year and a half ago. My student loan debts are staggering. My prospects of finding a job are not as good as you think: my degree is in making computer animation, but because nobody is buying video games in a big slump, my prospects of getting hired are small (and given the instability in Japan I do not want to go overseas.) I don't know how, or if, I will ever get employment. I have read articles in the paper saying that Gen Y is lazy vs. out of work Boomers because we do not make as grand an effort to keep going on job interviews, but the Boomer written article neglects to mention that in a recession 1) bosses hire with very narrow criteria to minimize risk, meaning experience always gets priority and 2) the future of this country is predicated on if I can get a job, not if someone much older than I am can retire. To top it all off, my generation is likely to be saddled with enormous debt and Boomers I have met left and right think this recession is just a matter of a few more months....even if my gut says years.
3) Technology. Gen X usually gets bashed a lot, but I will tip my hat to Gen X bosses in the fact that at least they understand that the forward thrust of technology is changing the face of industries, everything from medicine to cartoons. In Boomer Bosses i have met a lot of resistance. Some will stubbormly insist on heading to a bookshop for the latest information on trends when people my age have to grovel to be allowed to use our iPhones....and get the same research paper in a matter of minutes, plus lesser known databases.
4) Issues: I am a woman. If there is one thing that gets my goat about Boomer feminists, it is that they totally have missed the boat about what girls and women need today. I really do not care if a woman becomes president or not: to me, such a feat is not impossible or even represents the big prize. I care more about the United States being the only Western Country that does not have significant paid maternity leave and the fact that whatever husband I will have shall not be able to take time off after the birth of a baby at all. I care more that the rights of the corporate entity take precedent over the needs of its workers: 2 weeks vacation is not enough time to spend with your family out of the whole year and cannot possibly be a good thing if it is likely that kids are going to have a longer school year. I am tired of the current horse crap being bandied about on the news regarding (horror of horrors!) mammograms at 50 as opposed to 40, and by far more concerned with the fact that young mothers who have just given birth are getting pushed out of the hospital about 24 HOURS after the fact just so hospitals can save a buck; I am outright alarmed that the major (mostly white) Boomer feminists you see on tv will rail on and on about patriarchy but will not raise a finger to help the fact that the face of HIV nowadays is almost always poor, black/Latina....and female.
I have read a lot about Gen X constantly blaming the Boomers for their ills. But on the other hand, given what I have said, John, IS IT ALL IN THE HEADS OF THE MILLENIALS, TOO?!!!
I have always been fascinated by generational theory and when I found this site, I was very pleased: I have always wanted to discuss such matters in a public forum. That being said, there is something I would like to bring up...and what I have to say is particularly directed at John. (Forgive me if I am not totally clear, but it is late where I am.)
I was born at the tail end of 1982, ergo, I consider myself Gen Y. Personally, I have read a lot of articles describing my generation as entitled fools who expect much for doing little and who need constant applause for what they do at work. I have read that my generation is whingey and whiney. However, the funny thing is that the more I look at things the more I realize that Gen Y really does have some very real bones to pick with their parents' generation (Boomer)
1) Boomers: this is the generation that coined the phrase "hope I die before I get old." Here is the weird thing I notice: The Boomers now ARE getting old and do not want to admit it! I look around and I see, for example, film actresses in their fifties trying to look thirty and I also see AARP ads that want to "revolutionize" sex after sixty. In my sister's line of work (journalism) I have watched bosses totally balk at younger employees' suggestions. For example, my sister has tried desperately to explain that the old business model of print media is not going to last much longer and that paying unions unspeakable salaries for obsolete work is counterproductive: what should be done is total retraining for MULTIMEDIA work and working with the unions to retrain the force is much more efficient and profitable. I have also sat and watched large automotive companies completley misread the preferences of drivers and the heads of these companies refuse to acknowledge that 1) the days of singing about your GTO and cruising are 40 years in the past and 2) bluntly, the designs of American cars are hideous (I would know: I have known many very talented CAD designers come up with some funky designs....only to get rejected because the boss can't bear to part with his ossifying conception of the '68 Mustang he had when he was 16.) Is it just me, or should Gen Y's sense of entitlement be well placed, since it actually is OUR time to be young, and OUR turn to shape the world? In fact, is it ever going to be our turn?
2) Boomers I have spoken to do not seem to understand that money does not just magically appear...and yet my Generation is accused of being over pampered. I graduated from a top Art School in NYC about a year and a half ago. My student loan debts are staggering. My prospects of finding a job are not as good as you think: my degree is in making computer animation, but because nobody is buying video games in a big slump, my prospects of getting hired are small (and given the instability in Japan I do not want to go overseas.) I don't know how, or if, I will ever get employment. I have read articles in the paper saying that Gen Y is lazy vs. out of work Boomers because we do not make as grand an effort to keep going on job interviews, but the Boomer written article neglects to mention that in a recession 1) bosses hire with very narrow criteria to minimize risk, meaning experience always gets priority and 2) the future of this country is predicated on if I can get a job, not if someone much older than I am can retire. To top it all off, my generation is likely to be saddled with enormous debt and Boomers I have met left and right think this recession is just a matter of a few more months....even if my gut says years.
3) Technology. Gen X usually gets bashed a lot, but I will tip my hat to Gen X bosses in the fact that at least they understand that the forward thrust of technology is changing the face of industries, everything from medicine to cartoons. In Boomer Bosses i have met a lot of resistance. Some will stubbormly insist on heading to a bookshop for the latest information on trends when people my age have to grovel to be allowed to use our iPhones....and get the same research paper in a matter of minutes, plus lesser known databases.
4) Issues: I am a woman. If there is one thing that gets my goat about Boomer feminists, it is that they totally have missed the boat about what girls and women need today. I really do not care if a woman becomes president or not: to me, such a feat is not impossible or even represents the big prize. I care more about the United States being the only Western Country that does not have significant paid maternity leave and the fact that whatever husband I will have shall not be able to take time off after the birth of a baby at all. I care more that the rights of the corporate entity take precedent over the needs of its workers: 2 weeks vacation is not enough time to spend with your family out of the whole year and cannot possibly be a good thing if it is likely that kids are going to have a longer school year. I am tired of the current horse crap being bandied about on the news regarding (horror of horrors!) mammograms at 50 as opposed to 40, and by far more concerned with the fact that young mothers who have just given birth are getting pushed out of the hospital about 24 HOURS after the fact just so hospitals can save a buck; I am outright alarmed that the major (mostly white) Boomer feminists you see on tv will rail on and on about patriarchy but will not raise a finger to help the fact that the face of HIV nowadays is almost always poor, black/Latina....and female.
I have read a lot about Gen X constantly blaming the Boomers for their ills. But on the other hand, given what I have said, John, IS IT ALL IN THE HEADS OF THE MILLENIALS, TOO?!!!