Millennials

"Millenial" redirects here. For the concept Millennialism, see Millennialism.

This article is about the demographic cohort following Generation X. For other uses, see Millennials (disambiguation).

Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next or Net Generation, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers. As there are no precise dates for when the Millennial generation starts and ends, commentators have used birth dates ranging somewhere from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s. This generation generally represents an increase in births from the 1960s and 70s, not because of a significant increase in birthrates, but because the large cohort of baby boomers began to have children. The 20th century trend toward smaller families in the West continued, however, so the relative impact of the "baby boom echo" was generally less pronounced than the original boom.

Characteristics of the generation vary by region, depending on social and economic conditions. However, it is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies. In most parts of the world its upbringing was marked by an increasingly neo-liberal or market oriented approach to the politics and economics. The effects of this environment are disputed.

Terminology

The term Generation Y first appeared in an August 1993 Ad Age editorial to describe teenagers of the day, which they defined as separate from Generation X, and then aged 13–19 (born 1974-1980), as well as the teenagers of the upcoming ten years. "Generation Y" alludes to a succession from "Generation X".

The name "Echo Boomers" relates to the size of the generation and its relation to the Baby boomer generation.

A single source has referred to the generation as the MTV Generation, although MTV Generation is also a term used to refer to people heavily influenced by the advent of MTV, and even a catch all term for youth of the late 20th century, depending on the context.

Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe have been influential in defining American generations in their book Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (1991). Howe and Strauss maintain that they use the term Millennials in place of Generation Y because the members of the generation themselves coined the term, not wanting to be associated with Generation X. Almost a decade later, they followed up their large study of the history of American demographics with a new book specifically on that generation, titled Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000). In their books Generations (1991) and Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000), William Strauss and Neil Howe use the start year as 1982 and end year of the generation as 2001. They believe that the coming of age of year 2000 high school graduates sharply contrasts with those born before them and after them due to the attention they received from the media and what influenced them politically.

One author, Elwood Carlson, locates the American generation, which he calls the New Boomers ,between 1983 and 2001 because of the upswing in births after 1983, finishing with the "political and social challenges" after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the "persistent economic difficulties" of the time.

Demographics

In the United States the actual "Echo Boom" was a thirteen year span between 1982 and 1995 when for the first time since 1964, the number of live births reached over four million. It wouldn’t be until 1985 that the live birth number would even match that of 1965 at 3.760 million. Also it should be noted that the birthrate of 1971’s 17.2% has yet to be reached according to the 2000 census.

One analysis of American demographics locates the increase in births between 1977 and 1992. By this calculation there are 60 million members of the generation, more than three times the size of Generation X, and just shy of the 78.2 million baby boomers (as of 2005).

Social conditioning

The Millennial Generation, like other generations, has been shaped by the events, leaders, developments and trends of its time. The rise of instant communication technologies made possible through use of the internet, such as email, texting, and IM and new media used through websites like YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, may explain the Millennials' reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through technology. This trend of communication is continuing into Generation Z.

Expression and acceptance has been highly important to this generation. In China, with a total population of a billion people, the urge to stand out and be individualistic has become a staple of the Chinese youth culture. Elsewhere, mainly in western nations, several cohorts of Generation Y members have found comfort in online gaming such as through MMORPGs and virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life. Flash mobbing, internet meme, and online communities have given some of the more expressive Generation Y members acceptance, while online pen pals have given the more socially timid individuals acceptance as well. Generation Y is more radically and culturally tolerant than previous generations. The majority Generation Y is culturally liberal with many favoring same-sex marriage rights to the LGBT community among other politically liberal stances, but, inspite of the new liberal turmoil, new youth clubs and groups have been created in developed countries (such as the US, UK, Italy, and Mexico) to take the task of promoting and preserving conservative views and beliefs.

This generation is also sometimes referred to as the Boomerang Generation or Peter Pan Generation because of their possible penchant for delaying some of the rites of passage into adulthood longer than most generations before them, and because of a trend toward living with their parents for longer than recent generations.

Pop culture

The Millennials grew up amidst a time during which the internet caused great change to all traditional media. Shawn Fanning, a Generation Y member, founded the peer to peer file sharing service Napster while in college. Though the RIAA won a lawsuit and shut down the service in 2001, the music industry began to suffer declining sales starting in the early 2000s creating inquiry in regards to the economic viability of recorded music. As a result of these innovations in technology the Millennials had access to more music on demand than any previous generation, and have caused the recording industry to have to try and adapt to new business models.

Literature of the 1990s and 2000s popular with Gen Y include Goosebumps (childhood), Harry Potter, and numerous fan fiction pieces to popular franchises to name a few. Manga and other graphic novels have also emerged as a popular form of literature for members of Generation X and this generation.

In some ways, the Millennials have become seen as the ultimate rejection of the counterculture that began in the 1960s and persisted in the subsequent decades through the 1990s. This is further documented in Strauss & Howe's book titled Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, which describes the Millennial generation as Civic Minded, rejecting the attitudes of the Baby Boomers and Generation X. Kurt Andersen, the prize winning contributor to Vanity Fair writes in his book Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America writes that many among the Millennial Generation view the 2008 election of Barack Obama as uniquely theirs, and he writes about this generational consensus building as being more healthy and useful than the counterculture protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s, going as far to say that if Millennials can "keep their sense of entitlement in check, they might just turn out to be the next Greatest Generation" However due to the Global financial crisis of 2008-2009 this generation is also beginning to be compared to the Lost Generation of the early 20th century.

The Millennials would have been significantly exposed to heavy license based toy marketing as children, including: Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and later, Pokemon.

Digital technology

In their 2007 book, Junco and Mastrodicasa expanded on the work of Howe and Strauss to include research-based information about the personality profiles of Millennials, especially as it relates to higher education. They conducted a large-sample (7,705) research study of college students. They found that Next Generation college students were frequently in touch with their parents and they used technology at higher rates than people from other generations. In their survey, they found that 97% of students owned a computer, 94% owned a cell phone, and 56% owned an MP3 player. They also found that students spoke with their parents an average of 1.5 times a day about a wide range of topics. Other findings in the Junco and Mastrodicasa survey included that 76% of students used instant messaging, 92% of those reported multitasking while IMing, and 40% of students used television to get most of their news and 34% the Internet. This generation spends at least 3.5 hours a day online.

In June 2009, Nielsen released the report, "How Teens Use Media" which discussed the latest data on media usage by generation. In this report, Nielsen set out to redefine the dialogue around media usage by the youngest of Gen Y, extending through working age Gen Y and compared to Gen X and Boomers.

Workforce

Economic prospects for the Millennials have worsened due to the Late-2000s recession. Several governments have instituted major youth employment schemes out of fear of social unrest such as the 2008 Greek riots due to the dramatically increased rates of youth unemployment. In Europe youth unemployment levels are very high (40% in Spain, 35% in the Baltic states, 30% in Britain and more than 20% in many more). In 2009 leading commentators began to worry about the long term social and economic effects of the unemployment. Unemployment levels in other areas of the world are also high, with the youth unemployment rate in the U.S. reaching a record level (18.5%) since the statistic started being gathered in 1948, in July 2009.

In Puerto Rico many of the youth especially from the late 1970s to early 1990s were affected economically due to the fact that the 2000s did not produce any significant growth and was on recession since 2006.

The Millennials are sometimes called the "Trophy Generation", or "Trophy Kids," a term that reflects the trend in competitive sports, as well as many other aspects of life, where "no one loses" and everyone gets a "Thanks for Participating" trophy and symbolizing a perceived sense of entitlement. It has been reported that this is an issue in corporate environments. Some employers are concerned that Millennials have too great expectations from the workplace and desire to shape their jobs to fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace. To better understand this mindset, many large firms are currently studying this conflict and are trying to devise new programs to help older employees understand Millennials, while at the same time making Millennials more comfortable. For example, Goldman Sachs conducts training programs that use actors to portray Millennials who assertively seek more feedback, responsibility, and involvement in decision making. After the performance, employees discuss and debate the generational differences they have seen played out"

See also

• List of generations