I don’t want to get on a rant here, but I’m just someone born very late in the baby boom. Frankly, I have more in common with Generation Y than with Generation X. But both generations have their faults. I saw this yesterday, while I attended Peter Kay’s presentation on crowd sourcing at the May 2008 HTCA meeting. Peter kept asking the audience what web services they had used. The number of hands got smaller with each service he named. Everyone had used Wikipedia. A few people knew about Twitter. Peter mentioned a few sites I had never used, like InTrade and IdeaScale.
I was the only person who raised his hand for Ning, the social networking portal that hosts TechHui and Peter’s latest project, HawaiiConCon.org. The Honolulu Advertiser’s article about the site is available here. and I mentioned TechHui in my billso.com post on 31 March 2008.
The generation gap
A few members of the audience got nervous when Peter discussed corporate wikis. I have heard and read similar questions as managers and academics struggle to keep up with the digital generation.
Tammy Erickson has a top 10 list on Business Week with some excellent comments about generational conflicts in the workplace.
More of the precious little snowflakes - and they’re so many of them in Gen X (the generation born between 1965 and 1982) and Gen Y (those born between 1983 and 1997) - need to wake up and smell the coffee.
It’s not Starbucks coffee.
It’s not even a maple nut crunch latte from the 7-11.
It’s Maxwell House scooped from the big blue can, brewed in a vat, simmered to the consistency of loose mud and served in a tiny styrofoam cup.
If you’re lucky, you get a little red plastic stir stick and some Coffeemate. Denis Leary would be proud of this coffee-flavored coffee.
And if you’re really lucky, someone made some Sanka because you can’t handle the caffeine.
Life sucks and it’s not fair
Many Gen Xers are hitting the ceiling in in their climb up the corporate ladder. There’s fewer CXO spots than there are Gen Xers. It’s not fair, but those stubborn folks in Generation Jones (born between 1954 and 1964) got there first. Their heroes are folks like Bill Gates, who would blow off his Harvard courses and try to make up the study time with end-of-the-term all-nighters.
It’s bad timing as the children of Generations X and Jones are going on to college and getting jobs. Members of Generation Y have feelings of entitlement and privilege that crash against a wall of indifference and disbelief in the real world.
The heroes of Generation Y are people like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has bragged about skipping most of his Harvard art history course while he built a Facebook prototype. Zuckerberg passed that class after he built an online study guide that his classmates poured their notes and content into during the end of term reading period. Zuckerberg and Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, but Zuckerberg got rich much faster. See this New York Times article for more details.
Helicopter parents
Gen Xers hate how the Generation Y calls their parents to ask advice about everything from class schedules to work responsibilities. It’s awkward when a college student’s helicopter parent calls a professor to intervene on their child’s behalf. It’s dumbfounding when this happens in the workplace. This 2006 MSNBC article about helicopter parents who manage their childrens’ job searches is a great example.
The current recession only makes matters worse for all involved. The home equity line is tapped out. No one wants to buy that piece of investment property that looked like a sweet deal 3 years ago. Bonuses aren’t as common at work anymore. This year’s vacation became next year’s vacation, and that’s just a maybe.
And yes, they’re buying Maxwell House and brewing their coffee at home.
Escape - if you can
There is hope. A few Gen Xers escape from corporate jobs to start their own small businesses. But many of the Xers are uncomfortable with modern technology. Text messaging and social networking are too much to handle. They can deal with their Netflix queue, but email is more their speed.
Members of Generation Y have kept up with the changes. Some Gen Xers are jealous that their younger Generation Y can navigate the Internet so easily and use online services to find new opportunities.
Some members of Generation Y are overwhelmed with communications options. Just read their blogs and feel their pain as they realize that everyday life is hard. ReadWriteWeb has a great collection of Generation Y links and RSS feeds, along with a video and some additional discussion.
But as I mentioned on 19 May 2008 in this billso.com article, many Americans don’t read blogs or send emails. To them, all of this conflict between generations may mean very little at all.
Images courtesy of Roadside Pictures and mark_the_legend_foster through a Creative Commons license.
Tags: communication, economy, entitlement, generation, generation-x, generation-y, management, rant, Starbucks, student, university, USA
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5 responses so far ↓
1 billso
// Friday, 30 May 2008, 12:15 HST @844
I have to start tagging my other rants!
2 Daniel Peters
// Friday, 30 May 2008, 17:49 HST @075
I’m a first year generation Y. I’m right at that point where I’m comfortable with most tech, but recall a time when www didn’t exist in the popular mindset (7th grade i believe) and even when cell phones weren’t ubiquitous.
The clash between generations is always interesting. I fondly recall a series of great rants from George Carlin where he disses the Baby Boomers. There is method in this, as each generation is raised by the last (or probably one before last). There is partly a reverse trickle of responsibility; certain mannerisms and pitfalls of one generation being the direct result of how the collective-stereotypical behaviors of the entire generation before them influenced and guided their upbringing.
I recall a time when i had a helicopter parent. It was around 4th grade. Parents are allowed to help you with your homework up to a certain point, but i find it ridiculous that a parent would choose their child’s classes in college. College is supposed to be the short period in life where a child learns to be self sufficient and transmogrify themselves into an adult!
It’s easy to look at the founders of microsoft, facebook, napster, and other famous success stories and want to drop out of college, but these are the few rare people who are willing to risk everything in a carpe-diem-esque attempt to hit the jackpot. How many people drop out of college to get their big start up going only to ultimately fail? There is no easy money.
I think Hawaii is an especially extreme case in heli-parenting. The cost of living here mandates a boomerang-generation of adults, and traditional paths to self-sufficiency rooted in home equity are practically nil here. I’m amazed when i chat with my cousins and other mainland friends and hear how calm they are about planning to buy a house. Being able to survive in hawaii’s economic climate requires nepitism and guidance. It’s not like we can drive to another state and try to become independent there.
Ah well, this we pretty stream of consciousness. Hope some of it is of use in highlighting a GenY’s point of view.
Also, 2 bonus points for the Leary coffee reference!
3 billso
// Sunday, 1 June 2008, 09:21 HST @723
@ Daniel Peters:
Dan, thanks for the well-written and thoughtful comment about my rant! I am not in George Carlin’s league. His 2003 New Year’s Eve show at the Blaisdell is one of my favorite live events ever, and that man can rant.
You’ve got a great point about Honolulu. We’re not alone here. I’ve seen similar behavior at expensive prep schools and in much larger cities like New York City and Atlanta. There’s an entitlement mentality that takes hold in grammar school. By the time some of these students get to college, they cannot fend for themselves.
I have met and taught many undergraduate and graduate students who were able to think and do for themselves in college. I’d like to think that “helicopter entitlement” affects a small minority of workers and students.
4 Peter Kay
// Monday, 2 June 2008, 13:10 HST @882
Great post, Bill! I, like you, feel like I’m absolutely right on the edge of the cliff in terms of generational technology acumen.
At 45, I feel that the majority of those 5 or more years older are eons behind, techapp wise, and those 5 or more years younger are way ahead of the curve.
http://www.HawaiiConCon.org might be a little ahead of its time in that it appeals more to the facebook/myspace crowd than it does to the email/AOL crowd, but I’m hoping that it might be a good way to introduce those older than I to a way of interacting they may want to try out.
We’ll see.
Keep it up man!
5 Nina
// Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 12:37 HST @859
Very interesting read. Older generations who are open and receptive to new things ease the generation gap. Check out my post on a similar topic: http://blog.snaptalent.com/?p=13
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