Wired for Success

How can you write an entire article about this generation and never once mention Generation X. You mention Silents (not by name) and not Gen X? You mention Boomer repeatedly. Then you state that Gen Y is going to lead us into the next half century. Yeah, right. How many Gen X presidents do you think there'll be before we have a Gen Y president? In your hometown, the next mayor, the next chief of police, the next chief of staff at the most brilliant hospital in town - all Gen X. Don't you think we deserved at least some comparison or contrast in your article. A word? A sentence?

http://blog.lifecourse.com/2010/06/millennials-lack-empathy/

worth a read

Thank you for acknowledging that members from the Gen Y generation will take over the reign to lead the future. This is inevitable because Gen X will not be around forever. For an idea of what some Millennials are already doing, please go here:
http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/2010/02/12/young-world-future/

Parts of this argument were compelling, but I thought others had some holes. For instance, Konrath's study using the Interpersonal Reactivity Test seems like an interesting assessment of altruism, but not necessarily empathy- an important distinction. I would think those findings point to a generational decrease in altruism in recent years, which could warrant some novel explanations (i.e. Violence in media and overemphasis on crime in the news leads to less trust in strangers, therefore less altruism- just off the top of my head.) However I don't think the findings necessarily point to genY having less empathy as an interpersonal skill. Thoughts?

Once again, Gen X (otherwise known as the forgotten generation) is overlooked. No, GenY, you are not poised to be the next "greatest generation" in my opinion. There is an entire generation of people in front of you and I promise you, we are every bit as valid as you and yours. Im really sick and tired of hearing how the "millenials" are going to "fix" everything and make it great, when most of them cannot even graduate college without an exorbitant heaping pile of encouragement, support and enablement. Do I sound bitter? Well, maybe I'm just fitting right in line with what all these social scientists said about my generation for the fraction of a second we were considered even vaguely important. Being raised by the overtly selfish boomer generation (the last "me" generation) followed up the rear (pun intended) by the millenials (the new "me" generation) we essentially got the crap end of the stick. Bitter, you bet your ass. We work harder than our parents for less, and are told we aren't worth anything all the while these "millenials" are kissed on the ass and cottled. Ridiculous.

A perfect example of a millenial is my cousin. He was bragging just last night about a job promotion he might get and he was really excited because he would get a large pay raise and less supervision so he could be, in his exact words, "totally lazy". Yes, thats right, more pay for less work. He has blatantly stated that is his ultimate career goal, to get paid a lot without having to actually work. Keep in mind this is an intelligent, college educated adult. Where is the work ethic?

Admittedly, I can only speak anecdotally from my experience as a college educator, but I do think there's something different about "Gen Y." All kids are somewhat narcissistic and inconsiderate by nature, but what's new about these kids is their total resistance to being socialized and their unshakeable conviction that there's nothing wrong with their thoughtless or antisocial behavior or their screw-everybody-else attitudes. Increased volunteerism can be motivated by lots of things unrelated to social empathy, such as a desire to improve one's resume.

Honestly... I wouldn't agree with this. I work as a cashier, I'm 18. In my high school before I graduated my school raised thousands of dollars to help those less fortunate than ourselves. At my work we go far and above what is expected of us but will sometimes get annoyed when we're not credited or acknowledged for our good deeds. I've actually found that the people who seem to have the biggest "me me me" mentalities have been people ranging from 26-45 or some where along those lines. From people saying "I want a bag for that" even though we calmly assure them that the plastic bag will not hold their case of soda (to which they ignore us and ask again, this time more demanding) we sigh, hand it over, and then watch it break on them as they leave the store only for them to stomp over to us and get mad as us because we didn't warn them. You get people on their cell phones constantly. You get the ones who are so high on their high horses that they can't be bothered to HAND you the money or answer your questions or so much as glance at you. To them, you're their slave and a pion who works for less money in a crappy job that most people quit after a couple months because the customers are so shitty. I've seen many compassionate and passionate people fighting for causes and doing community work. It's the older generations that seem to look down upon us no matter what we do.

Also... for those of you who are going on about how we have no work ethic... I worked 17-36 hours a week on top of school and running the GSA at my school. I was also part of the Ecology Club and competed. The only days I missed work was when I was legitimately sick or I had requested the day off months in advanced and my managers lost the request and I couldn't find someone to take my shift when I seriously and honestly had something important coming up (i.e. Family vacation, Japanese language competition, my graduation party, ect). I'm not one of the people who gets a free ride from their parents. Mine are divorced, and have practically disowned me. I dunno, maybe I'm just the freak of my generation but I pay for my own clothes, hair cuts, car insurance, car expenses, gas, food, entertainment, school supplies, tuition, grooming supplies, cell phone bill ect. The only bills I don't have to pay is water, electricity and rent. Unlike a lot of my classmates, I don't do drugs either. I honestly strongly dislike my mother because she has no respect for me in any which way. She constantly searches my room, she barges in with out my permission. On the rare occasions that she knocks before entering she ignores my "don't enter" and does as she pleases. If that's not selfish then I don't know what is. In the summer, I spend Friday and Thursday nights out with friends and sometimes go out to see a movie after work with coworkers.

For those of you who think we're coddled, you're full of shit. Coddled? Coddled... like hell I've been coddled. When I graduated high school most of my family members didn't even acknowledge my accomplishment. While it's not exactly huge, it's at least something. A simple phone call or card would have been nice. At least show that you care. When my parents found out I was gay, I was treated as though I'm a pedophile and kept from my sister and ever since then I have yet to see a gift from either of my parents or family members. Not so much as a "happy birthday". My parents constantly accuse me of things I never did or said, and they constantly tell me that I'll never amount to anything. That I may as well give up.... I'm useless and a disgrace.

Yes, my generation has a lot of room to grow, but we're more empathetic in my opinion. At least as a whole. Some are ignorant bastards, some are self-centered bitches, but most are loving, caring and strong individuals. The ones who aren't are the ones who tend to have low self-esteem because they constantly buy off of the media that their parents and grandparents drool over. They are brainwashed and told they're not good enough by the media while their parents are brain washed by FOX News, and the other main media news groups.

Just looked it up to make sure...I'm a tail-end boomer a/k/a hippy, meaning I came in just in time to wear some fun (and in retrospect, sometimes funny) fashions, a bit too late to get into free anything, dropping out, dropping drugs. Nope, stayed home, took college seriously because I knew my Mom had gone back to work so my brother and I could go at all, helped take care of chronically ill Dad for years, starting during my wild and carefree ('not') college days. But hmm, that could probably describe a fair number of people 'living' now.

So, how many times have I found myself about to utter Dadisms about this newest generation going to H--- in a handbasket, only to run into one who (Dad-speak again) gives me hope for the future? And how many times when I'm just about ready to back-hand the next person who walses into me glaze-eyed, stumbling around the mall with an ipod tied to their umbilical cord and that dead certainty ('dead' being the defining term) that the universe consists of self and equipment...how many times, have I found in the past years that it's just as likely to be a suit-clad career person as an x y or whatever?

At work, they've tried holding large discussion groups on generational differences, to 'bring us all together' -- but what some of us have figured out is that it seems in fact a great way to drive us apart -- which might make things easier for management, eh? I can't help notice, btw, that while those meetings always start with the assumption that no 'bad' stereotypes apply to under-boomers, we geezers are expected to grin along to one negative assertion after another about ourselves, my favorite being that we know nothing about 'puters and x y's can make them from toothpicks; it doesn't dovetail with reality.

Unable to stand much more, I stood up at one meeting to point out that what I saw were people. I uttered a somewhat trite but heartfelt observation that weren't we all in this together—and saw a lot of nodding heads, not all gray.

So--are people being raised in refrigerated compartments nowadays, segregated by shelf life? How sad, if a kid now must miss the opportunity to get his Gramma turned on to e-mail, while also basking in her hugs and advice--which he might feel duty-bound to turn away if offered by his parents..but which he also won't quite get from peers or texting. Somehow, I have hope that somewhere, people are relating as ..people, still, maybe lightly mocking one another's generational foibles even while secretly finding comfort in them.

This last winter, felled by a bad cold over Christmas, I was feeling pretty helpless as Snowmagilla lumped over 2 feet of snow on my driveway. Finally, I decided I had to get out there and shovel...Threw on my sweats (well, a couple of them, actually)...hit the switch for my garage door...and was stunned to find 3 semi-strangers arrayed before me, all bent over a shovel.

One was the 15-year-old niece of the woman next door, who showed up on her own volition...and then a 50-something year old guy from down the way...and a 30 something year old Mom I've waved at in passing. They all looked up from their shovels for a minute to wave at me, and then waved me back inside. Me, the middle-aged one, I stood there for a few minutes to thank them, my blankie wrapped around me, the snow clotting my hair but inside, feeling safe and warm, gettin' by with a little help from my friends.

You get out of life what you put into it. If you are totally wrapped up in self, it's obvious where that leads.
Go ahead, do what you want. Just don't start complaining when things don't go your way. That's the thing. Complaining...nobody wants to hear that. You make your bed, then you lie in it.
Young people think they know it all. Fine.
So go do exactly what you want. Just shut up about it.
When you find every aspect of your life unsatisfactory, deal with it.
And shut up about it.

Runtime Al,
Really, didn't you ever feel that way as a kid? That you knew better? That your life is different from how it was for your parents? More teens today have cars and jobs in high school. We have to deal with people who constantly degrade us because we have lower paying jobs than them, and who think they're better than us. I find your attitude extremely disrespectful especially since in the future, we're going to be the ones taking care of you. I'm not complaining, I'm simply stating facts. Every generation thinks the later one is worse than theirs. Every generation believes that theirs will make change and is better.

My generation grew up with technology. I remember having to wind back the cassettes from time to time. I remember playing video games on my Playstation with my dad. I remember what it was like being a kid. I just don't know if you do. It can be difficult growing up. Especially with the high divorce rate. It means a lot more broken homes, more stress, and an increased demand for you to grow up. The kids in my generation and the younger generations don't really get the time to BE kids. As soon as we reach High School our time to be a kid is up. I rarely have free time. I rarely have a day that I don't come home to find that my family already ate with out me. I'm that stranger who shares the same genes as them... but is no longer part of the family because they've long since kicked me out. How many people in the earlier generations dealt with that?

As a Gen-Y, I can really only say that I think other generations just have different priorities. The article says something like "Personal life first, work second." That's exactly how it is. I can't speak for everyone, because there are always the "rotten apples" of the bunch, but we work hard when we are at work, but we don't want work to be our lives.

Additionally, and it might just be my experience, but I know a ton of gen y people, myself included, who have done a lot of volunteer work. While my parents and their friends never did, at least not when they were my age. We really do want to change the world for the better!

One more thing I'd like to add: maybe we are more self-centered, but I think every generation thinks the ones after them are trouble. So I guess the test is time.

My problem with all of these articles on specific generations is that they use these blanket statements and vague terms to describe everything, like "Gen-Y-ers don't like to do hard work."
What does that mean? Could you describe what it is you mean by hard work? Or are the expectations about work different? Do you mean manual, intensive labor? Do you mean work that is challenging to the mind or the body? And I hate the critique of "everyone got a trophy." Everyone knows, even children know, that when everyone gets a trophy, it isn't something special. When everyone gets accolades, they cease being accolades, so how does that exactly boost your esteem? And that's focusing on one group of children. What about children whose parents couldn't afford to put them on council organized leagues? What about intellectual pursuits? From what I remember, there was only one winner in a spelling bee.

From what I've learned about millenials, it's a term used to describe my generation specifically referring to the fact that we have a greater understanding of changing computer technology, because it has been changing since we've been growing up, or it has been changing with us. I don't want to have a delusion that our generation as a whole is going to save or destroy the world. It's a little far-fetched to lump every single person's existence in one generation as sharing an entire one attitude just based on the age of that group, for ANY generation. That is like saying that we all share the same economic status in our one household, that we all share the same religious or moral code, that we all are from the same place culturally, ethnically, or racially. All of the Gen-Ys, Gen-Xs, Greatest Generation, etc. must all share the same cultural ideals because they must all come from the same place because they are a certain age.

And isn't it a little self-centered for every generation to compare themselves to the next? It's nostalgia, which is most certainly narcissism for your own unique past and idealized memories of a time you can't get back.

Or maybe that's just my inherent and widespread cynicism that I share with everyone else my age.

I like what Travis said about how the study wasn't asking the right questions. I'm generation y, and we grew up with all that stranger danger business. I'm petty sure that if I saw a stranger drop something I wouldn't help, but I don't think that makes me less empathetic. Empathy is feeling someone's pain, not doing something about it. If I were to drop something I wouldn't really want some person I don't know coming up to me and picking it up. How am I to know if they mean well or are going to take my stuff and run? Or would they take me and run? I think as a whole our generation's just warrier of strangers, so it's not like I wouldn't help one of my friends if they were in need.

This is going to seem annoyingly nit picky, but as the website is Psychology Today, I would expect that they would know the correct term is "empathic". Empathetic, although commonly used, is no more correct than irregardless. Although I think the topic of my generation lacking empathy makes for valuable discussion, I was completely sidetracked by improper terminology :(

.. if there was more. I'm sorry, but with all due respect it may be somewhat informative but I think it's only natural to expect a little more analysis, rather than just report that these people have these views without even that much detail to enable the reader to analyze for themselves, or even determine whether any of the material you referenced is worth reading - other than the fact that it has to do with the topic.

Gee, why don't we ask THAT question? Nice job labeling them the "Me Generation" from the get-go with this kind of title. Yes, they must exist in a vacuum of wickedness, all we need to do is identify them as the problem.