If you were born in the early 80’s I don’t think you would be considered a millennial, et al. You didn’t mention when you were born though. If you were born in say 85 most of your “going out to play” childhood would have been late 80’s and early 90’s. By that time over 100 channel cable and Nintendo had been ushered in.
I was born in 1973. I basically say I grew up in the 80s. That was the generation most ingrained in my mind when I look back nostalgically. Alf, Growing Pains, MTV, Cindi Lauper, Madonna, New Wave and neon colored clothes.
The description of any generation is a generalization. mostly for statistical purposes. Anyone would be a fool to believe in generalizations whole heartedly. It just gives a snap shot. A lot has to do with where you grew up, family relationships, socio economic status, etc as well. Don’t be upset because 60 minutes describes your particular generation negatively. Just be who you are and be a good person and never mind the generalization. I don’t match a lot of the Gen X group either. I have seen examples of kids who do match the “millennial stereotype” and those who don’t by any stretch.
I happen to live and work in an area where I think many kids are given to excessively without being taught humility, appreciation or responsibility. We recently had a case at work where a 16 year old kid was allowed to drive his father’s Mercedes SL600 (that’s a 12 cylinder car) to pick up his date for prom. Well, he decided to race his friend down a busy street with his date in the passenger seat. He was driving in excess of 70 mph in a 35 mph zone and broadsided our client - who had just picked up her 12 year old daughter from school - nearly killing them both - not to mention himself and his date. Instead of owning up to any responsibility the kid blamed our client constantly and rather than teaching his kid a lesson his father hid evidence, made excuses and was indignant that we would dare accuse his “perfect” kid of doing something wrong - cus after all his kid was going to be a famous neurosurgeon one day (he actually said this).
On the other side of the coin, when I told my 16 yo son this story he was so upset that the kid would be so irresponsible. He was concerned for the people involved and concerned that people like this kid give his generation a bad name.
So here are examples of two 16 year old boys, both growing up in the same basic area although not with the same economic wherewithal (I don’t think I could ever afford such a car - my car is a 1995 Nissan and pretty beat up :roflhard: ) with 2 different viewpoints about a situation. The generalization is true in one case and not in the other.
I don’t know anyone who would either, but I know some parents that would probably do it without being asked. My husband’s parents applied for a job a couple years ago (both of them, it was kind of a joint deal) and when they weren’t offered the job they called and left nasty messages and wrote mean letters accusing the hiring person of all sorts of things from age discrimination to not giving them enough time in their interview. And they did this for about a month after they weren’t hired! So I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if some parents somewhere flip out if their kid’s not hired and call to complain.
Unfortunately I’ve seen similar behavior in adults and I think that some children learn this behavior. What a bad example and how very sad for your husband’s parents. I have had times when I wasn’t hired and I might have been bummed out and maybe I thought I was very qualified for the job, but I would never write nasty letters accusing someone of discrimination. #1 - it wouldn’t get me the job or if it did my tenure at the office would be made miserable by my negative beginning and the fact that they probably only hired me to avoid a lawsuit #2 - I think you better be darn sure of what you say before you say it #3 - I think it’s below me to stoop to such a level. If I truly thought they practiced discrimination I might report it, but I would really have to be sure. Too many times people report things out of anger rather than any real issue.
[QUOTE=evona;1113554]The description of any generation is a generalization. mostly for statistical purposes. Anyone would be a fool to believe in generalizations whole heartedly. It just gives a snap shot. A lot has to do with where you grew up, family relationships, socio economic status, etc as well. Don’t be upset because 60 minutes describes your particular generation negatively. Just be who you are and be a good person and never mind the generalization. I don’t match a lot of the Gen X group either. I have seen examples of kids who do match the “millennial stereotype” and those who don’t by any stretch. QUOTE]
This is almost exactly what I said in a previous post. It’s silly to stereotype an entire group of people, be it generation, culture etc.
I was born in 1985 and although there was Nintendo etc. it wasn’t as prevalent as it is now, or even 10 years ago.
I think the main difference between the generalization that they describe and people born in the early to mid 80’s is that the technology came out when we were kids, but we weren’t born with it. Computers weren’t in every class or house, not everyone had a cell phone etc. Many children now don’t remember a time before those things and we do.
I was born in '84 but I never played with a nintendo until I was 12 I think. I remember the boy up the street had one and my brother would always want to go play with it. We had a computer as long as I can remember (dad was a programmer and liked technology, but after I completely broke it somehow playing a dolphin game I wasn’t so keen on it) and we had some kind of educational console system that we weren’t allowed to play with very often because it might rot our brains. I don’t remember any games it had other than TI Invaders or something, which was totally awesome!
I was born in 1969 and proud of it. I recall my childhood in the 70s and 80s very fondly. We were always outside playing. Aside from cartoons on Saturday morning and Pong, the very first video game, I don’t remember really watching TV between the ages of 6 and 10. I grew up with respect for my elders, especially my parents, and everyone’s parents on the street were referred to as “Mr.” and “Mrs.”. There didn’t need to be corporeal punishment in school because when we got in trouble, we were in trouble - simple. It’s called respect for authority and knowing right from wrong and accepting the consequences of your actions.
From the majority of kids I come into contact with now, I find they have no (healthy) fear of getting into trouble. Unless someone has the legal right to hit them, they could care less about getting into trouble. Mom and dad will get them out of it. They seem to have this sense of entitlement that is disturbing to me. I want to stress, though, not ALL kids of this generation are like this, I know that.
You know, I believe it is the Mayan calendar that has the world ending December 21, 2012. Perhaps with the oil issues and political strife in the world that we are edging closer to this becoming a reality. Maybe all the satellites will fall from the sky rendering GPS and cellphones useless. No wi-fi and computers. We will have to start over from scratch. Living day to day, hand to mouth, subsistence farming and bartering for goods. Simplicity. No time for fighting. Only enough daylight for hunting and gathering. And the hourglass with the sands of time turns over and begins again…
Goodness Gracious is there nothing left to say?
When the ones that get to keep looking
are the ones that look away
It’s pabulum for the sleepers
in the cult of brighter days
Goodness Gracious at the mercy of the crooks
We’re broke and stroking vegetables
and there’s way too many cooks
In every pot a pink slip, In every mouth a hook
Goodness Gracious I’m not listening anymore
Cause the spooks are in the White House
and they’ve justified a war
So wake me when they notify
we’re gonna fight some more
Goodness Gracious not many people care
Concern is getting scarcer
true compassion really rare
I can see it on our faces. I can feel it in the air
Goodness Gracious me.
Goodness Gracious my generation’s lost
They burned down all our bridges
before we had a chance to cross
Is it the winter of our discontent or just an early frost?
Goodness Gracious of apathy I sing
The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything
Now recess is almost over
and they won’t get off the swing
Goodness Gracious we came in at the end
No sex that isn’t dangerous, no money left to spend
We’re the cleanup crew for parties
we were too young to attend
Goodness Gracious me.
Goodness Gracious my grandma used to say
The world’s a scary place now,
things were different in her day
What horrors will be commonplace
when my hair starts to grey?
I’ve heard said that we are enjoying a spending spree with our children and grandchildren’s credit cards. I believe its true. We have a deficit yet every year more spending is approved than the year before. Unfortunatley it will be left to the next generation to clean up.