Re: My Generation
Instant gratification syndrome. I'm not much older (34) but man you guys want what you want right now. This impacts things like how you write, your understanding of politics, finance, etc. A 23 year old subordinate of mine just bought a $50K car. She makes just about that much in a year. At her review I asked her where she expects to be in five years. She said, "I think I'll be a Vice President by then." Possible, but highly unlikely. I've been in this field for 12 years and I'm still stuck in middle management (maybe less 2p2 time would help the ole performance).
I agree that your age group is highly susceptible to marketing. You don't "need" cell phones that take pictures or play music or games or have a PDA built in, yet you seem to think you do. Your peers jump on trendy bandwagons (not that my age group didn't, but we were more sceptical about being manipulated by corporations).
As far as positives, I think you guys are able to balance job/life far better than my peers do. You take a healthy perspective that your job is to pay the bills so you can do what you want.
You are very adapable to change. Technological savvy helps, but perhaps being among the first generations to grow up with both parents working and little supervision, you've had to figure more stuff out on your own.
You are also much more specialized. My parents had little say in what path I took in college. I started out pre med and switched majors twice after that. My nephew, a junior at Providence College, had parental supervision and input for everything from whether to take more math or humanities and even whether to play soccer or football. Even his extracurricular activities were geared to building an academic resume. I don't know if it's good or bad, but from an early age you are forced to realize that the choices you make have impact down the road.
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