"The Mellennial" Generation

I belong to a generation called “the millennial” generation.  This generation belongs to those born after 1982, also called generation Y.

 

Key Characteristics of "The Mellennial" Generation

Special:  Have always been treated as special or important.  This generation of children has been the most wanted.  Every milestone was marked with celebrations and praise.  They may carry a sense of entitlement about them and have an expectation of frequent positive feedback.   It’s been instilled in them that they are vital to the nation and to their parents’ sense of purpose.  They feel they are here to solve world problems that older generations have failed to solve.  They may claim they want privacy, but they crave attention.

Confident: they are motivated, goal-oriented, and confident in themselves and the future. Grew up in time of increasing safety measures.  They were rarely left unsupervised.  They were sheltered from having to take care of their  own conflicts as parents advocated on their behalf, and “spared” them from unpleasant experiences.  As college students, they may expect facult6yu and staff to shelter, protect, and nurture them-and resolve their conflicts for them.  Millennia’s are the focus of the most sweeping youth safety movement in American history.

Team-oriented: they are group oriented rather than being individualists. They may sacrifice their own identity to be part of the team. They prefer egalitarian leadership, not hierarchies. They are forming a tight-knit generation. While they are group-oriented within their own cohort, they may “politely” exclude other generations. They do not want to stand out among their peers, they want to be seen as part of the group. They dislike selfishness and are oriented toward service learning and volunteerism.

Achieving: grade points are rising with this generation and crime is falling.  The focus on getting good grades, hard work, involvement in extracurricular activities, etc. is resulting in higher achievement levels. They see college as the key to a high paying job and success, and may miss the bigger picture of what a college education is all about. They are pressured to decide early on a career – and have been put on a career track orientation since grade school. Their focus is more on the world of achievement rather than personal development. The Boomer generation made their mark in the humanities and arts, whereas the Millennia’s prefer math and science fields.

 

Pressured: tightly scheduled as children and used to having every hour of the day filled with structured activity. This generation may have lost a sense of pure spontaneous play. They may struggle with handling free time and time management in general. In elementary, middle, and high school, have had more hours of homework and less free time than any of the previous generations. They feel pressured to succeed. They’ve been pushed hard to achieve, to avoid risks, and to take advantage of opportunities. They may take on too much, and then think others should be flexible with them when they want to negotiate scheduling conflicts. They think multi-tasking saves time and is a smart thing to do, but aren’t usually aware of the poorer quality of results.

Conventional: respectful to the point of not questioning authority.  They are civic-minded and believe the government knows what’s best and will take care of them. They fear being considered non-conformist. Their clothing, music, and cultural markings will be very mainstream. They value their parents’ opinions very highly. They support and believe in social rules, and are more in line with their parents’ values than most other generations have been. They are trying to invite rules and norms back into the culture.

Beliefs and Values "The Millennial" Generation

Live first, work second, Social causes, Flexibility, Balance, Fun, Friends, World travel, Diversity, The value of Meaningful work-, Authenticity, Friendships/Groups of Friends, Fast access to information, Experiential activities, The ability to travel the world,

The beliefs and values that identify me are the shift from social networks to face to face community networks. Use your knowledge to improve efficiency and create social change

 

Events occurring during “The Millennial” generation

 

Key historical events that occurred the millennial generations childhood effected our generation's current beliefs and values through the key historic events that occurred during my generation.   Our generation group up in the technology age and we got more engaged in social causes.  Violence was also a big part of our generation because of all of the following events that occurred through generation y.  Through these events generation y became more globally concerned, open and accepting of diversity, tech savvy, the “knowledge worker”, concerned about safety, team players, multi-taskers, and impatient

1993      NAFTA was passed  and The north American free trade agreement was passed

1994      U.S. Send troops to Persian gulf

1995      O.J. Simpson trial was found not guilty

1996      The first version of JAVA was created

1999      Columbine shooting

2000      Hubble telescope

2001      Twin towers and pentagon were hit by hijacked plane operated by Al Qaeda

2003      Space shuttle catastrophe

2003      Uday and Qusay were killed (sons of Saddam Hussein)

2003      Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected govorner of california

2003      Saddam Hussein captured

2004      Bush was re-elected as president of the United States

The events that affected my generation the most were September 11, global terrorism, terrorism on home soil, Columbine, Virginia Tech, high speed internet, text messaging, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, environmental concerns, parents being laid-off, downsizing of corporate America, the melting pot  syndrome, plug and play knowledge, pop culture