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[inteuniso]

Gen Y.  I'd count '85 - '95 amoung my specific subset.

In those of us who decided college isn't right for us are already in the workforce and making babiez, really not all that different than their parents.  In fact, it turns out at the end of the day most children do end up more like their parents than not.

Those of us in college are going to be, imo, more liberal than the previous generation, on average.  I could go on about 36 year bi-cycles and shifts of power, and how the democratic cycle is starting, but I think that a greater social awareness and technology bringing the influence of networkers and the common men together in a way never before done or possible will suffice.

Generation Y's greatest asset is going to be how accustomed we are to the internet. Such a powerful tool and most of us can use it with quite some potential.

Generation Z will look to Generations X and Y for technology guidance, so I guess we should encourage minecraft and other constructive games. I guess it'll be the legos of the future.

[GreatJustice]

Gen Y-Gen-Z. Not looking too good, I'd say, but maybe things will pick up. If all else fails, there's always Steam.

[itisnotlogical]

I don't know about this Generation ABCDEFG thing we've got going on, but I'm counting from 1992-1999, myself being born in '96.

God, we're fucked.

Why is bacon such a universally funny in-joke between anybody who ever existed? Why do Fred and Annoying Orange have their own hit TV shows? Why does a no-thought, no-effort pop song from Korea approach have more than 1,000,000,000 views on Youtube?

[werty892]

I don't know about this Generation ABCDEFG thing we've got going on, but I'm counting from 1992-1999, myself being born in '96.

God, we're fucked.

Why is bacon such a universally funny in-joke between anybody who ever existed? Why do Fred and Annoying Orange have their own hit TV shows? Why does a no-thought, no-effort pop song from Korea approach have more than 1,000,000,000 views on Youtube?

Cause stupid is cool.
That's it.

[alway]

I don't know about this Generation ABCDEFG thing we've got going on, but I'm counting from 1992-1999, myself being born in '96.

God, we're fucked.

Why is bacon such a universally funny in-joke between anybody who ever existed? Why do Fred and Annoying Orange have their own hit TV shows? Why does a no-thought, no-effort pop song from Korea approach have more than 1,000,000,000 views on Youtube?

I think a homestuck quote is in order here, which quite nicely sums up our internet culture.

Through an intense commitment bordering on religious devotion to the absolutely inane, absurd, or plain fucking stupid, a very different kind of sincerity begins to materialize. One of reverence to the ridiculous. You begin to "mean it," but what exactly it is you mean is never quite what appears on the surface, and is utterly inaccessible to obtuse and literal minds. That you "mean it" then becomes inseparable from the joke, and additional rich strata of humor may be stripped aggressively from this irreconcilable truth.

The culture of us younger generations can be pretty much entirely summed up with one word: Irony. It seems to me to be sort of a realization that reality is not just weird, but in many cases is downright absurd. It's looking around and seeing that those who have come before have worked themselves into absurd contortions through their beliefs and viewpoints, and creating a culture which simultaneously satirizes and ironically embraces that. It isn't that Gangnam Style or Fred is awesome; it's inane, absurd, and plain fucking stupid. Which is precisely what makes it awesome.

[FuzzyZergling]

How dare you compare Gangnam Style to those terrible whatever-the-hell-they-are!
This means war!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Gangam Style is not no-thought, no-effort. That is a ridiculous knee jerk reaction to the popular. I wouldn't say something being so catchy that it became ultra-popular in the US despite not being in English is no-effort. And it definitely isn't no-thought, it's Psy's parody of K-Pop and the attitudes concerning it. It can just be difficult to catch on to the parody of it when it's in Korean, and about Korean music.

[Aklyon]

As for the two irritating things Cartoon Network has given tv shows, I'd just chalk that up to cartoon network not being as good as it was before. I would far, far, far approve more of having a revived Megas XLR (even if it was stuck in the middle of that gumball show and regular show, schedulewise) over seeing what irritating thing CN picks up from youtube next.

[alway]

Gangam Style is not no-thought, no-effort. That is a ridiculous knee jerk reaction to the popular. I wouldn't say something being so catchy that it became ultra-popular in the US despite not being in English is no-effort. And it definitely isn't no-thought, it's Psy's parody of K-Pop and the attitudes concerning it. It can just be difficult to catch on to the parody of it when it's in Korean, and about Korean music.

Yes, but the knowledge that it was created as a parody wasn't really known by most until after they had seen it. That it was created as a parody was irrelevant to its spread to a wide audience; most of which had never even heard K-Pop, if they had even heard of K-pop to begin with.

[Svarte Troner]

Born in 94 here. But I cant even remember last new years let alone 2000. I don't even recall knowing about 9/11 at the time, although I've talked to people my age who have. The only thing I remember from the 90s is the cartoons...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I was born in 94 and I remember both the millennium dawning and 9/11 quite vividly.

[FuzzyZergling]

Born in 94 here. But I cant even remember last new years let alone 2000. I don't even recall knowing about 9/11 at the time, although I've talked to people my age who have. The only thing I remember from the 90s is the cartoons...

I didn't know what 9/11 was until my 2004 Social Studies teacher mentioned it, and I asked what it was.

[SalmonGod]

Artistically, we've flourished...but at a cost. Our generational culture is so steeped in irony and black humor that I fear sometimes we've lost the ability to take anything seriously. 

I feel like, with the exception of some notable folks, our generation is generally a little too laid-back. We're the Slacker generation. Because we don't take things seriously, we lack that burning drive and motivation that drove other generations. For the "Greatest" generation, it was a drive to win WWII and then seize that American Dream -- two kids, a house with a white picket fence, a good job and a better standard of living for your kids. For the Baby Boomers, it was either greed and excess, or "self-discovery" and narcissism. Not the greatest motivations, but it did drive people.

And now I see Generation Y folks, like some of my younger grad school classmates, and I'm envious of their drive. They want to do something important, they have big ideas. Not always the best ideas, but at least they're trying.

With technology, I feel like GenX is caught up in the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we can make a gadget do this?"
Whereas GenY goes, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we took that technology that GenX just developed, and used it to ignite a social revolution? Or crowdsource poverty reduction?"

Next twenty years will be interesting, as more and more GenX'ers wind up taking the lead in politics. I honestly don't know if that's going to be a good thing or not.


EDIT: I think in some ways, we have similarity to the Lost Generation, in that we flourished artistically, although much of that art was in brazen rejection of convention. We're both somewhat hedonistic generations. But where the Lost Generation embraced the excess of the 1920's out of despair at what they'd seen in World War I, Generation X became slackers and hedonists because there just wasn't anything else to do. We all got jobs, but mostly just to pay the bills and save enough money to get tickets to next year's Lollapalooza.

I have a lot to say about this, and I was in the process of doing so... but that whole post has ended up looking like a mess.  Work in progress.  For now I'll just say that I don't think we are intrinsically a slacker generation.  I think we're a generation that experienced a lot of circumstances and changes that have left us somewhat crushed and cynical for the time being.  I was born in '83, so my experience has probably been quite a bit different than yours, but similar enough that I think we can understand each other.  Here's one observation from the post I was writing that I'll share right now.

Growing up, we were fed all these promises by our parents and teachers that the changes that were happening all pointed to a bright future, and all we had to do was work hard, go to college, and follow our dreams to be successful.  The majority of us who honestly believed and acted on that advice are back to living at home now, competing with recent middle-age layoffs for minimum wage jobs that used to be for high school kids.  Some of us are keeping our recently laid-off parents fed and sheltered now with those jobs.

I find most people around my age to have a lot of fire in them, but it's deeply buried.  It's more of a bitter smoldering that's waiting for the right fuel to manifest its desires, but for now it's smothered under the weight that previous generations have placed on us.  Those of us who do try or are at least more open about wanting to make a difference in the world tend to be more radical (myself among them) and our ideas and efforts are very marginalized.

[penguinofhonor]

I feel like, with the exception of some notable folks, our generation is generally a little too laid-back. We're the Slacker generation. Because we don't take things seriously, we lack that burning drive and motivation that drove other generations. For the "Greatest" generation, it was a drive to win WWII and then seize that American Dream -- two kids, a house with a white picket fence, a good job and a better standard of living for your kids. For the Baby Boomers, it was either greed and excess, or "self-discovery" and narcissism. Not the greatest motivations, but it did drive people.

And now I see Generation Y folks, like some of my younger grad school classmates, and I'm envious of their drive. They want to do something important, they have big ideas. Not always the best ideas, but at least they're trying.

With technology, I feel like GenX is caught up in the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if we can make a gadget do this?"
Whereas GenY goes, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we took that technology that GenX just developed, and used it to ignite a social revolution? Or crowdsource poverty reduction?"

Is this an analysis of the aspirations of generations that doesn't fall into calling every new generation increasingly entitled and lazy? On top of that, it's remarkably poignant. RedKing, you're a cool dude. For a Gen-Xer, at least.

I didn't know what 9/11 was until my 2004 Social Studies teacher mentioned it, and I asked what it was.

This feeling I get reading this. Is this how it feels to be an old person?

[Ultimuh]

82 here, so I count as gen X right?
Or would that be Y?