The Generation Thing
© Greg Wasserstrom
I saw this article this morning on CNN.com which is the first thing I’ve come across so far to profile the characteristics of “Gen Y,” apparently the designation given to the group of people born between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s. When I’m not making photographs I’m a student of the social sciences at American University in Washington, DC and so this article fascinates me as it tries to examine this particular nexus of culture and sociology. Since it’s coming from CNN, it’s a little bit bullshit but sadly I can’t say that it is completely.
The focus of the article is on “Attracting the twentysomething worker,” but defines what the twentysomething worker “is” in the process. This kind of look at such a broad swath of the population seems sort of silly and it doesn’t help that the article is written in the most abrasively simplistic and un-hip voice CNN and Fortune could possibly muster. It also reminds me of all the talk in the media 15 years ago or so as Gen X was entering the work force, grunge, “Reality Bites,” Beck, etc. I’ve been reminded of this quite a bit in the past couple of years as the New York Time style section has been reporting more and more on “hipster culture,” (I’m sure you guys remember that infamous ‘blipster’ article — it echoes the 1992 “grunge speak” hoax).
So all the signs have indicated that something like today’s piece was on its way, and now here it is. A look at the items listed in the sidebar (‘Spot the Gen Y’) is absurd and at the same time describes me perfectly if you eliminate the yoga mat (Really? Who does yoga? More like kickball or foursquare or skeeball or dodgeball or something that can be played while drinking beer). I have an ipod, i have a laptop from which I do just about everything, I have a camera I use to document everything and, yes, my life is posted all over the internet. And I guess I wear “hipster clothes,” which embarrasses me just to read let alone repeat. Once you get passed though, the article gets a little more substantive.
Laptop:
It’s how Gen Y does work. Who needs the office when you’ve got cafes, parks and your own living room?
I have two jobs. I work for a photo agency and gossip blog. I do both from my living room using my laptop, and I generally don’t get dressed or take a shower until the work day has ended and I’m ready to go out. Aside from making all kinds of lame aesthetic assertions (generally accurate), the article is full of nuggets like this the one I quoted, equally lame but also accurate if all the other kids are doing the things the way I am. And here I thought I was special. Here’s another good one:
When it comes to Gen Y’s intangible characteristics, the lexicon is less than flattering. Try “needy,” “entitled.” Despite a consensus that they’re not slackers, there is a suspicion that they’ve avoided that moniker only by creating enough commotion to distract from the fact that they’re really not that into “work.”
I felt like that was my dirty little secret! I’m supposed to be working right now. Instead I’ve written this extensive blog post, this blog, of course, creating the illusion that I’m not a slacker. Alas! What a product of my generation I am! A posterboy, one might even say! And if all the other kids, all 78 million of them, if we’re all the same then, well, I guess I’m pretty screwed unless I can manage to out-charm them all.
My father, who is critical of pretty much everything, dismisses the entire field sociology with the quip, “Some do, some don’t.” I try to ignore his little nuggets for the most part, but I think there is undeniable simplicity and generalization in this article (not to mention heinous photography) . It correctly describes us, I guess, but it raises one question that it fails to answer:
“So?”