Millenials In The New Millenium

Echo Boomer: Out And Proud
By Gunes Atalay

We are the “Echo Boomer”generation. We were born between 1982 and 1995. I am sure this name was not chosen by anyone that was born between those years. I had no idea what I was called by “big people” until I saw CBS's 60 Minutes. I also did not know there were 80 million of us.

The news report mentions our love of brands and shopping. It also mentioned that we are the first generation that grew up with a computer in the home so we are multitaskers when it comes to technology, and we are more wired to world than any generation before us. We are spoiled by our parents and we are the most studied generation in the history.

Most people in my class were very bothered after showing of this news report. The report seemed bothersome, yes, but does that mean it is not true?

Was it being searched like bunch of animals that bothered us, or was it the truth? Nobody would like to be accused of being technology and brand-loving spoiled kids who think they are the best. However, CBS did not make these things up because they hate “Echo Boomers.” This was a report based on many facts.

We can claim that we are not spoiled but will that change the fact that we “spend $170 billion a year” as 60 Minutes reported. And that money is not even ours a lot of times. The legal working age in the U.S. is 14, and 13 in some situations. The youngest echo boomers are 12, and they are still out there spending. Is the rest of our generation spending all this money from their own earnings?

We can claim that we are not obsessed with brands, but will that change the fact that Apple sold 22.5 million iPods only in 2005? Even though iPods are great, there are many other Mp3 players out there that work better and are cheaper. Then why are we obsessed with iPod's? Is it so hard to admit that we “maybe” chose iPods because they are “cool”?

And technology. The 60 Minutes report mentioned how we are into technology more than any other generation. I have yet to meet someone without a cell phone and a computer. Why does it offend us to know we are obsessed with technology? Technology was in our lives more than any other generation, we grew up with computers, we found speed, and we asked for more. We want everything as fast as possible. We talk to our friends online, we do our homework online.

However why is that a bad thing? We had fewer playgrounds, especially those of us living in big cities, and we had a bigger vision. We should proudly admit it. We were not stuck in the city we lived in, we could get friends from everywhere around the world. We could get things and we could get them fast. We can receive a homework assignment in our home, and do them in pajamas, on our bed, without needing expensive encyclopedias.

And why were we offended when we watched the 60 Minutes report? Every generation had their good points and bad points. Maybe this computer speed spoiled us, or maybe it was the big opportunities we did not want to miss. We should accept ourselves with our pluses and minuses and appreciate what we have. No generation was perfect, but at least we have more opportunities.