Monday, October 27, 2008

Millennials In The New Millennium

Echo Who?
By Charlotte Price

If you were born between 1980 and 1995, then welcome to the club of the Echo Boomers, a generation focused on by social scientists, economists, marketers, and the overly doting parent. No matter what you name the club, whether its Echo Boomers, The Millinnials, or Generation Y, the buzz is all the same. Who are they? What do they do? And how are they going to change the future?

CBS 60 Minutes correspondents Steve Kroft and Morley Safer offer two reports on these fascinating groups of youngsters on 60 Minutes called “Echo Boomers” and “The Millennials Are Coming,” taking all the buzz and hype and getting the facts straight from the source. As an active member of Generation Y, I was curious to see what these reporters from a generation long before the boomers had to say about the up-and-coming world runners.

“Echo Boomers” reported by Kroft provided an equally positive and negative viewpoint of this generation. One of the pros being that this generation is extremely diverse and therefore the most tolerant they have seen. An article titled, ‘The Millennials Come of Age’ in USA Today by Sharon Jayson states, “Young people of this generation, who grew up with "diversity" and "multicultural" as buzzwords, are more tolerant and open-minded than previous generations, suggests an analysis of studies by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.”

Kroft also discovered that among this generation there is hope and optimism in the government and future leadership of the country, and that the Millennials are a group of hard working go-getters ready to set the job world on fire. With all this praise of course, Kroft must also slip in the less glamorous sides of this age group. For example, Kroft finds Generation Y can be naïve about the workplace; a generation focused on instant gratification, and deprived of a childhood that allowed for individual exploration of self-strengths.

Kroft supports these opinions with interviews with specialists like Dr. Mel Levine, a Professor at University of North Carolina and a prestigious pediatrician who states the generation has been, “heavily programmed” and whose “whole lives have been compliant on what some adult wants them to do.” Kroft also interviews a diverse group of young adults who represent themselves throughout the report as technologically savvy, parent loving, tolerant, brand obsessed teenagers. Overall, the report displays both the negative and positive aspects of Generation Y without much bias.

Safer’s 60 Minutes report, “The Millenials Are Coming,” displays some of the same arguments and findings but with a crustier reporter. Safer’s old wit and curmudgeon ways that slip out with comments like, “Narcissistic praise hounds taking over the office…” allows for a comedic comparison between him and the “trophy children” of Generation Y. His assumptions, while more snide and jarring than Kroft’s, provide a reality check for Echo Boomers, but is not fully disheartening and the segment ends with a message of excitement and hope for the future.

To get an overall and unbiased perspective on this generation Safer interviews people like Marian Salzman who works as an ad agency executive at J. Walter Thompson, Mary Crane who teaches Millinnials the every day basics of…well life, Wall Street Journal columnist Jeffery Zaslow, a motivational consultant named Bob Nelson and then two bright eyed and bushy tailed echo boomers themselves, Jason Dorsey and Ryan Healy. The consensus is that these children who had everything handed to them on a trophy platter grew up with a “me me me” complex and are therefore changing the workplace and social priorities.

Generation Y is more interested in family and friends than the old school “sacrifice for the company” work ethic. Safer looks at the pull this club has on the market, the decline of business formality, and how a generation of all winners is going to grow up in the real world. The question is will echo boomers branch out into world and have their fairytale dreams shattered by real life consequences or will the world mold around them, forming an entire new society.

In article in the New York Times by Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais titled ‘The Boomers Had Their Day, Make Way for the Millenials,’ the authors quote Barak Obama making a comparison between generations that I find inspiring. He differentiates the generations as “the "Moses generation" that led the children of Israel out of slavery, and the "Joshua generation" that established the kingdom of Israel. The first was a generation of idealists and dreamers, the second a generation of doers and builders.”

With that said, I feel Echo Boomers can confidently take on the world in any fashion they deem appropriate, and I suspect that Morley Safer and Steve Kroft would agree.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You state that Kroft cites the works of Dr. Mel Levine " a prestigious pediatrician." Just when was this interview conducted ? Surely it wasn't after the huge front page story about Dr. Levine on August 5, 2008 about the 43 men who have come forward to say that Levine molested them when they were boys. Numerous lawsuits; an investigation by the North Carolina Medical Board which resulted in Levine turning over his medical license. We hear that the police are investigating too.

See the Times story "Star Pediatrician Fights Accusations of Sex Abuse", August 5, 2008.

It turns out that boys have been coming forward for two decades and it appears that agencies like Boston Childrens Hospitals swept the complaints under the rug.

Do your homework next time !

KibblesandBits said...

First of all I think it's terrible that someone can come on here and spew falsehoods under the Anonymous name.

Secondly when you tell someone to get their facts straight...you really need to have yours straight.

43 men did not come forward saying they were accused...Duruso received 43 calls about the case.

This is a civil case not a criminal case and there is NO police investigation going on.

And I don't see how you can state that boys have been coming forward for two decades as Boston Children's has OFFICIALLY stated in the Boston Globe and several other news media, that they never had any accusations made about Dr. Levine the entire time he was working there.

So you...need to do your homework!

Anonymous said...

Um, and the falsehoods are.... Read the New York Times report. 43 complaints by men about Dr. Levine. I notice that you don't mention that he surrended his license and that the North Carolina Medical Board is still investigating.. We believe that if a doctor was not guilty,he would fight tooth and nail to hold on to his license.

The majority of men who are abused never come forward, ever. Too traumatic and shameful. If any of the men are falsely accusing Levine, they will be winnowed out in depositions.

Prayers to the victims.

Anonymous said...

Ok, people. I went back and looked at the New York Times story, August 5, 2008 "Star Pediatrician Fights Accusations of Sex Abuse," Page A1.

Excerpt:

In 1985, a few months after he left Boston, court records show a letter of complaint sent to the President of Boston Children's Hospital. There was also a formal complaint to the Massachusetts Medical Board in 1993.

Further down: 43 male patients have said they were victims of abuse. Some have gone to the Medical Board in North Carolina but have not filed lawsuits.

So, this total is not "calls to Durso" but includes number who went to the Boston and the North Carolina Medical Board. I would past the story here but it doesn't permit.

Anonymous said...

You have tested it and writing form your personal experience or you find some information online?