A critique to Prosumer Report’s Millenials: The Challenger Generation. Vol 11, 2011.

I read this report a while back and I really didn't take to it back then. Today I re-read the whole thing again and jotted down some of the reasons I didn't like it.

It is my opinion that this report presents a very rosy view of an entire generation which so far has been responsible for an increase in consumerism, a drop in literacy, and one of the most mindless protests (London 2011) in recent times.

The report praises the close and positive relationship between this and the previous generation. I acknowledge that these generations are united by a sense of collaboration that has not existed in previous ones. However, this collaboration is based on two principles:

•          Parents want to be seen as young and adopt some of the characteristics of their children to achieve this. The negative result of this is that the parents’ generation has failed to grow up. They are the Peter Pan generation. Their lack of responsibility has caused one of the worst economic crises in history.
•         Children know they need their parents’ support to maintain their status. With no job, or a badly paid one, and with a lifestyle which is way over their means, they have seen that antagonising the older generation is in detriment of their interests.

They are also great manipulators. They grow faster than their predecessors because they have easier access to information, and to so much of it that they don’t know what to do with it. This and the fact that they have not been able to leave the family home or attain the same economic status than their parents at their age has made this generation more insecure. Hence their constant need from approval who they try to achieve by reporting everything they do and expect Likes for it.

But then again, this description of an entire generation applies to a very specific group: the middle class in developed countries. There are a vast majority that cannot relate to technology in the same way because either they can’t afford the latest gadgets or because the limitations of their levels of literacy. These are the young ones who took part in the London and Paris riots and who will be likely to start the next revolution or at least be cannon fodder of those orchestrating it (think of the Arab Spring in Egypt and how their aspirations have been hidden behind a thick veil).