No, you probably won't
None of us will quite turn out as nicely as the generation before us. Generation Y (those born in the late 1970s and early 1990s) is already quite different from Generation X. In fact, “College admissions offices, employers and marketing companies are going into a frenzy over Generation Y, a cohort of individuals characterized as Generation X on steroids,” states this article. Generation Y is also called the Echo Boomers, Millenium Generation, iGeneration, Einstein Generation and Google Generation. The children of the baby boomers, Generation Yers are noted for their ability to super-multitask, live comfortably in the digital world (especially since PCs and the Internet have always been available since this group was born).
But of course there are negative stereotypes of Generation Yers as well. In light of all the bad things that have happened from the 70s to the 90s, Generation Yers are likely to be labeled as cynical and pessimistic. Consider the following events and the effects that they have had on Generation Y readers.
Members of a Generation are Shaped by the Same Events
When a group of people goes through the same trials, bleed in the same battle and cry at the same movies, it’s not hard to see where many of the attitudes of the generation come from. It’s the commonalities that those born during this period hold; though we are all individuals, it is likely that these world events affect people of the same generation in the same way.
Happy, key events that helped shape many members of Generation Y include the fall of the Berlin Wall and of the Soviet Union. But on the other side of the coin, the current war in Iraq will be the war that this generation will remember best, and have more opinions about; catastrophes like the 1986 Challenger explosion, Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and tragedies like the death of Princess Diana and the Columbine High School shooting are also events whose mention will bring waves of similar emotion to Generation Yers.
It seems strange that things like the O.J. Simpson trial is what Generation Y will remember most, and perhaps be remembered most for living through. Less exciting events for American citizens, like Hong Kong’s return to China, still leave marks on the minds of Generation Y. Even if we don’t particularly care about world events or what happens in popular culture, or realize how these events have influenced the way you think, these are the things that do shape us, that are kept in the back of our minds and affect how we act and react to things. And our actions translate into more occurrences. Is history is in the making? Every day.