The Millennial Challenge - a Call for Help

Millennials, born after 1980, also called Generation Y, are interesting people. This blog would like to specifically address their characteristics and properties in relation to four important areas of life.

Perhaps you have already read the relevant blog about Generation Y. If not then you can use this link: Generation Y

Perhaps you've heard it already: some voices describe millennials in these words:

They are difficult to handle, often narcissistic (BLOG), lazy, self-interested, unfocused, love the question: “What do you want?”, The work has to make sense, it should have an effect and food should actually be free.

Although they often have access to dopamine, they are not happy.

Let's look at this group of people under the following aspects:

1. Education

2. Technology & Dopamine

3. Impatience

4. Environment
   

1. Education

Here are some characteristics of the parenting efforts of parents who received their children in 1980-2000:

• These children think they tend to be special

• They have learned that they can have (almost) anything they want.

• Parents help them everywhere, including at school

• They received medals (praise) even if they were last

• They notice when their performance is not good enough and they feel uncomfortable - it makes them unhappy

• When they finish school and get a job, they find they are not special because now their mothers cannot promote them anymore. That frustrates them.

• The world of work is often brutal for them. Only performance counts. It's about money, about survival. The entire self-image is thereby called into question.

• We have an entire generation growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generations

• Growing up in a Facebook-Instagram world is good at filtering things; they are good at showing people that life is amazing even though they are depressed.

• Many sound harsh and everyone sounds like they figured it all out.

• The reality is: there is very little toughness and willpower. You cannot assert yourself against yourself if it should be necessary.

• At best, they perceive instructions and advice from older generations as alternative opinions

In Summary

it can be said that these children have not learned some important things:

• Recognize and accept limits because they make sense

• Hierarchical structure - in other words, authorities - make it difficult for them because they grew up on an equal footing with their parents or grew up with them.

• thanks to pampering, they have not learned to overcome themselves for one thing.

• because they always got everything, they have to live with a deep tolerance of frustration.

• narcissistic tendencies and low self-esteem indicate attachment-inhibited upbringing.

How cute ! Simply unique, this kitten. You can only spoil it, right? And she likes to let it happen, because she doesn't have a life mission like our children. Those should learn not to always choose the path of least resistance!

2. Technology and Dopamine

We know phones and social media release a chemical called dopamine, which is why it feels good when we receive a text message. When we feel a little bad and a text arrives or we send a text to our friends, for example. Hi, Hi, Hi, it will feel good when we get a reply soon. That stimulates us. Dopamine has become the psychological basis of daily survival.

That is the reason why we count the 'likes'. So we go back ten times to see if something has arrived; when something rings, we cut off all communication to see who sent what and why. We need these lucky charm hormones.

Dopamine makes Life worth living

Dopamine also makes us happy when we smoke, drink, use drugs, play games and engage in sexuality. So it can be very addicting and there are restrictions on smoking, gambling and alcohol. However, there aren't any for social media and mobile phones. Unrestricted access is possible, which is what makes this medium so dangerous. Heard it was easier to set a cocaine addict free than a game addict. Because telephones are everywhere and cocaine is much harder to find. We are thus offering our young people a tool that can destroy them.

Dealing with Stress

In the adolescence phase they have stress and fears of a greater nature. Since they have not developed strategies for dealing with stress and challenges, they know nothing but the choice of the bottle or other pleasurable passions. Social, financial and professional stress always become more about alcoholics.

Superficiality

Since we give free access to this dopamine-producing social media, many of them are no longer able to develop deep and meaningful relationships. They say so themselves. Some of them see this dilemma. They will admit that many of their friendships are superficial, that they cannot rely on their "friends"; they don't rely on her when they have fun; they also know that her friends will scratch her should they have something better to choose from.

Develop Relationship Skills

As an adult, if you want to have deep, meaningful relationships, you have to practice and learn that somewhere. Since they have never practiced these skills, they are easily lost in terms of social skills; worse, they have not developed coping mechanisms to cope with everyday stress. When there is significant stress in their life, they turn to a device rather than a person for temporary relief from social media. Thanks to science, we know that people who spend more time on Facebook have a higher rate of depression than people with less time.

Looking for Balance

Alcohol is dangerous. Playing is fun, but too much is also dangerous. Social media and cell phones are needed these days, but if they use it across healthy boundaries, you are sure to become a victim of them. We have to look for balance.

• If you are having dinner with your friends and texting someone who is not around, it highlights a problem, which is that of potential addiction.

• If you are in a meeting with people you are supposed to listen to and then you put your phone on the table, it sends a subconscious message into the room: You are not that important to me right now. Why can't we put the phone down? Maybe the reason is because we've become addicted to it?

• If you wake up and usually check your phone before saying <Hello> to your spouse or family, you tend to have an addiction. Addictions have in common that it destroys relationships, costs a lot of time and money and worsens quality of life.

Summary:

We have a generation that grows up with low self-esteem without the stress management mechanism being sufficiently developed.

Those who only perceive their own world via social media are taking great risks. How can the truth be learned from lies in this way? It is so easy to fall victim to the system.

3. Impatience

These children grew up in a world of instant gratification.

• If you want to buy something, go to Amazon and it will arrive the next day.

• If you want to see a movie, log in and watch it.

• You don't have to check the movie times like you do when watching TV. So that you don't have to wait in a TV series, you only watch the show at the end.

No more waiting is necessary.

Do you want to go on a date? No problem on social media.

• You no longer have to learn how to be a good charming person.

• You don't have to be the one to say YES or NO when it's awkward to say. You can swipe right instead.

• This is how I can be a stallion! Social coping mechanisms seem to be less and less necessary.

Anything we want we can have immediately.

Immediate Satisfaction in Perfection!

• EXCEPTION: Job satisfaction and meaningful relationships, for which there is (yet) no app! These are slow, confusing, and inconvenient processes.

• More and more often there are these wonderful, fantastic, idealistic, hard-working and intelligent children who have just graduated from school, who want to earn money with work and who come to the conclusion: “I think I'll quit!” (Escapism). "Why ?" - "I have no influence!" "Why do you want to quit after only 8 months?"

  You are standing at the foot of a mountain and want to have the effect of the mountain top on the environment. Unfortunately, they don't see the effort it takes to get there.

  What our young generation has to learn is the principle that something really important like love, professional fulfillment, joy, happiness, self-confidence and various skills need time to develop.

• Sometimes we get parts of it in happy moments, but general life is challenging, stressful and takes our patience and perseverance.

• If they are unwilling or if they are not helped to learn these skills in childhood, then you will never get to the top of the mountain, you will fall off the mountain. Worst-case scenario shows an increase in suicide rates in this generation, an increase in accidental deaths from drug overdoses, school dropouts, and absenteeism due to depression.

• The direction is clear: we will have a whole population that will never find real joy. You will never find deep fulfillment in work or in life. They just go through life and are driven by industry and politics.

• "How is your job?" "It's as good as yesterday."

• "How is your relationship?" "Is good."

  Do you like this best case scenario? Something is missing, right?

Anyone who learns to wait as a child has a lifelong advantage. This is shown by various studies, above all the Marshmallow-Test.

4. Environment

Millennials are not to blame for this situation. They are wonderful, dear children of their time. We use them in a work environment where numbers are more important than people.

Short-term profits are more important than people's long-term profits for most industries.

We place more value on annual success than on lifetime values.

What are WE not doing?

• We're not helping them build their trust.

• We don't teach them the skills to work together.

• We do not help them to overcome the challenges of the digital world and to find more balance.

• We do not teach them to overcome the immediate need for gratification with joy and success by being able to hold on to values, work hard on a project, and wait for long-term success.

• We don't show them how to set goals and how to achieve them.

Where is the fault?

• The worst part is that these young people believe it is their fault.

  They blame themselves for believing that they will not be able to meet all of these challenges. That makes things worse. It's not you. It's the business environment, the families, the school system. It is the total lack of good leadership in our world today. What parents and schools didn't do, companies should do.

What can we do ?

Without good workers we are all lost in our economy; right, they need help with social skills. Cell phones are not allowed in the conference rooms. Instead of using the phone, we should ask our neighbor questions about life and work. Let's be social and build relationships and trust while we can. It is the slow, constant constancy. When we have social gatherings, the cell phones can be left at home.

People are more important than any app on the phone.

We don't have to take a picture of the meal do we? We have to learn to remove temptation. That makes it a lot easier. We go to the bathroom and what's the first thing we do? It's much easier to enjoy people and nature without a mobile phone, isn't it? Where are the innovations and ideas? They come when we don't have a cell phone. We should never charge our phones next to our beds. The living room is better. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, buy one so that you are independent from using the cell phone.

The fewer temptations, the better.

In order to have time to think, it helps to have innovations, ideas and creativity. But with social media allover we are destroying these moments more and more. In industry, we have a responsibility to make up the gap and help these young people build their confidence, learn patience, develop social skills, and find a balance between life and technology.

Listening to one another, responding to one another, playing with one another, supporting one another, bringing in one's talents, all of this will lead to success. The earlier you start, the greater the social gain.

Call

• Make sure you are happy in real life, not just social media.

• We need a strong generation of empathetic, emotionally intelligent, conscientious executives who did not grow up on a steady brain diet of digital media and devices.

• Many children today (Generation Z) are robbed of their childhood through social media. Please help prevent this from happening.

• We must take responsibility for the following foundations of a healthy childhood:

  • emotionally available (grand) parents

  • clearly defined boundaries and guidance

  • Developing a sense of responsibility

  • balanced nutrition

  • adequate sleep

  • Exercise and outdoor activities in nature

  • Opportunities for creativity and social interaction

Dear Reader. It seems SERIOUS. Parents and teachers have the chance to save our future as much as possible, or rather to improve it. It depends on our joint activity. Are you in?

Thank you very much.
Ernst (=Serious)

Quelle / Source: TV interview with Simon Sinek (English-Link)

The How and Why of Generation Y

Are you member of Generation Y? Does it matter? If so, Y? I think it’s a good idea to have a closer look at their characteristics and see how we might better our lot. Self-awareness is always the first step to self-improvement!

Generation Overview

Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers are the generation of people who were born before 1960.

Today they are grandparents or great grandparents. Their social structure is completely different from that of today’s modern young people.

Generation X

In today’s linguistic usage, the term Generation X usually refers to the generation following the Baby Boomers. In the Anglo-American language area, this term generally applies to those born between the early 60s and the early 80s.

Generation Y

This is the group under consideration today. Generation Y (aka Generation Me) is the generation born between the early 80s and the early 2000s. They are young, dynamic, critical and somewhat damaged.

Generation Z

The members of Generation Z were born between 2000 ands 2015. In her 2018 book, Me, My Selfie and I, American psychologist Jean Twenge describes the impact of constant smartphone usage on what she calls the “iGeneration" (which in reality consists of the younger members of Generation Y). The iGeneration is growing up slower than past generations.  

18-year-olds today act like 15-year-olds used to, and 13-year-olds like 10-year-olds. Twenge claims this developmental retardation is mostly caused when young people spend a lot of time on their smartphones, thus robbing them of real life experiences.

Many employers have noticed this postponed maturation process as compared with earlier generations. They observe an increasing trend toward immaturity in young people.

And now for

Generation Y – aka Millennials

Sociological Characterization

Generation Y is generally perceived as well educated, many with university degrees. These young people are known for their techie lifestyle. They are the first generation to grow up with Internet and social media. Ys seem to like working in teams better than in big hierarchical systems.

They’d rather do a job they love than work for status and prestige. More free space, opportunities to develop, and a balance between work and free time are important for most.

Typical Ys do not design social and technical development; they are satisfied to be consumers. This is the spirit of their time.

In their 2014 book, The Secret Revolutionaries – How Generation Y is Changing our World, sociologist Klaus Hurrelmann, and journalist Erik Albrecht, give a systematic overview. Here are a few of their findings:

• They are used to dealing with crises. Terrorist attacks, worldwide wars and crises have taught them to make the best of insecure situations, and this is a natural part of planning their lives. They explore and maneuver tactically in order to keep all their options open. Living with uncertainties is completely normal.

• Improvisation – Ys are masters of improvisation. Their curricula vitae are not as straightforward as those of their parents. To them, life seems to be much less predictable than in the past. They want to be independent and free. Accordingly, they are “ego tacticians”, who make all their important decisions in life according to their own immediate advantages and disadvantages and the perceived resulting affect on their own well being.

• Education – A high degree of education is the most important weapon in their battle for rank in society. If you want to lead an independent life, you have to get a college education. However, it’s not really about knowledge and content, just the diploma and a good GPA.

• Occupational independence. Once they enter their careers, they want to experience all the fulfillment, joy and recognition possible. Hierarchies and regulations are not helpful here. No wonder about a third of them are reported to be in danger of burnout! Many studies show the Ys to be very compliant, stressed, competitive and insecure, with a tendency to retreat to their private idyll and an exaggerated desire for security, constant (positive) feedback and recognition.

• Family and Equality – Their new family model allows them to implement equal rights in the family. Ys would like to have children, but only if conditions in their relationships, private lives and occupations are favorable. Otherwise, they would rather do without.

• Politics and Lifestyle - Generation Y is not completely nonpolitical. However, they are mostly interested in questions that influence consumerism, ethics or lifestyle. They’re not as much into fighting for a new social order as previous generations. They want to live according to their own interests. Therefore they avoid becoming involved with political organizations.

Social Incompetence

In the year 2000, the sociologist and political scientist Robert Putnam wrote the book Bowling Alone. In it he reported a progressive collapse of social overhead capital in the USA. Volunteer work, as well as participation in team sports and political activities was waning. He suspected the cause could be found in the individualization of social media and the disintegration of the family:

• Many people in Generation Y are unable to build social bridges to other ethnic groups or people with other interests. They lack confidence in collaboration.

Generations - Nicknames

Generation Me

Psychologist Jean Twenge described millennials as “Generation Me” in her 2006 book Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Than Ever Before. In 2013, Time magazine ran a cover story titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation.

Echo Boomers

Millennials are sometimes called Echo Boomers, due to their being the offspring of the baby boomers and due to the significant increase in birth rates from the early 1980s to mid 1990s, mirroring that of their parents. In the United States, birth rates peaked in August 1990 and a 20th-century trend toward smaller families in developed countries continued.

Generation 9/11

Newsweek used the term Generation 9/11 to refer to young people who were between the ages of 10 and 20 years during the terrorist acts of 11 September 2001. The first reference to "Generation 9/11" was made in the cover story of the 12 November 2001 issue of Newsweek. Alternative names for this group proposed include Generation We, Global Generation, Generation Next and the Net Generation.

Generation Chips

In her book, Generation Chips, journalist Susanne Finsterer calls the disadvantaged Ys by the same name because they eat too many chips, consume too much media and are largely out of step with society. Weight is rising to the extent that it could also be called “Generation D” for diabetes. According to the WHO, almost half of all German women and two-thirds of the men will be obese by the year 2030.

Generation Maybe

In Germany, the term “Generation Maybe” has come into use. Oliver Jeges defines Generation Maybe as a generation without characteristics and profile. They are well educated, but have no plan or courage to make decisions, preferring to keep as many avenues open as possible.

Generation What?

Perpetual insecurity forces society to make constant adjustments.

Y: “We grew up in a world in constant upheaval.  Since September 11, 2001 there has been one crisis after another: Afghanistan and Iraq, then the climate, economic, financial, educational and political crises. The ever-present feeling of crisis has made insecurity part of our basic attitude in life. In our world, anything is possible, and nothing is forever. Instead of life partners, we have life phase partners, and jobs are just as insecure as the hope of retirement benefits.”

Summary

Generation Y has grown up to be a group of nice people who suffer in our postmodern society. Modern history, politics and the economy make it hard for them to confidently and successfully define a standard for life that they can adhere to. Rampant insecurity in our social structure forces them to experiment and stay flexible. Many have succumbed to the temptation to just enjoy life and not think about consequences. These decisions they will have to face later, but will, as always, cross that bridge when they get to it.

If the Ys were more interested in having a healthier, more mature and more social life, a lot could be accomplished in that direction. Alas, not many consider this a real possibility. Perhaps the problem lies in their weak frontal lobes (BLOG), which have suffered much under the many challenges they face.

Quelle/Source: Wikipedia “Generation Y”,