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Defining a Generation
In today’s issue of the Marketing X-Factor newsletter, I wrote the Hot List story about a study published by Pew Research that attempted to draw a portrait of “Generation Next.” The study defined the generation as 18-25 year olds, a group that has also been described using a number of other terms. As a member of the 18-25 demographic, I found the findings to be accurate based on my experience, but I disagreed with defining my generation using the term “Generation Next.”
I’ve also never particularly liked “Generation Y,” which sounds like people stopped trying and just picked the next letter in the chain, “Internet Generation,” which is just too obvious, or “Millennials,” although that would be my choice if I had to pick from the four. Since I suspect none of these terms was coined by someone who was born in the 80’s like the people they attempt to define, I decided to come up with my own classification. “E-clectics” is the new word I used in the Hot List story when referring to my generation.
I don’t expect it to catch on, but like most young people, I don’t like being put into a box by someone else’s definition, especially someone who likely didn’t share the experiences of people who are my age. I don’t know how history will define me and my peers, but at least in this one instance I had the opportunity to choose for myself.
That’s what this era is all about. Not the fact that we were born near the Millennium, came after Gen X, or grew up with the Internet. We care about what happens around us, we embrace web 2.0, social media, and mobile technology for the freedom and personalization they provide. And most of all, we want to achieve something in our lifetime that matters. Unless someone has a suggestion for a better word to sum that up, “E-clectic” will have to do.
I couldn't agree with you more, Jeremy.
Just this week I was at a conference in NYC on digital media and internet services, with lots of up-and-coming internet-based companies presenting. At the dinner table I was surrounded by a bunch of entrepreneur CEOs who were all in their 20s and 30s. So we're talking Gen Y and Gen Next, right? And anyway we were having a lively time discussing the boom-bust-boom cycle of dot-com investment.
But I have to admit I began to feel a bit uncomfortable when one of them ventured an opinion about how difficult it was for a Baby Boomer (i.e., one of their investors) to understand the psychology of his Web site's users. As a Baby Boomer myself, I felt like my own opinion and intellect were being judged.
Still, as a generalization about my age cohort, I recognized the truth in the comment. The era we come of age in makes a difference to our perspective in life. But like you, Jeremy, I would consider myself an E-clectic. Just older!