I was born in 1986. We can refer to myself and other children born in this decade as “Generation Y”, for a lack of a better term. We were the age group that reached maturity in the early 2000′s, and as we seem to share some of the tendencies and habits of Generation X / “The Slacker Generation”, I’d prefer not to be lumped in with the kids born a few years later in the early 90′s (see the Mindset of the class of 2011) – a group who I seem to identify far less with.

Our predecessors, X, were apparently divided over a general outlook on life. I base this on a lengthy conversation I had this morning with both a member of GenX and GenY. While many GenXs have now settled down, have an established career, are possibly married, and are now raising a family, many other GenXs I know have lived a different lifestyle: traveling, working abroad, and unmarried. The latter are less career-driven, tend to move from job to job (happily), and tend to value exploration and learning over ambition and advancement.

Apparently this is a problem for the baby boomers, a generation whose mindset is very strongly rooted in the drive to have an ambitious career, to seek out promotions and advancements, to provide for a family, and to manage wealth accordingly (to see that there is enough for retirement and the kids’ education). As this generation retires, we will begin to see that their managerial roles will become harder to fill; though GenXs may be qualified for them, they will be less driven to seek them out – as success and advancement is not what motivates them. (I’ve also read recently that apparently it takes 3 GenXs a day to accomplish what one baby boomer daily workload).

This mindset is even more developed in my own generation. We are the first generation to be exposed to the worldwide internet community at a young age. This community spirit is deeply ingrained amongst GenYs – we seem to be the grassroots generation, uniting behind various social and political ovements. We are driven not by personal ambition, hope of advancement, or monetary gain – but apparently a hope in a stronger community, philanthropic endeavors, and a better planet and society for us all to live in.

While we share the beliefs of GenX in respect to campaigns such as net neutrality or copyright law, GenY also seems to have a great presence in other social awareness issues ,such as the recent grassroots Anonymous vs. Church of Scientology campaign. While members of Anonymous may differ in their individual motivations for taking on the CoS, they unite in an effort to raise general awareness and spark debate. As they are meant to be anonymous, no individual member benefits or gains any form or advancement: their campaign seems to frame nicely the drive of a generation in that respect.

So with such different systems of values, what can we say about the future of GenX and GenY? What causes this change in attitude and beliefs? I can imagine skeptics claiming that GenYs feel this way because we believe the world and environment to be doomed, and that we may as well enjoy life and explore the world and its peoples while it’s still tolerable. However I’d prefer the viewpoint of the optimist. If futurists like Kurzweil are correct, our generation may be the first to benefit from predicted revolutions in nanotechnology and robotics. Couple this with current and continued biological and genetic advances, and we may be one of the first generations to extend our lifespan by hundreds of years, if not as long as we choose. Perhaps on a mass-subconscious level of our generation, we all know we will live forever. We won’t need to start a family at 30, have an established career path by 40, and retire at 65. We might not even need to worry about settling down, much less retirement, for decades or centuries. When we realize how much life potential we have, there will cease to be any doubt in our generation’s resistance to career-driven, 20thth century life plans. We will celebrate our value in community, in philanthropy, and in personal exploration and enlightenment.

Finally, I conclude with the opinion that certain notions will gradually become obsolete as our generation ages (chronologically, not biologically), the first and foremost being the notion that “life is too short”, another being the concept of retirement, and of course, the concept of “settling down”.

Thanks to Vergel (GenX), and Pat (GenY), for inspiring this post.