Debate 7: Against Generation Y (Miguel C, Sara, Simão, Giulia)

Although Generation Y is characterized by a boom of new independent business owners and entrepreneurs, these aren’t really looking for long-term success and commitment, thus ending up being cheap copies of corporations originally funded by elder generations, with the single goal of making a quick profit, whilst keeping an eye on new ways to create profit with different businesses. This pretty much sums up the fact that the Millennials never settle down and fight for what they want, they are very unstable when it comes to work. Company guidance was just one of the many examples we, the team against Y’ers, found to describe this generation, but the truth is, these younger folks don’t really settle down for anything at all. Bigger companies aren’t really keen on hiring them either because they tend to jump from job to job, always looking for another place to work. They’re never happy where they are and with what they’re doing.

Generation Y’s individuality is a paradox. They keep in touch all the time – without seeing each other – which means they remain isolated constantly, even though they might think otherwise. This generation can keep in touch with thousands of people daily, but in reality, human interaction is out of the equation, since most contact is done through modern technology and social media. In some aspects this could be a plus, if it wasn’t for the fact that now, more than ever, society has taken a whole new step towards helpless isolation and hopeless lack of companionship. This generation can’t rely on help on the most mundane tasks firstly because about 90% of interaction is currently taken online, and one cannot really tell friends and “friends” apart while being on social media. Social hype is many times mistaken for friendship.

Generation Y was raised to believe their parents are their friends. This would be absolutely fine if it wasn’t for the fact that the strict respect it took many generations to pass on is now gone, meaning that not only Y’ers trust their parents as If they were their friends, but also that they treat them like so. Even though they aren’t the ones to be blamed for this, but instead their parents, there is a massive flaw in this way of parenting. Millennials were raised to believe we should be equals independently of the age gap between two people. The big problem is, by seeing their parents as their buddies, they tend to forget not everyone takes that lightly. And whether it’s in the new office they just started working for, or the bus station they just arrived to, or even the classroom they’re in, if there is someone about the same age as their parents, their brain will automatically assume that person is to be treated as an equal, a person of the same age. There are no boundaries to the way they might behave, or the way they might speak. This, many times, can lead to (intentional or unintentional) disrespect. On the other hand, not everyone wants to be a confidant or behave like they’re in their 20’s-30’s, and can actually take that the wrong way.

Generation Y is in constant need of guidance and approval. Once again, the way they were raised is what caused this flaw in their behavior. Because of their parents, Y’ers seek the appraisal their elders gave them in order to preserve their self-esteem. These children got used to think whatever they strived for, even if not much at all, was good enough for them. That getting rewarded for just participating in some sort of competition was good enough. They were assured they had no weaknesses at all whatsoever, but instead, only weaker strengths. This might’ve been a good thing in their teen years, but when they grow up, they’ll still seek for that approval. The truth is, this generation cannot work by themselves, instead, they look for guidance within older generations — which wouldn’t be a bad thing, except for the fact that they always depend on it to advance with whatever they’re working on. Also, whenever these kids are working on something, either work or education related, if they get called on for doing something wrong, they get defensive or deflect the fault, and many times they simply quit. They can’t take criticism, whether constructive or not, simply because they’re not used to doing something somewhat wrong, but instead, always doing something somewhat right.