Generation Why?

6 Pages 1527 Words

Generation Why?

I am fairly sure that we have all at one time or another heard a person say, “It must be a Generation X thing.” It is true that there are gaps between every generation. There are several popular stereotypes about Gen X, as for all generations. Those are generations of the past, now there is a new generation that shares many similarities with Generation X. This generation is Generation Y. With any other stereotypes, there is truth to the claim to a small extent. It is equally as known that there are exceptions to all stereotypes; but in the case of these stereotypes, do the exceptions outweigh the majority? Generation Y, which is still a young generation, has been labeled negatively many times even though the generation is still young.
When looking at a generation it is important to look at the history of the generation. Generation X was created by the media and was given its name because of a popular British punk rock band which consisted of the pop icon, Billy Idol. The years of which Generation X consists of are rather foggy. Douglas Coupland wrote a book called Generation X in which he classified anyone born from 1961 to 1981 as a member of Generation X. Generation Y covers all people born from 1981 to 2001. The name Generation Y has not been widely accepted either; there are many other names for it. Others include Millennium Generation and Echo Boomers. Whatever you decide to call it doesn’t matter because the name itself is not going to give an appropriate label to our generation.
Generation Y has been stereotyped basically in the same way that Generation X has except for the fact that the forecast for Generation Y is looking rather severe. Already there are claims of rising number of hard drug use and alcohol abuse. One good fact about Generation Y is that it has a heavily decreasing crime rate, as opposed to other generations. This is not something that is often seen in the media. Another pop...