You bet it is! The Millennials are the first true computer generation. Gen X and Yers and a few hippies had computers but, looking back on it, their job was only to shepherd the machines along to their present position at the absolute center of the Millennial world.
Young people can easily sit all day in front of the computer with only bathroom breaks. It's not uncommon for them to spend two weeks at a time at home without going outside for any significant time. You do your homework on it, you socialize on it -- everything!
I'm convinced that anime is taking over the animation world partly because it's so accessible through file-sharing on the computer. You can buy anime, trade it, and chat about it without leaving your bedroom. The jerky, limited animation actually helps its internet appeal because it reduces the bandwidth and makes for faster downloads. American lawyers hate to see illegal copies of American classic cartoons even on tiny formats like YouTube but the Japanese product is all over the net, and in really good copies too. This is serious competition.
Pre-Millennials like hippies and Gen-X and Y people keep hoping the programs to come will be will be easier to use. I don't think that's in the cards. It's not just a case of changing technology and software. The gruesome truth is that Millennials have no reason to make the stuff simpler. Their whole appeal on the job market is based on their ability to manipulate hard-to-use programs. If those programs were made easy then half a generation would find itself in the unemployment line.
My guess is that Millennials will replace Gen Xers on most computer-based jobs by the time the Xers reach age 40. I have no idea what Xers will do for work after that. A lot of Xers bummed around for a while after school and didn't really enter the work force seriously until age 25. If they're obsolete by 40 that's a career window of only 15 years! Aaaargh! If you're a working Xer then you better save your money! You're going to need it!
Of course Millennials won't have it easy either. Millennials were conned into taking outrageously big college loans which begin accumulating interest six months after school stops. With interest let's say a college loan of $100,000 dollars will become $200,000 over time. That's a lot of money. And the job market is shrinking. A lot of Millennials can forget buying a house or sending their kids to decent schools. And what if the generation as a whole can't pay the loans back? Yeeesh! It's scary!
Well, every generation has to face something tough. I guess this one is no exception!
BTW, the three paintings have nothing to do with the subject at hand. I just had to do something to lighten this discussion up. Maybe I should have called this post, "Welcome to Serious Corner!"
The paintings did soothe the pain of the $100,000 college loans.
ReplyDeleteNOT.
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ReplyDeleteUncle Eddie, this is a FANTASTIC POST! I'm going to link it to my blog a little bit later today because you are absolutely right.
ReplyDeleteThe Millenials were born and raised on technology. The plus side is since many businesses use technology for day-to-day operations, Millenials can start working like a duck takes to water - very little training is necessary. The minus side is most of the Millenials don't have good analytical and critical skills because the technology does everything for them. Perfect example: Millenials can correctly perform technology tasks in a New York minute using the latest and greatest tools, as long as you spell out every little thing that needs to be done in detail. If you give them a task requiring critical thinking, like "come up with a technology solution to fulfil the business needs, and understand which business needs are more important than others", most Millenials look at you like you're speaking another language.
Jorge's comment is also right on the money. I also like his term - iGeneration. The Millenials are going to want for nothing in the job market. Since the boomers will be retiring when they're finishing their post-secondary education, they can demand higher starting salaries since the labor will be in demand. However, they may have a harder time adapting to the work culture because, like Jorge observed, most Millenials were raised to believe that "they're special" (Most Millenials don't react well to valid criticism).
Oi, achei teu blog pelo google tá bem interessante gostei desse post. Quando der dá uma passada pelo meu blog, é sobre camisetas personalizadas, mostra passo a passo como criar uma camiseta personalizada bem maneira. Até mais.
ReplyDelete>>Oi, achei teu blog pelo google tá bem interessante gostei desse post. Quando der dá uma passada pelo meu blog, é sobre camisetas personalizadas, mostra passo a passo como criar uma camiseta personalizada bem maneira. Até mais.<<
ReplyDeleteIt finally happened, Eddie. Your blog has been invaded by Brazillian spammers. Must be all the soft porn you post here.
Come to think of it, one of those nubile blossoms from several posts ago would make a good image on a camiseta.
Anyway: Don't you think anime is popular because of the dearth of hand-drawn animation?
The answer for a whole generation stuck with 200K plus college loans will be for the elderly Bono to travel in his motorized wheelchair to Washington, D.C. and convince the American president to forgive their debt. The threat of a blood pissing U2 reunion tour in the year 2037 provides leverage.
ReplyDelete>However, they may have a harder time >adapting to the work culture >because, like Jorge observed, most >Millenials were raised to believe >that "they're special" (Most >Millenials don't react well to valid >criticism).
ReplyDeleteJennifer, you hit the money right on the HEAD!!! I have a hard time dealing w/ a lot of millenials at various jobs because of this! But because of this they need to learn to grow and hopefully an exposure to this will make them better!
I don't agree, I think programs are getting easier in many ways, In Design is a easy program to use and you can use in in cooperation with other programs, the real concern is these easy to use programs being used in abundance by people with a poor sense of design, who aren't even aritsts. I think what DOES make it difficult is if you come into the latest program with-out any knowledge of the programs that came before it, it seems overwhelming...As for anime... Thew kids love it , because let's face it American animation is crap, and has been for too long... There are some qualities in the anime that USA cartoons lack...I tkills me when I see USA cartoons that imitate the japanese stuff, and all they notice is the anime surface glaze of deformed flat faces... Oh well, I think what anybody alive should focus there efforts on is QUALITY... not how fast they can get everything done... For some reason it seems that there has been a loss of depth and quality in most art forms... and what seems to be the trend now is... Artist who put out a TON of product,...all at once as fast as possible....What happened to taking your time and putting something out there that knocks everybodies socks off..
ReplyDeleteEverybodies in such a hurry...for what?
I also like the currin pics...hahha
ReplyDeleteIf you use the analogy of the internet as a library its a fantastic resource but as a way of communicating with people its beyond depressing. Marshall Macluhan said something about each new innovation in communication pushing people farther apart rather than bringing them closer together and the internet seems to be the ultimate culmination of that
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong, Eddie. Every electronic product always gets smaller and faster, and eventually easier to use.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm a Gen Xer at the age of 41. Maybe the kids and older farts would like to think my life is over, but I'm still a useful cog in the wheel of society. :P
>> I've done the calculations, and boomers will start retiring around 2010, and I will finish university around 2012! Wow! Me, Kali, Thad K and Max were truly born in the perfect time!<<
ReplyDeleteYes, Jorge, you and your ilk will rule the world...until 2017 when the robots take over.
People born in the 30s were able to gets jobs when all you needed was the suit and a functioning brain. They were too young to remember the depression, and if they did, it built character. They were able to buy homes at a time when prices were lowest. And they got social security before the boomers started sucking it dry. They reaped all the benefits of the post-war boom but were too old to die in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteJorge, they were the perfect age to serve in Korea. A lot of them served during the wars in Korean and Vietnam. My dad certainly did.
My dad was born in the '31 and remembered the Depression very well (it lasted longer in the farming communities). He ended up quitting school...helping his family out. He also hunted game to help put food on the table. I wouldn't call that lucky or character building. It was just survival.
Does this mean I get to dress up as myself for Halloween? Booooooo I'm a 25 yr old who knows stuff. Marvel as I log onto the internet. Be amazed as I attach files and images with ease. tremble as I struggle to afford anything!!!
ReplyDeleteWell Technically I guess I'm an old millenial (born in 82) or a young Gen Yer? Or what I don't know, I'm gonna sit at my work computer and count my brain cells dying.
Bill Drastal is a proud member of the "Family Guy" audience.
ReplyDelete"Me, Kali, Thad K and Max were truly born in the perfect time!"
ReplyDeleteHow on EARTH did I get dragged into this?
I hereby announce my secession from my generation.
This has nothing to do with this post, but this is purported to be...
ReplyDeleteTHE BEST FIVE SECOND VIDEO ON THE INTERNET!
Eddie, Our boy is 19, and everything you said is true of him. His first intense relationship with a girl took place almost entirely via computer and phone. How will these people ever make babies? Well, I guess they'll figure it out. Kali, I too seceded from my generation. Generations serve no useful purpose.
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ReplyDelete"THE BEST FIVE SECOND VIDEO ON THE INTERNET!"
ReplyDeleteThat was pretty good Steve!!
Yay Lester! That reminds me of a discussion Eddie and I had the other night! He was wondering who would be my generation's "voice"- but I contended that no generation needs one voice. That is preposterous. No one voice can represent everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love Dylan and a lot of poets etc. that have been called the voice of their generation, but the whole idea is stupid to me. Why do people always have the urge to classify, categorize, and label things? Everyone and everything is far more complex than these generalizations. That's like saying Disney represents animation as a whole. Categories that big just fall short of doing anyone any justice.
End of rant.
Is that anything like saying, "I'm not emo, I just have the haircut..."?
ReplyDeleteSee ya
Steve
It's really funny watching kids on YouTube call a 1981 Kim Wylde new wave song emo.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the Sophomoric statements Jorge makes.
That would be Kim Wilde. har har I wonder if "Zakk Wylde" changed his name after seeing Kim?
ReplyDelete"We're the kids in America....woaoh"
Btw, Zakk Wylde's real name is Jeffrey Phillip Wiedlandt. hehe
ReplyDeleteNow if you'll excuse me, I need to go text message about my favourite "Family Guy" episodes while listening to FAll Out Boy on my iPod and updating Myspace.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty sarcastic for someone who hates sarcasm.
Ironic even. ;)
I recommend Eddie at least consider not allowing anonymous commenting.
ReplyDeleteJust how was my comments to Jorge any less insulting than the blanket statements he made?
ReplyDeleteHow is my Wilde/Wylde statement any worse for being off-topic than what Steve posted?
How is me calling Jorge on his sarcasm bad? One of his missions in life seems to be anti-sarcasm. You can't see the irony?
Anon, 1) Jorge's comments were not about individuals, 2) I don't object to comments being off-topic, 3)I didn't think Jorge's comment was sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteLester 1) Some of Jorge's comments were insulting to an entire generation of people who were born in the '30s. Some people think it's okay if the insult is an ignorant, wide, sweeping, blanket-statement. It's not. It's just like some stereotypes aren't accurate, just insulting to an entire group of people. , 2) So you only have a problem with one or two of the posts I made?, 3) I've read enough of Jorge's posts to know this comment by him was sarcasm: "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go text message about my favourite 'Family Guy' episodes while listening to FAll Out Boy on my iPod and updating Myspace." Just ask him if it was or not.
ReplyDeleteLester, Jorge: Anonymous is obviously wrong but having a blog on the internet is a little like setting up a saloon in Dodge City in 1870. You have to expect a gunfight every once in a while.
ReplyDeleteI delete comments now and then but not too often. It wouldn't be fun to be on a site that was so antiseptic that the real world was never allowed to intrude. Believe me, Jorge is tough and more than up to the task of defending himself.
Anon: I'm delighted that you're still a cog at age 41. There are many, many exceptions to what I said and you're evidently one of them.
ReplyDeleteEven sooo...just to be on the safe side, you better not buy that sports car you were thinking about.
Jennifer: Interesting comments, so interesting that I think it'll take me a whole post to answer. I'll get on it!
Jorge: I hope your generation can fix it! I have a feeling you guys will get a start on bringing the the work ethic back and that'll help. I'll look out for "Boom, Bust and Echo."
Steve: Son of a Gun! It IS the best 5 second video on the net!
Peld: My hunch is that new versions of programs tend to add add new, complicated features without simplifying the old features...but I'm not speaking from experience.
Jorge said:They reaped all the benefits of the post-war boom but were too old to die in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteA lot of them died in the Korean War, for goodness sakes! The Korean War was between '50-'53.
The Vietnam War started in '59. JFK increased troops from 500 to 16,000. Then in '65 there was a massive buildup of US soldiers by order of LBJ..
In '65, men born from '30-'39 would have been 26-35. Many men in this age group served in Vietnam. Just like men 26-35 are serving in Iraq right now. They aren't all fresh out of high school or college. A lot of men (like my dad) were/are in the military as a career. That means 20 years.
To act like males born in the '30s never fought during war is ridiculous.
I don't see how the generation that grew up during The Depression can be classified as one of the two luckiest generations in US history. Oh, but they "built character" by surviving the worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. Yeah, we should all be that lucky, eh?
ReplyDeleteIt "builds the character" of a child by only getting an orange (if even that much) for Christmas. How fortunate those rosey cheeked children were!
From Encarta:
Great Depression in the United States, worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s.
VIII End of the Depression
Although economic conditions improved by the late 1930s, unemployment in 1939 was still about 15 percent. However, with the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, the U.S. government began expanding the national defense system, spending large amounts of money to produce ships, aircraft, weapons, and other war material. This stimulated industrial growth, and unemployment declined rapidly. After the United States entered the war in December 1941, all sectors of the economy were mobilized to support the war effort. Industry greatly expanded, and unemployment was replaced by a shortage of workers.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761584403
Kali: I agree with you-it's ridiculous(sorry, Eddie!)to suggest that there has to be a designated "voice of a generation". It's the stuff of Time magazine cover stories(which btw no on ereads anymore), but none of the so-called "Voices" have turned out to be really all that singular imho.
ReplyDeleteOkay, here's a real dandy of a Time cover story for you: The voice of the current generation? It's "everyone". In fact, they did just that for "Man of the Year" last year(the ol' internet generation stuff). : ) Makes more sense than this one or that one, anyway.
Anonymous: I've always wondered about that explanation for how we got out of the Depression. If it were that simple then massive public spending would be the answer to depression or any other serious economic problem. But is it?
ReplyDeleteIf we supplied the world's build-up for war and were paid well for it that might account for the recovery, but was that the case? I don't know. In any case that's different than the government just spending money.
There's a lot about economics that we don't understand. How did Germany get out of the Depression and get enough money to carry on another long war aginst Russia and most of Europe? I ask the question without knowing the answer. It's all very puzzling.
I was reading an article a while back where they did a survey with the up and coming younger generation. When asked what there goal was in life, the mojority of them wanted to be a rich and famous celebrity.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must add that those hideous paintings by Currin(I guess)can't sink to the bottom of the blog fast enough for me. Ugh. Ugly and pointless in every way.
ReplyDeleteHey Eddie I have the answer! Germany hoisted itself out of a depression by borrowing money abroad (check out the Standard Oil - IG Farben deal of 1929) and then they could afford to wage war on Russia with liquid funds seized from the likes of Poland!
ReplyDeleteAs for the larger question at hand, there are many opportunities in the fields of law, computer networking and nursing for all these incontinent boomers :[]
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ReplyDeletePeople build character from learning to adapt to a situation and learning how to do things with what they have. Yes it is survival but you learn a invaluable set of problem solving skills and the value of everything which is something that you wouldn't learn otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on a farm and I learned that if something breaks you fix it or you learn how to fix it. If you own something you should know how to maintain it and repair it. Today we live in a time where we've turned everything into a module and it's just not economically feasible to fix most things. If something breaks you just throw it (or the module) away and buy a new one. On a farm if something ever breaks to the point where it isn't worth fixing (very rare) you find new uses for the parts that didn't break. You learn to use what you do have and think up solutions for the things you need. When it's not for survival you still do these same things because you know the value of things and it's amusing. I used to know a Electronics instructor who used to say "you don't want to be a part changer, you actually want to know what you're doing". What he was trying to say was that competence is a incredibly important thing, anybody can just go in there and change parts 'til something works.
If you don't fully think and struggle through a problem you don't fully explore it.
A while back when they had that Ollie Johnson estate sale I was looking at pictures of the items people bought. In it there was a muffin tray where he used to keep spare parts. One of the trays was labeled Zener Diodes and another held some TTL chips. I was wondering to myself if he built his own train power supplies or fixed them himself. Either way it dosen't matter because he's doing the work for himself. It may be basic hobbyist stuff but it still very important, that's the sort of efficiency that this as well as most generations need in order to be able to adapt and be a little more open minded about looking at things.
Hope my incoherent rambling makes some sense.
Eddie,
ReplyDeleteAs a Senior at the University at Buffalo, I have to say that I'm really feeling the pinch of my own generation.
In spite of the long-term benefits of a college education, it's actually become a handicap when you're trying to hold a job, even to help pay the damn tuition.
Being a college student today means that you actually start off in the real world POOR. If it weren't for the safety net of our parents taking care of most of our expenses and putting a roof over our heads, we got NOTHING.
All I'm doing now is looking into grad school, and will hopefully go from there with at least two degrees, for the day my career officially begins.
Anon, do the math: a person BORN in the 30s grew up in the prosperous 1940s, not the 30s. The depression ended in 1939 when World War II ended began(even though the US didn't join until `41.
ReplyDeleteJorge, if your birth year was 1931, you'd be 11 years old when 1942 came around. You do a lot of living and growing up in your first 11 years, especially if you grew up on a farm. Some kids during The Depression (like my dad) had to help support the family. He grew up DURING The Depression and DURING WWII (all hard working years). He started working as soon as he could on the farm and a paper route, then working in a granite quarry and a textile mill. He had FIVE years between the end of WWII 'til the Korean War started (still helping support his family). He started serving DURING the Korean War when he was 19 (sending his family money when he could). You tell me how many of those years seem "happy go lucky". He had it hard. A whole lot harder than any generation that's grown up since then.
All the people I've talked to that lived through that time have said that The Depression ended in 1942. Encarta agrees. Others say '39. I've seen both years used in various books and across the internet.
When a lot of people who lived through something tell me what it was like, I tend to take their words very seriously. I don't make light of what they've been through.
You don't think suffering builds character?
I don't think for a minute that someone who's lived through a rough childhood deserves for their hardships to be trivialized.
What do you think of parents who abuse their children and then say it was good for them because it's building character? Do you think those children are luckier than the ones who were never abused? After all, the abused child grew more "character" through the suffering.
rogelio, I agree that learning skills through discipline builds character.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that when someone has a hardship by no fault or design of their own, luck certainly had nothing to do with them having that hardship.
You wouldn't go up to someone who's experienced a lot of pain in their life and say, "you sure are lucky." They'd look at you as if you had three heads and two teeth.
Jorge said: The book stated 1938 (the year my grandparents were born) as the best year to be born, and I should have clarified that.
ReplyDeleteThat info would've helped a WHOLE lot.
Anon I see what your saying.
ReplyDeletePeople tend to romanticize all this stuff and write all sorts of books on past generations but really things have always been rough. It's life.
My mom was once talking to me about my grandmother. She had worked as a cook in the Sonoran mining camps ever since she was a little girl. It was the (I'm guessing) mid '20s and
she had two mason jars full of pretty rocks that had slowly been given to her by the miners when they couldn't pay for food. She left the jars with the lady who was her neighbor and left the camp for several months because times were rough and her family needed some money. During that time she spent several months harvesting opium and smuggling alcohol into the US. The (I'm guessing) acids from the opium ate through part of the side of one of her fingers and left her with a scar that she had for the rest of her life. She really didn't have any idea what she was doing because she had grown up in the mining camps, to her it was just work. She used to tell my mom that she was just so naive and dumb back then. My grandmother was one of those people that would go to church on a almost daily basis so it was quite a shock to her when she realized all of this but those times were rough and her family really needed the money.
When she came back into the camp she found out that the lady she had left the rocks with had fled with the jars as soon as she had left. She eventually realized it was because the two jars were full of gold. The whole time she thought they were just pretty but worthless rocks.
These types of stories sound great eighty years later but it's easy to forget how truly awful things must have been to be in a position where you have to work those type of jobs.
Reminds me of this comic.
Rogelio: Very interesting! You make me wish I'd grown up on a farm.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little off-topic but your stories reminded me of the time I was at Carl Barks' house and I noticed a math book on the end table. I think it was called "Mathematics for the Millions." I asked him who was reading it and he said he was. He said he was doing it to "improve his mind." His generation used that phrase a lot.
Anonymous: I don't disagree with your statistics. They're really interesting. When I said you were wrong I meant wrong to be insulting. You could have made the same points better without the insults.
I don't know much about writing, and every post I do is full of mistakes, but one lesson I learned in the last year is to imply a conclusion rather than state it.
If I said Hitler was a bad man people would just yawn. If I say he started a war that resulted in 50,000,000 deaths people would draw their own conclusion about him being bad and it would mean more to them.
In the same way if you think someone is stupid it's best to give the reason they're stupid and let the readers draw their own conclusion. It's not only more polite, it's actually more effective.
Sorry if this comes off as a lecture. Like I said this is a saloon in Dodge City and I don't expect people to express themselves my way. Just don't shoot any of the bar girls.
Jorge: "Generations?" Thanks for the tip!
Mr.Semaj: Holy Cow! And I thought I had it rough! How do you find time to eat?
Anon: Interesting comment about Germany borrowing money. Let me sit on that a bit.
Jenny: I mostly hate Currin but you have to admit that he's funny.
ReplyDeleteWith a lot of qualifications I do like the idea of a generational voice. My guess is that this is the first American generation since the Revolutionary War that hasn't had one.
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ReplyDeleteJorge: I really don't think you'll have it that easy. Your generation will get whatever computer jobs are here in the country (Canada in your case) but a lot of them will have gone to Asia and India.
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I would get real good at the skill you're interested in. Find a niche within it where you can excel. Be an expert. Save your money or invest it safely. There might be hard times ahead.
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ReplyDelete"I originally wanted to be a cartoonist, but my dad said NOOOO!!!!"
ReplyDeleteJorge: so did my dad--and I've been a cartoonist fulltime for the last 20 years. It was terribly difficult sometimes but I just had to.
My advice would be if you actually have a choice in what you want to do for a living--if you can just leave off a potential career in animation or anything else because your dad or anyone says you should--you probably should. But taking parents' advice in lifetime careers is a terrible idea. It has to be what you want more than anything. Accountant or cartoonist--it's all hard and it's all work.
No offense, but to pick any career because "there's a demand for it"-you may well get employment, but you won't be happy at work. That's a lot of hours to be sitting at a job you didn't pick for passionate reasons. Just a word to the wise.
I hate cgi a whole lot! Ihate how andreas deja and eric goldburg explained on the aladin dvd that the carpett was colored by mac! now anime is only good when properly done and only sucessfull from a manga cartoonoist basis! We one day will take back the industry when people are ready to buy our stock eddie! someday they will get tired of anime and find theirselves watching Ren and Stimpy re runs i hope! Or mabye the goddamn george liquor program!
ReplyDeleteWow. You totally got it right about Gen Y getting conned. That's exactly my situation right now. Massive loans and no economy to speak of (much less jobs). Finally, somebody who gets it. Thank you!
ReplyDelete