- by Alena Hitzemann, Associate Web Editor
A few months ago, when Anirban and I were batting around the idea of a joint blog about being young professionals in IT, I came up with the name “IT for Gen Y: Social Media and the Net Generation.” I was pretty darn proud of it. I’ve never been good with titles and it seemed like one of my better efforts. I was *pretty sure* that we both fell under the “Gen Y” and “Net Generation” umbrellas, we work for an IT organization and we’re interested in how social media fits into the IT world. Check, check, double check.
When I sat down to write this morning, I realized that I wasn't entirely sure what “Gen Y” and “Net Generation” actually meant. Hmm. Somehow it seems like understanding the implicit themes of a blog, particularly my own, may engender its success.
So I looked it up. According to Wikipedia:
Generation Y, also known as The Millennial Generation, is a term used to describe the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as "Millennials"[1] or "Echo Boomers"[2]) . There are no precise dates for when Gen Y begins and ends. Most commentators use dates from mid 1980s to early 1990s. Members of Generation Y are primarily the offspring of Generation Jones and the Baby Boom Generation.
Wait a second. Mid 1980s? That’s a little late- I’m not that young. This definition puts me in the same bucket as kids still in high school… I can’t be accountable for their actions! No wonder a Google search for “Gen Y” features such laudatory terms as “self-absorbed,” “brash,” “slackers, whiners and praise-junkies.” Kids these days!
So I looked up “Net Generation.” This time the definition came from the Boston Globe, and puts the timespan from 1974-1983:
The Net Generation -- for whom social networking via the Internet is a birthright -- are probably too young to characterize adequately. They were in their teens and 20s in the Nineties (1994-2003; not to be confused with the '90s); and they are in their 20s and 30s now, in the Oughts (2004-2013; not to be confused with the '00s).
Not to be confused with the so-called Generation Y or Millennials (pop demography terms that refer to Americans born between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s), Netters aren't the parent-loving, resume-padding, squeaky-clean paragons of virtue we've heard their parents praise to the skies. Like OGXers, who were lumped in with Boomers but never felt part of that generation, Netters are a lost generation; older Netters have been lumped in with PCers (who, to make matters worse, were mistakenly called Xers), and younger Netters have been lumped in with Millennials. This trend stops here!
Ok, wow. First of all, that’s a lot of generation-jibber-jabber (check out the whole article- it’s intense.) But I do feel vindicated. It makes sense to me that my peers and I fall into a no-man’s-land between the famous Gen X and this newly-defined Gen Y. We understand angst and irony, but we grew up in the ‘90s when things were rosy. We were adults for 9/11, but we’re still idealistic. And from the same article, most applicable to the world of IT:
There you have it. The definition I was waiting for. The one that ties together the times in which we grew up with their technological implications. Although I will take issue with the claim that we “don’t remember life before fast computers and internet service.” I certainly do, and I think that’s a key factor in differentiating us from Gen Y: we know what it was like Before.
So what does “IT for Gen Y: Social Media and the Net Generation” really mean? I think it’s less about the year we were born and more about where the wired mentality meets traditional business. It’s that intersection that largely defines my job and my interests, and it's that realm that I hope to explore.
