Will the Millenial Generation Help Improve the US? (Harry Reid, Congress, Pelosi)

[CravingMountains]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I consider my smartphone important.

But how often do you find yourself in a "dire situation?" I have lived a lot longer than you and cannot remember any dire situations. What is a dire situation to you?

To give just one example:

When Super storm Sandy hit the northeast last Fall, I was visiting Philadelphia that weekend with a friend.

We both had to get back to work on Monday and we couldn't wait to hear if our plane would be canceled due to the terrible weather that was about to hit (rain was already pouring).

We decided that the best thing for us to do to make sure we made it home on time was to book another place in a city away from the coast. We had a rental car and we sure as hell weren't about to go back to the airport, lose our car, and then wait to hear that our plane was canceled.

From my Iphone, we were able to book a new flight out of Charlotte, NC, contact the rental car company to keep our car for an extended period of time to drive to Charlotte, search for and book a hotel close to the airport in Charlotte, and use the gps to guide us on our drives so that we avoided storms (I have a weather app on my Iphone that will show radar weather so you know where not to drive if you don't want to get caught in a storm). I was also able to send emails to my superiors at work letting them know my situation.

I don't use my Iphone to order Starbucks. I probably could though. Maybe I should look into it.

[CravingMountains]

Originally Posted by Nomander

Umm... Yeah... not so much.

Your tech savvy generation was Generation X as most of the technologically you see Generation Y using was created by Generation X. Knowing how to use twitter and facebook, playing an online game, or defining yourself as a geek are not signs of being tech savvy.

I know how to do all of those things (except Twitter. I have never used twitter) and a thousand more on a computer. My generation grew up immersed in software. For baby boomers and older trying to comprehend internet programs is like trying to learn Chinese.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

I know how to do all of those things (except Twitter. I have never used twitter) and a thousand more on a computer. My generation grew up immersed in software. For baby boomers and older trying to comprehend internet programs is like trying to learn Chinese.

If millennialis can't steal it or plagiarize it then it didn't happen.

Apparently you aren't aware of who the federal government and companies went to to fix the Y2K problem. And, yes, it was a real problem that never played out because of those people's hard work.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by Don Draper

aside from playing video games and texting, what else are they good at?

Stealing and plagiarizing.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

What he says is so true - but you don't know it yet. You don't know how simply surviving and keeping your family afloat every day - can grind you down.

Probably most of you have only yourselves to take care of thus far - wait until you are responsible keeping other humans alive! Kinda takes priority over everything else.

And what does Generation Y-work and generation-Xbox want to do to "take care of others"?

They want a social safety net but not to fund it. They want free medical care for all for freeeeeeee.

Having a narcissistic personality is a disorder in case you didn't know.

[ELR123]

I never understood why Millenials are always called out for being narcissistic and lazy. What generation hasn't accused those darn teenagers/young adults of being those things?

This new generation isn't that much different from any other. More liberal than the older generation, just like each preceding generation. That's about it. I guess the best criticism is that they embrace awful music for the most part.

[Patricius Maximus]

Originally Posted by alphamale

They won't own pickup trucks because they're "bad for the environment".

According to one survey in 2009 that asked a random sample of 2000 teens (i.e. a segment of the Millennial generation) which vehicles they wanted the most, number 9 on the list was the Ford F-150. From what I've seen the young aren't eschewing pickup trucks.

Originally Posted by Supine

I almost feel sad for the younger generations as crime and violence and community worry over these things have gotten so bad over the years that they don't have the great fun things we had as young kids. Eg., outdoor block parties all over city; every Friday and Saturday night house parties you walk to and pay a $1 to get into with a DJ spinning records.

Statistically the rate of violent crime is lower than it was in previous decades. The only thing that has gone up is fear.

Originally Posted by A&M_Indie_08

Obviously the Boomers cared more than you ever will.... they gave us the environmental movement......

Boomers may have created the environmental movement but the Millennials have embraced it.

proof that some in gen y are not very bright

There are some dunces in every generation, including your own.

Originally Posted by malamute

That's just it -- your generation actually views luxuries as necessities.

By some standards indoor plumbing and electricity are luxuries, but they are necessary to be part of the mainstream of American life. A computer or smartphone with an internet connection is quickly becoming necessary as well, and I say the sooner the better, since even now we are only scratching the surface of what the Internet is capable of.

Originally Posted by Declan's Dad

Maybe in a few years after you've had some real life experience...

There's certainly a bumper crop of sour grapes this year in your neck of the woods. People were saying this 10 years ago before any of them graduated high school, and now that half of them actually do have years of real-life experience (most of it pretty awful), you still chastise them for not having any. How much experience does it take to know what you're doing? Apparently your answer is exactly the amount you have at any given moment.

Originally Posted by LauraC

Prove it. When it comes to diversity of opinion and ideas, the millenial generation is the least tolerant. They prefer to suppress people who have opinions with which they disagree.

Prove it. ()

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

And I don't think that Generation Y is anymore fiscally liberal than previous generations. Socially liberal yes, we are. If Republicans want to win our vote then they better get with the century on social issues.

Enjoy being left in the dust.

I agree with that. The Millennials are more libertarian than their predecessors, which makes me quite hopeful for positive change. Millennials attended Ron Paul's rallies more than any other age group and voted for him in large numbers in the Republican primaries (in Iowa Paul won the youth vote by 25 points). Whites under the age of 30 were Gary Johnson's strongest demographic in the general election, followed by whites in their 30's and 40's and Latinos under the age of 30. Johnson just received 1 percent of the vote, and Barack Obama handily won the youth vote in 2012, so most Millennials are not die-hard Libertarians, but all these data points mean something and that something is a significant shift in Millennials' political outlook compared with other generations. From this article:

Like it or not, more and more young Americans are thinking just like Danny and Matt. A recent Harvard Institute of Politics poll found that many young voters are embracing libertarian ideals, perhaps without even realising it.


Voters ranging in age from 18 to 29, the poll found, were neither here nor there on a traditional left/right political spectrum, and many displayed lukewarm feelings towards liberalism. Few, for instance, put faith in the government’s ability to stimulate the economy through spending (what’s known as Keynesian economics), less than half thought the government should provide free health care to those who can’t afford it and a remarkably small number – just 28 percent – thought the government should prioritise environmental concerns like global warming over economic concerns. At the same time, these voters backed away from social and neo-conservative ideals: they weren’t anti-gay, they didn’t like religion in their politics and they tended to pooh-pooh preemptive war. 



What remained, political scientists and pollsters noted, looked an awful lot like the silhouette of libertarianism, a political philosophy that champions small government and tolerant social attitudes (think Soundgarden’s “My Wave”) and – that especially for youngsters – is fueled by a deep distrust of mainstream politics.

Emily Ekins, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, and the director of polling at the Reason Foundation, has been studying the voting habits of young voters. "The old way of viewing the world as just being left and right,” she said, “with young people, it’s likely not going to continue being reality."



And where political reality could break down, she says, is over social issues. Ekins tracked self-identified conservatives under the age of 35 on social, fiscal and foreign policy issues using data dating back to 2004. Over time, they remained fiscally conservative, but grew more and more socially liberal – a classic libertarian mix. And if the precepts of political science have anything to say about it, she says, it looks as though they’ll stay that way. 



“If people do change over time,” Ekins explained, “they tend to become more economically conservative. But that’s typically not the case with social issues. So what we've seen is something like a permanent shift, starting now, over social issues.”
 
If Republicans want to get those votes, she said, they’ll need to soften their stance on social conservatism. If Democrats want them, conversely, “they’ll have to clamp down on being so economically liberal." 
 


Originally Posted by hoffdano

You might question the Patriot Act. But many of your age HAVE NO CLUE what it means for the government to snoop.

First off, since the Millennials, as the most avid internet users, have been the biggest victims of government snooping I would question your claim about not knowing what snooping means. Since the American government has never conducted this sort of surveillance before, older generations have no more experience with it than younger generations do, with Nazi and Soviet refugees being the obvious exception, but there aren't many of them anyway.

Millennials value privacy, but they are using it in a different way than other generations. They are more willing to share personal information if they benefit from it, but that is a matter of choosing to share, which is quite different from being snooped on without knowledge or consent. It's similar to the difference between philanthropy and wealth confiscation. Also, although Millennials are more willing to share personal information in exchange for some benefit, this is also the generation that grew up using accounts on the internet registered using false information and using pseudonyms online like no other generation in modern history. How's that for privacy? There's more. Multiple polls over the years have shown that if anything Millennials are more opposed to surveillance than older generations (source).

Originally Posted by Haakon

Yes, I'm sure growing up glued to the TV, Xbox, Gameboy and cell phone will do wonders for your job performance.

Watching Youtube does not make you worldly or educated.

LOL so much for your claims about being educated.

Most of what I know I learned from online sources, and most of the 20-something Millennials I know are more learned than their parents were when they were 20-somethings (and this assessment comes from the parents themselves). I can't speak for everyone, but being a teenager and young adult during the information age certainly has distinct advantages when it comes to your chances of becoming worldly and educated.

As for job performance, that is only roughly correlated to being educated and worldly, and if using computers and the internet is part of their job I would imagine growing up glued to such devices would be an advantage. Of course, it's not the technology itself, but how you use it that counts, and Xbox isn't going to make you more educated (the typical palette of Millennials goes much beyond Xbox BTW).

Originally Posted by GTOlover

Well you guys cannot even handle losing at sports in school so they had to make everyone a participant and the no score is kept either and wait till you hit the real world and you have to compete and you are a winner and not as great as you are told since I will be real your has yet to do anything of note.

Millennials were not running the schools when they were students . The time to judge their wimpiness in school sports will be when they're running the operation in 10-30 years time.

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

Illegal immigration came to a complete halt during the past four years. So please don't say that illegals are coming here and finding work while generation Y is turning them down. Illegal Immigration to the United States Is Down - ABC News

The comment about food stamps buying steak and lobster is absurd. I LOL at that one.

And I guess you know so many youths today as to say that they sit around waiting for newest ipad. lol.

I have had to work some PATHETIC jobs over the past five years. I look back and think that no one with an education should have to reduce themselves to such pitiful jobs, but my generation had to do it because there was nothing else for us to work.

And this downturn was second only to the great depression in how much it ravaged our economy. You know what generation was most affected by it? Generation Y! So please don't say we don't know what a true recession really is. 50% of college grads today can't even find work for gods sake and you want to say that we don't know what recession feels like?

I second your comments.

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

And what does Generation Y-work and generation-Xbox want to do to "take care of others"?

If they had significant sums of money to spare, they'd probably be donating to non-profit organizations and charities of their choosing.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

I know how to do all of those things (except Twitter. I have never used twitter) and a thousand more on a computer. My generation grew up immersed in software. For baby boomers and older trying to comprehend internet programs is like trying to learn Chinese.

Yeah right. A three year old has no trouble accessing the internet programs. You seriously overestimate the difficulty of facebook, the internet, and text messages on twitter.

[West of Encino]

Originally Posted by fibonacci

Sorry, but the Baby Boomer generation is probably THE worst generation in the history of the United States. The BB have off shored our jobs, left this country with massive amounts of debt, and for the first time in the history of this country, the generation they leave behind is supposed to be worse off in terms of wealth than the previous generation before it.

The millenials will be the greatest generation part II. They are the most tech savvy generation this country has ever known. You will see many diseases being cured by the millenials. The millenials are also much more progressive thinking than our parents. The millenials are also much more progressive thinking than their parents. The millenials will ween this country off of foreign energy dependence by investing heavily in renewable technology and also investing heavily into infrastructure upgrades.

BB, the single worst generation in the history of the US that caused serious structural damage to the economy that will take at least one generation to repair, if not more. BB left behind a mess, all while providing themselves with nice cushy retirement benefits that will absolutely bankrupt this country and leave their kids without the benefits of social security or medicaid. Absolutely selfish.

Not to mention they support and enact major biases that occur in the government and judicial system.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

And what does Generation Y-work and generation-Xbox want to do to "take care of others"?

They want a social safety net but not to fund it. They want free medical care for all for freeeeeeee.

Having a narcissistic personality is a disorder in case you didn't know.

Instead of buying so many $60 X-box games and $100 for unlimited text messages, they could use that money to fund the social safety nets they claim they believe in.

Smart phones are most definitely not a necessity, a simple $20 tracfone can make any 911 calls someone would need to make.

The only existing generation that might have some trouble with computers is the pre-boomers because when they were growing up, computers were actually somewhat tricky to learn and use. There was a time when early computers were huge and very rare, the average person didn't own one.

It's pretty funny that this generation actually thinks that clicking on some app on a tablet to access the internet requires any kind of IQ or savvy, there is nothing at all required, no ADTD modem commands, no hyperterminal commands, no http code to figure out. 18 month old babies now get on the internet to download games to play, it's that simple.