3.0.1 "A geração iPod"

Amizade, o valor mais importante

«Even more than X, members of Generation Y are intensely tribal creatures. Young people's reliance on friendship groups is nothing new. What is new is that Generation Y expects to be committed to friends well beyond young adulthood. (...) For Yers, friends are like family only better. » (Huntley, 2006: 25)

«Communication technology-in the form of mobiles, email, online chat and of course texting-has become an indispensable tool for Gen- Yers in maintaining their friendship network (and their own status within it). (...) But everyone I spoke to used at least one of these technologies to organise their social life. (...) Yers are texting each other in movie cinemas, on buses, in cafes and under the table in university tutorials. (...) Limited access to technology means a hampered social existence for Yers.»  (Huntley, 2006: 36)

A certeza da incerteza

«Whilst their childhoods were sheltered worlds in which their desires were eagerly met by parents and grandparents, they have emerged into an adult world where only one rule exists - the certainty of uncertainty. Hugh Mackay says this is a generation 'born into the age of uncertainty'. (...) Insecurity and uncertainty are now part of life for all age groups. But Generation ¥, with its unfailing optimism, has incorporated 'uncertainty' and 'insecurity' into its worldview and has refashioned these negatives into 'freedom' as a positive. Freedom and uncertainty are the yin and yang of the Y world. Choice, options, flexibility are the buzzwords for this generation, something marketers and the manufacturers of mobile phones have long understood.» (Huntley, 2006: 15-16)   

Mais descrições

«What is Generation Y? The term is clumsy, and suggests that it picks up where X left off, which is not the case. It has been given many names - the Net Generation, the Millennials, the Dotcoms and the Thumb Generation (referring to their dexterity with remote controls, computer keyboards and mobile phones) and Echo-Boomers (as the product) both biologically and socially, of their Baby Boomer parents). Yers have been described as the Paradoxical Generation, due to their seemingly contradictory approach to life (they drink and take drugs but eat organic food, they are obsessed with technology  but fear it is depriving them of deeper personal relationships, they want to get married but resist settling dowll with a partner)» (huntley, 2006: 10) 

A geração e a tecnologia

«They were born and raised in a global society where consumerism and capitalism are natural conditions and go largely unchallenged. To them, technology is their natural ally, a necessity rather than a luxury, the solution to all imaginable problems.» (Huntley, 2006:2)

«The interaction between technology and Generation Y has been the subject of much research and public commentary. It is clearly the most technologically savvy generation yet, a group that has never known a world without remote controls, CDs, cable TV and computers. Of course this has ramifications for the workplace and the marketplace. The future of communications companies and electronic manufacturers is certainly secure. But Gen y's understanding and early adoption of new technologies goes beyond its seemingly unique capacity to program the household DVD. Generation Y's mastery of and reliance on technology has altered the way it views time and space. » (Huntley, 2006: 17)

«They are the most media savvy, educated, and wired population to have ever walked the earth. They are also the largest trend-setting population since the Baby Boomers.»

Características da geração (Millennials)

«As a group, Millennials are unlike any other youth generation in living memory. They are more numerous, more affluent, better educated, and ethnically diverse. More important, they are beginning to manifest a wide array of positive social habits that older Americans no longer associate with youth, including a new focus on teamwork, achievement, modesty and good conduct. Only a few years from now, this can-do youth revolution will overwhelm the cynics and pessimists. Over the next decade, the Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged-with potentially seismic consequences for America» (HOwe, 2000: 4) 

Computador mais importante do que televisão

«Millennials are growing up as familiar with computers as Boomers vere with television. In fact, more of today's teens say they can live without a television (28 percent) than without a computer (23 percent). With computer ownership becoming more essential, gender and income gaps are narrowing. Slightly more boys than girls have their own computers, and three of four affluent teens have access to one, versus roughly half of those below the poverty line. Through the late' 90s, the percentage of online kids continued to grow rapidly. Among those aged 8 to 17, the share rose from 25 percent in 1996 to 35 percent in 1997 to 42 percent in 1998, to somewhere around 50 percent in 2000. Of those who are on-line, 60 percent log on once or more a week» (Howe, 2000: 273) 

Uma perspectiva diferente da tecnologia

«Technological progress - which served as a liberating purpose to Boomers, and a diversifying purpose to Gen Xers - is serving a new unifying purpose for today's teens. Ownership of tech tools and toys has become a badge of generational membership. While the percentage of kids with their own rooms keeps rising (76 percent in 1997), those rooms keep filling up with gadgets» (Howe, 2000: 272)

«Technology always means something new to each generation. The young Silent regarded computers as necessary adjuncts to American technocracy, with mainframes at the apex of vast institutional pyramids. Young Boomers shattered the telscreen and invented the new personal computer, which allowed each person to be his own creative island. GenX hackers and IPO dealmakers have taken this new high-tech individualism and exploited its bottom line. Now Millennial teens are using computers to do group projects and communicate among networks of friends. For this generation, computers are definitely fun - but not necessarily liberating. In software ads, adults are shown solo near the monitor, but the kids are shown in groups. As more of them spend a growing share of the day at on-line computers equipped with Instant Messaging and "buddy lists", Millennials can stay in almost uninterrupted contact with each other - at home, on vacation, wherever. On-line or off, Millennials usually maneuver in teams and under adult supervision, far beyond anything Boomers or Gen Xers ever encountered with the technologies of their own child or teen years.» (Howe, 2000: 275) 

A percepção de pertencer a uma geração

«Generational self-perception begins to dawn during adolescence and typically takes full shape during and immediately after collegiate, military, marriage, or initial work experience» (Howe, 2000: 41)

Como lhes chamar (Millennials)

«Today's teens want a name that is a founding word, a word that respects their newness, a word that resets the clock of secular history around their timetable. "Millennial" acknowledges their technological superiority without defining them too explicitly in those terms. It's a name that hints at what their rising generation could grow up to become - not a lame variation on old Boomer/Xer themes, but a new force of history, a generational colossus far more consequential than most of today's parents and teachers (and, indeed, most kids) dare imagine» (Howe, 2000: 12)

«"Several thousand people sent suggestions to abcnews.com. Some thought that gen.com would be a good idea. Others said Generation Y, Generation Whatever. Gen-D was one. The Boomlets. The Prozac Generation. When everyone got talking about it online, the second-largest number thought there should be no label at all, and the greatest interest was in the Millennium Generation, or the Millennials." -Peter Jennings, ABC World News Tonight, 12/19/97.

 TOP TEN SUGGESTED NAMES (abc.com poll):

1. Millennialls

2. "Don't label Us"

3. Generation Y (or Why?)

4. Generation Tech

5. Generation Next

6. Generation .com

7. Generation 2000

8. Echo Boom

9. Boomer Babies

10. Generation XX»

(Howe, 2000: 6)

«By a margin of over four to one, the teens in our survey preferred "Millennial" over "Y".(Howe, 2000: 12)  

O adulto que se comporta eternamente como jovem

«Ser jovem tornou-se numa aspiração, numa pressão da sociedade ocidental, que está a envelhecer ano após ano. As mudanças demográficas estão a provocar alterações profundas em termos económicos e sociais, com repercussões nas atitudes e comportamentos dos indivíduos. Uma das alterações mais visíveis é o adulto que se comporta eternamente como jovem. A valorização exacerbada de tudo o que é jovem advém da importância desta faixa etária em termos económicos (poder de compra e faceta altamente consumista), mas essencialmente, do poder de influência e persuasão que tem junto da sua (enorme) rede de amigos e familiares. (...) O estudo da Publicis permite ver além das aparências. Os jovens manifestam comportamentos complexos e incoerentes, mas apenas ao olhos dos adultos: vulneráveis, mas poderosos (dependentes, mas influenciadores da sociedade e do mercado); intimidade no anonimato (net); saudáveis, mas pouco (rejeitam junk food e consomem drogas e álcool); críticos mas mega-consumidores; individualistas, mas integrados no todo (egoístas e altruístas). Estes comportamentos paradoxais espelham, de certa forma, uma sociedade cheia de contradições: mais eficiente devido à tecnologia, mas com menos tempo disponível; sem tabus, mas a um preço demasiado elevado (ex.: Sida). Não obstante o comportamento paradoxal, as motivações dos jovens são extremamente consistentes e duradouras.»

fonte: Estudo TWEENS traça perfil dos jovens portugueses, Sapo Mulher, Març08

Sobre a expressão 'Millennials'

Nos Estados Unidos, a expressão Millennials é muito abundante e serve para descrever todos aqueles que nasceram depois de 1980. É uma expressão sobretudo demográfica, ainda que muitas vezes usada em diversos contextos sociais, e corresponde a um alinhamento sequencial de classificação de gerações muito tradicional nos Estados Unidos.

A expressão foi criada por «Strauss and Howe (William Strauss and Neil Howe) are authors and speakers known for their theories about a recurrent cycle of generations in history. The two have co-authored a number of books on the subject and have a publishing, speaking and consulting company called Life Course Associates» (wikipedia); «The Fourth Turning (1997) is the third book by William Strauss and Neil Howe. It expands the theory they presented in their first book Generations by examining the generations in Anglo-American history since the War of the Roses (1459-1487). It classifies every generation into an archetype explaining the function, motivation and course of each. The second half of the book specifically looks at the five most recent generations (G.I., Silent, Boomers, 13th and Millennial)»

«Meet the Millennials, born in or after 1982 (...) » (Howe, 2000: 4); nascidos até 2002 (pag 41)  

«The first Millennial babies were born in 1982, walked in 1983, talked in 1984, reached kindergarten in 1987, and entered middle school in 1994 and high school in 1996.» (Howe, 2000: 309)

Uma geração que muda a sua relação com os meios

«Young people are increasingly able to switch between different technological platforms and different contents (both those created by media companies and user generated contents). And they are engaged in redefining their relationship with media, in terms of both the social role played by media and the technologies, places, times, patterns and rituals of consumption practices» (Mascheroni, 2008: 29)

O reconhecimento da expressão 'iPod generation'

«Young Italians are part of the so-called "web 2.0 generation" or "iPod generation" and are actively participating in the processes of transnational media consumption.» (Mascheroni, 2008: 30) 

Sobre a delimitação de um campo de estudo geracional (11-35)

Mascheroni et al no seu estudo Young italians' cross media cultures criam uma amostra que vai desde pré-adolescentes (11-13), passando pelos adolescentes (14-18), continuando com os jovens (19-24) e terminando nos jovens-adultos (25-35).

(ou seja, nascidos entre 1973 e 1977)

São jovens os que decidem na empresa 'iggli'

«At Boulder-based iggli Inc., 18- to 24-year-old employees occupy the driver's seat.
Musicians and social networking mavens just out of college advise equally youthful software developers about features and functions to include in the company's Web site - www.iggli.com.
That's exactly what company executives want.
iggli targets the leading edge of the "Millennial Generation" - people 18 to 24 years old - a market segment coveted by the music industry and consumer products companies.
"Employees need to represent our target market," said Holly Hamann, iggli's vice president of marketing. "We can't teach the middle-aged (people) how to be 18. We can teach 18 year olds how to do marketing and product development."»
Music, social networking site run, managed by 'Millennials' By Lyla D. Hamilton Boulder County Business Report March 13, 2008

Os jovens utilizadores da net não ficam isolados

«In terms of interpersonal relationships, an observational study of children's home use of the computer determined that 'online communition was usually not a substitute for interpersonal communication; rather, both often occurred simultaneously' (Orleans and Laney, 2000; 65). Lievrouw e Livingstone, 2006: 49

Características da geração

«The Net generation may well be more literate, creative and socially skilled because of their early familiarity with the Internet, including trying out various aspects of their developing identity online» (Rice, 2006: 108) 

Os jovens e a música

«Music a soundtrack to everyday life. It is the 'amniotic fluid' in which young people's identity develops. The ever-present nature of music, and its reign through clubbing, led us to consider music as dominant among young people's practices. What people do, how they act and spend their resources, expresses the values and priorities. (...) We can expect that the ways in which your people use music and clubbing will make sense in the light of how they understand themselves and the world. In short, we found that the listening habits of our young people suggest a 'mirror' to the self. Music is generally chosen to reflect what young people are already feeling. It reflects rather than forms their attitudes. (...) Young people usually listen to music while doing something else. It provides a familiar, ever-present 'soundscape'» (Cray, 2006: 78) 

O que é uma geração

«(...) can we talk about young people as a coherent group? It is here that we find the idea of generations particularly helpful. Generations can be understood in a number of ways, but here we draw on Karl Mannheim's view that a 'generation' refers to a group of peoplewvho experience and respond to specific social-historical conditions in common ways, depending in part on age. In other words, people growing up, living through and responding to particular historical events, political structures, dominant ideologies and technical developments together form a generation with a shared world view that distinguishes them from other generations. For Mannheim, it is the events, ideas and experiences encountered by young people between the ages of 17 to 25 that particularly shape their generation. Writers differ in terms of the labels and birth year boundaries they apply to particular generations. but they are usually periods bout 20 years. (Karl Mannheim. 'The problem of generations'. in Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952, pp. 276-320) (Cray, 2006: 5) 

Geração iPod: dos 15 aos 25 anos

«To try to answer these questions we began a research project into the world view of Generation Y, those aged 15 to 25. (...)together analysed young people's conversations as they responded to music, clubbing, films, TV soaps and culturally iconic images.»(Cray, 2006: 3)