Do The Rules Still Apply to Gen Y?

Generation Y has been called a lot of things. Slackers, lazy, entitled, spoiled, generation me, Peter Pan generation, and also generation y not. We, people born after 1980 and before the mid to late 90's, have made great strides and have achieved a lot due to increased technology but statistically, we're behind every other generation. We're more likely to be unemployed after college, that's if we go at all, more likely to be in good or bad debt, less likely to retire or receive social security, more likely to divorce, blah, blah blah. Basically, we're screwed and unless something changes, we'll remain screwed.

Generation Y not is the nicest thing I've heard us called. No does not apply to us. We're ambitious, we're not entitled, we want things other than what our parents had, now more than ever, we're entrepreneurs, go getters, all that good stuff. While I acknowledge that internet, and technology as a whole, has given us opportunities that previous generations were not afforded, it has also made us lazy. We see reality shows making millionaires and stars out of nobodies. These people don't have to work for it, they show up and bam, their world is changed. We believe that with the right break we can be rich and famous. Everyone wants instant fame, no one wants to work for anything anymore. Working has gone out of style. Our parents did that for the man. They worked 20,25, 30 years at a job they hated only to be forced to retire or ousted for someone younger and cheaper. Who wants that? Any takers? Didn't think so.

I don't know how other generations stack against us, but I will acknowledge a lot of my friends are unemployed or underemployed, a lot still live at home with their parents, and most are looking for their big break. Once upon a time, people were considered losers if they lived at home after college, now it's the norm. I probably know more people who live at home than those who live on their own. I think it's these dreams that TV, music, and the media sells us. We see a lot of rags to riches stories, people who were homeless one day and rich the next, we are sold "just one break" stories on a daily basis. We expect that to happen after college. We expect to graduate, or move to pursue our dreams, and voila, it happens. No one tells you that overnight success stories are rare. We don't realize that hardwork is still a criteria for success and while you may be "discovered" randomly, the chances of that happening are rare.

I say all that to say, do the rules of: work hard, be nice to people, get married, have kids, retire, still apply? Yes and no. The internet is the ultimate game changer. We can skip a few steps because technology makes our goals and the people who can help us attain them readily available. But we still have to work hard, be nice to people, etc. The marriage and kids part is up to you.