This sort of thing is an old, old sport.<p><a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotes/hesiod/" rel="nofollow">http://thinkexist.com/quotes/hesiod/</a><p><i>I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.</i><p>~700 BC
Another "everyone in the same age group is the same" post.<p>All boomers are...<p>All Gen Xers are...<p>All Gen Yers are...<p>Yeah, right.<p>This is just an excuse for lazy journalism (is there any other kind any more?)<p>Would have been nice if the author dug a little deeper to try to understand why none of the 7 people answered the phone. To his credit, he brought up several good points:<p>"They’re trained to work in teams — in school, in extracurriculars"<p>My theory (even though I'm no more qualified than anyone else):<p>For many young people, playing on a sports team has replaced the part time job. There was a time when you <i>had</i> to work if you wanted a car, insurance, or money for college. Not so necessary now.<p>Responsibility to one's teammates has replaced "getting the work done". I have always thought that real responsibility is learned "on the job". Delay work, delay responsibility.<p>Even in this community, there's a tendency to try to solve problems in our own little vacuum. Here's what I think... I read somewhere... Things oughta work like... As a hacker, I'm just as guilty as anyone else; it's so easy to try to "think" things through.<p>Then I stop and say, "Find a customer." (Or find a job.) Once you have to really serve others in need, the "issues" cited by the OP melt away.
Didn't I read the same article back in 1993?<p>One thing that the article does get right is that people are treated and act like adolescents until their 30's or even 40's and it's now considered socially acceptable (to a point).<p>But that's a longterm demographic and cultural trend that's been going on since World War II.
The professor might also be an overbearing tool bag or the class might not be particularly worth the effort (I've had a few of these). Anecdotal evidence like this is junk.<p>My dad showed me his report card from Kindergarten once. He barely passed because "Eddie has trouble whistling and skipping in a straight line." When he got in to Dylan, it was all over for his potential as a productive and intelligent human.<p>Of course, he's a published author and editor of poetry, novels and non-fiction, humor columnist, wilderness advocate, sometimes environmental lobbyist, motivational speaker and researcher/writer/editor for the beautifully designed black-bordered brochures you get at our national parks.<p>And still loves Dylan (Bob and Thomas). And he's my hero. And he figured out how to whistle and skip in line somewhere along the way.
I wish people would talk about "people" instead of senseless "generational" gaps. Although of course you are going to be shaped by common experiences of your generation (let's say 9/11, Iraq War, etc. for my generation) and the social (gay rights, black/woman potential president, etc.) and technological changes (grew up with computers and the internet) that are occurring during your time period, you are shaped much more by your friends, parents, education, life experiences, location, and realistically the socio-economic status you were born into.<p>Some PEOPLE are confident. Some PEOPLE are not. Maybe it's just because I happen to attend a top university that is highly competitive, but I don't commonly see this lack of confidence. Although, at the same point as a generation gets older and matures in it's occupational field, of course it is going to become more confident.<p>People = People. We are much more alike than we are different. That's what makes classics, classics throughout centuries not just generations. It's because they relate to all PEOPLE.
Oh cool, another one of those 'them darn yunguns ain't made right' articles!<p>“Because this generation has been so coddled,” says Michael Wilder, pointing to Yers’ ever-present boomer parents, “when they do have to make a decision on their own, they’re looking for affirmation. They have no basic experience to allow them to be confident about the decisions they’re making.”<p>Heh, so you mean we're babies because our parents weren't drunks that beat us every night? Come and see my family, we are all emotionally isolated and not even remotely touchy-feely.<p>It's really nothing new. Just some dude writing an article about how he hates herd mentality.<p>Oh, and a handy counterpoint from the same magazine. Maybe those old fogeys can't believe in a world where the company is expected to screw you over and a steady job means a life of missed opportunities:
<a href="http://thegig.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/05/30/job-hopping-gen-yers-arent-disloyal-theyre-smart/" rel="nofollow">http://thegig.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/05/30/job-hopping-g...</a>
He got it right - they're idiots. A roomful of people sitting around a ringing phone - sheesh!<p>What surprises me is the lengths that people will go to in attempting to justify the groups' actions, especially on the blog.
It's hard to compare generations, as you are inevitably comparing observations on the current generation with memories about previous generations.
Memories are always distorted by the passing of time.
What is the average age/generation of a HN reader? I'd like to think Gen Y and I'd sure as anything bet they are the most confident of their close group of friends/colleagues. What do you think?<p>I'm 23 and this continual stereotype of my generation as "clueless" or "timid" is just absurd.
Answering others' phones, with unknown callers, is one of those responsibilities that low-ranking workers <i>always</i> prefer to pass on to someone else. Answering phones sucks. The downside is that one might inadvertently offend an important person. ("[Y] speaking." "Hi, this is [X]." "Who are you?" "Your new boss, as of Monday, actually." "Oh.") There's no upside to answering, since responsibility for non-answering is diffused. So the phone is not answered.<p>There's also conditioning at play. Remember the Grey Phone of Death, in high school? The one that usually carried calls to and from the principal's office, which you could get an in-school suspension for using without permission? Yeah, <i>that</i> phone.